Ali comes to La Paz

Volare has had her first visitor! Our dear friend Ali (Sparkly Ali) came to visit us in La Paz! We had a whirlwind time with her including swimming with whale sharks and adventuring into new anchorages we had not previously visited during our 26 day trip.

Jess had been extremely homesick since returning to La Paz, with no family or friends local and the warm weather it just didn’t feel like Christmas. Luckily Ali was able to arrange to come down for a few days!

We spend the first day in La Paz, following what has become our usual routine. We walked to the Saturday morning farmers market where we had coffee and pastries and shopped the tables of local farmers and artisans. We then returned to Volare to sip margaritas and catch up on girl time. Saturday night we followed the recommendation of a gentleman Ali met on her flight down and had an amazing dinner with the crew of SeaGlub (www.seaglub.com) at Tres Virgenes restaurant in La Paz.

Jess n Ali at coffee shop

The next morning we headed out early for our whale shark tour that we had booked the night before. We met our guide at Cantamar and boarded a panga that took us into the bay where whale sharks are currently feeding. The water here in winter is cool (about 69°F) and we squeezed into wet suits and waited for our turn to swim with the world’s largest fish. All we could see from above water was a small dorsal fin and an occasional set of spots. When we got our masks on and got in the water however, we were stunned and humbled by the enormous, serene whale sharks  that slowly slid through the water, mouths gaping, scooping up the water filled with their favorite krill.  The water was thick with this tiny sea life and visibility was low. A few times we had to move out of the way as we noticed a second whale shark swimming directly at us while we were following the first. We had a great time and only got out of the water because we began to get a bit cold. We pulled a photo from video but it really doesn’t show perspective. You’ll just have to come visit us and see these giants for yourselves!

Fin fans on a hot day

Swimming with whale sharks

Whale Shark feeding

Our next step was lunch at the taco stand and then a return to Volare where we headed out once more to the anchorages of Islas Espiritu Santo and Partida.

Taco lunch

Jello shots

Caleta Partida

Hmm, What should we do today

We started the trip by joining Jersey Girl II in the anchorage of Candelero. We made dinner on board and then, as we had each night since Ali’s arrival, stayed up late talking and talking and talking (with a little stargazing in between). The next morning we were planning a dinghy trip to shore but Jersey Girl had pulled out early and called us to report the next anchorage, Caleta Partida, was even more beautiful so we upped anchor and made our way 0.9 nautical miles north to join them. They were right and we spent a beautiful day walking on the beach and wading around the shallow, shoaled area in the anchorage. The afternoon and evening were spent lying in the sun and talking, talking, and talking.

Ali chilling on the cabin top

Volare from beach

The morning of our last day at anchor we got up early to take advantage of high tide and take the dinghy through the passage between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. The two islands are joined by an isthmus of sand that has a narrow river of seawater traversing it. The passage itself wasn’t too shallow but the shoaled area off the beach becomes impassable by dinghy when the tide is out. As it was, when we returned from the other side we had to walk the dinghy a hundred yards or so in knee deep water before we could start the motor.

The other side of the island was reputed to have caves large enough to dinghy into per our guidebook and we managed to find one and float around inside. It was surreal bobbing up and down with the swell with jagged rocks right overhead!

Foxy looking at cave entrance

Inside the cave

Cave looking west

Inside cave looking northeast

Abandoned fish camp

Sadly, Ali’s visit had to come to an end and we returned to the marina in order to get Ali to her plane. Although many tears were shed at her departure, it was so nice to have a good friend back in our lives, even for a short time. We hope to see her here again soon!

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the rest of our website and follow along with our travels at CruisingVolare.