Hello, all is well here in baja. Sorry for the delay in communicating, I have had no internet for several days. We enjoyed hanging out in santispac Hiking on the beach, kayaking, etc. and waiting for a window of calmer weather when we could move on down the coast. There has been a string of days of strong winds here caused by a high pressure system in the 4 corners area up in the states, which causes strong winds to blow here. Yes we are on a sailboat and wind should be a good thing but these are very fierce and dangerous to be out in so we have been laying low. We have a little short wave radio receiver and listen in every morning to a local weather forecast put out by yachters for yachters. Pretty cool.

The winds finally softened and on Saturday the 8th We pulled anchor and headed south towards Punta Pulpito. We motored while it was calm and got there in a few hours. We spent the night there and then headed on down the next day to bahia Juanico where we spent several days. That was a truly beautiful paradise. It is a very protected enclosed bay with cliffs and sandy beaches and osprey flying overhead with fish they just caught. There is a rough dirt road into the area but no resorts or town or any civilization, just a few boats in the bay and few campers on the beach. we snorkeled some of the best diving I have ever seen. The water was very cold but I had on my double thick wet suit and was OK. The fish I saw are so spectacular, every shape and color you can imagine (and many that you probably cant! Some of these were really odd outrageous looking. One frogfish looks exactly like a furry rock until it swims away! )I went for a long hike long the road as it winds around the bay. My foot still aches a bit but I wore my big strong boots and that seemed to help. We have met really cool people here, and exchange contact info with them . Dale and Terri from new mexico were cool, we played a beach game with them called cubie, where 2 teams face off and toss sticks at other sticks until they are all down. Sort of like bowling with square pegs. Dale was a mountain climber from way back and we all had many of the same experiences to talk about and knew the same areas and people. (except that he had climbed Mt Everest. I never got around to that one…)

All this time the winds were howling outside the bay but we were safe and snug inside. The days are warm sunny and breezy but it gets cold as soon as the sun goes down so we hunker down in the boat cabin and eat, read, and watch episodes of Bones on the laptop.

We decided to head on south again, leaving Juanico during a lull in the winds on the 14th. We stopped at Isla Coronado for the night, getting there by noon and the winds blew fierce all afternoon. The anchorage area was protected from the waves but the wind blew right over the hills and down on us and the boat bucked and heaved but our anchor held well with no problems. This morning we headed on down to Bahia Escondido where we will spend a few days. This is a more "civilized" marina with docks, moorings, stores , and wifi internet.

We are planning to stay down here in baja until the end of february. It is truly a magical place and we are having a great time.