Happy Holidays from De Novo! (Cabo to La Paz)

Playa Candelero, Isla Espíritu Santo

Hello everyone!

We're leaving La Paz to continue along our way north tomorrow. Life has been so relaxed, I nearly forgot to add an update here before we weigh the anchor.

Without deadlines to get to the next country, crew to meet by certain dates, or jobs to return to, Dave and I just started to sail at our own pace.

And we've learned our pace is slow. Like real slow. Comatose slow. L..e...n...t...o...

Tacos, friends, snorkeling, Spanish classes, hiking, and of course boat work--not a bad way to spend the winter. December temperatures appear to range between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and windy, which is perfect for our Pacific Northwest blood. Several other sailors warned us the area is cold this time of year, which I suppose is all relative. But we've just started to wear wetsuits over our swimsuits and I've worn pants a couple times, so there's that. It is January after all.

The Stretch: Bahía los Frailes and Ensenada de los Muertos

Winter sailing in the Gulf of California consists of a few days of strong northerlies and chop and then a few days of complete calm. Rinse and repeat until spring.

After a calm downwind sail on the Pacific Baja coast, it was strange to beat upwind again when we left Cabo. But De Novo was excited to be in her element again. She loves a good bash. She's most elegant on this point of sail which is not the case for her crew.

There's a long stretch of smooth shoreline between Cabo and Canal de San Lorenzo, the entrance to La Paz and her nearby islands, so secure anchorages are few and far between. The two main ones, Bahía los Frailes and Ensenada de los Muertos, are worth the long days though. Los Frailes includes a white sand beach, excellent hiking and snorkeling, and if you're lucky, BABY SEA TURTLES!

Some housing developers tried to rebrand Ensenada de los Muertos (Cove of the Dead) to Ensenada de los Sueños (Cove of the Dreams) but failed; they tried again and failed. Apparently the dead hold too much power in Mexico.

Islas Espíritu Santo and Partida

These islands are gorgeous: white sand beaches, several secure anchorages, masses of marine and bird life. The area is a protected national park so it requires a permit (see earlier post). A few short hikes cut across the islands. We spent some time there on the way to La Paz, returned for a week for Christmas, and plan to stop again on the way north tomorrow. To make our Christmas feel more like Christmas, we added some spices to our usual Horchata, watched some holiday movies in our pajamas, and pretended our old string of cockpit lights were just placed there for the season. With Ensenada el Cardonal as our backdrop, it didn't take much to make it magical.

La Paz

La Paz. 💜 Ay como la amamos. La Paz means "the peace" in English, which is appropriate for the culture here. It's so relaxed and friendly, definitely a "'Buenas' and nod your head to strangers on the sidewalk" kind of town. So many old salts sailed here decades ago and simply never left.

Club Cruceros is the heart of the sailing community. Like Sloop Tavern in Seattle and South Sound Sailing Society in Olympia, this place has a laid-back vibe. Boaters help one another on the morning cruisers net or at the club's coffee hour each morning.

We’ve seen several hundreds of sailboats from foreign ports here. They’re all different types and ages from 20 to 60+ feet. With or without radar. With or without satellite, Starlink, or SSB/HAM. Tenders with control panels and enormous motors to leaking rowboats. From diesel generators and extensive solar arrays to one small rail panel. From watermakers to portable water jugs. From sextants and paper charts to redundantly linked electronics.

You get the idea. They prove there's no wrong way to cruise and no gatekeeping "must haves" for the offshore cruiser. No one has anything to prove. And why should they? Everyone got here alive. And based on the smiles we see around Club Cruceros, everyone seems happy to have done it.

Dave, why are we moving on from La Paz again?

Locals say that each departing boat is hooked up to to an invisible bungee cord, so I'm sure we'll be back soon.

Photos!

De Novo, back in her natural windward state

More northerlies

We met up with SV Griffin again in Los Frailes and Los Muertos. Los Frailes includes a fantastic hike. The trailhead's hard to find: look for the rock cairns where the rocky cliff meets the beach.

Parque Nacional Cabo Pulmo

Holy flying manta rays!

Ensenada de los Muertos

El Restaurante 1535

In this stinky sailor's opinion, this was probably the coolest feature of the bay

Throughout the west side of the bay were empty lots from the days of Los Sueños. Abandoned roads made excellent trails.

Quirky and spacious Centro de Trenes, Muertos' west side restaurant...

...that we had almost entirely to ourselves, even during a World Cup match

----------

M5, the largest single-masted sailboat in the world
Over 257 ft.
Sadly motoring

Bahía Bonanza on Isla Espíritu Santo

Turkey vultures, just waiting for us to mess up

Don't be deceived by this pretty view. Wear hiking boots or at least closed-toe shoes on the "trail" connecting Bahía Bonanza with Bahía de San Gabriel. Instead of a path, it's mostly a floor of hitchhiking spikes. And instead of trail markers, there's just spikes. Plant life? All spikes. Our first attempt was in sandals. It was unsuccessful and a little bloody. Everything on this path wanted to kill us.

So much easier in rubber boots! Try sticking to us now, baby jumping cholla!
P.S. none of the other hikes in this area had the killer spikes, so the boots didn't have to come out again.