Another week in the islands!

Jan 24-31:

This past week was spent cruising the islands with Steve Scharf! We headed out on the 24^th and were able to make it to Cardinal on Isla Partida and even got to sail most of the way. We took a beautiful hike there (more of a walk) across to the other side of the island. It had sprinkled rain the other day and the wildflowers were in bloom and quite beautiful against the vibrant greens of the desert. After the hike we decided to head further north to Isla San Francisco, a tiny litte island with a big bay to anchor up in. We anchored up and were welcomed by a beautiful rainbow and then a gorgeous sunset to follow. There is an awesome ridge hike at San Francisco that we did the next day and it offered spectacular views of the Sea of Cortez and on the clear day we could see for miles from the top of the boulders. We also stumbled upon an osprey nest with two of them flying around, didn’t look like they had babies or eggs yet, just building their nest. At the bottom of the ridge, there are 4 salt flats. They are large rectangles that are in different stages of salt production. One of them was all salt crystals, which form in these perfect flat rectangles and then together into interesting geometric shapes. VERY cool. We set off early the next morning to go visit the Sea Lions at Los Isolotes, who were extremely playful, jumping out of the water like dolphins and bouncing off Martha’s hull. I didn’t end up going in the water but was thoroughly entertained just sitting on deck watching their goofyness. After the fun there, we headed over to Ensenada Grande. We spent two days playing around there with our AWESOME friends from The Vortex. We went for a hike/rock scramble/hop up the arroyo there for a beautiful day filled with lizards and spectacular views. We had a yummy well deserved lunch before doing a little boat work. Rich and I tried our hand at fishing from the dingy but managed to only catch a coronet (a long needle looking fish) and a puffer fish (who I pulled in totally puffed up and then when we released him, he stayed puffed up floating away, pretty funny to watch!). Neither great for eating unfortunately! The next day was a bit lazier, I got some work done, read, and was entertain by Mary, Mina and Henry (Vortex friends) playing on the beach. Later in the afternoon, Mina and Henry joined us and we motored over to El Mezteno, a small little bay on Isla Espiritu Santo. We had Henry and Mina’s parents, Rae and Don and their friend Ana over for dinner and got to hear all about their travels and where they are headed. Henry and Mina ended up spending the night on Martha, which was a blast. It is always nice to have some young kid energy on board. Henry, Holly and I did another great rock scramble up the arroyo there the next day and ended up going off the trail and hiking up one side of the canyon to get to the top. I had a not so lovely encounter with a tarantula. I stepped up onto a rock to push myself up onto a big flat rock and happended to look down to make sure my foot didn’t slip and there was a HUGE tarantula right next to, and I mean right next to it. And he was big, about 5-6 inches across, with big hairy legs. I managed not to scream and very quietly, but quickly move my foot away and then back up and find another way up! The view from the top was well worth the climb (and tarantula encounter). We walked around the plateau for a little bit before rock scrambling back down. Oh, and the rain! It was lightly sprinkling when we started the hike and by the time we were coming down and rowing back to the boat, it was pouring and I was soaked to the bone. It was amazing! We headed over to Bahia San Gabriel after that and spent the next morning playing soccer on the beach and beach combing! We are back in La Paz for a couple days before heading out to the islands for two weeks so don’t  be surprised if you don’t hear from me before then!

Also, due to the slow internet, I am not able to put up nearly as many photos as I want too :( These are just a smattering of photos from hiking around the islands!