S/V Perspective

Yesterday we had the honor of going out for a sail on Perspective’s youngest sister, Esprit! Perspective is hull #20, Esprit is hull #30 which happens to be the last KP46 made. It was interesting being on a sister ship to Perspective. She looks like our boat, sails like our boat, but she’s not our boat. Makes us feel like cheaters. We met Esprit’s owners, Quincey and Mitchell through Instagram via a hashtag. Funny how that works!

Quincey and Mitchell, also known as Q&M Travels offer a variety of charter experiences via their website https://qmtravels.com/. We were lucky enough to score a sail in the San Francisco Bay with them and their friends Katie and Kat. It was a first for Brad and I and we weren’t sure what to expect as far as conditions went. The Bay is well known for its sporty sailing conditions but we knew we were in good hands aboard Esprit. She’s a KP after all, with a crew that could run her with their eyes closed!

The day started out foggy, so thick you couldn’t see land or other boats until they were right upon us. The light winds we started with eventually turned to nonexistent winds. This didn’t matter, we sailed/bobbed peacefully anyway! It always impresses me how well these boats sail in light winds. Snacks were set out, stories were told and a delicious, homemade soup was served for lunch. We were in heaven!

After a few hours of bobbing along, the winds picked up, the fog cleared and Esprit took off like a cooped up horse, finally free to stretch her legs. We enjoyed a couple of tacks and were chased back towards the marina from the fog rolling it’s way back in the bay. The fog was eerie; similar to a chemical monster enveloping the beautiful city, leaving only whiteness in its wake.

As we made our way back to the marina, Quincey doused and lashed the mainsail while Mitchell took us to the dock. Watching the two of them work together reminds me of our time on Perspective. The tasks become automatic and the processes are seamless which makes for a wonderful time for their guests. As far as docking goes, QM gets a perfect 10! I’ve never seen anyone dock the boat while sitting down, so confident and competent. Way to go you two!

Long story short, we had a fantastic time aboard Esprit! Thank you Quincey and Mitchell for the wonderful hospitality. We hope to see you in Mexico where you can meet Esprit’s older sister!

Holy moly you guys, it’s been two years today since we set sail from San Diego for good. Sorry for not keeping the blog up to date, but I figured this momentous occasion would be a good opportunity to do a post. This blog will be lacking in photos, but will be full of sentiment. Here we go…
Before embarking on this cruising journey two years ago I remember being told to be careful, that this break from work would make me stupid. While this may be true in a professional capacity, it’s certainly not true in other areas. This trip has opened our minds more than I could have imagined. Let’s dig in to our favorite life changing realizations.

1. Let’s start with language. We’ve been able to speak and understand enough Spanish to happily navigate through all types of situations. My favorite memory is going to an auto parts store and watching Brad pretend to start a generator, complete with sound effects. While we don’t always know the words, there’s certainly other ways to communicate and get the point across. The locals are happy to help, especially if you’ve got a smile on your face and make the effort. As with anything else, a good attitude gets you a lot further than a bad one.
2. Fish identification. Through our snorkeling exploits we’ve learned to identify numerous species of fish. I remember feeling overwhelmed by all the different fish we would see, and trying to find them all in our reference book. Now they’re easy to identify. Through Brad’s spearfishing efforts we’ve been educating ourselves on what tastes good too!
3. Cooking. Being on the boat in Mexico has taught us to work with what we’ve got in our galley. A grocery store with everything we want or need is hardly ever an option. Plus the effort to get to one can be very time consuming. This has led us to be creative in the galley. We’ve learned quite a bit from other cruisers at potlucks, tasty treats and recipes are constantly being exchanged.
4. Fishing. While hooking a fish is actually a relatively rare event, when we do hook one, we’ve learned how to handle it. With only two of us on board we each take our positions. Brad tends to the fishing line and I tend to the boat and sails. The goal is always the same, slow the boat down without causing a ruckus, and landing the fish! Brad can get the fish filleted and grilled in record time!
5. 70mph is fast! After being on a boat going a top speed of a fast jog, you can imagine that driving 70mph can be terrifying! Brad and I have been known to set the cruise control just so we go fast enough. What an unexpected change this has been! Sorry in advance if you ever get stuck behind us on the road, we are never in a hurry these days.
6. Being in the moment. This is probably my favorite part about the journey we are on. When you’re sailing along you’re often checking to see if any sail tweaks can be made, making sure your course is true and hopefully, enjoying the ride! The mind is no longer thinking about news, politics, traffic, and things we cannot control. Instead it is focused on what we can control. It’s quite liberating!
7. Learning how to be a sailor. This might sound silly because you’d think this would have been achieved before the trip. But as with anything else, the experiences out on the water have helped to hone our skills. We are now confident in our anchoring skills, dealing with incoming storms and gale force winds. We even flew our spinnaker for the first time not too long ago (many thanks to Chris and Beth from CC Rigging for the lessons). Things in general are becoming much more proactive rather than reactive which makes for a happy boat and crew.
8. Learning a new culture. This is one of my favorite things about our trip! My impression of the Mexicans has always been a positive one, but actually interacting with and viewing their culture on a daily basis is downright amazing! Did you know that it is quite often that a local will tell us “Buen provecho” as they walk by us in a restaurant? They’re telling us to enjoy our meal. The Mexican culture is so polite and I love that they treasure their children. In our two years of being here there are maybe three locals who have been rude to us. Think of being in the states, you’re lucky if only three people are rude to you on your drive home from work!
9. Problem solving skills. I remember the days where broken or misbehaving parts were quickly ditched and new ones were sourced. Being on a budget, and often away from stores has taught us (mostly Brad) how to repair rather than replace. His skill sets have grown tremendously from plumbing, electrical, technical and any boat related item you can think of. He is our go to “fix it man.” The boat and crew are in great hands!
10. Dinghy driving skills. We are each skilled enough to take the dinghy just about anywhere. Although, I rely heavily on Brad when we are taking the dinghy to shore in surf conditions. Otherwise taking the dinghy to a dock is a cinch with maybe a couple of splashes and soaking along the way.
    
