Looking Back at Agua Verde and Grilled Wahoo Pibil

Tom thinks I'm crazy because we are sitting in La Paz and I am still writing about places we visited a week ago. I explained to him that I am posting about these places because we liked them and I want to make sure we remember what we did there. Not to mention it is almost 100 degrees here and I need to take a break from decommissioning the boat for the summer, so I might as well do a blog post...

Presenting Agua Verde!

After we left Candeleros (on June 4) we went (motored in light winds) about 17 nm south to the bay of Agua Verde, a very popular anchorage with cruisers.

Yes, the water really is verde.

It has several beaches that are perfect for anchoring and snorkeling, hiking trails, and an active fishing village including a goat farm.

Agua Verde is absolutely stunning. The day we arrived I couldn't wait to get into the water and snorkel Pyramid rock.



Cinnabar anchored behind Pyramid Rock.

The rock, attached by a reef that is exposed at low tide, is home to schooling reef fish, cleaning stations, sea fans, urchins, sea cucumbers, and I even spotted a neon purple and yellow nudibranch! The gigantic under-water boulder formations made for a fascinating snorkel.
  
That evening we enjoyed cocktails as a flock of goats, their little bells tinkling sweetly, scampered up a hill to their farm on the other side.  After sunset we sat under the stars and watched the bright International Space Station orbit directly over our boat (at 17,000 mph, 223 mi overhead). It was truly a magical first night in this stunning bay.

Agua Verde is a very active fishing village, and now I feel kind of bad for griping about the noise in an earlier post, because the reality is that these fisher-people work day and night to make their living. The women get up at 5:00 a.m. along with the men so that they can make breakfast and lunch for the men. Then the pangas roar out of the bay and don't return until evening, where they unload their day's catch of gigantic Itajara grouper into trucks that take the fresh fish into the inland town of Ciudad Constitution two hours away on the other side of Baja. The fish are reportedly caught about 18 nm offshore at the relatively remote (and presumably virgin) Catalina Is. It appears to be pretty heavy fishing pressure on the particular area and fish type.


Pangueros unloading their catch.
(About 6-12 large [20 -50 lbs] grouper per boat. Almost no other fish type were seen) 

Sometimes the pangas leave again in the evening to go out and catch bait (squid), returning between 10:00 p.m. and midnight. 

There is lots of great hiking around Agua Verde, and one day we dinghied over to the west anchorage beach to hike some goat trails. We met a wonderful fisherman named Jose who moved to the beach 17 years ago because he wanted tranquility.

We spent about an hour talking to Jose.

Unfortunately for him, that day an extremely loud and active group of guys arrived, set up camp right next door, and partied day and night for days. So much for Jose's tranquility! (We later found out that some of these guys were assistant attorneys general from Mexico City. No wonder they needed to blow off some steam.)

We hiked up the steep goat trails for stunning views of the bay and Sea of Cortez.



Big bay of Agua Verde

Tom on the mountain top with Roca Solitaira in the background. We will snorkel Solitaria the next day.

Then we hiked over another mountain to a freshwater oasis and solitary beach.




Oasis where underground aquifer seeps out of the ground.

 

Enjoying solitude on the beach.

Solitary except for the hundreds of fiddler crabs who lived in the mudflats.

It was a long, hot day so we rewarded ourselves with a dunk in the water and a meal of our last Wahoo filets, marinated pibil-style and perfectly grilled (recipe at end of post).



Perfect meal of Wahoo Pibil on lentils with cucumbers in lime juice. And a cold beer of course!

The next day it was calm enough for us to dinghy out of the bay to Roca Solitaria for a freedive expedition.

Tom gets ready for the cold plunge.

The underwater terrain was beautiful, even with some current and tepid water temp, but we were disappointed (though not entirely surprised) to discover that the place was pretty much fished out. Oh well, we had a nice snorkel even though the speargun didn't get used and there was the definite Cool Factor of snorkeling offshore.

That night we went into the dusty town of Agua Verde. Unfortunately we got there too late to visit the goats, which was a disappointment for me, but hopefully there will be a next time. You already know all about the questionable meal we had at the "restaurant" in town...

Restaurant? What were we thinking?!?

 ...and that we were craving solitude after all the activity in Agua Verde, so the next day, feeling healthy and happy not to have contracted food poisoning, we weighed anchor and headed south to our next anchorage.

