| SEA of CORTEZ |
Okay. We know the Sea of Cortez is in Mexico, but we thought it deserved its own caption. The sea of Cortez is a beautiful place. The
desert mountains are striking to begin with. And coupled with the pristine waters from the Pacific Ocean the scenery is spectacular. Leta
says it's the prettiest place we have ever been. I think she's right.
The trip getting here was a tough one. We left the Panama Canal in mid January. Since then, we've travelled over 2,500 miles and dealt
with Papagayos, the Gulf of Tehuantapec and beating into the prevailing winds, seas and current. We're tired and ready to get to San
Carlos.
To San Carlos (April 2009) - Our first landfall in Baja was Bahia Los Frailes on the East Cape. Very pretty. It's about 50 miles
northeast of Cabo San Lucas. We stayed at the anchorage for two days to weather our first norther since the northern Caribbean quite
some time ago. The wind howled the entire time at over twenty. We got some very small north waves that refracted around the point of
land we were hiding behind and just a little southerly swell, but all-in-all, very comfortable. It worked perfectly for us. We just enjoyed
Frailes and took a much needed rest.
We still had three or four hundred miles of travel ahead of us to get to San Carlos, our home for the summer. Our target date for arrival
was April 24, a couple of weeks away. So. We had a short time to preview some of the anchorages on the way up. Next season we plan to
explore the Sea of Cortez slowly. What a novel idea. Slowly. We've yet to manage slowly, but are determined to do it here.
After the cold front, we had a few days of settled weather to continue the move north. Actually, the move is northwest, precisely where the
prevailing winds come from, but the northwest winds were forecast to be light.
So we left at dawn one morning to travel roughly 50 miles to the next anchorage at Ensenada de los Muertos. Very pretty with white sand
beaches and crystal clear blue water, nestled under a mountainous point for good north wind protection. Very good holding in deep sand.
Not that we needed all of that. The winds were light. Oh. And no southerly swell at all. We're far enough into the Sea of Cortez to be done
with that. So from now on, as long as we hide from wind driven waves, the anchorages will be nice and smooth.
Next morning we were up very early and left before daylight for a long motor sail to La Paz, about 60 miles away. The winds were light and
variable as advertised and we arrived at Marina Costa Baja about mid afternoon for diesel. The fuel dock was easy in and easy out just
inside the main channel into La Paz. Since it was late, we stayed the night. Even though it was late, Leta took a taxi into town. She reports
that La Paz is definitely a place we should explore next season. La Paz is a big cruiser hang out with lots of services. However, hurricanes
hit La Paz with some frequency so it's not for us during the summer.
Next morning, we were moving north early. Our goal was only about 20 miles away for an anchorage between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla
Partida. We chose the anchorage because it had the best protection from a local (around the La Paz area) wind phenomenon called
Coromuel winds. During spring and summer, if the winds are light (which they were), you get a wind during the night from the southwest,
sometimes strong. We got a little bounce from a mild Coromuel during the night, but it was not too uncomfortable. We were up early next
morning because another cold front was on the way.
Our next stop was the anchorage at San Evaristo, which had good protection from the north with good holding. It was only 30 miles away,
but the northwest wind was forecast to pick up during that afternoon. In the meantime, we caught the Coromuel just right and had a nice
downwind sail. Once there, we tucked in for northwest wind protection and stayed two days until the wind stopped blowing so darned hard.
Once the winds lightened a bit we headed for an anchorage in Agua Verde (there were several anchorages to choose from). However, the
northwest winds continued to blow at about fifteen and a four or five foot residual north swell from distant stronger winds made for tough
motor sailing. Additionally, we had picked an anchorage at Agua Verde because the anchorages had protection from the forecast south
winds. The forecast was obviously wrong, so we diverted to the anchorage at Bahia San Marte for protection, not so much from the wind,
but from the waves. It was nice and smooth during the night. The anchorage was also very pretty. Heck. They're all pretty, so I'll quit
saying that.
.
Our plan had always been to work our way up the Sea of Cortez on the Baja side (albeit quickly) high enough to only have about 75 miles to
cross over to San Carlos on the mainland side. That plan would also give us a better angle on the prevailing northwest winds. Very good
plan, except the weather had different ideas. The forecast called for moderate southeast winds for a day or so followed by four or five days
of strong northwest winds. We would be waiting a lot during the next week if we continued to travel northwest. Not a bad thing to do in very
scenic anchorages, but we were on a mission to get to San Carlos.
From our anchorage at Bahia San Marte, San Carlos was about 150 miles due north. Since the forecast called for the rare south wind
during this time of year we began thinking of taking that opportunity for a rare downwind sail. We would miss some of the anchorages on
the way up, but as we said before, we plan on spending lots of time next season in lots of different anchorages. If we took the opportunity,
we could leave the anchorage the following morning heading towards the next south wind anchorage about 30 miles away and check various
weather sources while underway and make a final decision before nine.
Okay. Next morning we leave at dawn. We check weather by downloading the GFS model (NOAA) grib files of the area, the NOGAPS
model (Navy) grib files of the area and listen to the Amigo net and the weather provided on that net by Don Anderson. Don has been doing
cruiser weather for years covering the Pacific. So far we had not been too impressed with his forecasts, but hey, it's another source. Wish
we had Cris Parker on this side but we do not. Anyway. The grib files showed that south wind should be up to 17 knots on the way to San
Carlos. Of course, those are raw data models and, by the very nature of models, show average speed. So, looking at the models, we could
expect 20 knots or more at various times during the trip. Now old Don Anderson said that we should see no more than 15. All sources said
that sometime during the next day, wind would turn around and blow out of the northwest at 20 to 25. So far we had seen no wind, but it was
only nine.
Based on all that and the fact that we would be sailing (really sailing) downwind, we decided to give it a go. At six knots, we would be
arriving at San Carlos about dawn the next morning, in plenty of time to miss the northwest wind.
About noon the wind picked up and we turned off the engine. We had the main and staysail up, leaving the jib furled. If we did get over 20
knots we could still sail at over six knots without being over canvassed in gusts. That worked great for a while. But of course the wind kept
building and building (imagine that) until about dark Leta saw 28 knots. We were close to being over canvassed but the boat stayed stable
and we were doing over seven knots. The only problem was that the wind was almost directly behind us which made for a wicked roll in
those short, choppy 25 knot or so waves. It was another, not much sleep, kind of night. By about three in the morning, the wind was done
(less than ten), but of course the waves were still there for a few more hours. By dawn we were approaching San Carlos and were in our slip
at San Carlos Marina by eight. Tough night, but we were done. We're tired of travelling. Need a rest.
The marina is very protected (as good as it gets) nestled down amongst mountain peaks and is considered a hurricane hole (which is why we
are here). The facilities look nice, which is good because we will be here for a while. We'll report back later on the marina and the area.