    Bonus skill, diving! Brad has been teaching me how to dive and we’ve purchased a dive compressor to fill our scuba tanks. Learning how to dive has taken me WAY out of my comfort zone and Brad has done a wonderful job of teaching me all the necessary skills. I can’t wait to learn more as we continue our cruising adventure!
    
    Super Bonus skill, making lifelong friends. This is something I really struggled with before, but since being on the boat I feel that I’ve become less shy, and so has Brad. Plus the people we are meeting instantly have something in common with us, we all live on boats! The bonds we share as cruisers go far beyond potlucks and stories. We’ve learned that you’ve got to put yourselves out there in order to make those friendships happen. And often they happen quickly!
    
    So while I may have forgotten how to find the present value of a loan with seasonal payments, I’ve got plenty of other tricks in my bag and so does Brad. We’ve gained plenty of perspective and that’s what this trip is all about. Cheers to living and learning! May this post find you happy and healthy!

We are up in refugio sitting out a relatively stron southerly blow. The wind appears to be heating as it blows over the island!

Brad Harley. Sent from my iPhone

We are continuing our journey north to Refugio from the Bay of LA. No wind, so making water and doing laundry. Sydney, as always is a huge help.

Brad Harley. Sent from my iPhone

Perspective is on the move again and we will start actively posting on boat projects which have consumed us for the past couple of months. We arrived at Isla Isabel (21 50.832’N by 105 52.722’W) yesterday at mid day, and on the way in hooked and ‘landed’ our first marlin. She was 5-6 feet, and after bringing her along side the boat we released her back to the wild. We briefly thought of bringing her onboard, but that much fish was a bit overwhelming!!!

We plan to depart Isla Isabel tomorrow headed for Bahia De Los Muertos, then continue to La Paz. Chat with everyone soon!

Best Wishes,
Brad, Sarah and Sydney on SV Perspective
www.svperspective.com
Wondering where we are? http://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/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.

I’ll get in to all the details of the bay in our next blog. Until then, I hope you’re all doing great and having an awesome day!

Have any questions for us? Leave us a comment or drop us an email. We’d love to hear from you! Cheers!

My friends, it is time for a confession. A confession straight from this millennial that I’d probably not believe unless it was permanently recorded on our blog. As I write this we are in the calmest of seas, motoring back to civilization in Santa Rosalia. And as we do this, my mind is feeling a bit sentimental. As much as I love the internet, there is something to be said about having minimal access to it for nearly two months. In that time we were more connected to each other, our surroundings and our newly made friends. Even the boat got a little extra love during that time. So as we approach the land of internet I am feeling anxious. Anxious to catch up on the blog. Anxious to see what’s been happening with friends and family on social media. Anxious to talk to family members on the phone. But a major part of me is dreading negative news and stories which makes this internet/civilization thing so bittersweet. While we were away and “disconnected” there was none of the negative news. Instead it was an exchange of silly experiences shared amongst cruisers such as radio nets, parties for any occasion, fishing, provisioning, passage planning and lots of talk about weather. So before I get swept away in the land of the internet and all of its joys/perils, lets talk about our time in Bahia de Los Ángeles aka BLA!

