SWELLS

While at Ensenada Blanca we shared the cost of a rental car with Steve and Lulu and went to La Paz. We bought supplies and saw the Doctor about getting rid of my warts and having x-rays taken of my elbow and lung. It turns out that my elbow was misdiagnosed in Loreto as tennis elbow. The x-rays showed it to be a lack of calcium in the bone. The nodule in my lung is about the same size as it has been for the past eight years, that’s good I guess. The wart issue is turning out to not only be a pain in the ass, but quite expensive. The Doctors are very inexpensive, but two brothers have a monopoly on the drugs and they are outrageously pricey. We made the trip in one day and it was very exhausting. The road is not the best, with horrendous speed bumps and very poorly marked bad curves on some sections.

While there we made a few repairs on the boat and fished a bit. After a few days we were informed of pending large waves coming from the North. Since we would be on a lee shore the decision was made to move to a more protected anchorage. Most of the other boats headed for the overpriced Puerto Escondido harbor, but we opted for a beautiful protected anchorage with clear turquoise water and great fishing. Did I mention it is also free? The water here is so clean it is amazing. Our water maker is working again and yesterday I was amazed that it made over 55 gallons of fresh water in a little over three hours. I didn’t think that much was possible in this warm of water. It is rated at over 20 gallons an hour, but that is an incredible amount of water to produce. Cruisers have suggested we get a new updated one, I think not! Okay back to our anchorage here at Puerto Ballandra. Our new friend Jack followed us over to this beautiful bay in his boat. I won’t mention its name, due to his displeasure in its connotation. He plans in changing it asap. On the way over two huge pods of Dolphins greeted us and frolicked about the boats most of the way to our intended anchorage. Of course as soon as I informed Judy the Dolphin people (as she calls them) were here, she was out to the bow to greet them. She truly loves these creatures, waving and yelling greetings to them as long as they are around. They seem to enjoy the attention and give us quite a show with their bursting from the sea to heights exceeding ten feet. A lot of the Dolphins had young swimming in unison with them. They were a pleasure to watch.

SHOWING OFF

Once we were anchored and secure, we had Jack over for dinner and made arrangements to go fishing in the morning. The next morning Jack and I took our respective dinghies out, he trolling for Dorado and I jigging for Trigger fish. I went out to the reef and caught two needle fish and one small Trigger fish, which I released. About this time I noticed Jack had stopped trolling and had a fish on. When I saw him land a nice Dorado, I changed rods and started trolling for Dorado. About twenty minutes later I landed a nice one too. We filleted these out and shared them with our fellow cruisers here. We did not fish the following day as we still had some fillets left. We invited Jack to dinner that night and ate up the remaining fillets. The next morning Jack slept in, but I went trolling for Dorado. I hooked one outside the entrance to the bay, but it spit the hook on its second jump out of the water. I got one more hit that I missed before noticing Jack and another cruiser standing on shore talking. I decided to go back in and see what they were up to. As I was trolling past Dave’s boat (Free Spirit) I hooked and landed a Dorado over four feet in length, a nice fish, to say the least. Last night we had Jack and Dave over for Dorado fillets and some interesting conversation as well as some good pumpkin pie that Judy had made that afternoon!

We will head for Loreto for ice as soon as the weather permits. Until then we will be stuck here in this terribly wonderful anchorage. OH darn!