More pictures of Agua Verde are HERE.



After our dreadful meal in town I dreamed about the Wahoo Pibil we'd had the night before; I immediately wrote down the recipe so we could make it another time...

Achiote-Marinated Wahoo (or Other Fish)

This is a Pibil-style preparation just like the famous Yucatan dish Cochinita Pibil, except that you’re not using pork, you’re not marinating overnight, and you’re not cooking the meat for hours in a pit.

Approx. 6 fish filets, wahoo, yellowtail, cabrilla, snapper, dorado, salmon, whatever, or 1 pound piece of whole fish

Marinade:

3-5 Tablespoons Achiote Paste, or make your own

8 cloves garlic minced and mashed
½ tsp. dried oregano
1/2 cup naranja agria (sour orange juice) OR 1/2 cup orange juice plus ¼ cup lime juice 

¼ cup oil

To Taste: Salsa Macha (hot chiles in oil) or diced fresh habanero, jalapeno or Serrano

Optional wrapping: Banana Leaves, heat over flame to make pliable. Banana leaves add a subtle smoky flavor to the fish.

Mix all marinade ingredients together.

Two choices for marinating the fish:

1)    Cut fish into portion size and place in marinade no longer than 1 hour. 

2)    This will be baked. Line baking dish with banana leaves and let leaves hang over the side. Place filets or whole piece of fish in dish and cover with marinade. Let sit for one hour.

Some choices for cooking the fish:

1)    Grill - Salt and pepper fish, sprinkle some oil over the fish and place filets directly on medium flame. Be careful not to burn the achiote marinade.

2)    Grill in banana leaf packets – Salt and Pepper Fish. Place each filet in its own banana leaf and wrap it up. Grill for about 5-8 minutes on each side or until the fish is cooked to your liking. If you want, wrap each packet in foil so the marinade doesn’t leak all over the grill.

3)    Bake – Salt and pepper fish. Fold banana leaves over the fish that is marinating in the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 F. or until fish is cooked to your liking.

Pibil is traditionally served with lime or vinegar-marinated red onions, called Cebollas Encurtidos.

If you want to know how to make Puerco or Cochinita (piggy) Pibil, just watch this YouTube video by director Robert Rodriguez - Ten Minute Cooking School.

Dinghy Name Has Been Decided! And We Finally Leave Bahia Concepcion

First of all, a huge shout out to the McGuire Family and Casa de Los Suenos for letting us anchor out and use their facilities for an entire month. Wow! If it weren’t for Joe we would likely still be there, but read on for more about that.

Second shout out to our friends Joe and Lisa who not only came to visit us, but brought us some of our favorite supplies so we could restock our stores. Thanks to them Cinnabar is now brimming with my favorite, super strong TJ’s Irish Breakfast Tea, Tom’s favorite Peet’s Coffee, TJ’s granola bars and TJ’s chocolate covered almonds. Yum!! Lisa even brought me a bonus pack of assorted black and green teas. Love her.

We Leave Bahia Concepcion - Joe was quite keen to see more of the Sea of Cortez, so two days after our infamous “Best Day Ever” in Bahia Concepcion, we weighed anchor and motored out of our favorite anchorage bound for Puerto Escondido, just south of Loreto, as our ultimate destination. I wish I could say our departure was uneventful, but we motored over a shoal and Cinnabar stubbed her toe in the sand, so to speak. Joe, Lisa and I leaned WAYYYYYY over the side of the boat while Tom plowed us out.

The chart said we could go there! But the sand said "NO".

The rest of the day was absolutely beautiful with no more mishaps. As we passed Isla San Idelfonso, where Tom and the others had caught all those yellowtail, we saw hundreds of pelicans soaring over and diving into the water. Birds in a feeding frenzy? That’s always a good sign for fish. Naturally Joe and Tom had the hand lines out, and a short time later we hooked a small yellowtail. While the guys discussed whether or not it was too small to keep, I grabbed the bottle of tequila and made a beeline for the fish. A few sprinkles into the gills and our beautiful catch went calmly to sleep forever.

Small but delicious.

