Thursday May 10th..

Gato Loco limps out of Bahia Salinas with no wind and only a single engine. We only have 12 miles, so as I said, No worries.. Steve & Pam are joining us motoring north. This area of Isla Carmen is where all the fishermen come so Steve has 4 lines in the water and Bill has a single deep diver “Redden” lure under tow.  Bingo, we got a hookup!!

In the Picture right you can see Bill fighting this monster while Steve powers Barramundi up to checkup on the catch. It’s a 3’ Yellowtail (Bill’s sure it 4’). Steve is a sushi conisuer  and he’s itemizing his sushi supplies… Well all of that was a little early. The landing crew went to adjust the gaff and our sushi plans slipped back into the sea and Steve is almost hysterical, well maybe not.

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Vee Cove

Our friendly Indian silhouette greets us as we enter Vee Cove. Boy do we like this anchorage and tonight is going to be perfect night with light SW winds that will blow out of the cove and keep us cool.

I give Steve & Pam a quick tour of the caves and walls that make this anchorage one of our favorites in the Loreto area.

Tonight Gato Loco will host dinner and I plan on introducing everybody to Bitchin Rummy.

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Very nice evening, great dinner and I didn’t do much Bitchin Actually, Steve did most of the Bitchin and never had a positive score while I won with 1300 points. I guess my crew Doug trained me well.

Friday May 11th.. Before leaving this awesome anchorage we take a walk to capture the splendor for turquoise waters framed by white sandstone walls. Notice the bait fish ball between Barramundi and Gato Loco above.

Another cool thing… Just outside our anchorage a new family of dolphins were swimming back and forth. Bill dinghied out and found two very young baby dolphins learning to swim and breathe. Mom would take them down and soon after they would pop back up on the surface for a breath..

Below, a shot Bill took looking  back in to the anchorage.

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Departing Vee Cove, we’re heading for Bahia Candelaros an anchorage 18 miles south close to Escondido. BUT, we soon have a great idea of stopping by the Clam Shack which is sort of on our way south.

This restaurant is on the highway between Loreto and Puerto Escondido and is the best dirt floor cafe in the area. My scallops Mexican style in a bowl of spices like Agua Chile was to die for…  Yum…

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Nice way to end the Rally

All 4 Seawinds anchored together in Bahia Candelaros in front of Ensenada Blanca Resort, a new hotel built this past year. They are catering to cruisers working to build their business. Beautiful place as you can see.

Near sunset the Seawinds dance at anchor in perfect harmony. I couldn’t have planned this shot if I tried.

The area is known for night time westerlies but tonight was perfect.

Below.. Fire pit overlooking the anchorage.

Saturday, May 12… Our last day on Gato Loco, we fly back to Hermosillo tomorrow and on to Cholla then Phoenix. Reality time

But first we want to pull the bad part on Gato Loco’s starboard engine. Steve has all the tools to pull the flywheel and remove the bad ignition coil. Team work and we have it removed. Steve has thought he might have a replacement for us but hasn’t been able to find his parts.  Seeing the part we remove, gets him thinking again and soon after departing the boat he returns with the part we need. 15 minutes later it’s installed and the engine is purring like a baby. A big hug for Steve and a replacement part has been ordered using Magic Jack. Life is good in Baja..

Gato Loco will be moored in Puerto Escondido for the next few weeks. The adventure will resume soon.

Until the next Update.

Wednesday, May 9th

Exiting San Juanico with Bahia Salinas as our next anchorage 40 miles to the SW. Ham net is forecasting NE winds which would be perfect BUT unfortunately it never materialized. Kat Kan Do opted out on the long leg heading to Puerto Ballandra across from Loreto. MoonDrifter, Barramundi and Gato Loco  motored into Salinas 5ish with a quick stop at the wreck for some snorkeling. Water clarity was a bit disappointing..

Kat Kan Do departing San Juanico…>>

Tonight is music night on Barramundi. It’s too bad that Cat Can Do didn’t make it since Bruce plays and could join Steve for the evening entertainment. Lots of goodies arrive with each crew and thanks to Joe on Mariah (who headed for San Carlos) we have a huge pan of steamed chocolate clams.. Yum Yum..

Steve and Pam are great hosts on their 1000 Seawind like Gato Loco. Steve loves music night as he is the star. He has lots of acumplement instruments including the filing cabinet I played.

Helen & Ralph below… Our idols.. Ralph is now 81 and still cruising strong.

Bill & Lisa from “Beyond Reason” anchored near us join the fun.. Pam & Laurie enjoy one of Steve’s best…

Thursday May 10th

Last year Ralph & Helen started a new tradition of “French Toast Breakfast”. You can tell the crews are all over this tradition including Steve’s Bloody Marys.

Salinas Bay has the old salt mine that we’ve photographed the past years. It’s such a interesting location and we have some crews that haven’t yet seen it, SO, Here’s some more photos.

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All the crew right except Kurt the Photog.

Love the white salt flats. Not sure I know of a place like it.

Kurt gets in touch with his inner self on the white blanket of salt.

