January 2019 – S/V Perspective

Hola Amigos and Happy New Year! I feel like our blog is way behind and frankly out of control. In an effort to keep writer and reader sanity, I’m going to do more of a highlight reel rather than an in depth story. Since the last post, we’ve headed south with a destination of Banderas Bay for the holiday season. On our way down we stopped at as many anchorages as possible, some new, some familiar. We made a point to soak up every last drop of snorkeling, hiking, *diving*, and spearfishing on the way down. It was really tough to leave when the conditions were so nice!

Without further ado, here are our favorite stops as we headed south.

Pulpito- a new and exciting place for us to stop. We will definitely come back here next season. We stretched our legs and hiked to the top of the hill, snorkeled several locations and were gifted with some drone shots from our friends on The Answer. Not pictured are the happy hours spent on Perspective with the crews from Annie’s Kite and The Answer. Perspective is such a great platform for fun and we seriously enjoy hosting!Caleta San Juanico- oh what a favorite place this is! I swear it’s like a playground on steroids. The beaches are awesome for shell hunting. The water is crystal clear. The surrounding landscapes are so interesting and make for a visual treat no matter what you’re doing. This is also the place where I took my first dive! That’s right, I was finally convinced to give it a try and I am so glad I did! Our friends on The Answer were generous enough to pump our dive tanks which allowed us to take the plunge. Brad was my instructor and did such a great job of keeping me calm and comfortable for my first dive. We slowly made our way down to 15ft of water and hung out for about 20 minutes. That’s all it took to get hooked!Agua Verde-the water really is that green! While we were in the area we hiked to the mysterious cave paintings with our friends on Volare and Strikhedonia. We also took the opportunity to snorkel. We were able to see two octopus and so many parrot fish. While under water you can actually hear them crunching on the coral! All of these things make it easy to pick this as a place to stop. I should also mention that we picked up a used drone and we are so excited to show you what Brad has been able to capture with it.Los Gatos aka Mars. This was a new stop for us and I am so glad we visited. We took a quick hike to the top of the hill, flew the drone, shell hunted and had a great time here. The rocks remind me of red marshmallows, except rock hard rather than squishy. 😋 The only “complaint” is that the anchorage is exposed to swell and tends to get rolly, so you have to time your visit carefully or make it short.Isla San Francisco- my favorite slice of paradise! This place is just so magical. Maybe it’s because it is the first place we’ve visited that made us feel like we were really cruising. If I could take our friends/readers anywhere, it would be here! On this particular stop we celebrated Thanksgiving on Perspective with Liz and Risto of Silver Wings. We hiked, dove (to 35ft this time), snorkeled, shell hunted and flew the drone.Ensenada Candelero- an oldie but another favorite! We enjoyed this anchorage with Liz and Risto and got up to our usual tricks. Snorkeling, hiking, drone flying and just hanging out. Our hiking destination this time was a natural amphitheater. I was surprised to see trees growing in such a harsh environment and joyed to see bright, beautiful flowers too. This place is just gorgeous!The next stop was La Paz so we could provision the boat and wait for a weather window to continue heading south. We managed to make it a “short” stop in La Paz aka Velcro City. We enjoyed our favorite dining spots and made sure that Sydney had her fill of ice cream treats.From La Paz we headed south to Bahia de Los Muertos for a night. Then sailed two overnights to Isla Isabel. Along the way we picked up quite a few stowaways (boobies) that rested on our bow pulpit. Luckily for them, and us, they didn’t poop all over the boat, just our anchor. Isla Isabel is one of those places that feels so special to visit. It’s an island hosting thousands of Frigates and Boobies. It’s only a matter of time before this island becomes regulated. We are so grateful we have been able to visit and respectfully explore as we pleased. Side note, Sydney still hates this place with a passion because she is not allowed on shore.Last but not least was the hop from Isabel to Banderas Bay. This hop included an unexpected swim for Brad as we managed to snag and tangle a long fishing line in to our prop . Let’s just say I was on full shark watch as he cleared our prop of the line. Other than that snafu, our trip to Banderas Bay was without issue.