Balandra and Ensenada de la Raza

(December 4, 2017)  Finally, we were back on the anchor!  We weren’t far from La Paz – we’d anchored, along with Taliesin Rose, at Balandra.  It was a beautiful anchorage, although I did feel it was a little hyped.  It’s very popular due to its proximity to La Paz, and because it’s accessible by land, so tour busses go there regularly.  Despite that, if you avoid the weekends, you’ll still find a relatively private oasis.  

The shallow white sand extends out a way from shore, so we anchored relatively far out.  Despite that, it was clear that it would be an easy swim into the sand.  So, Ellie and I decided to do it: leave the dinghy hoisted, and swim on in.

The water was cloudier than what we’d seen in Frailes and Muertos, but still clear and beautiful by most standards.  We could see the bottom in 20 feet.  Ellie and I jumped into the cool bay, armed with rashguards, snorkels and fins, and a waterproof snack bag, and swam on in.

As we approached shore, an accumulation of organic matter on the bottom turned us off.  Brown, rotting fluff that probably used to be sea grass from deeper out filled the small trenches waves left in the sand.  Ellie was hesitant to swim over it, so we stopped while I reassured her.  We’d just begun on our way again when she suddenly halted, and shot upright, screaming in pain.

I was afraid of that.  I’d felt it on my legs as we passed through, and I tried to steer her around it, but apparently I’d failed.  It was a sting I’d felt in almost every bay we’d swam in so far.  Cruisers called them sea lice, although if you do a search for that term, you’ll come up with a different organism entirely.  These kind of sea lice are stinging jellyfish, so tiny you can’t see them to avoid them.  They’re still babies, so their sting hasn’t yet developed into the searing pain a jellyfish can bring, but when you swim through an invisible bunch of them, you feel it immediately.  It’s the sting of a good, hard slap, but sticks around longer, and sometimes develops into a red skin irritation.  The sting is weak enough for an adult to grin and bear it, but for a little kid who’s not expecting it?  It hurts.

I consoled her enough to convince her to swim to shore with me as quickly as possible.  I swam, mostly dragging her, as we passed through at least three more pods of the little suckers along the way.  Large patches of mushy brown, which we both preferred to swim over and not walk through, hindered our progress. Along the way, Ellie sputtered in the water, and cried, and toughened up, sometimes all at the same time, until we finally made it to shore.

Finally on the beach, she panted dramatically and completely unnecessarily, as though she’d barely escaped with her life.  I offered her one of the snacks – a horrible tasting fiber chocolate bar – and she immediately perked up and starting breathing regularly.  She even claimed to enjoy the terrible fiber bar.

Lucy and Emmy came along to make sure Ellie was okay, and soon the girls were off exploring the beach and the dunes.  The parents relaxed on the beach, until we suddenly realized – where had the girls gone?

We searched from the beach, but they were nowhere in sight.  After a few moments of panic, Rowan found them behind the high dunes, climbing higher up the hill.  He corralled them back, and we decided it was time to head back to the boats and move on to the next anchorage.  We waded out to El Hongo – the famous mushroom-shaped rock on the point near the beach – both for some photo ops and to avoid the sea lice on our swim back out.  (Of course, I can’t seem to figure out where our photos went now, hence the lack of photos for this post!)  We swam back out to the boats without incident, and made ready to move to the next anchorage. 

We had a nice lunch underway, and arrived at the next anchorage, Ensenada de la Raza, mid afternoon.  The sun was already getting low, and shining a golden light across the bay.  

We ran into Tioga and Black Dragon there, and learned that Eric from Black Dragon had a successful afternoon spearfishing in the bay.  Soon a ceviche party was underway on Black Dragon.  With at least 8 adults and 4 kids and a dog on the 30-something-foot Catalina, it was a crowded but fun time.  We made more space, and made the party more fun, by making the girls a special “picnic” up on the bow. 

Somehow, they got hold of an empty wine bottle, and put a message inside it.  We held a small ceremony at sunset to launch it.  It said to contact the girls from Taliesin Rose, and I don’t think they’ve heard back from anyone who’s found it yet.  We all had a good night’s sleep, and prepared to head north in the morning.