Author: Scott and Kathy Erwin, Sail the World

This is an awesome place down in Bahia Concepcion, Baja, but I must share a few realistic details. It’s so hot at 7am, we need to make ice cold coffee and cold hard boiled eggs. Mostly we rested in the shade, did no boat work, and just floated around in the water, which at the highest was 90 degrees. At 7pm, outside was 101 degrees, so we decided to dingy to an amazing rock island, covered with frigates and pelicans, to snorkel and dive at. Always new fish and sealife to see. A few hours later, we returned home for a back deck rinse off. The water in our tanks are the same temperature as the Sea, so imagine going from a swim in 88 to a shower in 88 to a shady cockpit in 93 degrees!! But, we are lucky tonight, there is a breeze- the objective is to stay wet and sit outside in the shade, in the wind. Of course this doesn’t last but 5 minutes and one feels like jumping in the salt water all over again (rinse, lather, repeat!)
Afterwards, I make some taco meat in the pressure cooker. (NO BAKING IN THIS HEAT) All fans are aimed at me in the galley, in my birthday suit, btw. Fun day though 😉

Have you ever swam in 89 degree water? Hmmm, refreshing…?! Why, yes it is. Believe it or not the water was just 67 degrees just a few days ago about 35 miles north of here. The Sea of Cortez is so deep in some areas that constant upwellings of water keep us on our toes and wetsuits ready when necessary (spearfishing for dinner).
We are now in Bahia de Conception. The other cruisers in this anchorage have us alerted to Whale Sharks in the Bay, stay tuned! We have seen just a few green turtles and a few dolphins down in Concepcion area.

One of our favorite anchorages, to date! Its called V Cove on Isla Carmen. This cove has the best of everything! The caves on both rock cliffs are such fun to snorkle into, I even spotted a colorful lobster yesterday.

Caves make for fun gargling sounds, the water rushes in and out, so loud that we can hear it from our boat, lulling us to sleep. These cliffs are 20-35 feet high and just as deep underwater. Makes for fun cliff jumping.

We have also awoken to dolphins coming to feed on the bait ball, typical in this cove, and a few others nearby. We have identified about 4 kinds of dolphins, but the most common, of course is the Common Bottlenose.

Note, there are no waves in the Sea of Cortez, so most anchorages are easy to dingy up onto the beaches.

We found a little brown pelican with fishing line wrapped around its beak, we lured it over with a little sardine and our friend Mike caught him. Another friend, Mark, cut off the tangle and set him free.

One of our favorite anchorages, to date! Its called V Cove on Isla Carmen. This cove has the best of everything! The caves on both rock cliffs are such fun to snorkle into, I even spotted a colorful lobster yesterday.

Caves make for fun gargling sounds, the water rushes in and out, so loud that we can hear it from our boat, lulling us to sleep. These cliffs are 20-35 feet high and just as deep underwater. Makes for fun cliff jumping.

We have also awoken to dolphins coming to feed on the bait ball, typical in this cove, and a few others nearby. We have identified about 4 kinds of dolphins, but the most common, of course is the Common Bottlenose.

Note, there are no waves in the Sea of Cortez, so most anchorages are easy to dingy up onto the beaches.

We found a little brown pelican with fishing line wrapped around its beak, we lured it over with a little sardine and our friend Mike caught him. Another friend, Mark, cut off the tangle and set him free.

Hanging with some friends we’ve gotten to know over the last year. Most we met in Ensenada last August but Nirvana we met in Bandaras Bay a few months ago. We are in V Cove (Refugio Cove) on the north side of Isla Carmen just east of Loreto, Baja. Funny new culture, we now associate with friends by their boat names instead of last names.
Left to right on the boats in the first picture.
Arkouda (Mark, Carli, Thad, Luca, Kai)
Reverence (Mike, Leah)
Sea Bella (Scott and Kathy)
Nirvana (Jodi, Jacop, Megan, Ren, Jace, Hailie)
Simplicity (Denton, Chrissy, Danika)

Super fun group and just a few of the boats that we are headed up into the Sea with.
Mike Otis Scott Leah Lukomske Otis Denton Bowers Earnhardt, Jodi Spear

Mobula Manta Rays!!! We were in Puerto Escondido and this school of Ray’s swam by Sea Bella. I jumped in the dinghy as was entertained for an hour watching them leap from the water. Back flips, front flips and tall leaps only to land with huge slaps.
Thousands under the boat! I thought they would jump right into the dinghy. These are plankton feeders.

Mobula Manta Rays!!! We were in Puerto Escondido and this school of Ray’s swam by Sea Bella. I jumped in the dinghy as was entertained for an hour watching them leap from the water. Back flips, front flips and tall leaps only to land with huge slaps.
Thousands under the boat! I thought they would jump right into the dinghy. These are plankton feeders.

The other night, 3 local young fishermen in an old Panga boat came to our boat to sell huge clams, $1 each, $20 pesos. So, I made my first clam chowder, with stock from a snapper Scott caught spearfishing and homemade sourdough bread. This made us a few yummy dinners. Finding little markets are a few weeks apart, so good planning and provisioning is very important.

The other night, 3 local young fishermen in an old Panga boat came to our boat to sell huge clams, $1 each, $20 pesos. So, I made my first clam chowder, with stock from a snapper Scott caught spearfishing and homemade sourdough bread. This made us a few yummy dinners. Finding little markets are a few weeks apart, so good planning and provisioning is very important.

While out of cellular range, below is a link to the tracker we use to record our path as we run around the Sea of Cortez for the next 5 months. We are hoping to get as far north as the Bahia de Los Angeles this summer. If anyone needs to get a hold of us, please contact one of our children or parents as they have our Iridium Sat phone number.
Cheers!

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_SeaBella/?mapMode=useGoogle&windSymbol=WindStreamlines&weatherSource=ECMWF