Bahia Concepcion and Mulege

Bahia Concepcion is the farthest north of the Sea of Cortez we will be going. This is the largest sheltered bay on the eastern side of east of Baja California. It is almost 22 miles long, 2 miles wide at the narrowest part of the entrance and 5 miles wide at the remainder.
We anchored in Caleta Santispac spending 4 days here. We hitched a ride into Mulege on the 2nd day. The weather while we were there was perfect. Perfect to me is sunny and hot. Even Lenard liked it. Not humid at all. There are several hot springs near the anchorage.

Entrance to Bahia Concepcion

Midnight Sun anchored in front of Playa Santispac

Welcomed visitor - osprey

Ana's restaurant & bar

 We arrived early afternoon. Launched the dinghy and went in for cervezas.

Local residents on the left - Tom & his wife; John & Diana on s/v Second Kiss

Next day we walked around the village of Santispac. Most of the residents are from Canada & US.

Randy bagging our care package of borscht, clam chowder and pork lard

We met some of the locals in Santispac. We will never forget Randy and his son Johann. We were welcomed in his house, gave us a tour and a care package of his delicious borscht and clam chowder.

Mike - Santispac resident

The next day we decided to hitch a ride into Mulege. After waiting for 10 minutes Mike stopped and gave us a ride into the town of Mulege.

Town square of Mulege

Town church

The old prison which is now a museum

The new prison is located in the port city of Santa Rosalia - 36 NM from Mulege. They are still in the process of turning the old prison into a museum.

Prison toilets

Canoa

Prison cell

The penitentiary's relaxed and humane penal system was famous for it allowed its inmates to leave the prison each day to visit their families and work at nearby farms and shops returning on signal to their cells each night. After we hiked up to the mission which was built in 1705 situated on the south side of the river.

Lenard rang the bells

Graveyard

The views from here are spectacular.

Date palm trees

 

After all that walking we needed to quench our thirst.

Nothing better than a nice cold negra modelo on tap in frosted mugs - ahhhhh!
On the way out of town we were entertained by this little cutie.

Abby posing and her friend Ashley

We walked to the main road to hitch a ride back to Santispac. It didn't take long and a van going to the closest gas station gave us a ride. The driver use to lived in Santa Rosa and worked in Windsor at one of the vineyards. I told him I use to leave in Santa Rosa. He let us off and we thumbed a ride and this time a pickup truck stopped and got us back to Playa Santispac.
When we got back, we stopped at Ana's for a drink and dinner. However, we didn't know they were close on Wednesdays. The only thing the owner can sell us is beer and cocktails. There were 2 other people there having drinks. We got to talking and after a margarita and a bathroom break. We were soon headed back to the boat for food and more drinks with Jim on s/v Ann Marie and his friend, David.

Stuffed cabbage (Jim's recipe)- delicious, bbq chicken, and quinoa with butternut squash

David and Jim

Jim and David are puppeteers. They mentioned that they'll be in the bay area sometime in September. We told them we want to see their puppet show if they come for a visit. Our fingers are crossed.