I began the morning by listening to Geary’s weather forecast on the Sonrisa net from 7:45 to 8:00 AM. I then listened to the local Bahia Escondido Cruisers net on the VHF radio at 8:00 AM. The Bahia Escondido net also provides a weather forecast. Both say a Norther is on the way, so I will be here in Bahia Escondido until it blows over.
After the radio nets finished, I spent about 2 hours cleaning the exterior of the boat. When the boat is underway, salt spray gets deposited on the boat and when the salt spray evaporates it leaves a coating of salt on everything. The salt is very corrosive so I try to hose the boat down with fresh water to remove it. That is only possible in marinas with abundant fresh water. Unfortunately the last one of those was back in La Paz. Since leaving the marina in La Paz, the alternative is to wipe down the stainless steel with a cloth that I frequently rinse out in fresh water to remove as much salt as possible. I did that this morning. It will be wonderful to get to another marina where I can wash down the boat properly.
At 1:00 PM I took a taxi from the marina to the town of Loreto which is 14 miles north of here.
The taxi driver was very friendly and I got to practice my Spanish while he practiced his English. We both made a little progress, but I have a very long way to go before I can converse properly in Spanish. I am stuck in present tense and my vocabulary is very limited. Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine and the adjectives have masculine or feminine endings to match. I struggle to remember which nouns are masculine and which are feminine. When I do not know the appropriate Spanish word, I attempt to find the closest Latin based English word and give it a Spanish pronunciation. It is surprising how well that works. For more recently coined words, you can often use the English word and give it a Spanish pronunciation. That often works because, unlike the French, Spanish speakers tends to adopt English words.
The town of Loreto has a long history. It was the first mission established in either Baja (lower) or Alta (upper) California. Above the entrance to the mission is written “Cabeza and Madre de las Misiones de Baja y Alta California”. In English that means “Head and Mother of the Missions of Baja and Alta California”. The mission was established by the Jesuits in 1697. Father Serra who established the Alta California missions departed from here when establishing the northern missions.
There is a very good museum adjoining the mission that describes the history of the original people of the area and of the missions established by the Spanish. Despite good intentions, the experience for the original natives of Baja California was a disaster. The diseases the Spanish introduced reduced the population of the original inhabitants by about 95%. The original population was estimated at between 20,000 and 50,000 people. Within a relatively short time, it was reduced to about 3,500 people. Smallpox, Measles, and Syphilis swept through the native population like wild fire.
After visiting the museum, I walked to the malacon which is the walkway along the waterfront. There is a small harbor along the way where the local fisherman keep their fishing boats. The typical fisherman has a 20 foot long open fiberglass boat with no deck. On the stern of each boat there was a large outboard motor that moves the boat along quickly. The boats seem relatively seaworthy, but they provide no protection from the elements. The fisherman go out early each morning and return late in the afternoon. It looks like a very hard way to make a living.
When I walked by the harbor, it was filled with pelicans diving into the harbor to catch fish. They are not the most elegant bird but they are excellent divers. It was very interesting watching them dive for fish. I tried to capture pictures of them, but they dive quickly and I am not sure I got any good pictures of them in action.
The taxi driver recommended several restaurants, including one that served spit roasted chicken. I tried it after seeing lots of locals eating there. The food was excellent, and the prices were very reasonable.
I got back to the marina just before dark. It was a hard row from the dinghy dock at the marina back to the boat because there was a stiff breeze against me producing a lot of chop. I was glad when I finally reached the boat. There has been a little rain this evening which is apparently relatively rare.
It rained last night briefly.
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