We left Agua Verde very early in the morning, while it was still dark, as we had a 45 mile sail south to San Evaristo. It's a quaint little fishing village with good north protection. We watched the sunrise and had a visit from a pod of dolphins.
We spent a couple days/nights in San Evaristo and had some tasty fish tacos at Lupe and Maggi's beach restaurant before moving on to Espiritu Santos. We spent quite a bit of time at this island last year, so it was nice to be coming back.
As we were sailing towards Espiritu, Doug and I talked about how familiar it felt coming back to this area, it felt like we were coming home after a 6 month vacation. We are continually moving and don't have a home port, so this area feels more like home than any other place, as we based out of here for 4.5 months prior to sailing north to San Carlos.
At Espiritu Santos, we were lucky enough to drop our anchor at our favorite spot; El Mezteño. We stayed for a few days enjoying the crystal clear water and white sand beach. From here we weren't quite ready to head into La Paz, so we made our way to Bahia Falso. This anchorage is on the outskirts of La Paz, where we can get internet and there is also has a small beach restaurant. After a few days we moved to the Bahia de La Paz.
The bahia has more boats anchored than we have ever seen before and all the marinas in the area are full. Many boats have traveled south from the US in the past few months and many people have returned to their boats for the first time since COVID. We found a nice place to anchor, a bit further away from land than we had hoped, but we had ample room to swing without getting close to other boats. It was nice to be back into full blown civilization again as we needed to get some boat parts ordered and coordinate some deliveries. Marina de La Paz provides a dinghy dock for boats anchored in the bay. The cost is $1.50/day which provides us with a safe place to tie up our dinghy when we go to shore, and the fee also includes water and trash disposal.
Before arriving to La Paz, we contacted our friends Barbara and Johan, to tell them we were returning to the area. The timing was impeccable as it ended up that they had recently moved and were having a house warming party along with a 75th birthday celebration for Johan. They invited us to attend and it was a wonderful evening filled with amazing food, music, and catching up.
The following evening we were invited to a Christmas Eve dinner with Quyen and Sean on SV Faith. It was very nice to spend Christmas Eve with friends!! The following day, we zoomed with our families for Christmas and then made a couple holiday meals on Karuna.
We have officially been in Mexico for a year and we are grateful for the places we have sailed, the people we have met, and the culture we have experienced. 2021 has been good to us and we look forward to seeing what 2022 brings!
Next up, we go to Loreto to bring in the New Year with friends and take a quick trip to Todos Santos for some mountain biking.