Out to the Islands Again

Dry waterfall, Ensenada del Candelero

 We spent the last few weeks in the islands again, where we met up with our friends Tanya and Scott on Kialoa, Malcolm and Dina on Good as Gold (with their guest Victoria onboard), and Arek and Ivanna on Bella Vita.

We started off in Bahia San Gabriel, where we endured our 2nd Coromuel.   These are overnight west winds that kick up a crazy chop.  Basically the boat just hobby-horses all night and so it is very uncomfortable.  The winds also put you on a lee shore, which isn't ideal.  Unfortunately none of the anchorages in the islands are protected from them, but some are slightly better than others.  San Gabriel is one of the worst.  Needless to say we headed further up the island when the seas calmed down the next morning.

Sunset at Ensenada del Candelero

Next stop, Ensenada del Candelero.  This is a lovely cove with the large Roca (rock) Monumento in the middle.  We spent a few days snorkeling around the rock.  We let Charlotte 'go feral' on the island while we snorkeled - she just followed us around and took herself for a walk.

Dingy repair on deck

Returning Kialoa's dingy

 While we were stationary for a few days, we took the opportunity to fix the dingy.  You may remember that Gary ripped one of the oar handles off the dingy during the 'picking Mrs X up from the bus station' fiasco a few weeks ago.  I was getting tired of having to treat the dingy like a SUP whenever I'd need to row to shore, so the repair was well overdue.  Despite doing the repair under less than ideal conditions (supposedly  you aren't supposed to use the glue near water [ummmm, its a dingy...where do they think we'll be repairing it!!] or when it is humid [couldn't help that one either]) we did manage to stick the damn thing back on.  Not sure how long it will last, but hopefully at least to the end of the season.

Roca Monumento, Ensenada del Candelero

Bocce on the beach, Ensenada Grande (south lobe)

Hiking trail up the arroyo, Ensenada Grande 

At least the trail was signed...

 After a few days in Candelero, we moved up to the south lobe on Ensenada Grande with Kialoa.  Unfortunately we spent the first night enduring another Coromuel (thanks Scott, for staying awake and watching our boat for us), but the rest of our time there was spent in calm conditions.

We enjoyed one afternoon playing bocce on the beach, while Charlotte roamed free in the cove.

We spend another afternoon 'hiking' up the arroyo to a lookout.  The trail started off quite gentle, so we were hopeful that for once it would be a relatively easy trail.  Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case.  We were soon scaling 5-6 foot boulders.  Obviously not easy with for little Charlotte.  She persevered for about 40 minutes, then I decided she shouldn't go any further.  

Gary continued on up the trail with Tanya from Kialoa, while Scott and I turned back with Charlotte.  

End of the line: Tanya from Kialoa leaping off the edge

The view at the end made it all worthwhile though.

Cordon cactus