We left last night right after putting the kids to bed. And after a star-filled inky black night we arrived in Santa Rosalia just after breakfast, bypassing in the dark what has to be one of the best bays in the Sea—Concepcion. But hey, we’ve got nothing cold to drink, and we are not those people that are cool with no refrigeration on the boat. We’re just not that hippy.

Santa Rosalia is a cool little place. It’s an old copper mining town that the French basically came in and created back in the late 1800s. The architecture is totally different than anything else in Baja—all low slung wood buildings, most two-story with porches, and tin roofs. It’s a happening place with two busy streets through the main part of town and a picture to be taken every five steps. There’s even an Eiffel designed steel church—or at least that’s the claim. It’s pretty difficult to see anything about the church that would make one think of Eiffel, but the locals like it—so it sticks.

The port itself gives the feeling of being in a place built over a hundred years ago as well. The vibe here is just so different than anywhere else in Baja, and we’re really digging it. We actually passed through here a few years ago in the VW bus. All we really remember is the torrential rains that made us turn into a hotel at the top of the hill with a distinctly Clint Eastwood feel to it.

On our first walk into town, and the first shop I poked my head into, I’d found my refrigerant. The owner told me I could find a refrigeration mechanic a block up the street, which I didn’t in fact find, but I did stumble across an air-conditioning repair place with all the usual gauges and an entire rack of refrigerant. It’s Sunday so everything was closed, but I have a feeling we’re in the right place.

Check it out, a cruiser gray beard. Don’t try and tell me I’m not a real cruiser any more. All right, maybe four or five days of growth doesn’t qualify, but it was enough to get Ali talking. “You need to shave,” she said at one-hour intervals. I actually only took this because I wanted to see what it would look like using the 50mm lens. That lens is crazy sharp. And yes, I tamed that wild nose hair while shaving.