Loreto

[Kyle]From the anchorage at Ballandra (Isla Carmen), we made the quick, nine-mile trip across the San Jose channel to the town of Loreto.

As over the previous three days, the wind was out of the north at around fifteen knots. Loreto is due east of Ballandra, so we had a fairly boisterous ride as the cross seas rolled Begonia back and forth as they passed beneath us.

Not surprisingly, we were the only ones off of the harbor entrance when we set the anchor. The seas were a little bit calmer, but we were still pitching up and down in two-foot chop. My reasoning had been this: The winds were supposed to be calm after sunset. If we set the anchor when they, uh, weren’t, and it held, we would be ready to go ashore first thing the next morning. We would stay aboard until then and would be able to attend quickly to any dragging issues. Winds for the next two days would be milder, so we could enjoy our time ashore without worry.

A fun sail and we arrive in Loreto in plenty of time for sunset

Our plan worked. Just after sunrise, we rowed ashore on a flat sea.

Loreto is a wonderful, charming little town. We walked to the plaza in the center along cobbled streets covered by pergolas of topiary. Fronting the square is the first mission in Baja, founded by the Jesuits, out from which all of the other missions in both Alta (U.S.) and Baja California spread. They had a nice museum detailing their history and the influence the missions had on the indigenous populations that were centered in the area before their arrival. The Jesuits very diligently mapped the Sea of Cortez as well as taking census and copying and classifying native languages. Most telling was the records of the native population declining 90% in the first seventy years after their arrival.

Around Loreto

A mix of fun (eating & sightseeing) and shopping (mostly fun!)

After the mission, we meandered through town, poking into this shop or that for one thing or another that we wanted or needed without actually buying anything. After our second circuit, we picked a restaurant for lunch, then we made one more round, this time making purchases and filling our bags until they each felt like they contained their own cinder block.

We rowed our booty back to Begonia, stowed it, and then headed back into town for the tail end of Loreto’s Carnaval (Spanish spelling) festivities.

On the waterfront were all of the makings of a state fair: dodgy rides driven in on semis, booths tempting you to try your luck and, because this is México, LOTS of food stalls offering every manner of culinary delight.

We walked along the shore road until we spotted lots of color on a side road leading to the town center. Several big tractor trucks were parked along the side of the road with parade floats on their trailers. Alongside, their teenage and tween occupants were fitfully tugging at their colorful sequin and spandex outfits. Most of the floats appeared to be school projects. Maryanne asked a few of the people if they wouldn’t mind having their picture taken, since they were made up so beautifully. To my surprise, instead of teenage shyness, they all became smiles as they bunched up to mug for her.

We asked a local policeman about the parade route. He said basically, “They’re coming up this road, and going down that road.”

That road was closer, so we went there to stake out a spot. Our spot ended up being right by a Uruguayo pizza place with raised outdoor seating. We waited for the couple sitting at what we decided was the best table to leave, and then pounced on it before anybody else could. Now we had the perfect parade viewing setup while dining.

The service there was pretty slow, which was perfect, because it took the parade a long time to make it to us. It wasn’t like any parade I have ever seen. The first vehicle arrived and stopped. It was a band loaded into the back of a farm truck that notably had a drummer whose high-hat (cymbal) would catch fire every time he struck it. They played a couple of songs and then they moved on.

Carnival 2017 - A mini Mardi Gras celebration!

About a mile behind them was the first float. They stopped, did their bit for a while and then moved on. Carnaval in Loreto is no Mardi Gras. {Maryanne: Technically it is indeed Mardi Gras, but certainly not on the Rio scale, but we were so happy to get to see it}. We decided there was no way we would be able to linger over dinner long enough for the whole parade. We paid our bill and then walked the route in reverse hoping to speed things up a bit.

When we got to the light (Loreto has literally one traffic light junction), we saw a crowd of people cheering on our favorites – the one’s who were so nice about us taking their photos. For lack of knowing the group’s proper name, we’ll call them the Carmen Miranda Fruit Hats. I know, I know, but they ALL had hats with fruit on them! The spot under the traffic light was the judging area. They were going all out.

We couldn’t see over the crowd, so we retraced our steps back to our last viewing spot and waited for them, and waited and waited. When they finally came by, they stopped and gave us a little mini version of their act. We liked them so much, we just joined them and walked behind their float all of the way back to the malecón (pier/wharf). We later learned that they won the award for best group. Congratulations to them!

Back at the harbor, the fair was in full swing. Loud Latin music boomed from competing speakers as kids with sticky faces gazed wide-eyed at the spinning colored lights of the rides. Teenagers dared each other to get on the scary ones and the adults stood with open containers talking to smiling Policia. Everyone was having a really good time.

We got up a little later than usual the next morning and then rowed into town to do the rest of our shopping. Oh yeah, there’s more.

