(Another) short cruise to the islands...

Sunrise at El Cardonal

 After a week settling into La Paz, we took off for a 5-7 day cruise to Bahia La Paz's islands. What was different this time was cruising with two other boats. Here in Mexico, we meet other boaters in the marina and in anchorages, but have rarely "buddy boated" with friends.

SVs Kylahi, Wylie and Pelagia took off for Playa Bonanza. We tried to sail but winds were too light. Of course, the winds did pick up while we were anchored, but these were mostly light/moderate southwesterly "coroumel" winds, which are fine at Playa Bonanza. (Each afternoon, thermal onshore -- northeasterly -- winds would pick up but they died before dark.)

Socializing on Pelagia

Two nights at Bonanza -- with socializing -- then we decided to move over to the other side, perhaps Caleta Partida, as the winds at Bonanza were getting a little boisterous.

It was Semana Santa/Easter, and Caleta Partida was pretty busy with many anchored boats, so we detoured to El Cardonal, which was empty. We stayed for 3 nights, two which were very quiet and calm, the third was a littly bumpy with a coroumel wind during the night. The "highlight" of El Cardonal on this trip was the hike across the island. We've done this easy walk twice before, with good times. This time, however, we had biting bugs to deal with -- swarms of no-seeums (jejenes) and mosquitos. Later, being driven crazy with itching and scratching, Michelle would count 153 bites on her body (the rest of us received 10 or fewer bites -- Michelle "took the bullet" for the rest of us). She was itchy for days.

El Cardonal: all that green in the desert = BUGS!

El Cardonal: Crossing the island, running away from bugs

Pelagia and Kylahi anchored in El Cardonal

Because the coroumels seemed to be picking up, we moved over to Calata Partida, which has slightly better wave protection. (The other two boats had returned to La Paz.) The anchorage was much less crowded. We anchored in the southern anchorage, with 175' chain in 25 feet of water, and at least 300 feet from the nearest boat. The coroumel really did pick up (20 knots) but there were no significant waves.  Nevertheless, there was a wind shift in the night that must have dislodged our anchor, and I woke up to find we had dragged 60 feet. Our first drag with the Rocna, that kept David up the rest of the on anchor watch.

With David tired and cranky the next morning, we decided to head back to the dock at Marina Palmira, go out for dinner at Bandidos, and have a good sleep.

Of course, the coroumel winds died off for the next several nights.