San Carlos (April-July 2009) - We've been in San Carlos for three months. We have several things to report.
We thought that parts and cruising supplies would be much easier to obtain in Mexico than in other places we've been (like Colombia and
Panama). Wrong once again.
As soon as we arrived in San Carlos we went to the Port Captain in Guaymas (about 15 miles away) to obtain an import exemption for our
boat which also acts as a cruising permit. It's good for ten years and theoretically should mean we pay no duties on parts for our boat. We
have tried on numerous occasions to ship things from the U.S., and every time we have been assessed duties of 18% by Fed-Ex and UPS.
When we point out that we should not have to pay duties, the companies say that we have to go (in person) to the customs office in
Guadalajara. Well that would cost a fortune to get there from here and we would have to travel there each and every time. So we just pay
the duties.
It takes two to three weeks to get anything from the states. UPS is the best, since UPS employees deliver packages to their final
destination in the little brown trucks. Fed-Ex has a contractor deliver packages to the final destination so you lose the ability to track your
package once it arrives in Guadalajara.
The alternative is to use a local marine store (Star Marine), basically on the marina premises. It still takes two weeks, but you can order
anything from West Marine's Port Supply catalog. The prices are 15 to 20 percent higher than if you ordered directly from West Marine,
but you still would have to pay duties and shipping. So. Ordering from Star Marine is roughly the same price as compared to doing it
yourself with much less hassle. The store has a few items in stock but one must order most things.
Some people have cars in San Carlos and live in the states part of the year. They talk about how they save money by buying in the states
and driving it here (about 300 miles from Tucson). If you have a car (we do not) that might work, but we're not so sure. To be successful,
you have to lie to customs.
Anyway. One can get parts and supplies, just not easily.
And we have needed lots of parts and supplies.
We have pushed our boat really hard during the last three years. Things break and need maintenance. The first task after arriving in San
Carlos was to restore our teak. The condition of the varnish was such that it was necessary to remove the old varnish and start all over
from bare wood. That took three weeks from dawn to dusk. Oh. And since our inventory of varnish was low we had to order varnish from
Star Marine. Previously, we mentioned that we needed to replace a bad solenoid on our bow thruster. It took a month to get the part, and
a day to install. We were behind in rust maintenance. We had a persistent oil leak. We had two broken motor mounts. We had diesel in
the exhaust because our fuel injectors needed cleaning. Our packing gland was leaking too much and needed attention. Our generator had
a persistent fuel leak and the raw water pump was leaking and needed replacement. The generator exhaust elbow was rusting through and
needed replacement. We really, really needed bottom paint (it had been over two years and we have had many, many cleanings because of
the tropical water we have been in - so the bottom was bare in many places). We also needed our boot stripe repainted (too many mooring
balls over the years beating the sides of our boat when wind opposed the current). You get the picture.
Most of those items Ellis could dispatch relatively easy, but he needed parts to do so; most of which came from Star Marine. A couple of
them would need a mechanic and a few could only be performed while the boat was out of the water.
So. We scheduled to have the boat pulled out of the water by Marina Seca, San Carlos. Marina Seca is affiliated with Marina San Carlos.
By the way, Star Marine is owned by Marina Seca (how convenient). Marina Seca has a hydraulic trailer that goes under your boat and
lifts it out of the water. They have two sizes that can accommodate small to very large boats. Once out of the water, your boat travels
about a mile to either the work yard or storage facility. It works very well.
The first time we saw Marina Seca we were surprised by how many boats were stored there. There must be 500 or more. A lot of people
from the states store their boats during the summer and come back in the fall. But some of those boats have been there for years. Ellis
met a surveyor who calls it the field of broken dreams.
Anyway. We go to the work yard. As you might expect it's a dirty, dusty, hot place (hey, it's the desert).
To prepare for the work yard we did two things. First we rented a condo close to the work yard so Ellis could ride his bike there everyday.
It cost less for a month than the two weeks we expected to need it, so we rented it for a month. It was the first time Leta had spent the night
off the boat in over three years. Second, we bought a cheap air conditioning window unit so Ellis could work inside the boat everyday
without cooking himself alive.
The bottom paint and boot stripe went well and the workers did a quality job (of course Ellis watched them closely). We would recommend
Marina Seca to anyone needing paint, bottom or otherwise. While the bottom painting was going on, Ellis took off the bow thruster props
and cleaned the things thoroughly (you can't really clean the backs of the props without removing them) and had them painted. Ellis
replaced all the zincs (we can do that in the water, but it's much easier while out of the water) and reduced the angle of our Max Prop after
greasing it (again, much easier out of the water). We are a long way from raising our waterline, but our maximum rpm was less than it
should have been so reducing the bite on the water was in order. All that went well. Next up was replacing the old flax in the packing nut
with flax and the moldable clay-like stuff to eliminate most all water leaks in the future. Ellis hates the packing nut (I'm sure we've said that
before). The thing has always been a pain. First of all, it is virtually inaccessible. One must hang upside down in the aft-most bilge and
work on the thing with one hand. Well. The nut comes off easily enough and the new packing goes in okay, but when it's time to screw it
back on, it won't. The first couple of threads are stripped. Again, Ellis can only get one hand down there, all the while hanging upside down.
After lots of cursing and a few hours, he finally finds a small, skinny young mechanic kid from the yard to crawl down in the hole armed with
a file. Somehow the kid gets two hands on the thing and in a couple of hours has it working. Disaster avoided (only because it would have
taken two or three weeks to get a new one and then replacement would have taken a while). We now have a spare and will replace the
whole thing, including the bellows, next time we are out of the water. Maybe Ellis won't hate the new one too much.
Speaking of mechanics. We decided to use a mechanic to replace the motor mounts, under the theory that if the mechanic replaced the
motor mounts the engine and prop shaft alignment should be easy. We also decided to use a mechanic to pull the fuel injectors on the
engine and generator so the injectors could be sent to a lab to be cleaned and tested. There were a couple of local mechanics that had been
recommended and we also heard good things about Marina Seca's gringo mechanic. Ellis talked to the Marina Seca mechanic and decided
to go with him because he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, we could communicate very well with him and we could get
everything (all the work stuff) coordinated by Marina Seca.
Well. The mechanic showed up in the work yard bringing new motor mounts (we decided to replace all four since two were broken) and
replaced them in less than two hours. He also pulled the fuel injectors in less than thirty minutes. The plan was to put the boat back in the
water and let it sit for a couple of days before aligning the engine and to replace the fuel injectors at the same time as the alignment work.
So far, so good. In a couple of days the mechanic shows up as expected and proceeds to perform the tedious task of aligning the engine.
