Bahia Santa Maria

We're having a great time here in Bahia Santa Maria. We feel that we're finally on the fringe of what we've been searching for - nice beaches, warm water, and a "cruising atmosphere" There's nothing here but beach, surf, mountains and mangroves. Yesterday we had a long walk on the beach and a dinghy excursion thru the mangroves. It was very nice to be surrounded by green vegetation after looking out on the arid, rocky landscape of Baja for the last few weeks. The day before I went on a hike with some of the guys off other boats to the top of the 1275ft peak to the northwest of the anchorage - what a spectacular view! We made our way back down following an arroyo (valley/gully) and were all amazed at how much vegetation there is on these hills that look totally barren from a distance. The kids are collecting all sorts of new seashells and the beach is great... once you get the dinghy thru the surf and over the shoal... we seem to get wet each time we head for shore. Jessie from "Rasa Manis" invited me to go surfing with him yesterday, and we had a great time catching waves in water that was only thigh-deep with a nice sandy bottom. Last night we had a potluck on our boat and ended up with 16 people onboard. We had a great time, and it was nice to spend some time with some of the folks that are heading to mainland Mexico from here, and we may not run into again. If the weather (wind) cooperates today, Brian (from "Icarian") and I have a plan to go get some fresh groceries in San Carlos. If we take the big boats around into Bahia Magdalena it's about a 40 mile trip (8-10 hours), and we'd have to check in and out with the Port Captain... $16 each way, which makes for an expensive gallon of milk and some oranges! From here, we should be able to make about a 6 mile dingy trip across the bay to the narrowest part of the sand spit that separates Bahia Santa Maria from Bahia Magdalena. It appears on the charts to be about 350 yards across the spit to the other side, and another 3-4 miles across the water to San Carlos. Brain has landing wheels on his dingy which should make the portage across the spit possible with the two of us. Hopefully the sand is firm and flat - and the water on the other side deep enough! We've become very dependant on our computer - for weather, e-mail, navigation, occasional videos. Several boats around have had their laptops die in the past month or so, and we've realized that it'd be very comforting to have a backup... Anyone have an old laptop that they wouldn't mind selling cheap or donating?