As we were tying up, we met Ed and Charlene, who were trying to figure out where the dinghy dock was so they could tie up their kayak. That was strange. There was one other boat anchored by the breakwater. We had already met the owners and they weren’t them. It turns out we saw their boat three days ago when we were anchored at Coronados island. They were still there.

Their boat has only a small small electric engine, about like our Torqueedo we use on the dinghy. Since sails are not much good in calm conditions, so they just came from over the horizon in their kayak to stock up.

We had brunch with them before we split up on our respective shopping trips. They were pretty interesting. Their boat has over four times the solar capacity of Begonia. Ed designed and built many of its electrical features, including the electric drive motor. When they couldn’t find an anchor they liked, he built one – not the tie a piece of chain to a truck rim type, but a proper one.

It was so nice to be chatting to such interesting folks, and since Begonia was only a little out of their way, relatively, on their trip home, we invited them to stop by later for a look.

We arrived home fully laden, dumped our bags and five minutes later, here they came, looking fresh as ever. We gave them the tour, talked for a bit and then they needed to be off in order to get back to their boat by sunset. I’m sure they were back well before that. They’re faster than Begonia with that kayak. Hopefully, we’ll be able to meet up with them again somewhere down the road.

Fourth of July Celebrations

[Kyle]We’ve noticed that everybody has some superlative claim for their particular Fourth of July celebration. Boston has the largest one for a city of more than 500,000 people that is east of 70 degrees West longitude. New York has the tallest buildings for a background as well as the highest rate of patriotic muggings. Norfolk’s exceeds New York’s in gross tonnage. Baltimore’s is pretty cool. The Star Spangled Banner was written there by Francis Scott Key as he watched the original, which was much more shrapnel-ey than their current re-enactment.

Bristol, Rhode Island’s claim to fame is that theirs is the longest running celebration, with 2013 being the 228th consecutive year in a row. The Fourth of July celebrations here are a week long event with special events all day and a different band playing in the park every night, which can be heard all across the harbor.

One unusual thing is that Bristol has their big fireworks display on July third instead of the fourth. I don’t know how long it has been that way, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. My suspicion is that since Bristol is a giant harbor, it may be to save the whole place from having to get underway at night after a few too many drinks in time to return to work on the 5th. Instead, we all got to sleep in a little on the 4th before heading over to the big parade. {Maryanne: Also the neighbouring towns all seem to coordinate fireworks on different nights to enable us to visit more than one display!}

A small sampling of the celebration food fest, and the Bristol Harbor fireworks later

Since Sotito had the best facilities, the best vantage point and the highest decks in the whole harbor from which to watch the fireworks, and had kindly invited us, we headed there for the evening along with many more of their friends and a good contingent of Robin’s family. By the time the fireworks started, there were sixteen of us aboard. Sotito has plenty of space, so even with all of those people, the boat didn’t feel the least bit crowded.

Once all of the conversation started winding down, we managed to find our way back to Begonia around midnight. Before we knew it, it was already time to head back to Sotito to meet up with the crowd for the ride to the parade in the marina launch.

The parade marches by as Kyle and Andy seek a vantage point in the shade

The parade was a pretty standard parade in terms of content. There was a lot of it, though. The parade from front to back must have been ten miles long. Most of it seemed to be marching bands and antique fire trucks with the occasional float celebrating some random theme. Themes seemed less related to the 4th of July than the sponsor’s desire for cheap advertising. My own personal award for laziest goes to a local car dealer who just drove by in a bunch of cars they had for sale. They didn’t even bother putting on red, white and blue banners. Classy.

The Shriners, where grown men squeeze into miniature cars for any parade they can find - American Classic!

The cool part was the big finale: the Portuguese marching bands in full Carnival regalia. {Maryanne: This area has a historic and long term population of Portuguese immigrants, we are enjoying the food while we are here!} By then, the sun had been beating down on us for hours. I thought I was gong to melt carrying my big, heavy t-shirt on my back, and then I saw these guys. The head guy took up the whole road with his outfit that featured an eight-foot diameter feather ring. Okay, maybe my t-shirt wasn’t so bad after all.

The Mummers, marching, and then taking a well deserved shade break allowed us to get a few close-ups of the costumes!

{Maryanne: Although Kyle might call the parade "pretty standard", and true there were plenty of marching bands, it was my first view of the amazing Philadelphia Mummers with their elaborate costumes that take all year to plan and make, and also the Shriners with their signature little cars. There were whirlizers, Miss 4th July contestants, Orange Crate Derby contestants, and well loved officials in the parade, additionally there was a great spectrum of the military represented (both past and present), many firing guns and cannons for the entertainment of the crowds. There was over 4 hours of constant parade entrants passing by us - it was AMAZING, and I'm so glad that we were persuaded to visit Bristol for the celebrations.}

There was plenty of shooting during the parade too!

Back at Sotito, Andy decided he had not had enough of the Fourth, so, with six of us still remaining, we headed to Newport to see their big fireworks display. Two July 4ths in a row! It was the first time I had ever been on Sotito while underway. She was so fast and smooth and the sea was so far down from the bridgedeck that it didn’t seem like we were in it. It was more like flying above it. We headed directly upwind and were there in a couple of hours – no tacking necessary, although that trip alone probably would have blown Begonia’s fuel allowance for the year.

Leaving Bristol aboard Sotito allowed us to check on Begonia as we sailed by and headed off towards Newport

We took a tour of the packed harbor, which was mostly full of giant boats with constantly polishing professional crews. We couldn’t find an available mooring, so we anchored in what turned out to be a perfect spot outside of the harbor where the fireworks wouldn’t be obstructed by other boats. We also ended up with a view of a wedding taking place at a hotel on the point. How many years in advance did they have to reserve that? As soon as we spotted the bride and groom kissing at the end of the ceremony, Andy laid on his big train horn. The whole party turned to see who it was. We think even the photographer might have missed the big shot.

A busy Newport harbor as people enjoy the holiday and flock for prime firework-viewing location

Swimming and relaxing aboard Sotito during a great sunny afternoon

Some more Sotito friends and family showed up in a launch until there were thirteen of us on deck by the time the fireworks started. At the end, there was an impromptu mega yacht horn contest. We lost, but not for lack of trying.

Fireworks!

I had to go to work the next morning, so Andy and Robin were kind enough to get Sotito underway at first light to get me back to Bristol in time for my commute. That was a little rough on everyone but I was very grateful they were prepared to do this and allow Maryanne and me to have had these fantastic few days to share with Sotito and friends.

Sunset in Newport, but an early start the next day to get Kyle off on his journey to work

Carnlough

Pretty little Carnlough
[Kyle]In Murlough bay we hoisted the sails for a quick upwind beat to Carnlough, about 15 miles to the southeast. We had the benefit of a 3-5 knot current pushing us in the right direction, so the progress wasn’t too slow for upwind. We did have a couple of spots where the wind funneled down the glens across the opposing current and set up a pretty nasty sea, but most of them only lasted half a dozen waves or so before calming down on the other side. We heard our Welsh friends make a traffic call leaving Rathlin Island and an hour or so later saw them coming up astern motoring upwind in the zone of fastest current. We kept thinking we would cross their paths on one tack or the other, but the wind helped out our wind angle so much that we stayed well ahead of them the whole way until we pulled off for Carnlough.

The harbour at Carnlough is tiny. The entrance is only about three times the width of Footprint and there’s barely enough room inside to turn around. We found the harbor to be a lot busier than we anticipated. The entire visiting boat section was full of fishing boats cheek to jowl tied stern-to. We found a spot just big enough along the wall in the outer harbor to tie up. One of the locals, who we threw a line to, reminded us that there was a proper marina a few miles down. At first, we thought it was his way of saying we weren’t welcome, but it turned out he just thought we would need power and water hookups and the like.

We got the boat all secured and then Maryanne went to find the harbour master to find out about paying the overnight fee. After a brief conversation, he decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and told us to go on. More confusion. It turns out he meant “go on and use the harbour for free” and not, “go on and get out of here” That’s more like it!

We had a quick walk around the town to orient ourselves, and then we headed off to hike up to Cranny Falls, a round trip of a mere five kilometers. Included in the hike was the old limestone quarry and a viewpoint of the whole bay.




Hike to Cranny Falls and back
Afterwards, we went to see the other sight: the Londonderry Arms Hotel. Built in 1848 in the grand style of the time, its ground floor consists of a nice pub, a couple of grand and elegant dining rooms and several cozy sitting rooms, each with wingchairs and table lamps clustered around a big window. It was once owned by Winston Churchill, but the accounts we have read seem to indicate that he only saw the place once, probably to sell it. It seems like a marvelous place to pass an afternoon, plus they have free wifi, which we’ve been a little thin on lately so perhaps we’ll go grab a pint later.

We went back to the boat to change as it was actually starting to get hot. Along the way we caught sight of a small air-cooled Volkswagen convention. I’ve had several of these and I’m a bit nostalgic about them, even though the Car Talk guys say they’re deathtraps.


Busy little Carnlough
We also saw a parade! Whee, a parade! I heard the drums and Maryanne and I went out to watch them go by. Strange parade, nobody seemed to be having a good time. As an American, I assumed a parade would be good, clean fun. Not so. It turned out the parade was the Orangemen, a religious/political organization that can be a little insensitive (shall we say) to the local Catholic population. Maryanne stopped me before I bought a cotton candy and parked myself on the curb.