Looking west to the entrance of San Pedro Bay, from the deck of Pelican Moon

After a few weeks of being anchored in Bahia San Carlos, we and the boat were finally ready to set sail for a shakedown cruise. Our new friend Don, on his beautiful Alejuela 38 sailboat, Lai Sien, sailed with us the 15 miles or so north to a remote bay that looked good on the charts.

Pelican moon at rest

We spent four nights under brilliant stars, gently rocking as the bay breathed with the low swells pulsing in from the open Gulf. Four days with nothing to do but swim, or row the dinghy out to the points for some fishing, or maybe a kayak paddle around the bay.

A couple of walks ashore led to steep volcanic cliffs, or across the isthmus behind Punto San Pedro to where surf crashed on the rocks as though we were on the open Pacific somewhere.

Wade and Don had good luck fishing for cochita, and Carla served up fresh triggerfish ceviche and tacos with her homemade tortillas every other night, alternating with fresh chicken stew and seafood minestrone. Since we were only a few hours away from stores and water supplies, we ate like royalty the entire week.

Fortunately for our waistlines, we had no shortage of walking and swimming opportunities. We will be happy to return to Bahia San Pedro again in the spring! For now, we are pointing our bow south and sailing along the mainland coast, hoping to explore some of the more remote and lesser-visited villages along the way to Mazatlan. We’ll be in touch via satellite!