We expected that to take at least a couple of hours. Five or six hours later, the guy was still at it. Eventually, he comes out of the hole with
a terrible look on his face and says he doesn't know how to get it done. He then leaves (saying he needs to take a break) and thirty minutes
later the manager of Marina Seca shows up with the young kid (remember the one with the file) and they finish the job together in thirty
minutes. Since then we have worked the boat at different rpms and the alignment is good. During all of that, the original gringo mechanic
had taken breaks from the aligning task and replaced the fuel injectors in the engine and generator. Both engines fired up immediately with
great improvement. The generator, however, was leaking diesel from several different places. After an hour or two the mechanic declares
the leaks stopped (they weren't) and Ellis spent the next two days doing the job properly. Just basic things, like loose hose clamps, split
return lines, missing (read lost by the mechanic) clamps for the return lines, etc. Then, Ellis decides to change the transmission oil. The
dipstick has a yellow plastic top and screws into the top of the transmission. He twists the top, but it turns freely. Uh, oh. The threads
have broken off from the cap and are still in the transmission when he pulls the dipstick out. Jeez. Another part needed. Not to mention
the fact that he has to get the thread part out without pieces falling into the transmission. The only way the threads could have sheared was
if our now favorite mechanic wacked it very hard while he was not aligning the engine. We'll not have that mechanic back on our boat.
Hope we never see him again. But it's over.
All righty then. Most of the big projects are done. We still have a month or so of smaller things to do like canvas and sail repair, but we
can finally slow down a bit. After all was said and done we were back in the water more or less on schedule.
As we mentioned above, we had the condo for two weeks longer than needed. Mike, our son from Dallas, had not visited for a while so it
was the perfect opportunity for he and his girlfriend, Adriene, to visit and have a bit of a vacation as well. Oh, and he brought the
transmission dipstick with him. Good times were had by all and although it was hot, we anchored and fished for a day or two and Mike
caught a nice Dorado.
During the last three months we have learned that the marina works as planned for us. We also like the marina staff. You can get parts
and services (you just have to work at it) and the towns (San Carlos and Guaymas) are pleasant. Guaymas is much larger and mostly
comprised of locals. San Carlos has lots of resort type things (hotels and restaurants) and lots of gringos live in condos dotting the
mountain sides. Our bikes work great around here and taxis can be had for relatively small fees. On the negative side, the marina is small
and always full. If you decide to come this way, you may have a hard time finding a slip. We were lucky and found a guy who had occupied
a slip during the last ten years and recently decided to move his boat to the hard, more or less permanently. We are sub-leasing from him.
You can anchor in the bay, but we would not want to be there in really bad weather. Even though the marina is full, most gringos do not stay
with their boats during the summer, which means there are only a handful of cruisers around. That's fine with us but some people would not
like that. Also, air conditioning is a must. It gets really hot, but no hotter than Lake Texoma, north of Dallas, in July. All things
considered, it's just what we need.
Looks like we'll be here for another two or three months, until hurricane season winds to an end. There are worse places to be.
San Carlos (August-October 2009) - Yep. We're still here. Hurricane season is not over until November. We plan on staying until
then.
Speaking of hurricanes. Jimena was heading towards Cabo San Lucas as a category 5 hurricane during the first week in September. Cabo
San Lucas is only about 300 miles south southwest of here. The forecast had it staying on the outside of Baja, making landfall about
midway up, then either dissipating over the mountains of Baja or continuing east over the Sea of Cortez as a tropical storm before
dissipating over the Mexican mainland very close to San Carlos. Obviously, we paid attention.
Possible hurricanes is exactly why we are here. The marina inside the Bay of San Carlos is as protected as it gets. And we are far enough
north for any storm to be weakened by the time it arrives. Even though there was a low probability of hurricane force winds inside the
marina, we prepared the boat for the worst. So we were ready.
The hurricane made a glancing blow to Cabo San Lucas after having been reduced to a category 1 hurricane. Shortly thereafter, it crossed
Baja and was downgraded to a tropical storm. Once in the Sea of Cortez, it became stationary about 50 miles northwest of San Carlos. It
started raining on Wednesday afternoon and did not stop until Friday morning. And it rained hard. Ellis grew up in southeast Texas, close
to the Gulf of Mexico, and had seen numerous hurricanes and tropical storms as a kid. He had never seen so much rain. It rained close to
30 inches in only a couple of days. Some good news was that we never saw more than 45 knots of wind. The electricity and water stopped
sometime on Thursday.
On Friday morning we ventured out to survey the damage. We had none. There was only minor damage to boats in the marina. The worst
was a couple of pangas that had filled with rain water and sank. There were a dozen or so boats in the bay that had either sank or were on
the rocks around the bay. All things considered, not bad. Except. The flooding.
Many, many homes in San Carlos and Gyuamas had water and mud several feet deep. Many, many roads were washed out. Water pipes
and electricity poles were gone. The dry storage and work yard (where we had recently been) had a couple of feet of mud under the boats,
but surprisingly not much damage to them. It took three days to restore electricity and a week to get water.
The Mexican military took firm control and everyone worked around the clock in a very orderly manner to get everything back to normal.
There was no looting and there was plenty of drinking water for anyone who needed it. It's amazing how orderly things get, when people
know they will be shot on site if they get out of line. Fat chance of that happening in the United States. You can't shoot victims. Anyway.
The whole thing was a disaster by any standards. As in any disaster, there were many unfortunates, but they were well provided for. We on
the other hand, came through unscathed. That's exactly why we came to San Carlos. And we could have weathered significantly more wind.
If you need a place to hide from storms, Marina San Carlos works as advertised.
As a footnote, we should report on the ridiculous weather forecasts during the storm. In retrospect, the National Hurricane Center did a
remarkable job of forecasting the weather which more or less predicted the actual conditions as described above. The problems came when
the many amateurs, who think of themselves as forecasters, flapped their lips. It started with the cruisers VHF net. In the beginning, the
same people who talk about local weather every morning on the net began making their own interpretations to the official forecasts (these
people live in homes around the bay and have cable internet access - so they are experts). If you don't have your own source, you would
never hear the official forecast. Then there were those who added to the cruisers net forecasts using their own interpretations of what Don
Anderson had said on his morning SSB weather show (we have never heard Don Anderson be terribly accurate in the first place so just
imagine). Adding to the confusion were those who reported actual weather conditions at the time. That would be good, except that we heard
reports of 70 knots in the marina at a time we happened to be looking at our instruments and saw something in the 40's. In the end, no one
had access to weather (no electricity which means no internet access), so Leta would download the NHC updates and read the forecasts on
VHF to anyone interested.
Weather lesson for everyone. If you ever pass on weather information, read it. If it's a voice report, tape it. Never pass on your
interpretation. Unless you're a meteorologist, you're stupid. Always make your own weather decisions based on several official sources.
Never rely on others. They're stupid.