BLA is a small village with a population of around 700 people. And in this town all the cruisers dinghy up to Guillermo’s Restaurant. This is the place to go for internet and a cold beverage, and most likely it will lead to a conversation with another cruiser doing the exact same thing. The internet was typically slow as a snail, enough to make you wish they didn’t have it. At one point it stopped working for days. Rumor has it that they had to send someone up a mountain on a donkey to complete the repairs. True story!

After the restaurant experience, the most likely place to find us would be the markets getting fresh food and veggies, preparing ourselves to be away from town for days at a time. We learned that BLA is very expensive to provision, so next season we will stock up on our favorite staples before arriving. Sometimes provisioning meant going to every store in town trying to track down fresh produce. Thankfully the town lacked a tasty restaurant so we were able to save money on dining out.

Since leaving San Carlos and heading to the Baja side we haves visited 9 different anchorages.Waited out 2 named hurricanes- Rosa and Sergio.Celebrated 3 birthday parties, 2 survivor parties, a full moon party, sushi party, net controller party and a margarita party. Whew!Photos from the full moon party in La Gringa…where everyone is equipped with a floatation device, preferably a cold beverage and if you’re really sneaky, a super soaker to nail your buddies with. The full moon causes the tides to be larger than usual which fills up a beautiful lagoon. At the end of high tide the water rushes out of the lagoon and you float right out into the bay. You repeat this until the water is too shallow to continue. It was such a great time in such a simple way!We spent many days hunkered down in Puerto Don Juan, a natural hurricane hole waiting for weather to pass. The scenery was so lovely at times! Pretty much the entire fleet of boats would anchor here, roughly 15-20 boats at a time. Brad speared his largest catch yet, a 10 pound cabrilla!I had my first experience being stalked, by a bullseye pufferfish. These creeps followed us everywhere!Set a record for having 18 guests on board Perspective for Brad’s Birthday.Got chased out of an anchorage by hundreds of bees.Threw countless sticks for Sydney on multiple beaches (she is forever ruined). Sydney also got confined to the boat while we waited out bad weather, she wasn’t too happy about that. We combed beaches looking for beautiful shells.Anchored next to a dormant volcano, and got ourselves bit by the infamous “Jejenes” aka no-see-ums.I learned the hard way about strong currents, thankfully Brad came to my rescue and picked me up. We set our new high speed record of 10 knots while surfing down a wave with a wing on wing sail configuration.We swam and played with a juvenile sea lion in Refugio.We said goodbye to our friends in Ensenada el Quemado as they headed south, but not before taking a hike together to take in the scenic views.We witnessed the SpaceX Rocket launch into space on Brad’s Birthday.Another accomplishment to note is Brad became a net controller twice a week on the SSB Amigo net. The net meets daily at 7:10am and Brad provides weather updates to listeners, gathers their check-ins, and coordinates announcements to fellow cruisers. He was suckered in to this by another cruiser after being plied with numerous tequila shots. Well done Kirk! Since Brad agreed to do the net we’ve met and become friends with numerous boats that check in to the Amigo net, or are controllers themselves. It’s been such a positive thing and I know Brad is loving it too!

All in all I think it is safe to say that we had an excellent experience in the BLA area and would happily do it again. The only regret we have is not getting up there a few weeks earlier to enjoy the cooler water temperatures and lower humidity. There’s so much more for us to explore up and we really had a beautiful time in BLA!

So what is next for Perspective? We will be slowly heading south with a goal of getting back to Banderas Bay by early December. We are once again excited to spend the holidays with family and are thankful for their willingness to come back down to see us.

And I will leave you with this lovely dorado (mahi mahi) that we caught just before we arrived to Santa Rosalia. Our largest yet at 42 inches. Just look at that big smile on Brad’s face! ❤️

Hola amigos! It’s hard to believe we’ve been in San Carlos for a month already! A lot has happened since arriving so I’ll do my best to recap. The purpose of coming to San Carlos was to be in a place that we could easily reach San Diego, and leave the boat in a safe place during our absence.

