Santa Rosalia

As promised, what follows are words of wisdom and photos taken during my voyage from the Northern part of the Sea of Cortez back to La Paz. I sailed as crew on S/V Talaria for skippers, yes it is true, SKIPPERS Bill and Jean. There is never a dull moment when you sail on a boat that has two skippers, especially if the two skippers are married to each other. I tried my best to keep a low profile. Those that know me are probably laughing knowing that it is impossible for me to keep a low profile.

Don't misunderstand. Bill and Jean are wonderful people and I enjoyed every moment with them, in close quarters, for 15 days.

You will find very few towns on the west side of the Sea when you travel North of La Paz. So if you are looking to go drinking, dancing and eating in fine restaurants as you sail the sea, you will be disappointed. If on the other hand you are looking for beautiful and peaceful anchorages with a bounty of sea life, you will believe you have died and gone to heaven.

Santa Rosalia is a copper mining town that was built by the French. The French shipped lumber down from Washington for building the town and the mine. There is also a church that they disassembled back in France and rebuilt in Santa Rosalia.

This is the Marina in Santa Rosalia and a hotdog stand where one eats if you have just sailed into town. The hotdogs, with all of the fixings, are great.

This is a photo of what remain of the copper mine and the church that was brought back from France and rebuilt.

Above the town, high on a hill, is the grave yard. There was a three day celebration there

during the recent Day of The Dead festival.

The crew may look dead and ready for the hill but he is just trying to come up with ideas to solve world hunger.

This is a family that Jean and Bill introduced me to from Santa Rosalia. She works in the Marina as a cleaning lady. Her daughter is having surgery and Bill and Jean are helping with some of the costs. I helped her in a small way by paying for her round trip bus ticket to La Paz where she met with the dentist. She made me some cookies to thank me which I eat on our sail to La Paz.

There is another friend who showed up for dinner and was waiting for us to open up the screens so it could come inside.

We pulled anchor in Santa Rosalia on the 19th of October and had a short sail to Isla San Marcos. There is a small anchorage there called Sweet Pea cove were we spent the evening. For those of you that know how to use Google Earth, the lat/lon is 27.14.03N 112.0624W. There is a very small town on the Isla that was built by a mining company. There is a large Gypsum mine and if you don’t work in the mine, you are supporting those that do or you are a fisherman.

I olny have a few photos of this location as my camera broke when it became too wet.

As most, if not all, this small town had a church where the locals worship.

I have a number of other photos to share as we sailed to La Paz but those will need to wait until the marina solves thier network problems. Wireless is too slow.

Until then, be safe out there

Denny