4/20
An uneventful passage with very little wind takes us back from from Isla San Francisco to the tiny lobed bay of Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida, back in Espiritu Santo. After anchoring in the bay with only one other boat, we take our dinghy and go exploring. We came here partly to look for the blue-footed boobies that have a rookery in the adjoining bay which is too narrow for us to anchor in. Sadly, we find lots of guano and evidence of nests but not a booby in sight. Perhaps it is too early in the season for nesting.
I have been seeing signs of spring everywhere for some weeks now. I love the subtlety of tropical seasonal changes (which are probably not subtle at all- just seem to be for someone from a temperate climate) The cactus have bloomed and are now fruiting. The fruits, prickly pears, are delicious and vicious. I keep picking them up and getting covered in fine thistle down spines that I cannot shed. The agave have 5 foot spikes of yellow flowers that are covered in some type of bees. The hummingbirds here are finding plenty of nectar in all the tubular flowering bushes.
Rainbow Iguana 
Agave Flowering
Most of the plants are armed with a wide variety of defenses, all of them painful when you stumble into them. The seas are full of pebble sized fish eggs floating everywhere and brush up against your skin when you swim. You can see the nascent fish in them. Spiders are busy building webs of all shapes and sizes- some of which are dense white matts of frightening size (we havent seen their builders)
4/21
We feel so fortunate to be here in the midst of the pandemic – lucky to be sheltering in profound beauty and peace in these hidden places. With the pandemic, there are very few boats out here in the islands. Technically we are allowed to anchor but not land on any beaches. When we are in a place of no people, we do go to shore to walk and swim in the shallows.
Ensenada Grande is a high-sided canyon dotted with red and grey lobed and twisted stones carved by the sea and winds into impossibly beautiful forms. Brilliant green yellow contrasts are provided by Cardon cactus- which can grow to 70’ tall , Mangle dulce, Nopal cactus and round green pincushions of grasses growing in endless niches and fed by copious amounts of guano. The top of the canyon sides are mounted with what look like tumbled stone walls in diagonal lines stretching away into the distance. The inland trails are littered with the beautiful red stone, sandstone, black fissured volvanic stones, hollow sounding pumice, some sort of dark hard brown stone that looks like marble and feels buttery to the touch.
To the west of the mouth of Ensenada Grande is the sea of darkening turquoise and to the East is a small welcoming beach of white sands and shallow seas of increasingly lighter shades of luminous turqouise as the bottom shoals. Overhead are seagulls, frigate birds and pelicans.
I paddled our board to the beach early in the morning and a short while later Paul and Rosie arrived in the dinghy. From a depth of 25 feet at our anchorage all the way to shore, I was able to see the bottom through the completely clear water. I saw rays, brown and white striped eels, blue and yellow parrot fish, friendly looking fish with long needle snouts and large shadows of much larger fish. The only time I couldn’t see the bottom was when the offshore breezes fanned the water into a surface of shining water lace. Rosie and I take turns cutting our hair on the beach.
After haircuts and swimming, we tied up the dinghy, pulled the board high up on the beach and headed inland through a cut arroyo. We climbed boulders for 2 miles between the steep sides of the canyons to high cliff views on the East side. On the way we passed through a small mangrove swamp where the high tide waters were receding. In their path were hundreds of tiny ghost crabs, each carrying an overlarge pincer cradled in front of them. Each time we moved, there was a wave of clattering noises as they scuttled sideways. Further up the trail we saw lots of chipmunk-like creatures who seemed entirely unafraid, the huge local hares with extra long ears, and many basking iguanas of rainbow colors. Having met a large, healthy rattlesnake recently, we kept sharp eyes out for snakes and scorpions but didn’t see any. The walk was beautiful, peaceful and very hot. The temperatures are climbing well into the 90s each day now.
Sailing Tomten 