Upon arrival we anchored Perspective outside of the marina and waited until August 1st to move her into a slip. It has been hot and humid here and we were excited to get to the dock so we could use our air conditioning. Brad and I were armed with big plans. His plans involved engine maintenance and installing a second alternator. My plans involved our sewing machine. Our plans together involved a trip to San Diego to renew Brad’s Visa, see family/friends, and some boat shopping!

We ended up scheduling our trip to San Diego the 3rd through 13th. We had lots to do before we could leave Perspective for 10 days. This included a thorough cleaning/wipe down of all surfaces with vinegar to prevent mold. All food had to be removed from the fridge and freezer. Windows and hatches needed to be covered in tinfoil. The water maker needed to be pickled, the dinghy needed to be locked down and the paddle boards needed to come inside. We managed to do all these things and got out the door by 7am.The drive to San Diego was nicer than we expected and the roads are well cared for. There was one surprise though, picture this…a freeway with a big sweeping corner followed by an unmarked speed bump. An unmarked speed bump! Were they trying to kill us?! We must have missed the sign explaining that it was coming up ahead. Brad’s quick reflexes took us from 80km to about 50 as we hit the bump. We were left quite surprised and definitely more vigilant!

San Diego did not disappoint. We found ourselves busier than ever visiting with family and friends, and for that, I am so grateful! Even Sydney got to catch up with old boyfriends and girlfriends from her previous beach life. I could go on and on, really, our time in San Diego was out of this world and it’s because of our friends/family that made it so special! Many thanks to everyone that hosted us, and those that drove many miles to see us. We love you!

Pictured below….The Del Mar crew at the races, it was a real treat to see Gareth in town! A photo with Chris, just missing Beth! Thanks for showing us a fabulous time in OB, and for introducing us to your new girl! My old boss and I during my visit to the office. Thanks, Nikki, for carving out time so we could catch up! Don’t forget your passport homework assignment. 😉Summer Concert in the Park in Del Mar…Time well spent in Nautwater…Family time in Julian…Catching up with Doug, who drove all the way down from LAX to enjoy a dinner with us…And before we knew it, it was time to pack up and say goodbye. Sydney stole my seat on the way out…Brad did not mind. 😂It was so easy to fall back into the old lifestyle, especially after spending so much time with family and friends. But we knew we had to get back to our girl and continue our adventure. Thanks to Dave and Jamyne on Magic Dragon, we heard that Perspective handled herself well during our absence. Even so, we were anxious to get back and settle in.

The boat was clean and put away for all of a day, and then it became a war zone of sewing supplies, and tools! Remember those projects I mentioned earlier? Well, they were not forgotten by us either. Brad dug in to the alternator project and I started sewing. We realized San Carlos was not the most ideal place to shop for boat parts, which left us in the slip for longer than we wanted. Luckily, Amazon works just fine here in Mexico! And Brad was not afraid to hop on buses and run all over Guaymas looking for parts. As of now, Brad has installed the second alternator and rewired both, installed an alternator regulator, changed the engine oil, changed the engine coolant, changed the transmission fluid, changed the Honda generator oil, changed the water maker oil, installed two new galley faucets that no longer leak, and I’m sure there’s more that I am missing. He has been a busy, busy bee!

As for me, I’ve sewn two new hatch covers to block the bright sunlight, three pillow cases, four jerrycan covers, 2 cockpit pouches and a lifesling cover. Whew! Luckily Jamyne was around to offer her expertise and moral support as I got stuck. I am so happy that these projects are done, and our gear is being protected from the sun! Even Dave and Jamyne got to play with the Sailrite. They suffered a torn sail on the way to San Carlos and were able to fix the sail with our machine. We are sooooo happy for them and can’t wait to see the sail fly again.Basically San Carlos has been a place for us to catch up on much needed projects and as a bonus, in the air conditioning! It wasn’t all chores for us though, we did manage to take the dinghy out to Martini Cove a couple of times. We were surprised to see the water was so clear, and also surprised to see that it has been so fished out. This did not stop the boys from spearing to their hearts content! Jamyne and I also shot fish, with our cameras. Here are a few of my favorite photos from Martini Cove…The little guys pictured above are in the Blenny family. They are super territorial, and masters of blending in. It’s been a fun challenge for me to capture them with the camera, as they tend to move erratically.

