Ensenada to La Paz

15 Nov

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We spent 5 days coming down the Baja California coast from Ensenada past Los Cabos. We had pretty decent winds, sailing about two thirds of the way. The rest was motoring โ€“ after all, we were eager to get there ๐Ÿ™‚ The weather was getting noticeably warmer as we got closer and closer to Cabo San Lucas, on the Southermost tip of Baja California Sur. We decided to bypass the crazy party that is usually Los Cabos and continued on to an anchorage in Los Frailes, about 40 miles farther into the Sea of Cortez.

Sunrise towards Cabo. One day to go!

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We dropped hook in 40 feet of the most beautiful aqua marine water Iโ€™ve seen since Hawaii. The temperature was to match โ€“ 28C (thatโ€™s 82F). We spent a couple of days exploring the beach, swimming off the boat, snorkeling and diving under the boat where a whole ecosystem had formed within a couple of hours of our arrival. It was like having our own private aquarium, right off the swim step! We got to try our SeaBreathe diving system and it rocks!

Bella Marina at anchor in Los Frailes:

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Our own private aquarium:

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We also spent some wonderful evenings hanging out with pour friends on Delos, Erin and Brian and trading stories from our passage. Since we left right after the Baja HA HA, a cruiser rally that goes from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Erin came up with the name of Baja HI HI for our own mini-rally. We ended up having only 3 boats, so it became the Wee HI HI.

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We left bound for La Paz after a couple of days and decided to take a spot at Marina Palmira. It was pretty cool arriving here as this was the second time visiting the spot, this time with our own boat! The first time was last year during our Cabo vacation when we rented a jeep and drove around Baja. Something I would totally recommend, by the way ๐Ÿ™‚

The Sea of Cortez. Itโ€™s like the Grand Canyon, but filled with water ๐Ÿ™‚

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The boat was so salty the task of getting rid of all the salt icicles forming on the lifelines seemed too much to take on, so Petter and I decided to help the local economy by hiring somebody to wash the boat for us while we had lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant. Best decision ever! ๐Ÿ˜€

La Paz is a lovely Mexican seaside city with a lively Malecon (seaside promenade) and many restaurants, bars and coffee shops. We spent last evening exploring it all, but I think there is some left for tomorrow too ๐Ÿ™‚

Cheerios!