Frankie’s not sure if this tractor will run.. Well maybe she is…

Kurt and Laurie will depart early tomorrow driving back to San Diego. We say goodbye as they sail south in MoonDrifter and Gato Loco and Barramundi will sail north to Vee Cove just 10 miles around the corner.

11 am.. Hauling anchor, We have a problem… Starboard engine won’t start.. Can you believe it.. Steve, on Barramundi, and I were just having a discussion about a common failure on our engines. The charge coil that provides spark to the spark plugs has failed twice on Barramundi and once in Gato Loco… And wouldn’t you know it, Goto Loco now has our second failure. No worries, we’ve got one engine left and we’re a sail boat. Off to Vee Cove. We’ll deal with this problem tomorrow.

Until the next Update

Tuesday May 8th.. Okay the gang is serious about walking to the top of Coronados. Unlike Doug and I’s last visit, we found the trail leading us to the top. The excursion started with 5 and slowly dwindled to 3. I was the 3rd to drop as I saw Kurt, Laurie & Frankie disappear in the distance.

Shortly after their return near noon we hauled anchor and joined Kat Kan Do as they sailed north from Loreto. We now have all 4 Seawinds heading for San Juanico for the beach party and wienie roast.

Winds are up from the East giving us a perfect broad reach towards Juanico.

Of course it’s a race.. Gato Loco was holding her own in front when we decided to put our spinnaker up.. Right, trying to get it up in a hurry we have a tangled mess which we finally sort out. The Spinnaker put us on a direct route to San Jaunico which should be well before everybody else. BUT… The wind died and the race was over before a winner could be named.. WELL as far as MoonDrifer was concerned they were the winner.

Lots of time to relax in the foredeck under the shade of the spinnaker.

Another good day of sailing even though we had to motor in the last mile.

Smiles on Gato Loco

San Juanico is the perfect place for a beach party. All the islands here are national parks and there’s no beach fires allowed. The shores of Juanico are Baja and you can collect firewood and beach camp plus the anchorage will hold tons of boats in little beaches. We all anchor near the north shore by the familiar pinnacles and the cruiser tree. Bill dinghed to the south shore and found fire wood. The 4 Seawind crews plus Mariah and Dee’s Dream join us for a perfect evening on the beach.

The Gato Loco dinghy and Kat Kan Do’s paddle board make for a nice dinning center. Deven shows the guys how to roast.

  Yum..

Hungry sailors.

As you can see, the Gato Loco crew found something to add to the cruiser tree.

Regarding Kaboo’s kidnapping, we’re not sure if it was a kidnapping or an abandon ship to some resort. Still no ransom notice.

Until the next update

Sunday May 6th

The new Gato Loco crew has arrived. Oh boy.. I got a ride to the airport with a Canadian sailor living on his boat here in Puerto Escondido for the past 3 years. Arriving a little late I found them  at the airport bar drinking bloody marys. No stress there.

Their travels went smoothly having fun in Cholla Friday night and Saturday morning. Driving to Hermosillo they came across Mader & McQueen from one of the Cars movies driving in one of the small villages. This photo is for Preston who loves the cars. Right.. Frankie and Bill set in the front seats on Aero Calafia on the layover in San Carlos. Flying across the Sea they could see whales breaching near Isla Coranodos, our last anchorage before heading to Puerto Escondido for Loreto Fest. The Loreto Fest activities were winding down as they got settled in on Gato Loco. Oh, yes, Kaboo is with Bill..

Sunday evening was the official opening of the Seawind Rally with Kurt & Laurie hosting a happy hour and dinner at a  place they’ve discovered called Coyote Village. It’s a new hostel style place with very interesting owners and great place to have our party. Crews from MoonDrifter, Barramundi, Kat Kan Do and Gato Loco were there along with some of Kurt’s customers that have a small trimaran.

As you can see in the pictures above, it’s a very interesting place with a tree house room, hot tub & pool.

One of many photos of the Rally group I’m sure. Our after dinner entertainment was Steve & Pam’s photo slideshow of their winter in Mexico, down the Pacific, mainland (Puerto Vallarta) and the Sea of Cortez. Seeing the photos has got us thinking that Gato Loco needs to head down the mainland for the winter SOON..

  Monday May 7th … The Rally starts with 14 kts at our back heading north to Isla Coronados where the crew had seen whales breaching as they flew over arriving. We’re hoping to see them in the anchorage.

Nice spinnaker ride north. She popped out as we left Escondido and flew untouched to Loreto where we needed to stop for ice and let Steve stop by and visit a local friend, Kevin.

Beach Party Hors d’oeuvres and happy hour was planned but winds are still blowing in the anchorage so Helen & Ralph on MoonDrifter invited us to enjoy the evening with them..

Bill prepared Ralph’s favorite, hot dogs wrapped with bacon with  pineapple for that extra flavor… Yum, and Ralph had his share and then some.. 

Very nice way to start the Rally.. Good sail north, cool breeze in the anchorage, very nice evening on MoonDrifter and an awesome light show as we dinghy back to Gato Loco.. The picture right is the Phosphorescence  light show from the motor heading back to Gato Loco.. The fish are glowing below the boat for our late night entertainment.

Until the next update…

News Flash.. Bill’s travelling partner Kaboo has been kidnapped.. No ransome notice has been received yet..