We did see some amazing sunsets here in San Carlos…Here are some fun times that Sydney wanted me to share with you. She went to her old stomping grounds and reunited with her crew. And she had a fun ride to the beach in a topless jeep! She enjoyed beautiful yards and lots of pillows on her vacation from the boat.What’s next for Perspective? We are leaving San Carlos and overnighting to an island called San Francisquito. The distance is about 105 nautical miles and Perspective will be on a downwind course. Weather depending, we will be there for a bit and then we will make our way to Bahia de Los Angeles through the end of hurricane season. We are so looking forward to a change of scenery, but do appreciate what San Carlos had to offer us. I hope this post finds you happy and well! Cheers!!!

Hola Amigos! It was officially time to leave our bee friends behind. Our next stop, 70 nautical miles away in San Carlos. Magic Dragon was also making the trek and left at 9 in the morning, we planned to leave around 5pm. We chose the departure time based on our expected ETA in San Carlos. We wanted to arrive during the daylight and this would give us plenty of cushion in case the winds died down. Speaking of the wind, the forecast showed the winds blowing all day and night with a break from 1am to 4am.

With all the bee action, we couldn’t wait any longer. Brad pulled the anchor at 3pm while I steered us out of the cove. We hoisted the main and waited til we got around the cove to unfurl the headsail. Once the sails were out the wind seemed to die. Brad decided to wait it out based on the land near us, and he made the right choice. Once we got around the island the winds picked up and Perspective propelled forward like a freight train!I watched as the winds crept up from 12 to 23 knots and we decided to reef the main. This would flatten the boat out and make for a more comfortable ride, and as a bonus we would be prepared should the wind get any higher. Reefing involves Brad (or occasionally me) going to the mast, carefully lowering the sail to the marked point, clipping onto the reef point, hoisting the sail til it’s tight along the mast, sheeting in the reefing line and then coiling up the main halyard. This is not something you want to be doing when the boat is really heeled over, so it’s best to reef early. Brad has done this so many times that it takes him just a minute to do and during that minute I’m on pins and needles waiting for him to get back in the cockpit. What can I say, I’m still a nervous nelly!

We discovered that even with the reef we were going well over 8 knots which is usually an excellent pace. In this case it was a pace we were not planning on when we decided on our departure time. This made our ETA into San Carlos way earlier than expected and we would be arriving at night. Ugh! Other than reefing the main we didn’t try very hard to slow Perspective down because we were too busy enjoying the amazing sail. Perspective handles herself so well and is so comfortable while under way. It would have been a shame to reign her in while she was stretching those legs!

A few hours into the crossing we spotted Magic Dragon on our chart plotter via AIS. AIS allows you to see other registered vessels, including their speed, closest point of approach, distance from your vessel and bearing. Basically AIS is SUPER handy to have in addition to radar. We gave them a call once we were in radio range to see how they were doing. Jamyne mentioned they were having an issue with their transmission and were fine to continue sailing the rest of the way. The winds were steady around 17 knots on our beam giving both Magic Dragon and Perspective a great sail.

Our new ETA into San Carlos was around midnight. Around 10:30pm we were faced with thunder, lightning, and strong winds. Our position was only a few miles offshore but based on the conditions we decided to practice heaving to. This was something we did on the previous boat, but hadn’t tried on this one. Brad did the appropriate steps and the boat sat comfortably in the water going 1.5-2.5 knots. According to the forecast, the winds would be dying around 1am but they kept steady. At one point the winds gusted well over 30 knots. With us being a few miles ahead of Magic Dragon we gave them a call on the radio to give a heads up. It turns out we were too late and they had suffered a torn headsail.

We kept the boat in the heave to position until the winds died down. It was bad enough to arrive in the dark in an unfamiliar place, and we did not need high winds to further complicate things. Around 5am we finally had our chance. We still had some moonlight to help us navigate in, along with our charts. Once our hook was down we called Magic Dragon and offered assistance to help them anchor since their transmission was on the fritz. Turns out they were able to come in and anchor just fine! Yay! We caught up on some precious sleep and reflected on our passage. Overall it was the finest sailing experience we’ve had so far. It reminded us just how great of a vessel Perspective is and how well she takes care of us. I’m also thankful to Brad for keeping calm with all the wind and lightning. His calmness and actions kept me sane! If you’re into stats, here are the stats from our trip…it’s a bit blurry because the boat was rocking around so much when the photo was taken. 😉Well there you have it folks, the story of our crossing! Next up will be more about San Carlos! I hope this blog finds you happy and well, cheers!!!

