Sunrise on Wednesday, January 25

The wind was pretty much the same as it had been yesterday. One World called us on the radio and told us that he’d heard that if we went around to the reception desk and asked to eat, they’d open the restaurant for us. He offered to pick us up in his fast dinghy at 1100.

We approached the restaurant from the beach. It was closed. The gate next to the restaurant that led into the glamping compound was locked. We walked along the beach until we found an easement that we could use to get to the road. The front gate to the property was locked, and it was apparent nobody was there. Darn! Even though we hadn’t gotten food, we were all happy that we’d gotten off the boats and enjoyed some time walking around on dry land.

In the late afternoon, we had another get together at one of the boats. Eric, Keith and most of the kids played D&D while the adults visited. The crescent moon was in the west as the sun set below it.

Sunrise on Thursday

We met The Mob, Moin and One World onshore at 1000 for a hike up to the cross on the ridge above the nook at the northeast edge of the bay. We were told there was a goat trail that led up there, but we had no clue where to find the trail. We decided to walk up a small arroyo (ravine) that we could see behind the house that was under construction on the north end of the beach. The dog accompanied us again, and the dog led the way.

Thanks to the larger than normal rainfall this summer, the plants looked like they had flourished. Many branches extended over the arroyo. It has been a while since it last rained, and many of the plants were starting to die; a few were already dead. It seemed all the plants had big burrs or pricks on them and we had to be very careful not to accidentally touch or brush up against any of the plants. In this photo, the group was nearly to the top!

View of the nook and outer part of the main bay from the top. The cross was on the far side of the ridge above the catamarans.

The inner part of the main bay

We’d assumed that once we got to the top of the ridge, we’d be able to walk along the ridge to the cross. But when we got to the top, we saw that the ridge that separated the nook from the beach was not the same ridge that the cross was on. In order to get to the cross, we’d have to walk to a higher ridge and follow that ridge across. Up we went!

What looked like the ridge in the photo above wasn’t. When we got there, we saw that It kept going up.

The view of the bay from this spot was stunning

Here was the Sea of Cortez behind the ridge.

We finally made it to the top!

It was just as windy today as it had been the previous two days. Since we were on the protected side of the ridge, the wind hadn’t affected us much. When we got to the top of the higher ridge, we were exposed to the strong winds. We still had a ways to go to make it to the cross, and we realized that it probably wasn’t wise to walk along the ridge in such heavy winds. We took a break behind a cluster of rocks before we headed back down. Here was the view from the top

On the way down, Eric spotted a larger arroyo that had less plants and was easier to navigate.

We think that if we try this again, we’ll walk around to the salt flats and look for any trails that start from the road. Since the restaurant was still closed, we all went back to our respective boats for lunch. In the mid-afternoon, the kids got together on another boat to play board games. Here was the sunset