Sunrise on Wednesday, December 7

This morning, the Oceananigans kids came over in the morning to play. It was a quick playdate, as both boats pulled up anchor and left at 1000. Kosmos was headed for Playa Pichilingue.

Just southwest of Ensenada del Calendero is a small island called Isla Ballena. Eric opted to navigate through the narrow pass between Isla Ballena and Espiritu Santo rather than go around Isla Ballena.

It was a nice day, mostly sunny with scattered clouds. For the most part, we had calm seas, though there was a point where we were in unprotected waters and experienced big swells. Fortunately, it didn’t last long.

We arrived in Playa Pichilingue at 12:45. Getting the boat situated after arriving into anchorages has become a routine, and we’re getting faster at the routine. Even though the anchorage was calm, Eric put down one of the flopper stopper because we knew there would be wakes from all the boat traffic that comes by here. 

We went to shore for lunch. It was a relatively low tide, so we tied the dinghy to the end of the dock and walked in. New moons and full moons bring bigger tide swings than in the mid-cycle. Last time we were here, it was the new moon. This time, it is the full moon, though the tide swings are not as extreme as the last time we were here.

We ate at the big restaurant (the one that the dock is in front of).

We’ll be honest… we didn’t love the food at either of the restaurants on the beach and both were pretty expensive. We knew there was another restaurant accessible by dinghy. You may have noticed in the background of some of the photos that we’ve posted of Playa Pichilingue in the past that there was a cluster of pink buildings near the ferry terminal. They were a specialty hotel called the Cantamar that catered specifically to divers. We took the dinghy over there to check out the hotel and its restaurant.

The hotel had a tiny marina for its own boats. We scooted in behind the docks and landed at the tiny shoreline in front of the hotel.

Here was the restaurant and pool.

There were nice views of the anchorage

In our first post about Playa Pichilingue, we’d mentioned that there was an island to the northwest of the anchorage. Here is a clearer photo of the edge of the anchorage and the island.

Here is a photo of the full moon rising as the sun was setting. Christi found it mesmerizing.

And another after it had completely cleared the hills.

It was another beautiful sunset. In order to watch the moon rise to the east and the sunset in the west, Christi had to run back and forth between the cockpit and the front deck. By the time it was over, she was worn out!