Hola Amigos! We ventured to Santa Rosalia with hesitant hopes of it being a cool town. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it is a wonderful stop. The town holds an enormous amount of mining and hurricane history, therefore making it an interesting place. There is only one place to anchor in Santa Rosalia and that is inside the marina area. Luckily there was plenty of room to choose a comfortable spot along with Magic Dragon.

This is no place to jump off the dinghy and swim, but we quickly dropped the dinghy with plans to explore shore. Brad, Sydney and I met Dave and Jamyne outside the marina office and began wandering the streets. This is the best way to learn a new place, just get out and start walking. Along the way we saw old mining remnants, the beautiful Santa Rosalia sign and colorful buildings all around.Santa Rosalia was once a busy mining town controlled by the French. The French sourced workers from the local Indian population until the Indian workers abandoned them. This pattern continued with mainland Mexicans and eventually to the Chinese. The working conditions were terrible and the mortality rate was high. If you’re interested in learning more about the mining and the evolution of Santa Rosalia, then check out this link: http://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1989/january/history/.In addition to terrible mining conditions, hurricanes have not been kind to this area. One marina has been wiped out and their broken dock still stands. While in Santa Rosalia we dropped off laundry, provisioned at the local grocery store, had a couple of meals, searched for a water spicket for our filtered water, and climbed the switchbacks to the cemetery. We had a great time checking out this unique town. One of my favorite stops was the local bakery. We all chose our “poison” to snack on and I indulged in not just one, but TWO donuts!!! They were that good! We all suffered from a sugar crash afterwards, but it was worth it.

Views from our time touring the old mine and some hurricane damage…Views from the cemetery. The cemetery was on top of the mountain overlooking the sea. It was a beautiful location but we were shocked to see so much trash amongst the graves…Below is the beautiful church that was imported from Paris along with a stunning mural across the street…The sunsets were to die for! Thanks to Jamyne, we have some beautiful photos of Perspective basking in the sunset glow.After a couple of days we decided to leave Santa Rosalia and head some place that we could snorkel. This place happened to be called Isla San Marcos, specifically Sweet Pea Cove. It was a quick 11 mile motor to our new and improved back yard.We were immediately met by another couple in the anchorage, they kindly dinghied over to say hello. They were wrapping up their 17 year circumnavigation and preparing to leave their boat in San Carlos for the summer season. It was great chatting with them and they gave us some intel on the island.

On the southern end of San Marcos is a gypsum mine. There is a conveyor that loads gypsum onto ships that creates an immense amount of dust. From what we saw, this went on 24/7. Luckily our anchorage was miles away and we were not affected. We spent several days anchored in Sweet Pea Cove and spent many hours snorkeling and spear fishing. Being in the water was our only escape from the intense heat, and bees! The bees were looking for water, and would do anything to get inside for it. We put screens on all our port lights and shut the hatches to keep them out. This also kept all the heat inside!Enough sweating, let’s check out the snorkeling! Here we have a school of angel fish…We saw a few creepy moray eels. Boy do they get your heart racing as they swim under you…Brad grabbed a beautiful starfish for me to check out up close. Also pictured are angel fish, Sergent Majors, and burrito grunts. Could you believe the grunts sound like snorting pigs under the water?!?More shots from under the sea, the yummy fish LOVE to take cover under rocks…Dave and Brad were unstoppable with their spears and we had to remind them only to kill what we could eat that day. Sometimes we ate fish twice a day! Here are some of the fish we ate…Pargo, Cabrilla, Snapper, Hogfish, and a tasty Green Jack. Jamyne cooked up a wonderful chowder for all of us and oh boy, it was to die for!

We heard there were a couple of caves to explore on the island. So we ventured out and found a cave large enough to dinghy through but decided to swim through it. It was my first cave experience and it was erie, but amazing! Here’s a shot as we approached the end, if you look closely you’ll see tiny fish in the water…Our time in Sweet Pea Cove was bittersweet. It was the best snorkeling we’ve seen so far, but so hot and the bees were chasing us out. We looked for a good weather window to cross the sea and head to San Carlos. And the time to leave could not come soon enough! I’ll tell you all about the crossing and San Carlos in our next blog. Until then, I hope this blog finds you happy and healthy! If you’ve got any questions, shoot them our way! Cheers from SV Perspective!

One more sunset before we go…