Sailing Adventures of s/v Talos IV: Escape from La Paz

Finally! The weather window opened and we made an early morning departure from La Paz. We had provisioned heavily to see us thru for a couple of weeks in the Sea of Cortez. The morning conditions allowed us to start sailing right away with 15 - 18 kts of wind off our stern quarter. We headed past Isla Espiritu Santo with a planned afternoon arrival at San Evaristo. The winds were favorable most of the way and we made the small bay around 4PM. Distance covered was 51 nm. The anchorage was full of sailboats and one power vessel. We got the thumbs up from a San Juan Islands vessel when we chose to anchor close by. It appeared there were several northwest vessels here tonight.

The wind swell rocked us most of the night. The addition of strong Coromuel winds around bedtime added to the ambiance. We had our anchor alarm set and were confident with the ground tackle. This morning the report from furry crew and Paul indicated that we all slept very well. Most of the boats had departed the anchorage by 10AM this morning.

Mid morning we put dinghy into the water and went to shore. The community consists of maybe 25 small homes, grocery store and small family run restaurant. The store had just received its weekly supplies. I think a lot of the residents were there visiting and getting weekly groceries. There was a side of beef hanging in sections from the porch rafters. You grab the machete and carve what meat you need or want and put it into your box or bag. It then gets weighed and that is how you purchase your meat. There were lots of boxes of really nice looking produce and vegetables plus all the typical small tienda offerings. We refilled our 20 liter water jug from the purification supply. Now we have drinking water to last 3 weeks (we carry a total 60 liters onboard in addition to our 85 gallons of general use water in tanks. San Evaristo is a fishing village hugging the water with a massive amount of granite called the Sierra de la Giganta towering behind it. Pictures cannot adequately show how dramatic this setting is. We walked the beach and saw lots of tuna and other fish being off loaded from the pangas. There was a palapa that had some really cool whale vertebra hung from the rafters. This is probably one of the nicer fishing villages we have visited. This afternoon we are hanging out on the boat. Paul is measuring for the water maker water lines and electrical supplies. Tomorrow we will head further north.