We snuggled up into the southern cove of the Bahia Agua Verde next to our good friends on Sangvind and were quickly followed by our other good friends on Resolute. So began our 7 days in the most heavenly little bay, for what was hands down the best part of our trip so far. Our view in one direction was of our very own secluded beach with little caves along the rocky edges. In the other direction was a span of the bay with a long beach in front of a sweet little village with a mountainous backdrop and a sandy isthmus leading to a beach north of the bay. Agua Verde should be called Tierra Verde because while the water wasn’t any greener the mountains were much greener than anything else we have seen yet in Baja. Apparently while we got a dust storm in La Paz they got actual rain during tropical storm Blanca, and everything just bloomed. The hills looked more like Hawaii than the desert we’d grown accustomed to. And the sound that resonated through the hills day and night was the clang of bells around necks of goats that scrambled up every hillside, no matter how steep.
Incomparable Bahia Agua Verde
The evening commute… pyramid rock in the background
It was amazing to be in such a remote location yet to have an actual boat neighborhood. We could all just swim from boat to boat, have a cup of tea, do a couple cannon balls with the kids, and then go back to doing our own thing. Our days consisted of waking up and jumping off the boat, chasing triggerfish around pyramid rock, doing some Spanish study or writing or working on a boat project, diving or spearfishing in the heat of the afternoon, and dinner or drinks all together on one of our boats, or maybe a beach bonfire. I even got some much needed girl time, as Meagan, Silvia, and I paddle boarded and hiked, leaving the dudes behind. We took Frans scuba diving, and Sylvia taught us how to wind surf. Dylan is interested in art and computer technology, so Jonah started giving him daily classes on how to use Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator. It felt like we had a little extended boat family, including the sweet boat dog Nika. It was awesome.
Hanging with the crew on Sangvind
Nika the boat dog
Much needed girl time
Girl time!
Erik learning this wind surf
The town itself consists of two tiny tiendas, a church, a bunch of houses, and lots of goat farms. The population is around 200 people and the industries are fishing and goats. The main tienda has pretty good produce if you go after they’ve gone to town and they even sometimes have beer! Most importantly everyone in town sells homemade goat cheese, which is kind of squeaky but delicious. We immediately were befriended by Isidoro, who has a couple of pens close to the water, where he keeps his less than one-year-old goats. He talked to us for hours about the dangers in the hillsides for the goats. They lose about half to mountain lions, bob cats, and coyotes, which is why the young ones are kept in pens. He let us hang out with these sweet playful little guys, completely fulfilling my need for a puppy for a little while. Isidoro paddles out to the boats most days to pick up trash. For 10 or 20 pesos he’ll burn your trash for you.
Fishermen with some massive yellowtails
Isidoro and his flock
The little boo
This was a great place to explore the underwater world. There is not much coral this far north, but there are lots of colorful sea fans. There is a little rock island just outside the bay called Roca Solitaria that sort of looks like a skinny tooth sticking up out of nowhere. Here we found huge schools of jacks, large colorful parrotfish, and lots of invertebrates.
Whoa jacks!
Frans swimming through a sea fan garden
Yes!
Colors
Check out this crazy accordion sea cucumber that we found!
Crown of thorns looking at you
It was sad day when we our crew collectively decided to head further north. Folks were needing to pick up mail, get some gas for the outboards, find an internet connection to attend to some business. Even though we were all moving on together we knew that this place and our time here was special and not to be duplicated. There was nothing to do here but enjoy nature and have fun with our friends in the most beautiful and peaceful of places.
The photos are amazing!! Can’t wait to join you again!