After a serious fresh food fill, we can leave LORETO for CARMEN island. The east part  offer a safe but not always confortable anchorage in front of the deserted bahia Salinas. This site is now managed by a hunting operator. A few dozen of hunters come during the cool season in small groups of 4 to hunt the big horn sheep. There are some modern bungalows in front of the beach n behind, leaving on a semi permanent base a small maintenance team. Omar is here and give the permission to hike through the ghost town, the salinas n all the east part of the island as the hunting party remain concentrated on the west part.

This 2 hours easy hike lead to "playa blanca" of EL REFUGIO, which can be for you alone if no panga arrive from LORETO.  but Omar and his friends gave months of work to clean the impressive quantity of  iron n glass trash we find around the village...

Heading north lead to CORONADO south anchorage, a few miles away from LORETO with clearwater a lot of fishing birds and...an attractive internet possibility, then punta MANGLES, out of the national park, where an ambitious resort project collapsed a long time ago  n nature is back.

A few tacks later with a light Northwind, and Alcyone reach to SAN JUANICO, a marvelous and wide bay with many possible places to anchor; we start with the south bays; but we loose internet n knowing what happen in France operate like a drug now , we don't feel so good...A Meeting with cruisers next day in the north anchorage confirm our feeling: A few north american cruisers in the anchorage still don't know what is going with the covid-19...

A light West wind  push ALCYONE along the North coat of CARMEN I

The anchorage of bahia Salinas is very large but not as confortable as it looks like...

Omar is the guy to see on shore if you want to hike

The ghost town live again with an hunting operator

Some old tools were recycled as theses trolleys in front of the lodge...

.

..or this unic bar...

...but nobody ll seat anymore to drive this vehicule

We try to walk to north side of the island... (no hunting on the eastern part)

...through the abandoned salt ponds...

...used now in a very different way...

...n through the desert wich is now more familiar to us...

...including  these guys wich shows fluo tails, green, blue...

...After 2 hours, we discover our gift: No cruiser, no panga, nobody today in The REFUGIO...

...except the king of the cove...

As after a sauna, we could immerse our hot bodies 10mn in the cold water...before the long return...

...another 2 hours  to reach the ghost village...

...back on board, we move ALCYONE 2 miles away, south of punta PERICO...

...mineral world...the area does'nt show a lot of life...

...but offer a much more confortable anchorage !

We leave CARMEN to stop in the south of CORONADO island...

The water is clear and all kinds of birds share the space on the north side of the tiny island...

Life is everywhere...dolphins cruise around, whales are in the background...

...But the best show is offered by the boobies ...

...They dive from high and deep, unlike the Pelicans with their noisy splash !

Next northbound logical anchorage: Punta MANGLES

Some guys dreamed to offer this view to many with this pharaonic project...

...including a swimming pool, but nobody will never enjoy it...

...Nature is back,  road runner, numerous birds n snakes squat the place...this one in the middle of the access road...

North of the anchorage, the place is very special n offer an unic display of mineral colors even on this cloudy day...

The anchorage is very lively with apparent good understanding between...

many families of sea birds

The blue foot boobies...

the efficient cormorant, more a diver than a flyer...

and our Baja friends the expressive pelicans...

...any comment from the young generation ?

SAN JUANICO...Magic place: No internet,  walks, birds, and first nice contacts with other cruisers...

These little ducks are so interesting to follow: In 3 seconds they all dive ...

...and come back to the surface 20 to 30 seconds later...

Another anchorage south of SAN JUANICO...

SAN JUANICO  too, favorite place of Dough on board of "QUE LINDA" a Pilar of the SSB nets in central America

SAN JUANICO is also the place of a very popular place for cruisers...

A walk of 20mn bring you to the "RANCHO ESCONDIDO"...

JOSE cut all veggies a cruiser can dream about...we fill our baskets...

No real ranch with these guys...we meet them on the return way...

as these  ladies, sources of a the delicious cheese you find in the Ranch

An Elefant tree is not the nicer tree in BAJA, but the smell is just unic !

But there is a war in Europe.. ? Let's return to CORONADO to connect !

An easy Code 0 downwind return toward ISLA CORONADO information... toward the end of our BAJA cruise...