BAHIA CONCEPCION REVISITED

We sailed into Bahia Concepcion on March 25, where we found Avant anchored after four weeks of cruising separately from us.  We all hitchhiked into Mulege, a small town 14 miles to the north. A young Italian couple on vacation picked us up and we enjoyed our trip to town, speaking in a combination of English, Spanish and Italian.  Once there we reconnected with friends Sue and Suzanne, who met us last year at Bahia Santispac and stayed in touch ever since.  We invited them to Falcon VII for lunch, which turned out to be a great time. Though we’ve only connected a couple of times we feel like we’ll be friends with these ladies for years to come.

We motored and sailed further into the bay and anchored behind Isla Requeson for a quiet evening.

Leaving the anchorage before the wind came up

Jim and I took advantage of great winds and sailed further south within Bahia Concepcion where few cruisers bother to go, anchoring near a deserted three mile long beach.

This sharp slash in the dawn sky welcome a new day of adventures

Jim looking south in Bahia Concepcion from his vantage point.

The only people we saw at the south end of the bay were these fishermen.

The next morning we took the dinghy to shore for a walk and three turkey vultures patrolled our approach, wings spread wide.  Kind of creepy!

A fresh water lagoon meandered through the desert.  Oh to have a kayak!

The main highway could still be heard running along the far jagged hills

Thick scrub grew, fed by the fresh water lagoon

Just stopping for a drink

There was so much firewood at the south end of Concepcion that
we figured you could have a campfire every evening.

Southerly winds took us back to Bahia Coyote where we anchored for a few days along with four other friends heading north.

Avant, Falcon VII, Sea Rover VII, Kialoa and Victoria at anchor
in Bahia Coyote

We’re all heading to Guaymas on the mainland within the next week, where we’ll all have our boats hauled out for the summer season.  Though our arrival dates in Guaymas vary, our cruising up the Sea of Cortez has coinciding perfectly.  Along with Rob and Debra from Avant, who were part of our “Class of 2013”, we cruised with Karina and Gary on Sea Rover II out of Vancouver, Scott and Tanya on Kialoa out of Saltspring Island and singlehander Phil on his sailboat, Victoria.

Kialoa in the fore ground. Tanya and Trish had a great swim at San Janico. 

Bahia Coyote is one of four close-by anchorages where dozens of RVer’s gather all winter long but they vacated before hundreds of Mexicans descended for a week to 10 days, setting up wall to wall tents to spend Semana Santa, a week long holiday celebration leading up to Easter.  Colourful nylon dome tents and campers lined the beaches in all the close by anchorages.  Families lounged at the water’s edge in camping chairs, adding to the craziness of swimmers, kayaks, paddle boards and skidoos.  Vendors walked their tiny ice cream carts along the shoreline, playing Alley Cat over and over.  Taco and hot dog stands did a booming business.

A kids' carnival getting ready to set up on the beach at Santispac.

The road ran behind the tents, with a constant stream of campers arriving..
Ice cream trucks played luring music all day to attract customers.

 Whale sharks often swam by, easily spotted (no pun intended) in the warm shallow water. They were about 20 feet long but seemed unphased by the crowds!

Thanks to Debra Zhou on Avant for this shot of a whale shark
swimming right beside Avant.  Karina (Sea Rover VII) all
followed another whale shark on her paddle board.

 As dusk fell nightly extended families gathered around campfires, laughter wafting over our boats.  At dawn we could hear more laughter as a new day at the beach began.

The waters and weather are warm and life is good.

Jim and Tricia Bowen
S/V Falcon VII