March 24, 2016 - Isla Carmen - Bahia Salinas

We left Isla Coronados in the morning with plans to anchor out in front of Loreto for a quick shopping trip, and then on to the next anchorage.  Winds and seas are expected to rise with a storm that is about to hit us and we want to be securely at anchor somewhere.  Problem is, it starts from the south with winds and the sea state and then clocks around until the wind and waves are from the norht.  This makes it necessary to move around to different anchorages in order to escape the changing wind and wave direction.  The forecasts here are not very precise, so the timing of these moves is a big unknown.  After discussing our options, we decide to skip Puerto Ballandra (we went there last year) and head around Isla Carmen to one of two bays that provide south protection and then move around to Bahia Salinas for north wave protection (not winds).  The bay is very large and shallow so we know we will be fine.  The winds were high for about a day and a half with winds over 25 knots most of the time.  We were lucky to get into shore to explore the ghost town prior to it getting too windy.

Walking in Loreto to the grocery stores

Sometimes shopping is easy in Mexico.  You don't even
need to know Spanish to recognize a product.

We experienced a truly amazing sight as we came around the north tip of Isla Carmen.  We could see what looked like a very "frothy and active" wave ahead of us, but it was actually a huge pod of dolphins swimming and jumping.  What a sight.  Here are some great pictures of us going right past them.

hundreds of dolphins swimming by

more of the dolphins as we were passing them

dolphins, dolphins, dolphins.  We could hear them breath!

Dolphin videos

Two videos from Cindy that she took!

More short videos of the dolphins.  It was an amazing sight

Leaving Painted Cliffs anchorage for Bahia Salinas, the moon is setting, about 6am.

Bahia Salinas was once a town housing several hundred people that worked a large salt evaporation pond.  In the 1980’s it closed and overnight it turned into a ghost town.  There is a caretaker and a small lodge where guests hunt sheep on occasion.  Buildings are deteriorating and there are a lot of rusty cars, trucks, and pieces of equipment to look at. 

The morning we were leaving our anchorage in Bahia Salinas.  The wind completely
died overnight.

Entering Bahia Salinas, a cloud, which we do not see often!

The kids playing with these ropes.  This structure is probably used to hang a mattress
so people can relax at the beach

An old shipwreck at the beach.  Adagio in the background which
seems far away but we are only in 11ft of water.

Kids drawing in the beautiful white sand

Max wind speed captured right when it happened.  Graph shows winds over 3 days

The following are pictures from the ghost town of Salinas.

The chapel is impeccable and the one building being maintained

Most buildings are falling apart and have lost their roofs, windows, doors, etc.

The caretaker and hunting lodge people have beautified the place!
A Mexican forklift planter box.  Cool.

Some of the buildings were made of stone or brick, or combinations of both

Some of the buildings were made out of coral, like this one.

Close-up of the coral block construction.

Some type of old cart which has become a planter box.

This Ford Fiesta will never see another road.  There were quite a few old cars
and trucks that are just rusting away here.

Kevin found this 70's Datsun pickup truck cab very interesting.  

Walking amongst the ruins at Bahia Salinas