Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida

On April 10th, we sailed up the west side of Isla Cerralvo and passed through the narrow San Lorenzo Channel just north of La Paz. We had plenty of provisions, so we decided to explore two islands north of La Paz before visiting the city. Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida have a number of beautiful bays and coves where a sailboat can anchor. The waters are crystal clear and the desert scenery is spectacularly austere.

Relaxing in these islands gave me time to catch up on some of my academic work. While at anchor in this wonderous environment, I spent a lot of time reading drafts of graduate student theses and reviewing manuscripts. (During academic sabbaticals a certain amount of routine academic work must continue). But there was time for exploring as well. I tried out a small underwater camera while snorkeling over reefs, and we made good use of our kayaks to get to shore, where we hiked in the desert terrain.







One of the highlights was a visit to a small rocky island called Los Islotes, just north of Isla Partida, where there is a Sea Lion rookery. We anchored the boat in a small cove called Ensenada el Embudo and used our dinghy to cross a mile-wide straight to Los Islotes. Here is what the island looked like as we approached.



At the island we were able to tie the dinghy to a mooring ball provided by the Mexican National Park Service. Having been advised that the Sea Lions are not aggressive (unless one approaches the rookery too closely) we went snorkeling over a reef near the Sea Lion rookery, and were soon swimming with the Sea Lions. They passed close by to check us out and seemed curious and playful. The nearby reef was loaded with fish--a veritable Sea Lion smorgasboard (which perhaps is one reason the rookery is here).


On April 14th, the trawler Lilliana pulled up next to us in Partida Cove and dropped anchor. Richard and Roseanne Packard, of Lilliana, are a delightful couple that we had met at Chamela. We arranged to have dinner with them in order to catch up on their travels. As usual, they were a font of useful information.

On April 15th we sailed south to La Paz. We are now at Marina Costa Baja, just north of the city. We will stay here a few days in order to provision and to give me a chance to do more academic work while I have good internet connections. We then will head north into the Sea of Cortez again.