April 25, 2015 - Isla San Francisco

Easily one of our favorite spots on our trip.  A beautiful bay, wonderful walking/hiking, birds, beach and swimming.   This is one of the most popular anchorages in the Sea of Cortez due to its proximity to La Paz, the spectacular scenery, and the protection it offers during certain weather situations.  Photos from atop the ridge seem to be in every cruiser’s blog, and every cruising book about the Sea of Cortez.  It is the quintessential anchorage; this is what everyone pictures a Sea of Cortez bay to look like.  It is quite spectacular.  

The beautiful crescent shaped beach at Isla San Francisco.  Fabulous!!!!!
That dark section of water on the lower left is a huge school of fish.  We watched
it shifting around from our vantage point.  There must be a lot of fish in that school.

In many of these pictures from up high you see a darker area in the water
that is all FISH!  Not the darkest areas shown, the large area in the middle that is slightly darker.
The panga here is just outside the group that moves like the northern lights do.  Our dinghy is just offshore and on the
other side of the fish.  No wonder the birds are diving for fish in here.

Kathy sitting on a peak

Beautiful white sand beach.  Crystal clear water too.  Nobody else on the beach.
Perfect!

The far left section of beach is rocky.  We had fun scaring the little crabs, which have
great vision and can move very fast.  Not like our crabs back in the NW (slow).

We have seen these crabs jump from rock to rock when they need to.

Pelicans and Boobies diving for fish (see the splashes in the water?)

The birds here dive for fish and it is amazing to watch.  The pelicans dive in sucession while the
brown boobies seemed to make a bird call and dive together in a pattern.

many tracks from lizards

Kevin as we start up the hill on the hike

going up the trail, this is narrower than it looks....  BIG cliff to the left

a view of the ridge as we hike

Steve and Cindy as they continue on the ridge hike

The ridge, Cindy and Steve continuing on.....  Very rugged terrain.

The ridge again, Steve and Cindy in the upper left there.....

Kevin and I headed west on the trail

Kevin and I are headed west but looking back at the ridge where Steve and Cindy are hiking

Kevin as we come back through an arroyo toward the anchorage

There are some old salt ponds that were once in use but are now abandoned.  We spent some time walking around them and could see how salt forms and may be harvested.  There are still some salt ponds on other islands that are still in use.

walking over to the old salt ponds

Not snow, salt!

Salt balls, not snow balls.  But they fall apart

yummmmmmm

Of course there is playing on the beach for at least a short time!

We broke open this coconut and this is the day after.  Hermit crabs were eating
the coconut out of it.

The kids decided to use the sun's energy to melt some chocolate chips for treats.  They were making chocolate covered peanuts for a few days.  Yummy peanut clusters - what a treat!

another beautiful sunset

Celebrated Steve's birthday!  Refridgerator cake, an old childhood favorite of his although
this was not his Mom's recipe.  We need to get that from his sister.  This version came in
a box, Oreo brand.  It was good, but a little different than his Mom's version from
40+ years ago.

Showing off the jewelry

Let's not forget that Zappa Cat is continuing to have different experiences, although maybe not what he is expecting!

Poor Zappa can't get any peace.
The kids are always making him Lego accessories.

A special place for Zappa

Give Zappa a box, he is in it!

Don't think we will ever get rid of this box as he loves it

Lego armour for Zappa