"I think the cerveza's are that way"                                   The gang enjoying a cold one

The historic Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto (Mission of Our Lady of Loreto), is open to the public and is located near the center of town.  We explored for the rest of the afternoon and then had to stop for some margaritas before heading back to the marina.  What a great little place.  We came back into Loreto two more times during our stay and on Saturday hit the Farmers Market.

So what does a bunch of cruisers do when they get land locked due to weather.   ROAD TRIP !!  We all got together and rented a big van to haul us around and explore the countryside.  The road to San Javier was entertaining on its own, we just stopped for a minute to look for the sails.  

     The streets of San Javier                                       Mission de San Francisco Javier

A Little History lesson;  This mission was founded by father Francisco Maria Piccolo on May 11, 1699.  The site was first inhabited by the "guaycura" indians who shared their cultural borders with the "cochimies", the place was then known as "Vigge Biaundo", which translates as "high lands in the height of the ravine".

The temple was built from 1774 to 1758 under the direction of father Miguel del Barco.  It is today one of the main structures of the peninsula.  This is evident every 2nd of December when it is visited by thousands of pilgrims who come from different parts of Mexico.  Due to the magnificent art, particularly the altar pieces and the wood and stone sculptures, this temple of San Javier is one of the most beautiful in all of the peninsula.  It is considered one of the places that give pride to Southern California.

                                                           A little walk about the grounds

                                                              The Motley Crew

From left to right:   Gwen, Russ & Michael (s/v A-Train),  Deb & John (s/v Scot Free IV), Renaye (s/v Euphoria), Glenda & Laird (s/v Winterlude), John (s/v Swagman) and down in front is Quinn (s/v Winterlude).  Rocky (s/v Euphoria) is behind the camera.
We not only enjoyed the week but  as we work our way north we chat twice a day on the SSB and are looking forward to when we will be together again soon. 

         Euphoria all cleaned up for the party                                Setting up for a catered lunch

                          Mariachi Band                                                      Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

                    Almost the Head Table                               Mexican Land Owners Invited Us to Join Them

For the Grand Opening of the new marina in Escondido we gave Euphoria a bath and hoisted an array of flags (we held back on the pirate flags).  The caterers started setting up, the mariachi band was blasting out the tunes and after a few speeches and the ribbon cutting we were invited to join some of the important land owners at their table.
The meal consisted of potatoes, rice, salad, oysters, various sized scallops done different ways and ohhhh the bar-b-q'd lobster.  There was so much food most of us went up for seconds.  The open bar was serving just about anything you needed to quench your thirst.
The Governor had an unexpected meeting in Cabo so was unable to attend but he did send a representative to read his speech.  What a great way to spend an afternoon and as the title says, " I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever".

The guide book calls this a very well protected anchorage,  NOT...  We almost got run over by a boat that got away from it's anchor.  No one was on board and it seemed to be drifting by us when all of a sudden it changed direction and was coming right at us, then it slipped just behind us and was headed for the rocks.  A group of boaters jumped in their dinghies and came to the rescue.  Michael and Russ from s/v A-Train were the first on scene and Russ was headed to put his dinghy between the escapee and Euphoria when it changed direction.  Michael jumped on board and got the vessel re anchored in time.

          Once a sailor always a sailor..  Russ and Michael doing their best to sail back to A-Train.

Scot Free IV running to the marina for cover. Winterlude & Swagman were to follow and after hearing that the marina was just opening and was offering a week free just to fill it up for their grand opening the next day Euphoria and A-Train ran in as well.  

Here we are all tucked into our slips, we amazed some smaller boat owners as they watched how we maneuvered the bigger boats into the tightly packed slips. I think that Winterlude at 50' gets the award for the tightest area.  He does have a bow thruster but Laird said that he only touched it once for a very short burst.  

Out of harbor at 5:10 am for our 15 hr run up to Puerto Escondido.  We had a weather window for today only and had until late this afternoon to get to cover or we would be stuck for a week of nasty blows.  Well, by 3:00 pm after a day of shifting winds up and down and the sails in and out the wind clocked up to over 20 kts and was right on the nose. The seas were about a 6' to 8' chop washing the decks every third wave.  We bashed our way for about four hours only making about 4 kts of speed.  Our friends on S/V  A-Train passed us about an hour out of Escondido.  A-Train is a very fast 60' Deerfoot and captain Russ likes to keep the peddle to the medal.  We arrived in the dark and decided to head into the inner harbor so Renaye was posted up front leaning on the mast directing me through a channel about 100' wide.  Our friends on Scot Free IV came over in their dingy and guided us to a mooring ball and helped us get tied up (the winds were 18-20 kts in this protected anchorage). Deb and Renaye did a great job of handling the lines and getting us secured. A-Train decided to follow us in after they saw that we made it.  A landing rum and then off to bed.

We arrived in San Evaristo on Feb 21st.  A small quiet village with a beautiful little bay well protected from the north winds that were expected for the next few days.  Our friends  Michael, Gwen & Russ from S/V A-Train were already here along with newly met friends Deb & Andy from S/V Swan and Judy & Bruce from S/V Juce.  Melinda & Lanham from S/V Solar Wind were to be in tomorrow with a bumpy ride over from Isla San Francisco.  When Solar Wind arrived we spent the afternoon visiting the school house and walked over to the old salt mines.  The next day Melinda invited us over for a feast of pancakes and sausage.  Solar wind headed back to La Paz that afternoon to pick up their daughter who was flying in for a holiday.
The rest of the cruisers headed to shore for a get together in a palapa c/w live music provided by 2 of the members of the band that played at S/V Time Piece's birthday party back in La Paz.  A good time was had by all with an early night.  A 5:00 am departure was planned as we had a long trek with a short weather window to get up to Puerto Escondido to meet up with the rest of the Motley Crew.

Feb. 19, 2013 we departed La Paz and headed north.  Our first stop was Caleta Partida a place we had been many times.  The next morning we were off to Isla San Francisco and were advised that the wind would be switching to out of the south and that the northeast side of the Island would be best.  Well we had a very windy night out of the northwest.  Oh well,  we were off the next morning to head up to San Evaristo for a few days and to catch up with some friends from our marina in Point Roberts.