A Busy Month

Ken kicks back after a full day of sailing.

A few old relics.


The view of the salt flats thru the door of one of the abandoned old buildings. We found out Carmen Island is now privately owned and there is a hunting lodge(there are wild sheep on the island)located in the bay where the salt mine was located. The night we stayed in that bay they had clients coming so they politely asked us to leave...bummer.





Bob, in Windmill, had a good tack on the north end of Carmen Island.






Carl and I stand on a ridge on the island with Loreto far off in the distance.

Ken and Carl hiking the ridge at Balandra Bay on Carmen Island.

Jack and Katie enjoying a morning coffee at their camp at La Ventana.

Aurara showing off some of her goodies. She has a little coffee shop in La Paz where she sells her goodies...yum.

White pelicans in the mangrove channels near Poza Grande, could they be the same ones we saw up north this summer?

Our campsite at an abandoned fishing camp near Poza Grande, notice the nice carport we had for the bike?

This french couple travels the world doing shows on their boat. They do acrobatics on the rigging of their boat, I guess that is one way of getting your exercise.

This is the view of Juncalito beach, our rig is on the very far left.

Ken and I atop of the hill behind our beach, views of Sea of Cortez behind us.

Time has started to pick up the pace as Ken and I start the downhill slide into our departure date here in Juncalito. We have Baja remorse...Holy smoke we have already been here 5 months, we better get going on our Baja bucket list. I guess it happens to the best of us! Too much time kicking back planning all the things we wanted to do and not actually getting around to it until it is just about too late. Hence, the last month has been a busy one.

After retuning from our sailing trip to La Paz we turned right around , jumped on the V Strom and went back to La Paz for the annual pig roast at Mike and Hortensia's place in El Comiton. The event has gotten bigger every year since its inception four years ago. this year when our "little piggy"came from market, cooked in a pit and put on the table 11 hours later there where upwards on 60 people waiting with plates in hand. Dinner was done up potluck style with lots of salads, amazing desserts (made by Hortensia's sister, Aurara) and few ??? refreshments. By the time we meandered home it was close to the hour of midnight.

Also, on this quick trip we rode over to La Ventana, a small community 45 minutes south of La Paz, to visit with our friends Jack and Kate to watch them kite board. However, our arrival coincided with the only two this season with wind...no kiting! Instead wee focused on ping pong, comparing notes on our Baja winter checking out their newly acquired property and taking in an awesome blues benefit nite at a local restaurant. Once again, a good time was had by all. The rest of our stay in La Paz was spent visiting with friends we may not see for a few years as we start to make plans for our next adventure to Europe. Which reminds me a couple of weeks ago Ken and I acquired a new addition to our family, a 1998 gold and black Africa Twin motorcycle, with many thinks to our friends Heinz and Martina in Germany we will now have a bike ready and waiting for us when we get to Assendorf in May. Yeh! Let the planning begin.

First things first, we still have some things to do here in Baja! Returning from La Paz once again the Mosquito Fleet was off and sailing on a 3 day trip around Carmen Island. Windmill, Abby Normal and Ken, Carl and I on Blew had a great time with some great winds circumnavigating the 35 km long island. It was nice to see Carmen Island up close as we look at it every night during happy hour while the sun sets turning it beautiful shades of orange, red and yellow. Every day we did an average of 20nm, staying nights at an old salt mine and a few coves with beautiful sandy beaches. We returned to Puerto Escondito exhilarated and ready for anything.

As I said before, time isn't slowing down and we still had a fishing trip to the pacific planned so we unloaded the boats and reloaded our V Strom with camping gear, gave our fishing tackle and kayaks to Bob to take in his Jeep for us and off we all went to meet Rod at Poza Grande on the Pacific side of the Baja. About 1 1/2 hour ride from here Poza Grande is a great spot for fishing and kayaking in the mangroves. Even though we had a difficult time on the sandy roads in and out of our camping spot we really liked the area and would have liked to stay longer than our 3 days/2 nights, unfortunately a dentist in Loreto had appointments with our names on them for a little teeth cleaning. Yes, another thing to cross of our bucket list before we leave here.

There is a steady stream of rigs heading north now. People come and go daily from the beach on their migration north. The first of the regulars here on Juncalito beach, Wolf and Iris, left a few days ago and as they pulled away I immediately started planning my day so I could try and fit in everything I wanted to do before the sunset on Carmen Island.