May 8, Isla Coronados

The sands of Isla Coronados

 

Gregg and I awoke this morning in this picturesque anchorage with about a dozen other boats but by 10am all but 4 have left for other anchorages.  Today is Gregg's last day so we wanted to just relax and enjoy what is here.  This afternoon we went for a hike on the island.  Isla Coronado is an old volcano and there is a trail from the beach that leads about a mile and a half up to the summit.  So after pulling the dinghy up safely above the high water mark on the fine grained, white sand, we headed out.  We had not determined to necessarily go all the way up, we just wanted to get up on the ridgeline to enjoy the views.  We walked for about 45 minutes or so until we were high up on a ridge, took some pics and started back down.  Looking down into the anchorage it was truly like looking at a postcard from the Caribbean or something. Dark shades of red and black cinder dotting the hillside that cascaded down into aqua blue waters that are accentuated by the white sand bottom only a few feet below.  Out near the deeper, darker water, just past an almost drawn in color line beyond the white sand, sat the Liahona along with 3 other boats, quietly swaying on their anchor rodes.

When I was walking up the steep, rocky trail with Gregg I thought of two people, Marne and John.  Marne because I know that she will want to run/hike up to the top when we are back down here this fall and John because it would be an epic trail run that he would love.  A classic Bret trail run, steep, rocky and gnarly; maybe without the cross country, off trail part of the normal Bret trail run.  lol.  You wander off trail here and something prickly is most assuredly going to get your attention.  As I thought about running the trail with John I quickly remembered that I wouldn't make it 1/4 mile up that steep hillside before I would be sounding like I was having an asthma attack. lol.  I am definitely not in shape for that but I am looking forward to some trail runs when I get home.

Current negatives here in the cruising life...the water temperature is a crazy low 67 degrees.  It isn't Rogue River cold but it is not as inviting as it was a few weeks ago.  It is a weird year here in the Sea of Cortez.  By now the sea is supposed to be warming not cooling.  The other negative, which is somewhat tied to the cold water, is the fishing.  Nothing!  I am hoping that changes as I move north.  

Toilet report - After rebuilding that whole system a couple of days ago I still had a slow backflow problem with sea water leaking back into the bowl.  The fix is a new "joker valve" which I had put in with the fix.  How could it not work being brand new?  I don't have the answer to that but this morning I put another new joker valve in and viola...the head is now functioning as intended again.  Whew!  Head problems are no fun.

That is another day aboard.

Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona