Santa Rosalia - Blog update via SSB

This entry is a test to see if I have figured out how to update my blog using our ham radio. Up to now I have only been able to post a new entry when we have internet but I think I have figured out a way to post while we are out of internet access. I can only post short messages and no pictures but it's better than nothing. We're still in Santa Rosalia and plan to be here at least another week.

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7/19/2010 La Paz to Santa Rosalia

We’re in the little town of Santa Rosalia, about ½ of the way up the Sea of Cortez on the Baja side. This is the first marina and the first wifi signal we’ve had since we left La Paz about a month ago. Here’s what we have been doing since then:

After leaving La Paz we island hopped up the same path we had taken last December, though before it was cold and rainy but now it’s hot and muggy! We didn’t spend too much time in any one place since we had heard that there was a big 4th of July party up in Conception bay. There are lots of small fish camps in most of the anchorages, though for the most part we stayed on the boat.

Tom is working on learning how to fish and coming up the coast we caught something:

We finally got it on board (not easy to do since our deck is about 5’ off the water). We had no idea what it was but it looks good:


Following directions in a book, we filleted it and had fish for dinner, but it wasn’t very good and we thought that we had not bled/filleted it correctly :-( Later though we described the fish to another cruiser who told us we had caught a “Skip Jack”, he confirmed that they’re not very good for eating and the only thing he uses them for if he catches them is bait or for his dogs. If we catch another Skip Jack we’ll let it go.

We saw lots of marine life; huge pods of dolphins and many jumping rays. One afternoon in Isla Coronado the jumping rays were so thick that it looked like the ray olympics! There would be the 500 meter dash with 20-30 rays jumping and racing ½ way around the anchorage. Then a few minutes later there would be an aerial display with rays leaping and flipping only a few boat lengths away from us. I saw numerous 360’s and a few double flips. When a ray jumps and flops back into the water it sounds a little like popcorn popping. At times in the anchorage it sounded like a whole bag of popcorn being popped. They’re not easy to capture on film though, they’ll be popping up all over the place but as soon as I get the camera focused, none would jump until I set the camera down then they would start popping out again. I got mainly splashes and a few blurry pics but couldn’t quite capture how many there were or how much they would jump and flip:

We spent a few days at Isla Coronado, snorkeling and dingying around. This is a dramatic and forbidding volcanic island, though the anchorage is well protected.

Also at Isla Coronado we took a hike up the hill. Initially the trail was pretty level and led through the sandy brush. Eventually though the trail led up the side of the hill and consisted of medium volcanic rocks perfect for tripping over or turning an ankle.

The only way to know you were on the trail were periodic “cairns” of 3-4 rocks piled on top of each other.

It was a hard hike but the views from ½ way up the hill were good (I didn’t make it all the way up):

On our way into Conception we saw a whale shark! It was early in the morning so it was hard to get a decent picture since the sun was reflecting off the water. He was about 12 feet long (a little one) and we didn’t want to bother him too much. The whale shark is the largest fish and can grow up to 46 feet long. The name “shark” is a bit of a misnomer as they eat only plankton.

We showed up in Bahia El Burro a week early for the party so got our choice of spots. When we got in there were only 5 other boats in the anchorage but at the height of the party there were 35!

One morning we decided to hike to the top of the hill overlooking the anchorage. From our boat the trail looked obvious and while steep and rugged, not too bad:


Once on the hill though the trail wasn’t so obvious and much of it was a scramble up rocks more suited to goats! The cruisers guide calls this hike “strenuous”, they weren’t joking. There was little shade on the trail for rests but we made do with any little bush we could find:

We finally made it to the top of the hill (felt more like a mountain) and the views were spectacular!

The day before the party a group of us went on a desert tour with Salvador, a wonderful local guide. We would periodically stop and Salvador would talk about the local history and medicinal uses for the desert plants.

We also visited a river bed where there were lots of petroglyphs (symbols and animals carved into rocks). Archeologists estimate these were done around 1100 B.C.

Coyote:

Rays:

We also visited some cave paintings (Pictographs). Our guide claimed that the oldest paintings have been carbon dated to 14,000 B.C., but I’m not sure I really believe they’re that old. The hike was nice though especially since we had to swim through a cool refreshing pool to get to the cave :-)

The party on the 4th was great; it’s interesting to meet many of the cruisers we had been talking to over the radio for the last few months. Sorry but no pictures, I was having too much fun to bother with the camera.

After the party we slowly made our way north to Santa Rosalia. Santa Rosalia is a played out Copper mining town established by the French in the 1860’s. Most of the town is built of wood instead of stucco and has a much different “feel” to it. It is well laid out with sidewalks and street signs and many corners even have painted handicap ramps (very rare for Baja). On at least one of the ramps though they didn’t quite get the concept of a wheel chair ramp :-)

There are many reminders of the town’s mining past:

Santa Rosalia is also known for the Iglesia Santa Barbara church, designed by the architect Gustave Eiffel, creator of the Paris Eiffel Tower. Eiffel originally constructed this church in France in 1887; it was intended as a prototype for missionary churches built to withstand the climate in France’s equatorial colonies. Two years later it was exhibited in Paris, together with the Eiffel Tower, at the 1889 Paris World Exposition. Eiffel took first prize for the church’s modular, tropics-proof design.

When a French official later heard the church had been warehoused in Brussels, he purchased it and had it shipped in sections to Santa Rosalia, where it was reassembled in 1897.

Opposite the church is a “world famous” hot dog stand; Chuyitas, featuring bacon wrapped hot dogs on a soft bun with the works. Almost all the cruisers show up there every few nights for their dog fix
It’s been hot and muggy so we try to spend the hottest part of the day lounging in the pool and meeting new folks.

We’re not sure how long we’ll be here, we have three months of hurricane season to kill up here and we like the town so we’re not in a big hurry to leave, though we wouldn’t want to ride out a hurricane on these docks.

When we do leave though we’ll probably be out of internet access for quite a while.
Cheers,

Carolynn & Tom