(note: my photos aren't uploading right now...update...I was able to add them above on September 12th).
After celebrating Peter’s 54th birthday in San Carlos and getting fully provisioned for 6 weeks, we up anchored and set our sails northward to unexplored territory for us. The next 5 days we visited remote anchorages where we didn’t see any other boats. We love these “swim naked” spots and Peter thrives on going days on end without having to put on any clothes.
The claim to fame at the island of San Estaban is being the home of a special kind of lizard called a Chuckwillie, which we were able to spot during our hike onshore. During these decadently relaxing days, we put up the other new SunShade that Doug brought down with him…so now we have total sun coverage from bow to stern.
While on San Estaban, we got the dreaded “call home ASAP” email from Kylie, so we up anchored before dawn and motored for 10 hours to get to The Bay of L.A., which is the closest village, where we dinghied in, and walked to the store where we were able to use their satellite to connect to Skype to phone her. We were very relieved to find that it was just a cash flow problem due to tuition being due and an unexpected brake job on the car.
The trip over was exciting as we went through a huge pod of Fin Whales, plus we were escorted on two different occasions by a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins. It was a day out of a National Geographic magazine!
WHALE SHARKS…..yahoo, yahoo!!!!!!
The Bay of L.A. is a popular summer spot for cruisers as it offers an unlimited amount of anchorages within easy sailing distance to the best hurricane hole in the Northern Sea. We spent a few nights anchored off the village where we were able to re-provision, go out for a few great meals and meet some of the cruisers that we’ve only talked to on the radio. The great attraction is also the elusive Whale Sharks that are resident here in the summer months. We heard one of our fellow cruisers announce that they had seen them yesterday, so we quickly moved to the Southern Bay in hot pursuit... The first day we didn’t have any luck, but had a nice walk on the beach and a dinghy ride in the marsh. The following morning, we got a call on the radio from our new friends, Jay and Janice from a neighbouring boat saying that they had spotted one, so we dropped what we were doing and headed over in QuickStar.
As fast as we could, we anchored and jumped in the dinghy to join them. Within minutes we were in the water with our snorkel gear, swimming with this mammoth Whale Shark. Ironically, it was only a baby at about 15 feet! We spent about an hour in and out of the water with this gentle giant and when it swam away we headed back to the boat. I stayed on “Whale Shark” sighting duty from the boat, and was well rewarded just an hour later when another Whale Shark (20 feet) swam all around the boat. It was incredible. Shortly afterwards, another Whale Shark came swimming by to say hello so Peter jumped off the boat and got back in with it. Just too exciting for words!!!! We spent the rest of that afternoon onshore at Jay and Janis’s palapa, with our other new friends, Jim and Susan from Windward Bound.
Peter has volunteered to be a Ham Radio net controller, which basically means he is the host of one of the evening broadcasts for the cruising community. It is a vital service, especially since we have a weather expert on each evening, which is important during this hurricane season. There is currently a Tropical Storm “Lowell” that is expected to make landfall tonight – although we are out of its’ path. According to this expert, and historical data, we are still anticipating another five named storms before the end of October
I’m able to update this blog from the internet café, which is also the local gathering place for the cruisers in this area, so this is taking longer than normal with all the socializing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
We will be heading out to the boonies again tomorrow…..
Until next time…do something that scares you.
The claim to fame at the island of San Estaban is being the home of a special kind of lizard called a Chuckwillie, which we were able to spot during our hike onshore. During these decadently relaxing days, we put up the other new SunShade that Doug brought down with him…so now we have total sun coverage from bow to stern.
While on San Estaban, we got the dreaded “call home ASAP” email from Kylie, so we up anchored before dawn and motored for 10 hours to get to The Bay of L.A., which is the closest village, where we dinghied in, and walked to the store where we were able to use their satellite to connect to Skype to phone her. We were very relieved to find that it was just a cash flow problem due to tuition being due and an unexpected brake job on the car.
The trip over was exciting as we went through a huge pod of Fin Whales, plus we were escorted on two different occasions by a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins. It was a day out of a National Geographic magazine!
WHALE SHARKS…..yahoo, yahoo!!!!!!
The Bay of L.A. is a popular summer spot for cruisers as it offers an unlimited amount of anchorages within easy sailing distance to the best hurricane hole in the Northern Sea. We spent a few nights anchored off the village where we were able to re-provision, go out for a few great meals and meet some of the cruisers that we’ve only talked to on the radio. The great attraction is also the elusive Whale Sharks that are resident here in the summer months. We heard one of our fellow cruisers announce that they had seen them yesterday, so we quickly moved to the Southern Bay in hot pursuit... The first day we didn’t have any luck, but had a nice walk on the beach and a dinghy ride in the marsh. The following morning, we got a call on the radio from our new friends, Jay and Janice from a neighbouring boat saying that they had spotted one, so we dropped what we were doing and headed over in QuickStar.
As fast as we could, we anchored and jumped in the dinghy to join them. Within minutes we were in the water with our snorkel gear, swimming with this mammoth Whale Shark. Ironically, it was only a baby at about 15 feet! We spent about an hour in and out of the water with this gentle giant and when it swam away we headed back to the boat. I stayed on “Whale Shark” sighting duty from the boat, and was well rewarded just an hour later when another Whale Shark (20 feet) swam all around the boat. It was incredible. Shortly afterwards, another Whale Shark came swimming by to say hello so Peter jumped off the boat and got back in with it. Just too exciting for words!!!! We spent the rest of that afternoon onshore at Jay and Janis’s palapa, with our other new friends, Jim and Susan from Windward Bound.
Peter has volunteered to be a Ham Radio net controller, which basically means he is the host of one of the evening broadcasts for the cruising community. It is a vital service, especially since we have a weather expert on each evening, which is important during this hurricane season. There is currently a Tropical Storm “Lowell” that is expected to make landfall tonight – although we are out of its’ path. According to this expert, and historical data, we are still anticipating another five named storms before the end of October
I’m able to update this blog from the internet café, which is also the local gathering place for the cruisers in this area, so this is taking longer than normal with all the socializing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
We will be heading out to the boonies again tomorrow…..
Until next time…do something that scares you.
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