Now for some really good news. Prior to the hurricane, we solved a couple of nagging problems resulting from life afloat.
We have discussed before that laundry is a problem. If we are away from marinas (which is our preference) the only way to do laundry is
with your basic bucket and toilet plunger. Just ringing out the clothes is a workout. We have looked for a solution for years and found
none. Most of the washers were so big that it would take major boat surgery to install the thing. Well. Look no more. Leta found a small
portable washer made by Haier. It's made to be portable and even has a quick connect water hose to attach to a sink faucet. The drain
hose is made to hang over the side of a sink as well. The washing machine met our goal of no major boat surgery and fits nicely in our aft
shower enclosure with no loss to functionality of the shower (besides, that's where Bogey goes when we are underway offshore). It's bolted
securely in place so it won't even wiggle in rough seas. Leta reports that it works great, washes surprisingly large loads, uses less water
than the bucket and spins the clothes almost dry. She's been grinning for weeks.
We've also talked about internet access (or lack thereof). Well. We found the savior at RadioLabs.com. They make (among other things)
omni-directional antennas. We had been looking for a while but had not found a permanent solution that worked well, looked good and
could withstand the marine environment. There are a few omni-directional antennas on the market (including Galaxy), but all had wires
exiting the side of the base. We wanted the wire coming from the bottom of the base so it could be routed inside the arch resulting in no
wires exposed. RadioLabs was happy to custom make their standard marine base to satisfy our wishes all for a monster custom fee of
twenty bucks. RadioLabs also had a booster (due to the lack of a better term) that connected on one end to the co-ax cable and the other
end to a USB connector. So. The end result is a good looking antenna connected to a co-ax inside the arch which in turn is routed inside the
boat to the nav station where it connects to a USB port on our laptop. There is no external power source needed since all the power comes
from the USB connection. We now get many networks to choose from and the speed is lighting fast. From now on, unless we are miles from
the nearest wireless signal, we should not have to leave our boat to connect to the internet. Cool stuff.
Additionally, we have debated propane capacity for a while. We have two small ten pound propane tanks. Leta cooks everyday (with
occasional bread making) so two tanks last about three months. That's not a problem unless propane refills become difficult. We've been
in some places where propane connections were different than our standard USA connections and finding adapters were difficult. We've
also been in places where there just wasn't any propane to be had (like the San Blas Islands in Panama). We wanted additional capacity to
enable us to stay afield longer. So. We bought two additional propane tanks (now we have a total of four) and decided the best place to
stow them was at the mast as long as we could devise a way to keep them completely secure in bad weather and out of the way without
significant modification to the boat. The pictures below are the result of our efforts.
Our final boat upgrade for the summer was the addition of a storm mainsail. It also doubles as a small spare in case we somehow lose our
main or have trouble with our furling gear. We've never had trouble with furling mainsails (this is our third boat with a furling main), but you
never know. The local sail maker (Tony Morrelli), built a super strong sail for us that is about a third of the size of our main. It slides into
an external mast track that is integral to our mast using our spare main halyard, so if the furling gear fails we can get the thing up
independent of that. The clew attaches to our outhaul car on the boom so we can use the rest of the boom gear (like the main sheet,
traveller, etc.) to trim the sail. We have felt for quite some time that we had a hole in our sail inventory. We feel much safer now.
Tragedy (October 2009) - There is no easy way to say it. Our beloved dog son, Bogey, is dead. He had a seizure one morning and died
a couple of hours later. I guess there's a lesson here for all of us. You wake up one morning and it's your last. We expected him to have
another few years. Needless to say, it's a terrible loss and we are devastated.
He was such a special little dog. He made us laugh every day. And he was always so happy, unless of course we left for a few hours without
him. And then, when we returned he had such joy. He loved to play with tennis balls (thanks to aunt Cindy for teaching him many years
ago). He always had several of them within eyesight. He loved to sit in the cockpit and look out at life. He could sit for hours just
watching. He loved to pee on everything during his walks, especially trees and rocks. He would even hold some back, so he could mark
everything in his path during his entire walk. And he loved to sleep. He could sleep anywhere, through anything.
We found the perfect place for him. It's at the end of a little point of land in San Carlos. It's too small for a house, so it will never be
developed. His cremated remains are buried under a small mound of rocks along with his favorite tennis ball and a loving letter from his
mommy. His mound is between two large rocks beneath a small tree overlooking the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean beyond. We can
envision him forever looking out over the Sea and marking the tree and rocks when he gets tired of that. His ball and mommy will be with
him always to comfort him. Sleep well Bogey. We love you and we'll never forget you.
San Carlos (October-November 2009) - The last couple of weeks in October were busy getting the boat ready for an extended outing
all the while dealing with the death of Bogey. Ellis put another coat or two of varnish on the boat, we cleaned everything one last time and
did major provisioning.
We also had a potentially serious mishap prior to Bogey's death. Or more precisely, Leta did. We went out to dinner on a Friday night with
some friends from Phoenix. We rarely go out, but we were thinking that we may not see Dennis and Lynn again. When we returned, it was
raining. Other than hurricane Jimena, it had only rained a couple of times since we had been in San Carlos. Our boat was backed into the
slip. Ellis boarded from the back and was in the cockpit when Leta took a step from the dock, slipped on the wet swim platform and went
into the water with a big splash hitting her head on the dock on the way down. Ellis and Dennis (his boat was across the dock from ours) get
to Leta about the same time and fish her out of the water. She gets to her feet, clearly stunned, and about that time we notice blood coming
from her scalp under her hair. We couldn't see anything in the dark so Ellis takes her below, gets her in the shower so he can survey the
damage and immediately sees that stitches will be needed in the back of her head. Leta is still stunned and Ellis and Dennis almost have to
drag her out of the boat to get her in their car to go to the local emergency location. It's not really a clinic, but it has the equivalent of
nurses and emergency room things there. We had previously used a local doctor for our annual physicals and the emergency personnel
were able to call him. A couple of hours later, Leta had ten staples in her head and by then we knew she had at least a mild concussion and
possibly worse. On Saturday, it looked like the potential disaster was avoided since Leta was feeling pretty good. On Sunday morning
things changed. Leta woke up with the worst stomach problems imaginable so after taking to our brother-in-law, Dr. Dan, we went back to
the emergency room. Our doctor arrived in an hour or so and before long we realized that she was not suffering from concussion related
problems, but had a severe stomach infection. She had no fever when we arrived at the emergency room, none when the doctor arrived, but
15 minutes later she had fever of 102. We all deduced that her ailment was a result of swallowing nasty marina water before Dennis and
Ellis had fished her out. Anyway. After spending most of the day at the emergency room, going through 4 IV bags, getting several shots for
infection, fever and nausea, and taking a 30 minute cold shower to reduce the fever, Leta finally makes it back to the boat. After a couple
of weeks of mending, Leta's pretty much good as new except that she will have lingering concussion symptoms for a while and she has a
nice permanent scar under her hair (at least no one can see it). Needless to say, we had a tough October.
