Isla Carmen and Nopolo – Slow Dancers Voyage

On July 8, we left Puerto Escondido and headed off toward Isla Carmen, a large island with many anchorages. We “buddy boated” with our friends Jim and Laura on Nilaya. We had a nice leisurely sail to our first anchorage, Bahia Marquer. Here we spent two nights at anchor. We swam to shore (quite a ways!) and explored a bit. After two nights here, we rounded the southern end of the island looking for the perfect anchorage. After a few hours of searching, we anchored in Bahia Salinas. This is the site of an old salt pond and the processing plant as well as housing for workers, a school and a church. The plant has since been closed and now consists of a hunting lodge (big horn sheep) and a caretaker. We dinghied to shore and hiked around the “town” and salt ponds.
Next we traveled to the north side of the island and anchored at Bahia de la Lancha. We spent three nights here and enjoyed the great snorkeling as well as a wonderful dolphin show one evening. The pod stayed overnight and the next morning we spotted a baby dolphin. Born in the cove??
Ken caught two trigger fish (complete with teeth!) and Laura caught one. We enjoyed an evening meal of fish tacos aboard Nilaya
After leaving Isla Carmen, we anchored off the village of Nopolo and enjoyed some amenities of their hotel. Their pool side restaurant and swim up bar were a welcome reprieve.
Next, back to Puerto Escondido for some fuel and a new refrigerator thermostat. The hot weather is hard on our boat’s systems!