Mag Bay

BAHIA MAGDALENA

November 29, 2003

We had a sunny motor sail over to Magdalena Bay, which lies just on the far side of the sandy spit that separates the two large bays. We dropped hook at Man O War Cove and proceeded to check in with the Port Captain there. He spoke no English and of course, we spoke no Spanish. However, he was very friendly and accommodating and we did manage to communicate just fine, even arranging a panga ride to San Carlos the following Monday.

The quiet anchorage is situated right in front of a quaint fishing village, a town populated by 350 hardy souls whose homes are flat dwellings, yards decorated with what's available-whale bones bleached by the salt air and sun. Some people had built fences or made whale bone arches at their gates. One house had a magnificent bougainvillea blooming out of control, a splotch of vibrant color on an otherwise drab canvas.

There was evidence of whaling everywhere. Here Gord, Gary & Dale stand beside a huge whalebone left on the beach.

We walked around town and stopped at a little cantina with Dale & Gary to quench our thirst. Shirley & Russ, and Jane & Tom passed by stopping for a chat as we watched the locals enjoying their own get-together on the beach in front of us.

Happy hour was on Ascension with Matarua, Promise, Reaction and Wandering Star. We partied and did a little "deck dancing" as the sunset over Mag Bay.

Next morning Mic-le-Mac, a boat from Canoe Cove in Sidney dropped the hook. Again, the anchorage was predominately Canadian boats.

Because it had been so much fun in Santa Maria, we decided to explore the mangroves a few miles down the beach with Wandering Star and Reaction.

It amazed me that this mangrove differed so much from the other one we had visited. Spotted rays were in abundance, along with numerous fish, blue herons and lots of other seabirds.

We spent an enjoyable morning peering through the waters to discover what life dwelled just below the dinghy.

Leaving the lagoon, we went ashore to miles of sand dunes, stark and white against the lush green backdrop of the mangrove forest and the emerald green of the ocean water.


The pristine sand was marred only by the occasional tracks left by some resident animal...little sign of human presence anywhere.


Shirley took the opportunity to give Russ a haircut.		Me in my usual pose...snapping pics.

December 1, 2003

Early in the morning we were picked up by the panga for our trip to San Carlos. It was a zippy ride across the Bay and it surprised me how amazingly stable the pangas are. We arrived in town and wondered around checking out the local grocery stores and stocked up on a few items. The pickin's were slight though so when we came across some green peppers, we all got really excited...like finding a treasure or something! We also all bought huge prawns from a local for $10 /kilo!

When we got back to the boats, In the Mood had just dropped anchor and it was not long after that Twix arrived too.

We spent the evening just relaxing under a wonderful sunset.

December 2, 2003

Gord spent the day trying to fix the watermaker yet again. After taking it apart for the umpteenth time, it was evident that the watermaker was destined for its watery grave and would never run again. This is not good news as our water supply is low, we are in Mexico where, even if water was available, I'm not sure it's safe to drink!

Over the course of the next few days, everyone seemed to have repairs to do. Gord went up Reaction's mast to change a bulb and then went up our own mast to try and fix the connection for the VHF radio, which hasn't been working properly since the storm.

We enjoyed another beautiful sunset over the water and decided to set sail for Cabo San Lucas the next day.

PUNTA BELCHER

December 5

Reaction, Anjuli and ourselves stopped overnight down the bay at Punta Belcher, thinking that we could fish for halibut before our passage. However, we only caught a puffer fish which we released. We took the dinghies ashore and walked the miles of white sand laden with shells as well as some whale bones.

At 6:30 am we set sail with light winds and the promise of a hot sunny day. Carefully meandering through a mine field of lobster traps, we made our way out of the bay as graceful frigate birds circled the sky overhead.

We were disappointed not to see any whale sightings close up. The whales were very cautious, probably in self preservations as evidenced by the numerous sightings we had of old whaling stations along that part of the coast.

PHOTO ALBUM OF MEXICO

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