Cruise Log #31, Out of La Paz, for Real

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Diving at San Marte on the way to Loreto Fest

Updated 17 May, 2006.

SolMate leaves La Paz, our winter port, and heads back north for another summer in the Sea.

If you followed SolMate last summer, you might remember Jay and Janice on Ceilidh. The Ceilidh crew spent most of this April anchored at San Marte. "Hm," we thought, "There must be something very interesting in San Marte to hold their attention that long." We were compelled to investigate.

Looking north into the San Marte anchorage
from the saddle between San Marte and La Ballena.

We did investigate, but first we stopped at four other anchorages on our leisurely northward ramble, including a couple of nights just south and around the corner from San Marte at La Ballena. From there we climbed the saddle in between the two anchorages, a vantage point where we scoped out San Marte, saw that there was all kinds of room (we don't like to crowd) and, bonus! we saw that our friends on Spirit Quest were also anchored there, right next to Ceilidh (SQ is the big white blob on the right side of the picture, Ceilidh is the blue boat to the left of them - squint hard and use your imagination).

Rounding the corner, we discovered what the big draw in San Marte was. It was all about the diving. A large reef stretches out to sea from Punta San Marte (the hump in front of Spirit Quest) for hundreds of yards, and shallows up nicely with steep inclines on all sides, providing a nice environment for a wide variety of sea life.

Stan blowing bubbles.

For the month they were in San Marte, Jay and Janice dived on the reef just about every day. They became welcome reef residents - Janice befriended an eel by providing a tasty offering of rock scallop every time she visited his (her?) hidey-hole. It wasn't long before the eel was trained. Janice meant food and each time she arrived, Mr. Eel (a Jewel Moray to be more precise) popped out of his hole to partake of a tasty treat.

Janice's buddy waiting for a treat - then sliding back into his hidey-hole.

Running into Doug and Kathy on Spirit Quest was a special treat because they had been out of touch, off working in the US, for the past nine months. They, too, are avid divers, and more adventurous than most. They spend a good portion of each winter diving way out in the Pacific around the tiny Socorro Islands, cavorting with fin whales and giant manta rays. Their videos of their tiny selves swimming alongside giant whales that could launch them skyward with a flick of their tails, and hanging onto manta ray taxi cabs, being chauffeured around the open ocean, are equal to any Jacques Cousteau documentary.

Doug's goal at San Marte was to spear a yellowtail - and he did! His catch measured 36 inches and was full of fight. When they surfaced with the fish, Kathy tried to hold it alongside the dinghy while Doug climbed aboard - only the fish wasn't thrilled with that plan. That big ole yellowtail started hightailing it out to open water, with Kathy clamped onto the spear. Afraid of losing fish and spear, she yelled for Doug's help, and with a little tricky maneuvering, they were both able to wrestled the big guy into the dinghy.

Kathy helping Doug heave a yellowtail
aboard as Stan watches from our dinghy.

Doug and Kathy then invited SolMate, Ceilidh and Orea (Dave and Karen, also divers) to Spirit Quest for a yellowtail feast. Seared to perfection on the grill, melt-in-your-mouth is trite, but it's the only way to describe that delicious fish.

Hikes, dives, fish feasts and beach fires filled our San Marte days. Unfortunately, the relaxed, slow-moving ambiance of the cove, in company with special friends, had to end. We all had commitments at Loreto Fest and the San Marte party broke up.

The official Loreto Fest portrait.

One of our commitments was to reunite with Shea La Vie. By the time we arrive in Puerto Escondido, Ron had already lined us up for a ride on a race boat in the Loreto Fest Candlestick Regatta. The boat, Ohana, was a very civilized Beneteau 45.7, equipped with all the conveniences of modern cruising, making for minimal work for a race crew. And not only was the boat civilized, so was the crew and so was the weather.

Dennis, Ohana's owner, had never raced, but Ron convinced him to enter the regatta, and then convinced Stan, Dan from Quetzal, and me to crew (Ron passed us off as experienced racers - Dennis seemed thrilled to have us!). Turned out that the crew combination was perfect, just enough to sail the boat without tripping over each other and enough willing hands so that everyone could also relax and enjoy the ride...which we did.

Dennis' wife, Pam, their two kids and guest, Lynne, suddenly homeless, transferred their kayaks, dinghy and themselves over to Shea La Vie. While we five crack racers sailed away in their house, Dennis' family joined Ron's daughter, Marina, on a roomy catamaran tailor-made for kids and rollicking water games.

Meanwhile, the Ohana race crew was having a rollicking good time of our own. With two simple goals, to have fun and to go fast if we could, we were pretty laid back and low-key. The weather mostly cooperated and racing conditions were mostly perfect, 0 to 15 knot winds plus no appreciable seas. We had a very comfortable race, exceeding eight knots at times with little crew effort...Dennis steering and Ron trimming the gennaker. Ohana romped across the finish line in third place.

The Candlestick Regatta set the tone for the whole festival...they were both fun and went fast.