To the Sea, To The Sea, To The Beautiful Sea

To The Sea, To The Sea, To The Beautiful Sea;

 You and me, You and me

Oh How Happy We Will Be!



A pod of over a 150 dolphins follow El Tiburon

 After 3 days of Darrell diligently talking with Ray Marine (Thanks Trevor!) on the East Coast for help with installing our new autopilot parts, including a new brain, we were ready to head west to the Sea. We departed Mazatlan at 7 am under a blanket of cold-wet-drippy fog, and then out of nowhere we were blessed with an escort by the LARGEST pod of dolphins I have seen in over 32 years and 15,000 miles of blue water cruising. They looked like a giant fish boil and were surrounded by a variety of seabirds savaging any leftovers. We decided this sighting was a good omen for our 190 mile trip across the Sea of Cortez to Bahia de Los Muertos - one of our favorite anchorages. Indeed, we did enjoy a 28 hour swift and smooth southern crossing.

Bahia de Los Muertos

El Tiburon to the right - dwarfed by Silverado on the left

Silverado and El Tib happy in paradise

Spark enjoys his slice of paradise under the shade of our new striped bimini.

Paradise right?

Trouble looms large in this paradise. Allow me to step up on my soapbox for a moment......Mexico's growing Gringo Problem! The invasion of hungry Gringos eating up their land, taxing the environment's limited resources, especially water in Baja, disturbing the fragile balance of the desert's plants and animals, and inflating housing costs so Nationals cannot afford to own homes. Granted there are many, many Americans who flock to Mexico because they love the land, the people, and the culture. Others, come because of greed. Here is an example.
Sadly, after generations of being called Bahia de Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), American developers have bought an unimaginable amount of acreage surrounding the bay, and renamed it Bahia Suenos - Bay of Dreams. Better marketing? I say, it's a NIGHTMARE! And I expressed my thoughts using both barrels to the developer. So, if they have their way, wave good-bye history and namesake, good-bye beach, and good-bye pangas. All to be replaced with 1,2000 villas, condos, and 4 hotels. Oh, and it seems the exisiting Golf Course put in by the last failed developer (happens a lot down here) needs to be moved to make room for homes all along the dunes. Moorings will also replace the free anchorage if they are to have their "dream" come to fruition. This wave of over-development for the bored rich in pristine places across the globe seems endless. Thus, Darrell, Sparky, and I set about to fervently enjoy our favorite anchorage before it is desecrated.  We swam in the crystal clear sapphire water, walked on the powery white sand beach, snorkeled over the coral reef, breathed the fresh air in the wide open space, and praised God for the majestically brilliant sunrises and sunsets - all facets of this paradise currently enjoyed by Mexican Nationals and their families, along with a few visiting yachties.....before it is lost.


The Grand Suenos realtor (devil's handmaiden) explained to us that in the grand scheme of things the "clutter" of the pangas used for fishing will be removed as well as the "unsantitary" fish remains on the beach. If they have their way the pangeros will be relieved of their humble and honorable life's work and instead can wear uniforms with name tags to wait upon gringos living on their families land.
I call this sad state of affairs, Mexico's "GRINGO PROBLEM".



A 30,000 square foot NIGHTMARE

 And to the right, a picture worth a thousands words. A 30,000 square foot monstrosity of a vacation home owned by a Oklahoma tycoon who arrives via a private airstrip. His piece of the pie has little relationship to Mexico, her land, or her people. BIG IS NOT BETTER. Enough already.

                                                                            

Spark's last walk before we headed north

Despite the news of impending gloom for Muertos lurking in the corner of our minds, we enjoyed another couple of days of tranquility. We met Katie and Chip from Miss Teak and shared lunch at the boutique hotel tucked into the corner of the Bay. Katie and I poked our noses into one of the to-die-for-suites and imagined Goldie Hawn and her family hanging out last Thanksgiving. We did some more swimming, stowed some gear, and D took Spark for a final walk along the beach before pulling up the hook the following morning for our departure north to Marina Costa Baja in La Paz.