Wednesday May 6

After a beautiful cool night in the Marquer anchorage we made our way to Loreto for provisions. We had a little emergency late last night when the head plugged and to set everybody’s mind at ease I stayed up late to clear the problem and was serious competetion to David Letterman for late night entertainment. The crew owes me big time:) I’m relaxing on the foredeck still clearing my head…

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Apparently we just missed Steve & Cindy as we pulled away from Loreto early afternoon for Isla Coronado. We were hoping to head for Vee Cove but the wind was on our nose and I guess we’re getting lazy. Coronado is a very nice lazy option and 12 other boats agree making it our busiest anchorage but there’s lots of room.

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Kerry and Chris enjoy a leisurely float in the turquoise water before sunset. Note for the future… We anchored on the NE end of the fleet in 10′ of water fairly close to shore. Before long we had lots of bees on board. Bill & I cooked dinner with 20 – 30 helping in the galley. They didn’t bother us and just wanted some fresh water from the sink. Thankfully, they retreated at sunset but were back again in the morning. No bees reported on the SE end of the anchorage.

Thursday.. Heading south for Candeleros Chica a small cove big enough for 2 boats max. It was full as we passed by heading north 2 days ago. As we peek around the corner from the west of Danzante we see the bay empty 🙂 Winds are up this afternoon after motoring all morning giving us a quiet sail directly into the bay. On our final approach we see another boat shadowing us so we will have company tonight and anchor leaving room for them to anchor also. It’s an interesting boat from Italy with a crew of 4.

The anchorage has great snorkeling with a large rock providing protection from the south. The rock has been breaking and dropping large bolders forming deep slots for fish and creating the view above as the near full moon rises to the east. The crew is now obsessed with Mexican Train and the game starts as soon as the dinner table is cleared. This anchorage is on the Baja coast and we’re a little concerned about the warm breeze blowing from the canyon inland.. During the evening games, we spotted an Osprey sitting on top of a cactus eating a fish directly in front of the moon. Incredible…

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Friday, Our last full day on Gato Loco and Kerry’s birthday in Australia. We’ve decided to celebrate both her Australian & Baja birthdays. We’re going to look for wind today and see where it blows us.. No morning breeze so we motored to the nearby Candeleros anchorage where SeaEsta has been for the past days to visit with John & Patsy. They’re heading out to the north anchorage on Monserrate to find a cooler anchorage. Like us they were hot sleeping last night with the warm breeze off Baja. It was 100 in Loreto yesterday..

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Winds are up 1ish after we have lunch. We head for the channel between Danzante and Carmen that always seems to be the windiest. Whitecaps from the south is a good sign for a full afternoon of sailing without motors. Looking back this has been the lightest wind season in recent memory. Today, we have winds that are more normal as we reach off the wind at 8kts north and then decide to jibe to Vista La Mar, a nice beach restaurant south of Loreto Bay.

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We never get tired of watching dolphin play.

The ladies enjoy the breeze and shade as we bare down on our afternoon birthday celebration location, Vista La Mar .

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We’ve never eaten here, but have heard good things about it. We’re able to anchor in 8′ of water with a slight swell from the afternoon winds. It’s going to be an interesting dinghy ride for the six of us, probably even better entertainment for the restaurant full of locals (a good sign).

Great food, Seafood soup is to die for. I’m an expert on this subject so try it if you get the chance.

Happy Australian Birthday Kerry

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Full moon tonight. We’re back in Marquer since it was a beautiful reach sail from Vist La Mar and there’s a cool island breeze to keep us cool tonight..

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Saturday, Kerry’s Baja Bday. She brought gifts from friends and family to open.

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The crew took a morning swim before heading to Puerto Escondido to ready the boat for the Leg 5 crew.. Before pulling anchor we had another Bday treat with 50 dolphin making their way through the anchorage. Another treat, Kerry got a nice email from Richard back in Australia… Happy Baja Bday…

Speaking of the Leg 5 crew… Here’s photo that was dispatched to us as they left Cholla Bay..

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Gato Loco is provisioned and ready, we’re off to Loreto with the spinnaker up to meet them for the evening. Chris, Kerry, Frankie, Neely and I will be saying goodbye to Gato Loco. We can’t believe 3 weeks have passed. I’m happy many great memories have been captured in the blog. Crew 5 will keep the memories coming I’m sure..

Frankie, Neely and I will post our trip north that will include staying in Loreto and then heading to Santa Rosalia to ferry to San Carlos where we pick up our RV and drive to Cholla.

Until the next Update… The GatoLoco Crew