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.