Caleta San Juanico , Snorkeling and Fine Dining - By late afternoon we made it into the beautiful San Juanico anchorage. We decided we had just enough time for an afternoon snorkel before our happy hour, so we grabbed our gear, slipped into the water and kicked over to the nearest pinnacle. Yowza! We were amazed at all the sea life! There were schools of all sorts of reef fish swimming around the rocks, a turtle, schooling puffer fish, angel fish, schooling brown chromis, mullets and many, many more. To top it off, high atop the tallest pinnacle was an osprey nest with the two osprey gazing down at us with jaundiced eyes the whole time.

Dinner that night would be my favorite, our beautiful just-caught Hamachi thinly sliced sashimi style, and served as a tiradito a la Muelle Tres, my favorite restaurant in Ensenada. This had our Bahia Concepcion twist of serving it hand roll style, with fresh avocado, sushi rice, and nori.

Tom, Joe and Lisa enjoy a perfectly delicious dinner.

Add some cold beer and chilled white wine and it was pretty much a perfect meal, sigh. (Recipe at end of post.)

Heading to Puerto Escondido - The next morning we completed our trip down to Puerto Escondido. The sea was absolutely alive with all sorts of life, in the air and in the water. It seemed that every few minutes there was something new to see, whether they were hundreds of sea birds, sea lions basking in the water with fins up, or leaping mobula rays. One of the most exciting events was when I saw a weird standing wave off in the distance. What in the heck was that thing? Turns out it was hundreds of Pacific White-Sided dolphins in what looked like an absolute feeding frenzy. We headed their direction and tried to stay out of their way as they leaped in the air and dove toward their prey beneath them. We saw one or two more of these large dolphin boils and they were so close I even managed to get some shots with my little camera.

We sailed alongside Isla Carmen toward Puerto Escondido, enjoying the jaw-dropping view and lunching on freshly made fish tostadas. Thanks to Joe and Tom we got two great meals from our little yellowtail.

Our final excitement before pulling into Puerto Escondido was a couple of whale sightings. What a trip! We motored into the bay, carefully watching the depth of this notoriously shallow entrance, but managed to make it (barely) without stubbing our toe again. We found a mooring, and thanks to Joe and Lisa’s experience from their bare-boat charters we easily grabbed a mooring and secured Cinnabar.

We figured our friend Nick from Iolanthe was still in the area since last we heard he’d gone on the hard to wait for parts to repair his boat. We wondered if Telitha was still around, and as I stood on deck with binoculars, searching the anchorage for our friends, who should come gliding into the bay being towed by another boat, but Telitha!! Holy cow, what happened?? Turns out they’d had transmission problems and ended up being towed practically all the way from Agua Verde (about 22 nm) by the good Samaritans aboard Huck Finn. So, due to bad luck for everyone but us, the unlikely group of Cinnabar, Iolanthe and Telitha would be together once again.

That evening the Cinnabar crew spiffed up and took a taxi (driven by taxista Nestor) into Loreto for a last bit of shopping for Lisa and Joe, and our final dinner together. Loreto was practically deserted, with the only excitement being a claxon of mission bells followed by a parade of people entering the mission for 5:00 mass. We were in Loreto to enjoy the beautifully temperate and perfect evening, and after a starter of Margaritas...

 

...we managed to find a restaurant that served Tom’s favorite Baja Brewing Company microbrew! That, paired with a yummy Chile Relleno and Chocolate Clams Gratinee made for a delightful last dinner.

Almejas Chocolates Gratinee

Adios Lisa and Joe - The next morning, after helping us clean Cinnabar’s deck (Lisa and Joe sure know how to get invited back) our guests packed their bags, we stuffed a cooler full of frozen fish for them to transport home, and we loaded them into Nestor’s taxi, bound for Loreto airport.

Joe, Lisa, Tom and taxista Nestor

Pictures of Weeks #3 and #4 in Bahia Concepcion, and our trip down to Puerto Escondido, can be found HERE.

