Eitan and I continued to travel north from Loreto toward Bahia de Los Angeles in an attempt to escape the incessant heat. We decided to pull into Bahia Concepcion for a couple of nights, since some of the reviews of the anchorages mentioned whale shark sightings, which I was keen to experience myself. With some gentle southerly winds, we were able to sail for about three hours, then motored the rest of the way. As we proceeded further and further into the bay, we watched the water temperature climb to 94 degrees. This bay is known for having warmer water temperatures, which is what attracts the whale sharks.
As we entered the main tourist area, called El Coyote, we started to get excited seeing other boats anchored in the different bays. We hadn’t seen a single cruising boat since leaving Loreto and we were excited for some social interaction. Eitan tried hailing them on the radio, but as we got closer, we saw the boats had likely been abandoned for the summer season and sat unoccupied at anchor. We anchored in one of the bays and took a dip in the bath warm water outside. Eitan began cooking dinner while I opened up the fresh water tank to investigate why our water gage wasn’t reading. It was extra important to know how much fresh water we had onboard because our water maker wasn’t working and I did not want to lug jerrycans back and forth to the boat, like we had been doing since it broke. Luckily, I found the water gage float was stuck and easily freed.
Our original water maker stopped working after leaving Zihuantanejo and we didn’t have the time or resources to fix it before heading to the east coast. Coincidentally, on our last day in Mexico, Eitan had been given a water maker by another cruising boat who was replacing their system for a larger one, but we would need new fittings to install it. So, we had two water makers but neither were currently installed or working. We needed to be extra conservative with our water use and limited fresh water rinses to the evening before bed. Since we had been jumping into the water almost every hour to cool off, my skin became extremely dry and salty.
Before showering off in the evenings, Eitan and I would take a nightly dip in the bay. Since we normally weren’t swimming at night, we had never experienced the magic of swimming in bioluminescence. When we first got in, I assumed it was the glow from the moon reflecting off the water, but I soon realized the glow was coming from below the surface. Looking down, my skin was covered in tiny glowing orbs flashing on and off. Agitating the water just made the glowing even brighter. It honestly felt like the special effects straight out of a Disney movie. Basically, it was like the scene in Moana where she sails with the glowing manta ray. Even pulling on the anchor chain would light up a streak of water below us.
We had experienced bioluminescence many times before and even enjoyed watching dolphins illuminate the water during a night passage. It wasn’t uncommon to see the dinghy wake glow as we rode home from the beach or from a friend’s boat after dark. But, seeing it on your own skin was something purely magical. We played in the water each night, constantly amazed and entertained by the glowing trails we could create. The glowing even continued as we got out of the water, flashing as the water dripped off us. Before the moon comes up, you can even see the fish glowing just below the surface as they hunt around the boat.
We spent two nights in Bahia Concepcion with the day in between having the luxury of wifi at the only open restaurant in the area. But the extra warm water temperature wasn’t helping us stay any cooler and there were no whale sharks to be found. So, we continued to head north with one stop on an island called Isla San Marcos where my snorkeling trip turned into an underwater cleanup expedition, collecting trash left by an abandoned fish camp. The next day we pulled into Marina Santa Rosalia for a few days of boat projects and provisioning before experiencing the strange and unpredictable weather of northern Baja.
