A short trip to the islands (of Bahia de la Paz)

After a week or so in La Paz, we were hankering to get out and anchor in the islands of Bahia de La Paz.

Pelagia in El Mezteno

El Mezteno

The first two nights, we anchored in El Mezteno, a small indentation on Isla Espiritu Santo. The cove has a beautiful sandy beach with a small pond behind. There was water in the pond with hundreds of small fish providing a yummy treat to a heron.

Heron fishing at El Mezteno

El Mezteno (Pelagia on left)

 
Water temperature was 25 degrees C, so swimming was great.  We were the only boat on the first night (2 boats on 2nd night)

We then moved next door to Caleta Partida -- again, only a few boats anchored.

Looking East into Caleta Partida

However, a power boat anchored nearby insisted on running his generator 24 hours/day as well as lighting up the ocean with its blue underwater lights -- so after one night, we decided to move over to Ensenada Grande (Isla Partida).

Pelagia anchored in the North Cove of Ensenada Grande (behind catamaran Ascension)

 As before, the anchorages were pretty empty -- seems most of the boats have "headed south" (Puerto Vallarta, Barra de Navidad, etc).

Next day, on the way back down, we saw many humpback whales, including one that breeched only about 30-40 meters from Pelagia -- that was a "WOW!" moment!

Humpback "spying" near Caleta Partida

We decided to spend one more evening in the islands, anchoring in "Ensenada de la Raza" (Isla Espiritu Santo), an inlet that feels like you are anchoring at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. With a little imagination, one can see many faces (of the Raza?) in the cliffs.

We were the only boat.

Dropping the anchor in Ensenada de la Raza

See the face?

On our last evening of this 6-night trip, we anchored in Caleta Lobos on the Baja peninsula, making it a short 2-hour trip into Marina Palmira.