Yosemite National Park – Day 1

We left San Diego on Saturday, July 22 and made the 7.5 hour drive northeast to an AirBnB in Raymond, CA. We met up with our friends, Greg and Heath, there.

On Sunday, we were up at dawn and out the door by 0700. We skipped breakfast, deciding to eat in the park. It took about an hour to get from the AirBnB to the south entrance (on route 41) of Yosemite National Park. We had to waiting in line a little over a half hour, and we were inside the park by 0830. 

Our first stop was Mariposa Grove, where there was a cluster of redwood trees (AKA Sequoia trees). The parking lot for Mariposa Grove was just beyond the park entrance. From the parking lot, a shuttle bus took visitors up to the hiking trails around the redwood trees. The trail we chose had a noticeable incline, but the trail was graded well, so it wasn’t particularly steep.

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Ensenada, Days 3 and 4 — The New Science Museum and Back to the New Malecon

Friday, March 3 was a chore day for us. Here was the sunset.

On Saturday, March 4, we went to breakfast at our second favorite restaurant, Los Veleros. It is cheerfully decorated with bright, colorful paintings of sailboats. It was also packed. One of the reasons Los Veleros was so popular for breakfast was because they dropped off a tray of pastries at the table (the pastries weren’t included in the meal price, but you only paid for them if you ate them), and a quesadilla appetizer was included with the meals. We went there specifically to get the flaming fruit desserts, but we had forgotten that they don’t offer them at breakfast time.

After eating, we walked next door to the new science museum. It was a large building, and there was scaffolding up and construction workers outside working on the building, so it clearly was not completely done yet. Admission was about $3.50 USD.

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Second Trip to Marina Costa Baja, Days 15 – 16 — The Archaeology Museum

On Monday, February 13, the half-full moon rose not long before the sun did, and was shining brightly in the pre-dawn glow.

We tried to catch the 1310 shuttle to town. We left Kosmos at 1302. We got to marina gate at 1305, which requires a card key to get both in and out. There were people walking out ahead of us. They used their card key to open the door. They held the door open for us to exit, but Eric realized that he’d forgotten our card key. He sprinted down the dock while Christi and Keith waited inside the gate for him. He was back at 1307. The card key didn’t work. A marina employee happened to be standing on the other side of the gate. He tried to open the gate for us, but his card didn’t work, either. He proclaimed the door was broken. He walked to a utility box a little ways down the boardwalk, looked at it for maybe a minute, then turned the gate off. He waved to us to indicate that it could be opened without a key card. It now was 1312.

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Second Trip to Marina Costa Baja, Day 14 — Food and Art

Sunrise on Sunday, February 12

We were craving Italian food. We took the 1310 shuttle into town to get some. The shuttle was about 12 minutes late (relevant for Monday’s story). 

Someone had recommended a place called Locos Por la pasta (Crazy for Pasta), located across the street from the north side of the art museum.

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San Evaristo to Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose

Sunrise on Friday, January 27

We were pleased to see that the wind had calmed down significantly. However, it still at about 16-knots sustained, so it was still windy. 

The four boats had all agreed to go to Punta Salinas (also called San Ysidro) on the southwest side of Isla San Jose this morning. According to the cruising guide, there were ruins of an old salt mining operation that sounded interesting. We’d wanted to go there before, but we’d heard that bitey bugs were a big problem there. Now that bitey bug season was over, it was the ideal time to go.

Since it was only a 45-minute ride, in the morning, we took our time getting ready to go. We were last ones to leave. The ride over was uneventful. It was 56-degrees Fahrenheit (13-degrees Celsius), the sun was totally blocked by dark clouds, and the wind was bitter cold. Christi was freezing as we anchored, even in a heavy jacket. The first shot is looking northwest, at the tip of the point that protects this anchorage. In the distance is Baja. San Evaristo is just north of what you can see of Baja in the photo.

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