2.7.2013 6:00pm

We enjoyed the hospitality from Dave and Bobbi so much that we invited them for a small outing on Gray Matter. Bobbi told me that they have never been to the north portion of the sea, the Midriff islands, the most remote and mysterious islands in the Sea of Cortez. I looked up on the guide book, Punta San Francisquito, an anchorage close to Midriff regions, has an airstrip. As Dave and Bobbi are both private pilots and have their plane here, a perfect plan is taking shape — We can run Gray Matter up to Punta San Francisquito, pick up Dave and Bobbi from their plane, and then enjoy 3 days cruising around Midriff together. I never thought we’d make that far north into the Sea of Cortez, but here we go.

We visited Isla Tiburon, the biggest island in Mexico, and then another day at Isla Salsipuedes. It is significantly colder up here, especially water temperature dropped to barely above 60F. Lucky for me, Bobbi loves to jump into the water, just like me. So the two girls jumped in for snorkeling and hunting. We harvested mussels, rock scallops and sea snails. Mark also did good on fishing — he traded four freshly-caught cabrilla from the local fishermen with four cokes. We enjoyed seafood dinner every night.

The tip of Isla Salsipuedes.

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1.21.2013 20:00pm

We have been thoroughly enjoying our trip in the sea of cortez, and it keeps getting better. Isla Danzante is one of the five islands that make up Islas de Golfo group, which is protected as a National Maritime Park. Honeymoon Cove, one popular anchorage on Isla Danzente, was a much anticipated stop.  As we pulled into Honeymoon Cove late afternoon yesterday, our eyes widened. It is absolutely gorgeous. A secluded cove with three lobes, providing excellent wind and wave protection from N, E, S. Turquoise water, sandy beaches, with dramatic mountains in the background, “Honeymoon” is surely a deserved name for her.

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1.19.2013 21:00pm

As we headed deeper north into the Sea of Cortez, 3G signal became sparser. Finally we got some connection outside of Puerto Escondido. So a quick update on last week.

We had another experience with the cruelty of the winter northernly blow in the sea. For three days, we have been trapped in Marina Cortez at La Paz due to the continuous N wind. They even closed the whole port. Worse of all, Marina Cortez, being a nice and new marina, does not have any break walls. Big swells rolled right into the marina, and all boats were rocking madly, just as the docks that they tied to! One of our dock lines broke off after bearing too much tension.

Witness “La Paz Waltz”, a well-known phenomenon where boats swing into each other at anchor inside La Paz harbor.

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