Mulege’

In 1768, the Fransiscans took over responsibility from the Jesuits. 300 Cochimí native Indigenous people were enslaved and kept near the Mission. They cut and hauled all the stones that built the church and the spooky, narrow bell tower. We all climbed to top, creepy!

We all hopped into our dingy’s and raced up the river, which is brackish but home to hundreds of Blue cannonball jellyfish floating along. These were fun to hold, since they won’t sting. They only live about 8 months. Funny reproduction fact: the male shoots sperm out of his mouth and the female catches it in her mouth. She harbors the eggs in her little arms. STRANGE!

Father’s Day

It just happened many of our cruiser friends were together for Father’s Day in Bahia Concepcion. Here are a few photos of a great night (and times) with friends. It’s hard to describe the network of friends we’ve become a part of in the last year but “family” is the closest term that comes to mind. Many of these folks we’ve been sailing next to for the last year and some we’ve just met in the last months.
…..and some we are sailing to the South Pacific with next year. ~/)~

HOT

This is an awesome place down in Bahia Concepcion, Baja, but I must share a few realistic details. It’s so hot at 7am, we need to make ice cold coffee and cold hard boiled eggs. Mostly we rested in the shade, did no boat work, and just floated around in the water, which at the highest was 90 degrees. At 7pm, outside was 101 degrees, so we decided to dingy to an amazing rock island, covered with frigates and pelicans, to snorkel and dive at. Always new fish and sealife to see. A few hours later, we returned home for a back deck rinse off. The water in our tanks are the same temperature as the Sea, so imagine going from a swim in 88 to a shower in 88 to a shady cockpit in 93 degrees!! But, we are lucky tonight, there is a breeze- the objective is to stay wet and sit outside in the shade, in the wind. Of course this doesn’t last but 5 minutes and one feels like jumping in the salt water all over again (rinse, lather, repeat!)
Afterwards, I make some taco meat in the pressure cooker. (NO BAKING IN THIS HEAT) All fans are aimed at me in the galley, in my birthday suit, btw. Fun day though 😉

Have you ever swam in 89 degree water? Hmmm, refreshing…?! Why, yes it is. Believe it or not the water was just 67 degrees just a few days ago about 35 miles north of here. The Sea of Cortez is so deep in some areas that constant upwellings of water keep us on our toes and wetsuits ready when necessary (spearfishing for dinner).
We are now in Bahia de Conception. The other cruisers in this anchorage have us alerted to Whale Sharks in the Bay, stay tuned! We have seen just a few green turtles and a few dolphins down in Concepcion area.

V Cove

One of our favorite anchorages, to date! Its called V Cove on Isla Carmen. This cove has the best of everything! The caves on both rock cliffs are such fun to snorkle into, I even spotted a colorful lobster yesterday.

Caves make for fun gargling sounds, the water rushes in and out, so loud that we can hear it from our boat, lulling us to sleep. These cliffs are 20-35 feet high and just as deep underwater. Makes for fun cliff jumping.

We have also awoken to dolphins coming to feed on the bait ball, typical in this cove, and a few others nearby. We have identified about 4 kinds of dolphins, but the most common, of course is the Common Bottlenose.

Note, there are no waves in the Sea of Cortez, so most anchorages are easy to dingy up onto the beaches.

We found a little brown pelican with fishing line wrapped around its beak, we lured it over with a little sardine and our friend Mike caught him. Another friend, Mark, cut off the tangle and set him free.

However, he decided we were his new best friends, so he hung out near us all week, saying thank you!

Hanging Out

Hanging with some friends we’ve gotten to know over the last year. Most we met in Ensenada last August but Nirvana we met in Bandaras Bay a few months ago. We are in V Cove (Refugio Cove) on the north side of Isla Carmen just east of Loreto, Baja. Funny new culture, we now associate with friends by their boat names instead of last names.
Left to right on the boats in the first picture.
Arkouda (Mark, Carli, Thad, Luca, Kai)
Reverence (Mike, Leah)
Sea Bella (Scott and Kathy)
Nirvana (Jodi, Jacop, Megan, Ren, Jace, Hailie)
Simplicity (Denton, Chrissy, Danika)

Super fun group and just a few of the boats that we are headed up into the Sea with.
Mike Otis Scott Leah Lukomske Otis Denton Bowers Earnhardt, Jodi Spear