We spent most of the last couple of weeks anchored at Isla Partida and Isla San Francisco, both are small islands north of La Paz in the Sea of Cortez. We had really nice weather most of the time, lots of sun and not too much wind.
While at Isla Partida we anchored in a cove called Ensenada Grande. It is a nice big cove with plenty of room for a lot of boats, very popular for day tours from La Paz. I did a little bit of snorkeling there, but the water is a bit too chilly for me to stay in long, I need to get a shorty wet suit (I have a full wet suit but dang that thing is a pain to get on and off and takes forever to dry out). We hiked around both islands quite a bit, the islands are small so the hikes aren’t long but they are often quite steep and the trails are only trails in the vaguest sense. One hike we did on Isla Partida was 90% climbing boulders up a ravine/arroyo and 10% dirt path. Funnily enough it actually had trail markers, often mounted on rebar drilled into the boulders, even though there was only one way to go: up the ravine. At end of the hike we were treated to a gorgeous view of the Sea toward the mainland. We rested and had a nice picnic before starting the walk back down. I made the silly decision to wear flip flops for the hike, not great for leaping from boulder to boulder and they don’t have good traction so I actually went barefoot for about half the way back. There are cactus in the area so I put my shoes whenever I was walking on dirt, but I love going barefoot so it was a nice change.
The rock formations in this area are very interesting. There is what looks to me like sandstone (but I don’t know geology at all) with this strange lacy layer that looks like it flowed over the top of the sandstone. Very interesting, several areas reminded me of the scenery in Star Wars (on Tattooine).
We decided to spend Christmas at Isla San Francisco so on December 23rd we made the short hop north and anchored in a very pretty cove, I saw a sea turtle as we entered the anchorage. On Christmas Eve we hiked up one of the peaks and then along a narrow saddle to a hikers logbook and a shrine to the Madonna.
On the 26th we took the dinghy around the corner to a tiny beach and hiked up that side of the island.
Just to the north of Isla San Francisco is a little bay called Bahia Amortajada with a shallow mangrove lagoon that looked like it would be fun to explore by dinghy. The anchorage is very exposed so we didn’t plan to stay the night, just make a day trip of it. Our first attempt to explore the lagoon was unsuccessful, we arrived too close to low tide and the entrance was too shallow even for the dinghy, so we returned to Isla San Francisco for the night. The following day we anchored on the opposite side of the lagoon and we were able to enter. There was a lot of current getting into the lagoon, but once we were inside it was very still and very green. Quite the contrast to the desert rocks and cactus we have become accustomed to seeing and it reminded me a bit of being in the San Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta.
We are planning to leave for the South Pacific in the spring and there is lots to do to get us and Casita ready. With Christmas over it was time to head back to La Paz. We sailed from Isla San Francisco back to Ensenada Grande (Isla Partida) and stayed the night. It was an uneventful night other than seeing a strange slow moving, silent, glowing object light up the sky. Definitely not a regular shooting star, way too slow and defined looking, it kind of looked like a comet close up. Apparently this sort of thing is not unusual down here, it may have been a booster rocket from a satellite launching from southern California burning up on reentry.
The next day there was no wind so we motored back to La Paz. The anchorage here is pretty busy during the day, lots of pangas zooming by, but it mostly quiets down at night. New Years Eve was pretty rowdy though, there weren’t a lot of boats out after dark but we could hear them partying on the malecon until dawn!
The past few days we have been busy with researching and ordering several big items we need for our Pacific crossing. We have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get these things down here to La Paz in a timely manner and without paying unnecessary import duties. We came to the decision that it makes the most sense for me to fly up to the Bay Area and bring stuff back down with me. Even with oversize baggage fees and the cost of airfare we will probably come out ahead financially, plus we won’t need to worry about our stuff getting lost or sitting in customs indefinitely (there is a package we ordered that has been in Mexico City since December 20th), and I will get to see my family!
But tomorrow we are hauling Casita out of the water and putting her in the boatyard to get her bottom paint done. This is way, waaay overdue so I’m very excited, but hauling out is always a bit stressful and anxiety provoking. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly. We will be moving into an Airbnb for the remainder of the week, so that will be interesting and maybe a nice change. I love being on Casita and I love being anchored out, but there is something to be said for the simplicity of being able to just step out the door and walk down the street instead of hoisting the dinghy into the water and possibly ending up doused in sea water while getting to shore.
sailing casita 
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