Since Lisa and Joe departed, we have spent time cleaning the boat, enjoying the beautiful Puerto Escondido anchorage, and trying to entice our cruising pals away from spending all their time doing boat repairs. Actually, that’s not too difficult, but more about that in another post…

Dinghy Name Update – Believe it or not we finally decided on a dinghy name. Yes! After all this time! Thank you again to everyone who submitted all the absolutely brilliant names. Here they are and I hope I remembered every one:
Cinnabarbary Coaster
Cinnabun
Dinghy Dong
Galena Ballena
Minibar
Mini-Cinni
Minipad
Quicksilver
To-the-bar
Vermilion
 
We might not have picked your favorite, but we went with the one that “felt right” to us.  A couple of weeks before they decided to come out, Joe submitted Quicksilver as his entry. Miraculously, we both liked Quicksilver, also mercury, associated with Cinnabar, also a common name in the Santa Clara Valley, and with the likely nickname of “Quickie”. So Quicksilver, aka “Quickie” it is.

Joe and Quicksilver, aka "Quickie"

And the grand prize was…winner got to visit us on Cinnabar! OK, in the interest of full disclosure, let’s just say that anyone who submitted an entry was eligible to visit, as well as anyone who thought about submitting an entry, as well as anyone who thought we were bonkers for even thinking we should name our dinghy. In other words, EVERYONE is invited to visit us! Come on guys, last chance is NOW because in a few weeks we will be in La Paz putting Cinnabar away for the summer.

But if you can’t visit us this time around, you should at least try making our favorite yellowtail dish. Here is our recipe. If you don't have yellowtail you can use any type of sushi grade fish...

RECIPE - YELLOWTAIL/HAMACHI TIRADITO

Ingredients:

• Very fresh yellowtail, thinly sliced into bite-size pieces, chill on platter; (or use any kind of sushi-grade fish if yellowtail is not available
• Soy sauce or Tamari
• Toasted sesame oil
• Toasted sesame seeds
• Minced fresh ginger
• Juice from 1-2 small limes
• Chopped fresh cilantro or basil
• Avocado, 1-2 sliced
• Freshly ground pepper
• Optional: diced jalapeno/Serrano peppers or dribbles of Salsa Martajada

Method:

Spread fish slices out onto large plate overlapped or in a single layer. (I like to chill for 30 minutes if not already refrigerated.) Dribble lightly with soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle with minced fresh ginger and sesame seeds. Add fresh, diced peppers or Salsa Martajada, or serve on the side. Just before serving squeeze some fresh lime over the top and sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and fresh cilantro or basil. Arrange avocado slices on top of or around yellowtail, or serve alongside if making hand rolls.

Serve with chips or tostadas, or use for sushi or hand rolls by serving with white or sushi rice, nori and a ponzu sauce made of soy, lime juice and wasabi.

 

The Best Day Ever - Still in Bahia Concepcion

Looks yummy doesn't it? Read on...

Just a quick Cinnabar update, still anchored in Bahia Concepcion below the lovely Casa de Los Suenos and enjoying our little bay filled with lots of birds, fishies, shellfish, and the occasional turtle...

We've been having a terrific time with our friends Joe and Lisa who flew out to visit us from back home.

Yesterday morning Joe and Lisa were in the cockpit reading and enjoying the morning, when I popped my head out to have a look around. And what was the first thing I spied? A whale shark swimming just a few boat lengths away! We immediately grabbed our snorkel gear, jumped into the dinghy, and motored over to it. Lisa, Joe and I slipped into the water and swam with the beautiful creature a good, long while. This one was small for a whale shark, but still quite big and impressive. It did something I hadn't seen before, it would swim down, then open its mouth and rise to the surface, then sink back down again and leisurely swim around. Very cool!

Unfortunately nobody grabbed their cameras so we don't have any pictures. Lisa and Joe found it again and snorkeled with it a while longer. What a great morning.

Lisa, only slightly excited about seeing her first whale shark.

Mike had told us about a beach that supposedly had lots of clams, so later that afternoon Joe and Tom decided to dinghy around the point to see if they could locate some. The wind had started to whip up but they gave it a go anyway.

Success!!

They returned about an hour and a half later with a bag filled with clams. They had collected over 80 clams and I could barely lift the bag.

I soaked the clams in sea water for a couple of hours so they would hopefully spit out their sand. (They did.)

Big bucket 'o clams. Mike told us to throw the big ones back, too tough to eat.

Later we cooked up some pasta, then steamed the clams in Pacifico beer, garlic, butter, Salsa Martajada (dried chiles in oil, my new favorite condiment), tomatoes, lime and cilantro (recipe below). What a feast!

Lisa, Joe and Syl, about to indulge in some very fresh steamed clams.

