We had wanted to stop at Las Frailles anchorage, the place we so enjoyed camping the year before, but the wind was of a different mind. While we had had wild wind from the north on our way down, now we had only southerlies when there was wind at all. And it was warming up, getting into the 90's some days.

We anchored in this beautiful and pristine cove north of La Paz in a marine park. A perfect evening turned into the night from hell when a wild southerly blew up and threatened to blow us into that cliff behind us. It was an all night vigil that left us drained.

A perfect circle of a bay, .... provided a fish camp as well, where Nancy bought an entire sea bass for $7.00. High by Mexican fishermen standards, it still provided great meals for several days. That's our dingy ashore for the "buying party." And NO ONE ELSE lived here. We had the entire anchorage and town pretty much to ourselves. Oh, I forgot about the gulls.

Nancy heads back after a shore exploration. Soft sandy beaches and hot sunny afternoons made it feel like summer in Mexico. Larry was checking out a fish campo hacienda that had all the makings of the 'perfect house.'

There was just one great anchorage after another along here. This one is Agua Verde, a tiny settlement at the end of yet another dirt road. And what a sunset. As you can see, life became much easier for us once around Cabo and into the calm Sea of Cortez. This was what sailboat cruising is all about: lazy evenings, easy anchorages and very nice people.

We stopped for a few hours to stock up in Loreto, which doesn't have a real harbor and you have to anchor right in the open roadstead. Instead, we continued on to Santa Rosilita, the first real town we stopped in since Cabo. Good folks at the marina, good stores, a real bakery and good restaurants - this is a place we've enjoyed before and seems to be what Cabo is meant to be.

This is part of the old copper mine and smelter here. The French built the place and there are French influences everywhere. Even a church designed by Effel and shipped over here in pieces. Lots of the buildings are built of redwood, so they'll be here awhile longer.

From here we crossed the 75 miles to San Carlos and our first mainland port of call. We immediately felt it was more tropical, more lush, and more American. Lots of cruisers and even several American bars.

We spent a few days getting her ready, then hauled Ave Maria. It was an end, and very painful for us.

So finally, on June 10th, 2005, the boat went onto the hard and into dry storage at Marina Seca in San Carlos. What a great job these guys did. They used a hydraulic trailer and tractor, hauling the boat right through town for about a mile before 'docking' her in the storage yard.

You can see all the boat masts here. There are at least 500 boats stored here, an indication of just how safe it is. Mostly out of the hurricane zone, it's also situated between two mountains. The work yard has power, water and even air pressure piped into each bay.

In summer of 2007, we received an offer from Australian, Paul Richmond, to purchase Ave Maria. Here's an update from Paul dated June 2008: