Bahia Concepcion to San Carlos

June 14 – 21, 2023

The rest of our daylong trip from San Juanico to Bahia Concepcion was relatively calm after the excitement of catching our marlin. We motored the entire way and arrived just before sunset. Bahia Concepcion is an enormous bay with many anchorages. We chose to anchor in Santispac anchorage. There is a large bay to anchor in with campgrounds on the beach and two palapa restaurants with great tacos. We took a day to explore the anchorage and beach. The next day we hired a taxi to take us into the nearby town of Mulege. This is a small town located at the mouth of the Mulege River creating an oasis in the surrounding arid desert landscape. We walked around town, explored the mission, and had a great lunch at Los Equipales, recommended to us by our driver “Nacho”.

After lunch we explored the mission. It was founded in 1705 by Jesuit missionaries. The stone mission building was completed in the late 18th century and variously run by the Franciscans and Dominicans. It sits up on a hill with expansive views of the oasis and river.

A highlight of the day was our stop at the Mulege Brewing Company and it’s great selection of beers

As fun as our quick stop in Bahia Concepcion was, it was starting to get really hot. The bay is quite shallow and there was not a lot of breeze so we were pressed to keep moving. We continued on to the town of Santa Rosalia. This is an old mining town originally founded by a French mining company. We were able to get a slip in the marina which gave us walking access into town. We explored the town and sampled margaritas and pizza. This was the first time we had been in a marina since leaving Mazatlan in April. We took the opportunity to wash the boat, polish the stainless, and apply two new layers of Semco to the wood. We were able to knock these out in two days despite the very hot weather.

Unfortunately we received word that Shelly’s dad was sick again so we hastily made plans to leave for San Carlos where we plan to leave Tasi for the summer and allowing us access to an airport. While enroute to San Carlos we got the tragic news that Shelly’s father had passed away. With heavy hearts we got Tasi settled in at the San Carlos Marina and did our best to get her put away until we can return in a few weeks to get her fully prepared for hurricane season. In one day we were able to pickle the watermaker, take down the bimini, take down the genoa and staysail, lash the mainsail to the boom, cleanout and defrost the freezer and refrigerator, remove food stores, close all the thru hulls, deep clean the boat and myriad other projects. We lined up a person to wash Tasi regularly, clean the bottom, and overall keep an eye on her while we’re gone. The next day we took a driver from San Carols to Hermosillo where we flew on Volaris to the Cross Border Express in Tijuana and spent the night in San Diego. The next day we flew to Minnesota to be with Shelly’s family for the funeral and celebration of Bob Beck’s incredible life. He will certainly be missed.