Then we went to Dallas for a couple of days during the first week in November. Ellis had to return there for business reasons and instead
of him flying we rented a car and drove. It took a week to get there and back after spending a day and a half in Dallas. Driving sounds
easy but it wasn't.
After much research, the only cost effective way to do it was to catch a bus to Nogales, Mexico, catch a taxi to the border, walk across the
border with luggage, clear customs, catch a taxi to Nogales, USA, rent a car from Enterprise, drive to Dallas, drive back to San Carlos (to
unload our loot - more on that in a minute), drive back to Nogales, USA, return the car, catch a taxi to the border, walk across to Mexico,
catch a taxi to the bus terminal in Nogales, Mexico, finally catching a bus back to San Carlos (actually to Guymas then a taxi to San Carlos,
but whose counting). Whew.
The whole thing actually worked very well. The Tufesa buses were first class and we would do it again. Enterprise was relatively
inexpensive, including insurance, and charged us a weekly rate with unlimited mileage. Since we do not have a car anymore, we do not have
liability insurance. Enterprise is the only car rental company that includes liability insurance in the rate and we used a credit card that
provided comprehensive. It also gave Leta the opportunity to get back to the States (it had been almost three years for her) and the
opportunity to buy some things you can't get out here. Basic stuff, like a new small vacuum cleaner, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, mounds
of Taco Bell sauce, new pillows and a couple of decent baking pans. Then there we things like snap shackles and replacement bulbs from
West Marine. And, of course, we got to see Mike and Adriene for dinner one night and breakfast one morning. So we blew in and blew out
of Dallas in short order, after leaving our nasty colds with Mike to enjoy later.
We left San Carlos two days after returning.
Back to the Sea of Cortez (November-December 2009) - Our plan was to travel up to the northern Sea in order to visit places that are
rarely visited. Our northern most goal was the Bay of Los Angeles on the Baja peninsula, specifically the anchorage at Puerto Don Juan.
Our biggest challenges would be hiding from northers that make their way through the Sea of Cortez every few days during the winter
months and travelling against the prevailing northwest wind during the calm periods.
The first day out was only eight miles to the local anchorage at Algodones Bay. We could put the boat through its paces to make sure
everything worked as intended. You can do all that at the dock, but there is no substitute for the real thing. Everything was a go, so the
next day we went about 15 miles further to a very pretty secluded anchorage at San Pedro. We stayed there only for a day because a cold
front was coming and San Pedro would be untenable in southwest winds clocking around to the northwest. So we headed for Isla Tiburon
before the strong winds came calling. We left at three in the morning and arrived about three that afternoon after a long day of motor
sailing. Even though the wind was light it was on our nose and the small, wind-chop waves were about three feet at four seconds which made
for lots of water over the bow. Our nice clean boat was now fully back in cruising mode.
Isla Tiburon is the largest island in Mexico and is only about twenty miles from Kino on the mainland. The island offers several anchorages
that together would provide the protection we needed from the next cold front. We spent a few days at Dog Bay on the southeast side, then
moved around the corner to Monument Bay on the south side to stage for a short six hour ride up to Punta Willard on the western side of
the island.
Dog Bay was a good anchorage in southwest to north wind, although a bit rolly, but kept us comfy during the norther. The only problem with
Dog Bay is that it is also a refuge for shrimpers. They would arrive in the morning after a long night of fishing and would be gone by dark.
We're not talking one or two of these guys, but more like fifteen or twenty. There was plenty of room, but not our idea of a secluded
anchorage.
Monument Bay was rolly and Punta Willard was very rolly and exposed. We would not have even considered Punta Willard in anything but
very mild weather, which it was, but it would give us the opportunity to get to Puerto Don Juan in a day sail as long as we left about three in
the morning. The Punta Willard anchorage was fringed with lots of rocks, in and out of the water. As a result, we anchored in about fifty
feet of water to get enough swinging room to stay out of harms way. The cruising guide said that the holding was sand and rocks and based
on what we could see in shallower water, there were more rocks than sand. Obviously, we couldn't see our anchor in fifty feet, but we
backed down pretty hard and the anchor held. That sounds okay, but having dived on our anchor before in similar bottoms, our anchor
could have snagged a rock to hold really well while backing in one direction, only to be unsnagged as soon as the wind came from a different
direction, possibly not snagging another rock in the process. As we said, the conditions were mild enough not to cause a problem (our
anchor is big enough to keep us in place even if not snagged), but we were glad to get out of there at three a.m.
The trip to Puerto Don Juan was fairly uneventful even though the wind was on our nose at 10 to 15 with that nasty little three foot, four
second, wind chop. We also got our first taste of the really strong tidal currents in the northern Sea. Isla Tiburon is one of a handful of
islands from Kino on the mainland side westward to Baja. Collectively they are called the Midriff Islands. Most are steep to with no
anchorages. Some have marginal fair weather anchorages. All of them have serious tidal currents around and between them. Our track
took us very close to Isla Partida, a small island with a couple of spots to anchor. Isla Partida was our bail out anchorage (about 30 miles
before Purerto Don Juan) if, for some reason, the currents nailed our speed over ground. Well. We saw currents of one to two knots
against us to one to two knots with us, with no pattern that we could discern. Lucky for us, our average speed over ground was about six
knots, so by the time we got to Isla Partida we were confident we could make it to Puerto Don Juan during daylight hours. I say "lucky for
us" because once we saw the anchorages at Isla Partida we realized they would only serve in an emergency. I'd rather be lucky than good.
Anyway. We get to Puerto Don Juan in late afternoon. Just in time for the next norther. Notwithstanding the name, Puerto Don Juan is
not a port. It is however, a very protected anchorage. It has a small entrance that opens up to a large anchorage. The guide books say
there is room for a hundred boats and the anchorage is considered a hurricane hole. I don't know how you get a hundred boats in there and
it is no hurricane hole, but it is a great place to be in a norther. We also had the place to ourselves. This is more like it. The surrounding
mountains make for great hiking as well. The kind of place we could stay for a while.
Except. Before we left San Carlos, Leta broke a tooth and had to get a bridge. Problem was, the permanent bridge would not be ready for
a while and she was wearing the temporary. Sooner or later we would have to go back to San Carlos to get the permanent one. To make a
really long decision process short, we decided to take the next weather window back to San Carlos and get it done and over with. That
would rule out having to fly or take a bus back to San Carlos during the next few months.
So. We had one great day of hiking while the wind blew and then we were back underway.
