Santa Rosalia

On July 4 at 0600, Interabang and Hotel California began the forty-five mile trek from Bahia Coyote to Santa Rosalia.  We planned to spend a night at anchor somewhere along the way thereby breaking the trip into two short hops.  Once out of Bahia Conception, Interabang sailed slowly along and ran the water maker while Hotel California scouted ahead.  Rick and Pam took a look at the anchorage on the north side of Punta Chivato and reported that the southeast swell was wrapping around the point causing an uncomfortable roll.  Sweet Pea Cove on Isla San Marcos was our next option.  Hotel California was anchored at Sweat Pea and relaxing in the cockpit when Interabang arrived.  Unfortunately, the anchoring didn’t go so well.  We dropped the hook five different times in various places around the cove, but the anchor wouldn’t hold.  The Bruce Anchor dragged each time we powered the boat in reverse to test the holding.  Frustrated, we decided to sail the additional ten miles to Santa Rosalia and grab a slip in the marina.  This is Rick and Pam’s second year in the Sea and they were excited to return to one of their favorite towns.  Hotel California led the way.

The gang heading into town

Santa Rosalia is a charming old copper mining town originally operated by the French.  The quaint downtown area features European style buildings and houses constructed with wood shipped down from California.  Food is a big part of the Santa Rosalia experience and we were lucky have Rick as our culinary guide.  After we got tucked into the marina, Rick took us to a great pizza restaurant.  The next day, he took us to an excellent street vendor where we had the first of many fish taco breakfasts.  Another popular street vendor served bacon wrapped hotdogs.  We could only handle eating these fatty treats on a couple occasions.  One night we hiked up the hill with Rick and Pam from Hotel California and Ed and Connie from Sirena for some really good Chinese food.  It was difficult for Trisha and I to get used to the Chinese restaurant staff speaking to us in Spanish.

Fish taco breakfast (picture courtesy of Pam on Hotel)

We took a tour of the mining museum which is the old administrative building for the mine.  A very friendly fellow who spoke no English was our tour guide.  He showed us the antique furniture, fixtures and equipment.  He showed us maps and photographs from the old mining days and led us into the vault where the city records have been stored for more that a hundred years.  We didn’t understand half of what he was saying, but he gave a great tour.

The big cultural event was the Mariachi concert held in the main town square.  A professional mariachi band was touring with a stop in Santa Rosalia and played for a couple of hours.  We attended the concert with Rick, Pam and, apparently, everyone else in town.  We had a great evening of music and people watching.  Rick and I took turns fetching beers from the Tecate booth.  As the concert was starting to wind down, we noticed a couple drops of precipitation.  Next thing you know, we were racing back to the marina in heavy rain.

The crowd enjoys the show

For those of you with a good internet connection, here is a video clip from the Mariachi concert (turn up your volume):