Return to Bahia de San Francisquito, April 15th 2004.


We had used up one of our layover days after the long paddle to Isla San Esteban, and another meeting the rest of the group at Dolphin Beach. We still had one extra day but everyone agreed that we should use it to start driving back home. So we launched at a reasonably early hour in the morning and started back to San Francisquito. As we got to the end of the beach we saw that Isla San Lorenzo was socked in by a fog or low cloud. If it had been like this a day or two before, we would have had a difficult time navigating our way between the islands.

Turning south we discovered that the end of Punta Ballenas was a ragged and fun place to rock garden. A strong wind came up from the south but several of us found that it was possible to duck out of most of the wind by dodging between the rocks. Eventually we had to slog across the bay into Alberto's cove.

Once there we discovered that Alberto had been able to patch both of Dave's tires, but one had developed a large blister outside the patch. Dave decided to use that tire as long as it would last, and we drove out the "El Arco" road and up Highway One to the large town of Guierro Negro. We didn't arrive until almost dark so we could not buy a new tire until morning. I joked that we hadn't even worn off the bump on the patched tire yet, why bother getting a new one now? We rented rooms in a motel and had a seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant.


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