Is this the most beautiful Place?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the most beautiful place of them all? Well, opinions differ. There are so many great anchorages in the Sea of ​​Cortez that every sailor has his or her own opinion. And then there are those places that completely take your breath away and where you want to stay forever. Let’s see if anything can top our latest discovery. Is V-Cove the most beautiful place?

In the Sea of ​​Cortez, good internet connection is a rare commodity. Only individual sections of Baja California are blessed with connectivity. Since Pati has to go online regularly for her new job, we’ve been moving from internet to Internet anchor point so far. We have to leave the most beautiful places too early or leave them out altogether. In addition, we sometimes had to move even when weather was not ideal. As a result, instead of sailing, we have used the motor more than we would have liked. Thanks to Starlink, we can now connect to the Internet even in the farthest corners of Mexico. This opens up completely new possibilities for us.

Milagros goes online with Starlink

Just before our trip to Mexico City (which was fu***** brilliant) we ordered a Starlink satellite dish to the marina in Puerto Escondido. And guess what: upon return to the marina, a Starlink parcel was waiting for us! Milagros goes online! Installation was very easy: download the app, plug in, connect Dishy to the app – done! Pretty impressive considering we’re dealing with satellite technology. After we had provisioned ourselves with Bek from UsBEKistan (HA! HA!)  and his parents in Loreto (thanks for taking us!), we could head out again into the big blue!

Isla Carmen awaits us

Next destination was a small corner called «Bahia Cobre», where we only stayed for one night. Upon arrival, we equipped for a round of snorkeling. As soon as we were in the water, it was back to work – we noticed that a fishing line had gotten caught in our propeller. Hmph! Not the first time we caught fishing gear in our propeller. So, we sharpened our knives and started cutting underwater. The line came off easily and quickly.

Check 1,2,1,2!

Of course, we had to test the Starlink Dish. Once set up everything went as planned – a couple of minutes of waiting time and ta daaaaaa, we were connected to the world wide interweb. Starlink will be such a game changer for boaters and digital nomads like us. We’ll have unlimited internet in the most beautiful places. Unfortunately, so far, we’re only allowed to connect within the borders of Mexico. We’ll see when that will change, since we want to move on after our trip back home to Switzerland in July.

Bahia Cobre, mi amor

The anchorage was really pretty, and we were completely alone the whole time, only a few fishermen came by the beach in their panga to escape the blazing midday sun and spend the night on the beach. They had a bunch of equipment stored in containers on shore and quickly set up camp. Another day at the office! In the evening and especially at night, unpleasant waves came around the corner to bother us and mess with our sleep. Depending on the angle and the size, waves can really turn any nice corner into a rocky and rolly nightmare. Time to move!

Is this the most beautiful place in the Sea of Cortez?

Speaking of “around the corner”! That was the route for the next day. We followed the east coast of Isla Carmen north, rounded its north eastern Cape and anchored “around the corner” in a small bay called “El Refugio” at the north end of the island. And what we found there made my heart beat faster. Could this be the most beautiful place? The bay has only room for a handful of boats and is surrounded by steep cliffs that end in a small, sandy, dreamy beach. We had to anchor twice, because on the first try we felt like we were a little too close to the rock faces. But as it is on Milagros – we could have left it at the first attempt, because after the second try we were way too far out. Well, what the heck. Anchor beers.

Caving Sea of Cortez Style

We weren’t alone for long, the next day larger and smaller excursion boats arrived. A few sailboats also joined us. We passed the time snorkeling and exploring our beautiful surroundings. A dinghy ride led us to impressive caves, one of them big enough to enter by boat. Formed out of the walls over millions of years by strong, wintry north winds and masses of water, and now we were able to enjoy the result, which was beautiful and impressive. It was getting really hot in the sun, so the noticeably cooler air inside the rocky caverns was a welcome change.

Hiking straight through the desert

Oh, and we set off on a journey of discovery on foot, too! On Isla Carmen salt was mined for a long time, the salt lakes and remains of the salt mine village Las Salinas can still be admired today. Early in the morning in the “cool” we made our way across the island, over hill and dale and through the stony, barren desert. As a means of navigation, we took Pati’s tablet with navigation software including satellite images with us. The little boat on the map moving across an island, not what we ever would want to see while underway under normal circumstances.

Fancy shooting some sheep?

When we got to Las Salinas, we were astonished to see how busy it was. When asked about this, a worker said that the deserted village wasn’t that deserted anymore. It’s been converted into a wickedly expensive little resort where avid hunters can go and shoot big horn sheep for extortionate prices. To each their own, I guess. There wasn’t much to see, but I have to say that the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the town is really cool. You don’t see that very often in our small, spruced-up country of Switzerland.

A hoooot way back and Pelican shows

The way back was hot, hot and hot. We sweated our way forward across the island and drank water like cows. The thermometer rises and rises here in the Sea of ​​Cortez, with the sun burning mercilessly from the sky. Nevertheless, we hiked cross-country through the sparse, interesting vegetation of Isla Carmen. We even made it back to the boat without getting lost and dying of thirst. Once there we enjoyed a spectacular sunset, pelican show and watched fishermen at work. The days passed, and at some point, it was time to say goodbye to El Refugio.

Treating ourselves to something special

But before we continued to Isla Coronados, we treated ourselves to something special: grilling freshly caught fish on the beach! In the afternoon we went out dinghy fishing and when the fish was caught, we went scouting for a campfire site. We chose a beach with enough driftwood, made a fire and passed the time collecting garbage and plastic. It’s was sickening to see how much dirt had washed up on this small, completely isolated beach alone: ​​We filled three big garbage bags with plastic waste (#trashycruisers). Rumours say we might have burned overcooked our fish a bit, but it was still delicious. Not a bad end to a great time in a stunning place!

Then it was time to pack up again. After all, we now live a nomadic life. We would have liked to have stayed much longer, but waves and wind straight into our little paradise were predicted and nearby Isla Coronados was calling to us. We had to leave! More beaches, even more exploration, more turquoise water awaited us! Maybe there are more most beautiful places?

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