After our
long night on the water post spinnaker mishap, boy was it ever nice to be in the Puerto Los Cabos Marina! The marina is still under construction but things are still nicer than most US marinas I have been in.
The funniest thing was when we finished with the spinnaker, and looked around the marina we realized people were riding dolphins in a little pen just across the channel from us. After seeing these most excellent creatures in the wild though it is kind of sad to see them turning tricks in a marina for fish.
That night we went out for a nice dinner, drank some cervesa and got a much needed restful night sleep. It was the first time Starship had been tied to a dock since San Diego and it was a little strange to have it so calm, but it did make for good sleeping.
The next day we resumed our journey to Los Frailes, approximately 20NM from from Puerto Los Cabos. Thankfully this time the trip was smooth sailing, with no wind in the morning we motored, then sailed the rest of the way on a moderate breeze. We saw a lot of whales and jumping sting rays on the trip which was really interesting. Unfortunately they are very difficult to photograph, but Anne-Marie was trying hard.
As we approached Los Frailes we could see we had discovered the Mexico we were looking for...a seemingly endless white sand beach with hardly any sign of civilization in sight. The cove has a small fishing camp (5-10 pangas) and people in RVs park in the arroyo which drains into the bay. There were also a few dozen houses, and a hand full of small hotels/rental properties, but it seemed like most were empty.
The first day we spent an uncomfortable afternoon on the boat keeping an anchor watch, as a strong SE wind and swell had built (the worst combination for this anchorage). Our anchor was holding strong so we decided to ride it out until sunset and if it was still looking bad we would head out to the next anchorage. Luckily it started dying down over dinner and we had another peaceful night sleep.
The second day brought a NE wind (which is good for this anchorage), which was just strong enough to try some kitesurfing. We took the dingy a few miles down the beach loaded with our gear and gave it a try. It was just barely kiteable, and quickly faded to be too weak, but the location was so amazing that it made it a very memorable session.
On our last day we relaxed on board and did some snorkeling along the rocks around Los Frailes. It was nice to spend some time in clear, warm (by California standards) and shallow water with and abundance of life.