Not only did the guys forage dinner for us, they even did the dishes afterward.

Tom and Joe, these guys are the best!

 

Later we sat under the stars and watched little phosphorescent sea creatures wiggle and swim around the boat.

Yes, it was a VERY good day.

 

 

RECIPE: STEAMED CLAMS BAHIA CONCEPCION

Yield: 4 servings

• 60 – 80 steamer or butter clams (15-20 clams per person)1-2 cans Pacifico or other light beer
• ½ cup sliced onion (white or yellow)
• ½ head garlic, diced
• ¼ - ½ cup butter
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• 1-2 Tablespoons of Salsa Martajada (dried chiles in oil) to taste. Some brands are spicier than others.
• Juice of 1-2 small limes
• Chopped cilantro, basil or parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Soak the clams in sea water for 30 minutes. Swish around in the water and scrub any especially dirty ones. Remove clams and re-fill bucket with fresh sea water. Soak the clams for another 30 minutes and swish around again to dislodge any sand on the outsides of the shells. Rinse with sea water. Cover with fresh water and soak for another 30 minutes. Hopefully the clams have spit out most of their sand; drain them well.

Saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil until just starting to turn golden. Add beer and heat until it is steaming. With heat on high, add the tomatoes, clams and the butter. Steam on high heat until the clams open.  Remove the clams to a bowl, squeeze lime juice over them and sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Taste the pan liquid and adjust seasoning. Pour almost all the pan juice over the clams and strain well, but BE CAREFUL to not pour any sandy liquid at the bottom over your beautifully cleaned clams. Serve with crusty French bread or with pasta sautéed in garlic and olive oil.

 

Going Loco with Tostilocos!

There is a food booth on the Malecon that always has lines of people waiting their turn to purchase something called Tostilocos. There was only one way to satisfy my curiosity so I got in line. I walked away with one of the craziest things I've ever eaten.

Tostilocos Recipe
Ingredients:
Tostitos chips - slit bag open horizontally
Add any or all of the following in this order:
Diced cucumber
Diced cueritos (pickled pork skin, think gummi pork and you are on the right track)
Japanese peanuts
Rielitos (chewy nubs of tamarind candy)
Diced clams

 

Fresh squeezed lime juice
Clamato juice
Chamoy sauce
Valentina hot sauce
Tajín chile powder (chili, lime and salt)

Mix well and crunch up a bit. Result: something like a cold gazpacho tortilla soup salt bomb with a bunch of weird stuff in it. Apparently every town or every corner has its own version of Tostilocos.

Tostilocos are Tostitos that have gone crazy (loco) because of everything that is piled onto them. That's kind of like how our Ensenada experience has been so far. The city is not only a destination in itself but also a crossroads for all kinds of workers, travelers, tourists and anything else that comes to mind. In Ensenada you can seek out entertainment, or you can sit in one place and wait for the entertainment to come to you.



Mom is behind with the remote control.

On a sunny weekend day you will see many families arrive in their SUVs with an elaborate mini vehicle tied to the roof. Shortly they will pass by with the tiniest child in a mini-car/Jeep/Hummer/Harley/whatever, and the older kids dashing around on bicycles.

Last Sunday in the sportsbar (Yay Niners!!) we sat at the corner of the bar and met a cruiser named Ray who arrived in July 2012 and hasn't gotten around to leaving yet, a woman named Claire who manages the organic farm at a very high-end Winery/B&B/Restaurant in the Valle de Guadalupe, a young man named Matthew from Louisiana who travels the world working on big boat transmissions (i.e. room-sized gear boxes!), and a trio of doggies all dressed up for their Sunday stroll.

The other night we were snug in our plastic cocoon when all of  a sudden we could hear music, much honking and great rumblings out on the boulevard. We scampered down the ladder, ran across the boatyard and out the gate just in time to catch the end of the "Desfile de Camiones" or Truck Parade.

These are the trucks that will pull the floats in the upcoming Carnaval. What a scene it was!

In the boat work update, Cinnabar has received her first coat of paint. We decided to go with gray. Do you like it?

 

Psych! Here she is after the first round of Awlgrip Vivid Red.

Cinnabar is cinnabar again.

Today it's raining so the next round of painting is delayed. It's a good day to catch up on emails and sort through photographs.


Tostilocos gallery here.