Los Meurtos - December 4

The next day was much the same as the previous one and has pretty much blurred itself in my mind. We motor sailed the whole day in fairly benign seas and we had less wind. Although we passed through the area of the famous Pulmo Reef - the only hard coral reef found in the Sea of Cortez and in a nature preserve - we didn’t actually see any of it. We also did not see any wildlife that day. Doug read for most of it and I watched the empty landscape as we sailed by, lulled into a kind of passive complacency by the sound of the engine, the warmth of the sun and the repetitiveness of the journey.

a Kindle is a great way to pass the time on an uneventful passage

I did get a good shot of Chirpy, with Paul, Laura and Jennifer aboard, along the way.

Chirpy, a steel hulled sailboat from Deep Bay, Vancouver Island

Thor with Mark and Lori aboard - East Cape in the background

We arrived at Los Meurtos, 46 miles later, at about 3pm. There were quite a few boats at this anchorage as, not only is it a cubby hole for sailors continuing on to La Paz, it is also the primary jumping off point for those crossing to Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. However, the water and the wind in the bay were very quiet and we were able to take a secure anchorage right in front of the white sandy beach.

Los Meurtos

At Los Meurtos a paved road leads to La Paz and, as a result, it has more “civilization”. To the left of the beach is some kind of resort with a huge golf course spread out behind it. It looked very bizarre to me, shimmering emerald green grass, in a land with very little water and surrounded by such dry and barren surroundings.

Los Meurtos in the haze of late afternoon

To the right of the beach was a little palapa that served simple meals and cervesa. A little beyond that was a very interesting “folly” that looked like something out of a Disney movie.

Someone's folly

The ensenada (or cove) is called “Los Meurtos” (the dead) not because it was a place of death, but because of the moorings that were used to hold the barges and ships that supplied the now defunct silver mines and transported salt produced nearby. These moorings were made with giant anchors buried in the sand and ore carts from the mines which were referred to as “dead men”. However, because of the implication of the name on the sensitivities of the people who are developing this area, there is a push to rename it “Bay of Dreams”. For us, it was a bay of dreams, as we were early to bed and slept well.

Oh - and time for a shower - I'll leave you to decide what the caption really should read!