Allora Voyage – Page 40 – The warmly cool, clear, ringing, perfumed, overflowing, redundant days, were as crystal goblets of Persian sherbet, heaped up – flaked up, with rose-water snow. — Herman Melville

Ballena/San Ignacio

We met up with the Mulder's and their friends, George, Sue and Kat for our Ballena adventure. — We met up with the Mulder’s and their friends, George, Sue and Kat for our Ballena adventure.

Guess who else was there?! Katy and Rich from Springhill!!!!

Our panga driver

The Mulder Four

They estimate over 300 Grey whales congregate here!

Puerto Escondido and points North

Justin came to visit from BZN, but a ‘Screaming Blue Norther’ skunked us and we had to sit in the Puerto Escondido ‘waiting room’ his entire stay. Lots of great conversation though! And we did let our hostage go onshore one day to take the Steinbeck Canyon hike!

Puerto Escondido ‘waiting room’ – mooring area

Icy, but irresistible!

Bit of yoga

Some fixed ropes were in place in a couple tight/steep spots.

29 knots of wind on our beam – Allora peaked at 10.6 that afternoon! This boat loves to SAIL!

Punta Perico South

Crystal treasures for my Baja mosaic

Anchorage off Punta Chivato, with its world famous shelling beach. These shells were at least 2′ deep and stretched for 8 miles!

P1030035 — Puerto Balandra on Isla Carmen. We met Lisa and Lyndon aboard their Hinckley 42, ‘Moon’ in La Paz, and since they’re also traveling northward, we occasionally cross paths and have enjoyed a few ‘sundowners’ with them.

P1030072 — Caleta San Juanico

P1030081 — This Navy boat showed up out of nowhere, on a collision course with us; MS took prompt and evasive action, but it was a reminder to keep a sharp lookout ALWAYS! Since there are so few boats in the Sea of Cortez during this winter season, we tend to imagine we’re all alone out there…

Version 2 — Captain fantastic!

La Paz, Todos Santos and island stops north to Puerto Escondido

Quick trip to Todos Santos to see Katy and Rich in their new ‘getaway.’

Katy, master of all things culinary, whipped up a MEAN beer chicken!!

We slept al fresco to the sounds of the Pacific swell.

P1020950 — This translucent guy landed on deck as we were sailing!

First washing of our settee cushions

Anna Banana came to the boat to cut our hair and provided at once the cheapest and worst haircut EVER!!!

P1030005 — Punta SanTelmo

P1030007

Caleta Partida

Kinda cool, kinda creepy, totally out of place.

Diaphanous decay

Vantage point from our hike – overlooking Ensenada el Cardonal

We had spent Christmas in this anchorage, and hiked with a full moon across this lagoon to the East side of Espiritu Santo, so it was great to get this ‘aerial’ vantage point from our hike out of Caleta Partida.