San Carlos was 150 miles southeast. That's a twenty four hour sail. Turned out to be a motor sail because we had no wind. This time of
year it's either lots of wind or no wind, nothing in between. We left one morning around eight to arrive the next morning. We spent most of
the day between Baja and a string of Midriff Islands in what is called the Salispuedes Channel or "Leave if You Can" Channel. The
channel is only 15 to 20 miles wide and is several thousand feet deep. All the things that make for serious current. Our speed over ground
fluctuated between four knots and eight knots. By late afternoon we were finally getting to the end of the channel and made a course
change to a more easterly bearing that would take us most of the way to San Carlos. It would also take us very close to San Pedro Martir
(the southernmost Midriff).
The water was very deep but very close to depth gradients that went from thousands of feet to shallow in less than a quarter of a mile. That
along with strong currents bring nutrients from the depths up to the surface. So it was not surprising to see the biggest group of dolphins we
had ever seen. There must have been hundreds. They were everywhere in all directions as far as we could see. The mass feeding frenzy
lasted for over an hour. Cool. However. Porpoises were not the only wildlife attracted by the rich sea life.
About dusk, we were a couple of hours away from Isla San Pedro Martir and Ellis went below to take a quick nap before his eight to
midnight watch. About the time he laid down, Leta powers back abruptly to neutral (remember we were motor sailing) and swerves the boat
hard. Ellis immediately runs up top, just in time to see a huge whale narrowly miss our boat. The thing was just slowly moving along on top
of the water and continued to slowly move off. We almost ran over the thing. I want to make sure I don't exaggerate here, but that whale
was bigger than our boat. We looked it up later in one of our cruising guides and decided our near miss was with a Sperm whale. We also
read later that Sperm whales in particular hang out in the area between the southern end of the Salispuedes Channel and Isla San Pedro
Martir. Great. Anyway, we see another one about dark (further away this time) and worry for the rest of the night whether we are going to
be sunk by crashing into a whale. Once we got past Isla San Pedro Martir we felt much better because the water became much shallower,
but having said that, we still worried all night and neither of us got much sleep.
Nevertheless, we get to San Carlos about nine without further mishap and after visiting the dentist the next day we were moving again.
We went back to Algodones to stage because it would be three or four days before we could cross back to Baja, since another norther was
on the way. Our plan was to travel the 80 miles or so to Bahia Concepcion as soon as we had a weather window. We had what appeared to
be a small weather window on the day after Thanksgiving and we left at two a.m. in order to make sure we had plenty of daylight for the
fourteen hour trip. Soon after leaving the protection of the mainland, we began to see steady twenty knot winds (we were expecting no more
than fifteen). Then, once we get out five or six miles we began to see twenty five with gusts close to thirty forward of our beam. Hey. We
don't have to do this. It didn't take long to decide to turn back and go to sleep.
Next day the weather did not look good for a southwest crossing. The forecast was for unseasonable south, southwest and west winds for
days. So. We began to rethink our plans. We could go back north and northwest to make our way back to Puerto Don Juan. It would be
great to spend several days in the solitude and we could hike the mountains a few more times. So that's just what we did. Once we got back
that far north the prevailing northwest wind would be relatively easy to ride southeast along the Baja coast. Also, if the southerly winds
held for a while we would be able to stop at the predominately summer anchorage of Bahia San Francisquito. The plan worked out great.
We went back to Dog Bay on Tiburon. We left there and made it all the way to Puerto Don Juan in one day thanks to a strong current
behind us (we averaged about seven and a half knots). We stayed there four days until we got tired of hiking and were alone the entire
time. From there we went about fifty miles to San Francisquito staying three days while hiking around the area (all by ourselves). San
Francisquito was rolly but tolerable until the last day when we left at dark to go about 80 miles to the marina at Santa Rosalia. After rolling
all day in the anchorage we finally get underway. As soon as we get around the point heading south we realize that we were in for a windy,
sleepless night. At first it wasn't too bad (about twenty), but by ten it was twenty to thirty for the rest of the trip. Luckily, the wind was from
our stern and our only real problem was going too fast. We did not want to get to Santa Rosalia before daylight. The harbor has a small
entrance and a boat was lost a couple of weeks before by hitting the rocks trying to get in during the night. Anyway. We finally got the
right sail configuration to stay under six knots (full main sheeted very tight for stability and staysail for slow forward progress) and we pull
into our slip about eight.
The marina is very small, but nice and comfy. The town is not much, but cruisers love the place. We're guessing that cruisers love it only
because some of the buildings were built by the French (specifically by Eifel, the tower guy) a hundred years ago when Frenchmen owned
the local copper mining operation (which is long since gone). Santa Rosalia a nice town but it certainly did not live up to the hype.
Once the wind died, we made it thirty miles to Punta Chivato. Not much there except a few houses and a closed hotel (looks like they are
repairing damage from Jimena). The anchorage is fairly protected from north wind and worked fine for us.
The next day we went 20 miles to Bahia Concepcion, more or less three weeks after our original plan. However, we are glad that we went
back to Puerto Don Juan and stopped at the other places on the way down.
Bahia Concepcion is called the Sea within a Sea. I'm not sure why, because the bay is only 22 miles long and three to six miles wide. The
bay does have plenty of anchorages available for protection from any wind and wave direction. Almost a week of strong northerly winds
were on the way and once they arrived we were very comfortable (no roll whatsoever) in the Santispac anchorage. The beach fronting the
anchorage was an RV destination and it was interesting seeing the RV'ers, since we have never really been around RV's before. There
were several ways to hike around the area and we did. There was also a restaurant on the beach, but Leta said no way when she went in
and saw several cats roaming around free in the place. The only negative, although it didn't bother us much, was that the anchorage was
very close to Highway 1 that goes from California all the way to Cabo San Lucas, so there were lots of trucks.
More to come...
desert mountains are striking to begin with. And coupled with the pristine waters from the Pacific Ocean the scenery is spectacular. Leta
says it's the prettiest place we have ever been. I think she's right.
The trip getting here was a tough one. We left the Panama Canal in mid January. Since then, we've travelled over 2,500 miles and dealt
with Papagayos, the Gulf of Tehuantapec and beating into the prevailing winds, seas and current. We're tired and ready to get to San
Carlos.
To San Carlos (April 2009) - Our first landfall in Baja was Bahia Los Frailes on the East Cape. Very pretty. It's about 50 miles
northeast of Cabo San Lucas. We stayed at the anchorage for two days to weather our first norther since the northern Caribbean quite
some time ago. The wind howled the entire time at over twenty. We got some very small north waves that refracted around the point of
land we were hiding behind and just a little southerly swell, but all-in-all, very comfortable. It worked perfectly for us. We just enjoyed
Frailes and took a much needed rest.
We still had three or four hundred miles of travel ahead of us to get to San Carlos, our home for the summer. Our target date for arrival
was April 24, a couple of weeks away. So. We had a short time to preview some of the anchorages on the way up. Next season we plan to
explore the Sea of Cortez slowly. What a novel idea. Slowly. We've yet to manage slowly, but are determined to do it here.
