6. Stop… Hammock Time!

Los Friles was historically a fishing town turned marine reserve where there has been a lot of work to restore the reef in an attempt to attract tourism. Their efforts seem to be working as we experienced a variety of fish and sea life while snorkeling. Eitan and I teamed up with SV Kismet, also anchored here, to break out the SCUBA gear and finally dive. SV Kismet was short some dive weights so Eitan let them borrow some of his in exchange for toilet paper since it seems our use was much higher than expected. Although my back still wasn’t 100 percent, I didn’t want to miss a chance to breathe underwater since this was one thing I was really looking forward to. It had been about 2 years since I was SCUBA certified in Honduras so Eitan gave me a refresher course in hand signals, equipment checks, and best practices. Connor and Abbey drove our and Kismet’s dinghies and dropped us off in the water. Once below the surface we explored underwater and saw fish (obviously), lobster, and a large eel. I felt relieved to know my wetsuit was plenty warm and I had no trouble equalizing, two things I was worried about. The remainder of the time in Los Frailes was spent snorkeling and hanging out on the beach in the hammock. We had a double hammock setup, one between the forestay and mast and the other between the davits at the back of the boat. Each night, the boats anchored in the bay would meet at the cabana for drinks. We finally began settling into cruiser life.

We spent three days in Los Friles before pulling anchor and sailing to Cabo de Los Muertes. Shortly before getting into the bay, Eitan threw a life preserver in the water and called a man overboard drill. Luckily we rescued the float to Eitan’s satisfaction and finished pulling into the bay and anchoring. The water was clear enough to see the bottom and avoid the smatterings of reefs below. Similar to Los Frailes, the beaches were almost deserted except for some resorts sprinkled along the coastline. Shortly after we arrive, SV Kismet joined us and came over for drinks later that day. SV Kismet is another monohull that sailed down the coast from Seattle. Kevin is the older brother and owner of the boat and his younger brother Sean and girlfriend Melanie are also on board. They plan to circumnavigate as well but over a longer period of time.

Looking for a place to drop our trash, we stumbled into a beautiful resort, accidentally interrupting someone’s family vacation. After finding the trash, we continued in the dingy to do some snorkeling at a nearby reef. I feel that I always see the most amazing things when I forget to bring my GoPro. The snorkeling here revives the amazement I feel when swimming in places like this. I love being in the middle of a sort of fish freeway as schools of hundreds of fish of different varieties swim past. Later that night SV Kismet invited us over for dinner which we quickly accepted since our refrigerator and fridge were still broken and we were long out of fresh food. The dinner was delicious and consisted of cheeseburgers with cheesy potatoes and deviled eggs on the side.

The following day we parted ways with Kismet and continued onto Espiritu Santo as they turned and went to La Paz. Espiritu Santo is another marine preserve and an island with an interesting geologic formation. There are a series of bays and we pulled into a smaller one where we were sure to be anchored alone. Unfortunately, a large charter catamaran pulled in a few hours later. We anchored in 10 feet of clear water with a sprinkle of stingrays swimming below. We all dinghied into the beach to watch the sunset.

The next day Eitan and I woke up early to throw on the dive gear and Connor dropped us off at a nearby shipwreck, the SS Fang Ming. The dive was great and we saw a handful of turtles using the ship for food and resting. Once we were back on the boat we headed to a neighboring bay which was equally beautiful and we jumped off the boat for some snorkeling. Once back on the boat, we were surprised to find a swarm of bees above and below deck in search of freshwater. We tried spraying bug spray inside and burning incense to get them out of the cabins to close the windows. We sat inside in the heat until the sun went down and they started to disappear.

The following day was Thanksgiving and we left Espiritu Santo and headed for a bay on the way back to La Paz. I couldn’t help but reflect on what this week typically felt like when I was working. It is the one week everyone looks forward to as a slow week where no one comes into the office because Thursday and Friday are holidays. I guess when you are on permanent vacation, holidays come and go unnoticed. We anchored with several other boats in Bahia Puerto Balandra, close to a famous rock formation that looks like a mushroom. We anchored in 10 feet of water but a majority of the bay was so shallow you could walk across it and we had a difficult time even taking the dingy to shore. After exploring the beach and rock formations, Abbey and Connor started preparing our Thanksgiving feast out of the canned provisions and potatoes that remained the last of the fresh food. Surprisingly, they cooked a really nice dinner with candied sweet potato, canned asparagus, and tacos from the canned chicken and roast beef. It was an early night for all of us as we quickly fell into a food coma.

We stopped at one more bay before reaching La Paz and there was a feeling of dread to be entering back into civilization. It is so peaceful being in an isolated bay, disconnected from everything; nothing to do but relax. For several nights we laid out in the cockpit and gazed at the stars and glowing light over the city. Coming back means transitioning into go-go-go mode and checking things off the to-do list, laundry, and provisioning. With good cell service coming back, Eitan began lining up help and parts to convert the boat’s steering from cable to hydraulic and make a handful of other improvements/repairs. The rest of us spent the evening sucked into our screens, checking social media and reconnecting with friends and family. That evening, we enjoyed dinner and drinks at a nearby beach restaurant that had amazing seafood tacos. The next day we finally made it to La Paz.