First time at sea

A week ago, Lisa and Dan joined Burke, Kacey and Quinn for the maiden voyage of Isis.

We set out on a four-day trip, and ended up staying out five days. We would have been away longer, but we ran out of beer, ice and cocktail mixers (oh, and food, too). And there was the gentle-but-persistent feeling that there was some reason that Lisa and Dan had to get back to La Paz... namely, Rumiko, waiting for her thorough scrub-down and engine installation.

Thursday, March 5th was sunny and gorgeous as we headed out of La Paz. We motored out of the main channel, where we passed by the Bercovich boat yard and Rumiko. The oil tanker anchored upwind from the yard provided a great photo-op.

Once out of the main channel we headed north for Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. While Burke and Kacey tested out various equipment on Isis, (the sails, diesel engine, GPS, etc.), Dan and Lisa soaked in both the sun and a lot of new information.

Just before dusk we pulled into our anchorage at Caleta Partida - a cozy, well protected area located between the islands of Espiritu Santo and Partida.

Satellite photo from: http://www.islaespiritusanto.com/

After dropping the anchor, the crew set to work cooking up Lisa's 40th birthday dinner. Dan made the salad, Burke cooked up a shrimp and garlic linguine, and Kacey and Quinn baked a carrot cake. Not only was it Kacey's first time using the oven on Isis, it was her first time baking a cake from scratch! The cake contained an egg from Lucy, a goose that hangs out at Marina Palmira where Isis had been moored. The entire meal was delicious, but the birthday cake, ahem, took the cake.

We were anchored at Caleta Partida for three nights. During that time we swam, went to a dinner party on another boat, had an impromptu dinner party on Isis, played on the beach and hiked. While swimming one day, Dan saw a mast on a nearby boat called Zoom fall down. Everyone else heard the clank of the mast as it hit Zoom. "Are there such things as collapsible masts?" Dan thought to himself. As it turns out, Zoom's mast did not fall on purpose. Just as Dan got to Isis Burke was jumping into the dinghy to go help the boat's owner, so Dan went with him. Together, Burke, Dan, and three other guys got the mast repositioned.

On the fourth day we sailed around Isla Partida to a new anchorage on the eastern side of Espiritu Santo. The day was filled with sea life. We saw sea lions, porpoises, and best of all, what looked like manta rays hurling themselves into the air. These diamond-shape critters appeared to be doing backflips, because we alternately saw the silver of their bellies and the black of their backs as the flew by. According to a great web site (with photo gallery that you should check out), these are mobula rays.

We anchored at Playa La Bonanza and wished we had enough provisions to stay there for a week. The place was astoundingly beautiful, with a great sandy beach, views of leaping porpoises and rays, and a landscape begging to be hiked. We had a brief taste of all of the above, and will surely return to enjoy it again some day. Once we get Rumiko in the water, it will be at great place to take visitors - hint, hint. . .