After the cold front, we had a few days of settled weather to continue the move north. Actually, the move is northwest, precisely where the
prevailing winds come from, but the northwest winds were forecast to be light.
So we left at dawn one morning to travel roughly 50 miles to the next anchorage at Ensenada de los Muertos. Very pretty with white sand
beaches and crystal clear blue water, nestled under a mountainous point for good north wind protection. Very good holding in deep sand.
Not that we needed all of that. The winds were light. Oh. And no southerly swell at all. We're far enough into the Sea of Cortez to be done
with that. So from now on, as long as we hide from wind driven waves, the anchorages will be nice and smooth.
Next morning we were up very early and left before daylight for a long motor sail to La Paz, about 60 miles away. The winds were light and
variable as advertised and we arrived at Marina Costa Baja about mid afternoon for diesel. The fuel dock was easy in and easy out just
inside the main channel into La Paz. Since it was late, we stayed the night. Even though it was late, Leta took a taxi into town. She reports
that La Paz is definitely a place we should explore next season. La Paz is a big cruiser hang out with lots of services. However, hurricanes
hit La Paz with some frequency so it's not for us during the summer.
Next morning, we were moving north early. Our goal was only about 20 miles away for an anchorage between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla
Partida. We chose the anchorage because it had the best protection from a local (around the La Paz area) wind phenomenon called
Coromuel winds. During spring and summer, if the winds are light (which they were), you get a wind during the night from the southwest,
sometimes strong. We got a little bounce from a mild Coromuel during the night, but it was not too uncomfortable. We were up early next
morning because another cold front was on the way.
Our next stop was the anchorage at San Evaristo, which had good protection from the north with good holding. It was only 30 miles away,
but the northwest wind was forecast to pick up during that afternoon. In the meantime, we caught the Coromuel just right and had a nice
downwind sail. Once there, we tucked in for northwest wind protection and stayed two days until the wind stopped blowing so darned hard.
Once the winds lightened a bit we headed for an anchorage in Agua Verde (there were several anchorages to choose from). However, the
northwest winds continued to blow at about fifteen and a four or five foot residual north swell from distant stronger winds made for tough
motor sailing. Additionally, we had picked an anchorage at Agua Verde because the anchorages had protection from the forecast south
winds. The forecast was obviously wrong, so we diverted to the anchorage at Bahia San Marte for protection, not so much from the wind,
but from the waves. It was nice and smooth during the night. The anchorage was also very pretty. Heck. They're all pretty, so I'll quit
saying that.
.
Our plan had always been to work our way up the Sea of Cortez on the Baja side (albeit quickly) high enough to only have about 75 miles to
cross over to San Carlos on the mainland side. That plan would also give us a better angle on the prevailing northwest winds. Very good
plan, except the weather had different ideas. The forecast called for moderate southeast winds for a day or so followed by four or five days
of strong northwest winds. We would be waiting a lot during the next week if we continued to travel northwest. Not a bad thing to do in very
scenic anchorages, but we were on a mission to get to San Carlos.
From our anchorage at Bahia San Marte, San Carlos was about 150 miles due north. Since the forecast called for the rare south wind
during this time of year we began thinking of taking that opportunity for a rare downwind sail. We would miss some of the anchorages on
the way up, but as we said before, we plan on spending lots of time next season in lots of different anchorages. If we took the opportunity,
we could leave the anchorage the following morning heading towards the next south wind anchorage about 30 miles away and check various
weather sources while underway and make a final decision before nine.
Okay. Next morning we leave at dawn. We check weather by downloading the GFS model (NOAA) grib files of the area, the NOGAPS
model (Navy) grib files of the area and listen to the Amigo net and the weather provided on that net by Don Anderson. Don has been doing
cruiser weather for years covering the Pacific. So far we had not been too impressed with his forecasts, but hey, it's another source. Wish
we had Cris Parker on this side but we do not. Anyway. The grib files showed that south wind should be up to 17 knots on the way to San
Carlos. Of course, those are raw data models and, by the very nature of models, show average speed. So, looking at the models, we could
expect 20 knots or more at various times during the trip. Now old Don Anderson said that we should see no more than 15. All sources said
that sometime during the next day, wind would turn around and blow out of the northwest at 20 to 25. So far we had seen no wind, but it was
only nine.
Based on all that and the fact that we would be sailing (really sailing) downwind, we decided to give it a go. At six knots, we would be
arriving at San Carlos about dawn the next morning, in plenty of time to miss the northwest wind.
About noon the wind picked up and we turned off the engine. We had the main and staysail up, leaving the jib furled. If we did get over 20
knots we could still sail at over six knots without being over canvassed in gusts. That worked great for a while. But of course the wind kept
building and building (imagine that) until about dark Leta saw 28 knots. We were close to being over canvassed but the boat stayed stable
and we were doing over seven knots. The only problem was that the wind was almost directly behind us which made for a wicked roll in
those short, choppy 25 knot or so waves. It was another, not much sleep, kind of night. By about three in the morning, the wind was done
(less than ten), but of course the waves were still there for a few more hours. By dawn we were approaching San Carlos and were in our slip
at San Carlos Marina by eight. Tough night, but we were done. We're tired of travelling. Need a rest.
The marina is very protected (as good as it gets) nestled down amongst mountain peaks and is considered a hurricane hole (which is why we
are here). The facilities look nice, which is good because we will be here for a while. We'll report back later on the marina and the area.
San Carlos (April-July 2009) - We've been in San Carlos for three months. We have several things to report.
We thought that parts and cruising supplies would be much easier to obtain in Mexico than in other places we've been (like Colombia and
Panama). Wrong once again.
As soon as we arrived in San Carlos we went to the Port Captain in Guaymas (about 15 miles away) to obtain an import exemption for our
boat which also acts as a cruising permit. It's good for ten years and theoretically should mean we pay no duties on parts for our boat. We
have tried on numerous occasions to ship things from the U.S., and every time we have been assessed duties of 18% by Fed-Ex and UPS.
When we point out that we should not have to pay duties, the companies say that we have to go (in person) to the customs office in
Guadalajara. Well that would cost a fortune to get there from here and we would have to travel there each and every time. So we just pay
the duties.
It takes two to three weeks to get anything from the states. UPS is the best, since UPS employees deliver packages to their final
destination in the little brown trucks. Fed-Ex has a contractor deliver packages to the final destination so you lose the ability to track your
package once it arrives in Guadalajara.
The alternative is to use a local marine store (Star Marine), basically on the marina premises. It still takes two weeks, but you can order
anything from West Marine's Port Supply catalog. The prices are 15 to 20 percent higher than if you ordered directly from West Marine,
but you still would have to pay duties and shipping. So. Ordering from Star Marine is roughly the same price as compared to doing it
yourself with much less hassle. The store has a few items in stock but one must order most things.
