January, 14, 2012-We’re on our way South now. Left Isla San Francisco today to a conch salute by Star. We replied with our new conch of course. A little over four hours later, we anchored in Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida; about 15 miles East of La Paz. Enjoyed a pastel hued sunset and blew our new conch right as the sun dipped below the horizon. The cliffs around us replied with a deep, perfect, echo. Wow! On the way here, Ann saw another sailboat and just as she asked me to get the binocs and see who it might be we heard a call on the VHF; “Charisma, Klikitat”. Our friends Bill and Katy from Klilkitat (he’s a bush pilot and Klikitat is a town in Alaska) were on their way North and we had a nice bit of a chat on the radio as we passed about ½ mile apart. Bummer we missed them as they were bound for Isla San Francisco where we had left just a couple hours before. Hope our paths cross again sometime. We also had some productive time on the passage testing the storm jib and trysail. Both were great. In 20 knots of wind we were very comfortable and made about 4 knots. A little too slow for the passage, so we took them down and unfurled the big jib which got us up to 7 knots, but nice know the new storm sails work and good to get the leads sorted out. Our plan for now is to spend the day tomorrow hiking on the island and hopefully diving and kayaking if the wind and temperature cooperate. It was warm today and the forecast is for the winds to lay down a bit over the next day or so, so maybe. After that, we’re looking to alter plans a bit and go back into La Paz to resupply. We’re about out of beer and we ran out of wine. We’re also out of fresh produce and protein, so all in all, looks like it would be worth the detour of a day or two to hit La Paz one last time before heading across to Mazatlan otherwise we’re down to the canned, dried stuff. OK, I know we’re supposed to be getting used to that, but why suffer needlessly 😉

Addendum: Since finishing this, we’ve had dinner and just went outside. It’s so clear, I was just able to see two of the moons around Jupiter, directly above us with the binoculars!