Pichilingue and back to Marina La Paz 4.22 – 23

4/22

It is time to head back (reluctantly) to marina land to get ready for our passage to Hawaii and Alaska or British Columbia and then home. We have been out in the islands for 9 days now, our last moment in the Gulf of California islands for this trip. We pulled up anchor after hike and headed 20 nautical miles to the anchorage of Pichilingue, where Rosie will take us to a snorkeling spot tomorrow that she found with a friend. It is a convenient spot to get back to Marina CostaBaja, only an hour away.

We motored with our genoa up and filled, needing to get to the anchorage before sunset. Pichilingue itself is a bit of a disappointment after the islands, ringed by roads, boat yards, a hotel, lots of light and noise pollution.

The snorkeling was amazing. Ironically, this close to roads and development, it is the best snorkeling we have had. The coral heads were lush, complete and widespread. The fish moved in clouds of color and activity. They are entirely unafraid of us. Rays burst out of the sandy floors beneath us. Underwater our ears were filled by a constant snapping crackling sound. Cruising friend Bek told us after we returned to the marina that the noise is made by tiny shrimp that eject water so forcefully to stun their prey that the water literally vaporizes in front of them and makes the tiny constant explosive noises we heard. When we are finished snorkeling we stood on the beach and watched 2-3 foot brown and white eels lurking in the narrow bands of stone underwater close to shore, waiting to catch their prey.

We pulled up anchor again and headed back to the marina. On the way in to the harbor, we saw a strange sight: what looked like a double finned sea mammal from a distance, then perhaps a huge ray with both “wings” up, and then as we got closer we realized it was a sea lion on it’s back with both flippers, a full expanse of belly and its tail up in the air. We thought it was dead. It lifted its head briefly to look at us and then went back to its floating sunbathing. Rosie saw it the next day in the same spot when she took a dinghy ride with a friend out of the harbor