La Paz and Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida

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Once in La Paz, another stock up of food, booze, fuel and water was in order. The evening we arrived, we decided a night out at the best taco stand in all of Mexico was in order. To “Rancho Viejo” we went, and disappointed, we were not! If there was any whammy to the evening, it was the fact that I was SO hungry, having not eaten anything since that mornings’ breakfast. By the time we left, I was SO full, my insides were about to explode.
The next morning, we awoke bright and early to go get our grocery shopping taken care of, fill up the remaining fuel cans, and get out of La Paz and continue our journey north. Hoping to sail out of the Mogote, I raised one mainsail, and hoisted the new-to-me spinnaker that Dave from Lightspeed had procured for me while he was in La Paz earlier in the year. It took all of about 15 seconds to realize that the heading Cat2Fold was facing while at anchor was due to tidal current rather than any apparent wind. With the spinnaker billowing backwards, wrapping itself around the mast it was on, we started drifting backward towards other boats anchored nearby. I quickly got a motor fired up, and lowered the troubled sail. For the rest of the day, there was nary a breathe of wind to be found. Bahia de La Paz was as smooth as glass all day and we ended up motoring the entire way to the northern most anchorage of Isla Partida.
Isla Partida and Isla Espirtu Santo, which are virtually connected, are the most amazing places I have ever been in my entire life. John Steinbeck spent many years here, writing about the beautiful diversity of life found nowhere else on earth, and it would be an understatement to say that I can see why he did. The crystal clear waters, teeming with life, contrasted with the red, green, and grey volcanic arroyos that give these islands more secluded anchorages than almost all the rest of Baja Sur, cannot be found anywhere else on earth. Although Deidre and I spent a lot of time here back in November and December of 2011, with and without my kids Beo and Georgie, we had absolutely no hesitation about anchoring here yet again, to indulge in the secluded splendor these islands have to offer. After witnessing a sunset that trumped any other sunset seen by this humbled human, Deidre and I settled in for a night of less than perfect sleep caused by a weather disturbance that was moving in towards Baja from far out in the mighty Pacific.