Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Second Trip to Santa Rosalia, Day 4

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Monday, October 3 was a TLC for Kosmos day. Eric started the day by changing the generator impeller. Then he put away all the tools from oil change and impeller change projects, and stowed extra oil containers (Santa Rosalia doesn’t have any place to dispose of used oil). Christi and Keith started washing the boat as soon as the water was turned on. However, it was already hot, and they ran out of energy halfway through.

The last time we were in Santa Rosalia, we mentioned that our dive compressor was broken. At that point in time, we’d had about a tank and a half of air onboard, and Christi had continued to used it to clean the bottom until we ran out of air, which was a few days before the hurricane. Since Christi hadn’t been able to do the bottom in almost a month, we made arrangements through the marina to hire someone to do it. He came today.

We also got the bottled water issue straightened out. It was a simple miscommunication. Normally, the deliver the water, we dump it in the tanks right then, and they take the empty bottles back. The higher number was because they thought we wanted to keep the bottles.

The next thing on the to-do list was to walk to a store that sold oxygen to see if they could fill our SCUBA tanks. The shop was on Highway 1, not far past AutoZone. Unfortunately, they couldn’t help us, and told us there was no one in town that could.

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La Village de Bahia Los Angeles to Puerto Don Juan to Santa Rosalia

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Sunrise on Tuesday, September 27

We made two trips to shore. In the morning, we went to the grocery store run for perishables. In the afternoon, we had lunch at the motel restaurant. We haven’t been writing about the food lately because we generally only write about new foods to us. Living in San Diego, Mexican food is the staple of our diet, so we haven’t run across many foods that are new to us. But this time, there was something on the menu that we didn’t recognize: arrachera. Eric ordered it and found out that it was a marinated steak. The other items on his plate are a chili relleno (poblano chili stuffed with cheese, dipped in an egg batter and deep fried), rice and refried beans.

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Bahia de Las Rocas to La Village de Bahia de Los Angeles

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Sunday September 25 continued… As we were nearing an island called Isla Coronado (AKA Isla Smith), we saw on AIS that one of our friends was in one of the anchorages on that island called Bahia Las Rocas. We quickly checked the cruising guide and saw that the anchorage would be suitable both for the current winds and for the forecasted winds. We called our friends and asked about the flying bug situation and if there was enough space for us. Our friends reported no bugs and enough space. We were sold!

When we turned the corner and the anchorage came into view, we saw there was a second boat in the anchorage that didn’t have AIS on. They were anchored exactly where we’d wanted to go. We pulled in and dropped anchor in a spot that made us a little nervous. We were only a few hundred feet from the rock in front of us (picture 1), the shore behind us (picture 2), and the boat next to us (picture 3). 

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Puerto Refugio Day 2

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Blog Q: Do you worry about boat thieves?

A: It is difficult to steal a larger boat, like ours. We’d report it to the authorities and it’d be found pretty quickly. 

That said, dinghy theft is a little more of a concern. Dinghies that are fast with big motors have appeal to thieves, but even that kind of theft is rare. We have a slow dinghy with an electric motor, so no one wants our dinghy/motor. 

The biggest concern is people stealing things off of the boats. As far as we know, all the places that we’ve stopped are safe. It was explained that because this part of Baja is off the trafficking routes, there is nothing to attract criminals. There are reports of theft being an issue in some other areas, such as Guayamas, but we don’t plan to go to those places. 

On Wednesday morning (September 21), it was a bit rolly when we woke up. Eric put out the paravanes, which helped. While Eric was working on the paravanes, the family, on s/v Auryn, called on the radio and invited us to go for a hike onshore with them. Here was the view from the shore.

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Bahia de Los Angeles Village to Puerto Refugio on Isla Angel de la Guarda

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Blog Q: It’s kind of like a never ending party—with some boat repairs and a hurricane thrown in! How you figure out which boats have cool people to visit and which have the solitary pirate to avoid?  

A: We think this year has been more social than most. Because of the hurricane, the cruisers were forced to congregate together in Bahia de Los Angeles when we’d normally be spread out. Everyone was eager to talk to one another in order to get feedback and advice on how to prepare, and more importantly, so that there was a friendship established with people who could help you if you needed it. 

It also helped that a woman on one of the boats is a social coordinator by nature. She coordinated the majority of the cruiser social events, made fantastic food to share, etc. She is truly amazing and it wouldn’t be a non-stop party without her. 

Finally, the lack of bugs in the Bahia de Los Angeles area lent itself to the socializing. It’s a lot harder to get together when you are being eaten alive by bugs that bite/sting.

That said, when people are not feeling social, they simply ignore the announcements on the radio that a party has been planned. We actually did that on Sunday (the 18th), when we went to The Village. The rest of the fleet had gone to La Mona for another party, but at that moment in time, we were craving civilization. 

Here is the sunrise on Tuesday, September 20

Not long after we woke up, we left for Puerto Refugio, which is an anchorage on the northern part of Isla Angel de la Guarda. It will be the northernmost point of our Baja adventure. 

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