The birds were fantastic, there were herons, ibises, snowy egrets and birds of prey. We have seen the usual turkey vultures soaring about with their easily recognizable wing tips, then we spotted a bald eagle perched atop a cactus, magnificent. We marvel at the brown and white pelicans flying in formation around the boat keeping an eye out for the unwary fish. The fowl have me stumped though, I can spot the cormorants and some ducks, but there are little guys around that paddle about, unafraid, quite close to the boat. I want to get a good close look so I can find what they are in one of my bird books. I saw a white bird with bright pink plumage the other day. I thought it was an ibis that ate a lot of shrimp like the ones we saw in Trinidad. It was a long way away though and it’s bill looked quite weird. I think it was a roseate spoonbill, quite something to see.
We were preparing to cross the Sea of Cortez. They were forecasting a good 15-20 knot northwester to blow through, so we wanted to wait for it to appear. We took the boat into Guaymas for the afternoon and Barry went ashore and got fresh fruits and veggies.. We hauled up the anchor and got underway at 1700 hours. The crossing was 90 miles anchorage to anchorage and we didn’t want to worry about trying to get in during the daylight. It was a great sail after the first half hour. We were hard on the wind for the first little while and we were bashing into the waves. It was going to be a long night, but once we got out of the lee of the large cliffs we had been anchored behind the wind shifted and it was just forward of the beam and the motion eased and we were just flying. It was a cool sail but nothing went wrong and we even slowed down 15 miles out so we could have some light to approach land with.
We have been in Conception Bay before, 12 years ago, and although it is somewhat familiar it is good to get to know it again. Our good friends Janet and George Diveky were anchored in the bay waiting for us. How wonderful it was to be greeted by them when we arrived. They have given us the inside info on where to take our garbage, when the fruit and veggie lady comes and where to get the best internet. We are headed to their trawler for dinner tonight.
I am so happy to not have to go up and down the ladder every time I need to use the washroom. I smiled with pleasure at the thought the head was close by every time the urge came upon me during the last week. It is so wonderful to be afloat again. It is too bad a boat needs to be maintained so much! Barry was cursing it a few times in the past weeks swearing we should sell right now. Near the end of three weeks I was almost ready to agree.
We have no set plans for the winter. We are just going to mosey about in the Sea of Cortez, exploring new anchorages and getting reacquainted with old favourites. My brother is going to return with his wife and spend about a week on the boat just gunk holing about. The freedom of not having an agenda appeals to us.
The internet is really slow here so I have taken out the pictures, sorry.
