Day three

After a wonderful night's sleep we are awakened again by sunlight streaming in the portholes.  I mention to the captain that we will need tiny round covers for the portholes, maybe something like a dark shower cap, so that the person who is off watch on longer cruises can sleep during the day.  I envision my mother's flowered shower cap which also served to cover "pin curls" on occasion and I can't help but giggle.

Milagro at anchor

We get up this morning with bigger appetites and I fix bacon (regular for him and soy for me), eggs, toast and sliced tomatoes along with the coffee and one of Buddi's favorites, pineapple juice. This day we decide to complete our morning duties as quickly as possible as the winds are light and we want to get our dinghy ride in before the weather changes.  About an hour later we are lowering the dinghy and taking off for our starting point, the mouth of the cove.  The first thing we see is a very rustic fishing camp on the north side of the mouth with shacks and tents and pangas and a few locals wandering about.

Birds and rocks on the north side

As we pass the inlet the wind whips up again, but calms right down as we reach the southern shore.  In the dinghy we can travel very close to the edge and we see the bottom clearly although it may be twenty or more feet below us.  As we pass over rocks and ledges we see all kinds of fish: large and small, colorful striped zebra fish, pencil fish and even beautiful black angel fish, bigger than dinner plates and sporting bright blue and yellow stripes.
 The mountains often rise straight up from the ocean floor and although I thought I saw easy hiking trails when viewed from the north side, I now realize I would need climbing gear to manage these "trails." And although they appeared to be barren from a distance, scrub bushes and cactus abound.

A larger fishing camp on the east side of the cove

We putter along looking at all of the sea life and viewing the mountains up close until we reach the eastern end of the cove.  Again, from a distance it appeared that there was a small berm and the Sea of Cortez was just over that berm. We tied up to a mooring buoy, got out and waded through the shallow waters only to find that it was quite some distance to the other side. So, passing another, larger, fishing camp we climbed a small sand dune, then went down the other side where a wide shallow lagoon lay between us and another, much rockier hill. Climbing to the top of that was well worth the effort as the Sea of Cortez spread out before us.  I have never seen a more beautiful shade of water; the closest thing to it would be a natural sapphire.

We had seen another dinghy pull up as we were climbing the dune but they didn't stay; I wanted to tell them to come on, there's so much to see.

The Sea of Cortez,...sapphire blue

We reversed our steps and waded out to the boat.  The wind was picking up a little as we headed back to Milagro.  My intention was to lower my kayak and paddle to the sandy beach on the north side, then get out and explore on foot.  But by the time we reached the boat the wind was pretty strong and I decided not to fight it.  If someone had trouble the day before using an engine I thought my paddling skill  and strength might not suffice. We had some difficulty winching the dinghy back up (practice makes perfect) so it was mid afternoon before we finally settled in and decided to take a siesta. One of the most difficult aspects of retirement has been learning to relax. We don't get too many siestas but it sure is nice to know we can if we want.
We just relaxed and enjoyed dinner and the rest of the evening.  We had decided to lift anchor fairly early the next morning so we could make it to Los Islotes which is north of Partida and then back to the marina before dark.  We knew we were still facing a potential problem with the engine and didn't care to be bobbing around in the sea if there wasn't enough wind to sail.  So early to bed and a good night's sleep despite some heavy winds.