Some people have cars in San Carlos and live in the states part of the year. They talk about how they save money by buying in the states
and driving it here (about 300 miles from Tucson). If you have a car (we do not) that might work, but we're not so sure. To be successful,
you have to lie to customs.
Anyway. One can get parts and supplies, just not easily.
And we have needed lots of parts and supplies.
We have pushed our boat really hard during the last three years. Things break and need maintenance. The first task after arriving in San
Carlos was to restore our teak. The condition of the varnish was such that it was necessary to remove the old varnish and start all over
from bare wood. That took three weeks from dawn to dusk. Oh. And since our inventory of varnish was low we had to order varnish from
Star Marine. Previously, we mentioned that we needed to replace a bad solenoid on our bow thruster. It took a month to get the part, and
a day to install. We were behind in rust maintenance. We had a persistent oil leak. We had two broken motor mounts. We had diesel in
the exhaust because our fuel injectors needed cleaning. Our packing gland was leaking too much and needed attention. Our generator had
a persistent fuel leak and the raw water pump was leaking and needed replacement. The generator exhaust elbow was rusting through and
needed replacement. We really, really needed bottom paint (it had been over two years and we have had many, many cleanings because of
the tropical water we have been in - so the bottom was bare in many places). We also needed our boot stripe repainted (too many mooring
balls over the years beating the sides of our boat when wind opposed the current). You get the picture.
Most of those items Ellis could dispatch relatively easy, but he needed parts to do so; most of which came from Star Marine. A couple of
them would need a mechanic and a few could only be performed while the boat was out of the water.
So. We scheduled to have the boat pulled out of the water by Marina Seca, San Carlos. Marina Seca is affiliated with Marina San Carlos.
By the way, Star Marine is owned by Marina Seca (how convenient). Marina Seca has a hydraulic trailer that goes under your boat and
lifts it out of the water. They have two sizes that can accommodate small to very large boats. Once out of the water, your boat travels
about a mile to either the work yard or storage facility. It works very well.
The first time we saw Marina Seca we were surprised by how many boats were stored there. There must be 500 or more. A lot of people
from the states store their boats during the summer and come back in the fall. But some of those boats have been there for years. Ellis
met a surveyor who calls it the field of broken dreams.
Anyway. We go to the work yard. As you might expect it's a dirty, dusty, hot place (hey, it's the desert).
To prepare for the work yard we did two things. First we rented a condo close to the work yard so Ellis could ride his bike there everyday.
It cost less for a month than the two weeks we expected to need it, so we rented it for a month. It was the first time Leta had spent the night
off the boat in over three years. Second, we bought a cheap air conditioning window unit so Ellis could work inside the boat everyday
without cooking himself alive.
The bottom paint and boot stripe went well and the workers did a quality job (of course Ellis watched them closely). We would recommend
Marina Seca to anyone needing paint, bottom or otherwise. While the bottom painting was going on, Ellis took off the bow thruster props
and cleaned the things thoroughly (you can't really clean the backs of the props without removing them) and had them painted. Ellis
replaced all the zincs (we can do that in the water, but it's much easier while out of the water) and reduced the angle of our Max Prop after
greasing it (again, much easier out of the water). We are a long way from raising our waterline, but our maximum rpm was less than it
should have been so reducing the bite on the water was in order. All that went well. Next up was replacing the old flax in the packing nut
with flax and the moldable clay-like stuff to eliminate most all water leaks in the future. Ellis hates the packing nut (I'm sure we've said that
before). The thing has always been a pain. First of all, it is virtually inaccessible. One must hang upside down in the aft-most bilge and
work on the thing with one hand. Well. The nut comes off easily enough and the new packing goes in okay, but when it's time to screw it
back on, it won't. The first couple of threads are stripped. Again, Ellis can only get one hand down there, all the while hanging upside down.
After lots of cursing and a few hours, he finally finds a small, skinny young mechanic kid from the yard to crawl down in the hole armed with
a file. Somehow the kid gets two hands on the thing and in a couple of hours has it working. Disaster avoided (only because it would have
taken two or three weeks to get a new one and then replacement would have taken a while). We now have a spare and will replace the
whole thing, including the bellows, next time we are out of the water. Maybe Ellis won't hate the new one too much.
Speaking of mechanics. We decided to use a mechanic to replace the motor mounts, under the theory that if the mechanic replaced the
motor mounts the engine and prop shaft alignment should be easy. We also decided to use a mechanic to pull the fuel injectors on the
engine and generator so the injectors could be sent to a lab to be cleaned and tested. There were a couple of local mechanics that had been
recommended and we also heard good things about Marina Seca's gringo mechanic. Ellis talked to the Marina Seca mechanic and decided
to go with him because he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, we could communicate very well with him and we could get
everything (all the work stuff) coordinated by Marina Seca.
Well. The mechanic showed up in the work yard bringing new motor mounts (we decided to replace all four since two were broken) and
replaced them in less than two hours. He also pulled the fuel injectors in less than thirty minutes. The plan was to put the boat back in the
water and let it sit for a couple of days before aligning the engine and to replace the fuel injectors at the same time as the alignment work.
So far, so good. In a couple of days the mechanic shows up as expected and proceeds to perform the tedious task of aligning the engine.
We expected that to take at least a couple of hours. Five or six hours later, the guy was still at it. Eventually, he comes out of the hole with
a terrible look on his face and says he doesn't know how to get it done. He then leaves (saying he needs to take a break) and thirty minutes
later the manager of Marina Seca shows up with the young kid (remember the one with the file) and they finish the job together in thirty
minutes. Since then we have worked the boat at different rpms and the alignment is good. During all of that, the original gringo mechanic
had taken breaks from the aligning task and replaced the fuel injectors in the engine and generator. Both engines fired up immediately with
great improvement. The generator, however, was leaking diesel from several different places. After an hour or two the mechanic declares
the leaks stopped (they weren't) and Ellis spent the next two days doing the job properly. Just basic things, like loose hose clamps, split
return lines, missing (read lost by the mechanic) clamps for the return lines, etc. Then, Ellis decides to change the transmission oil. The
dipstick has a yellow plastic top and screws into the top of the transmission. He twists the top, but it turns freely. Uh, oh. The threads
have broken off from the cap and are still in the transmission when he pulls the dipstick out. Jeez. Another part needed. Not to mention
the fact that he has to get the thread part out without pieces falling into the transmission. The only way the threads could have sheared was
if our now favorite mechanic wacked it very hard while he was not aligning the engine. We'll not have that mechanic back on our boat.
Hope we never see him again. But it's over.
All righty then. Most of the big projects are done. We still have a month or so of smaller things to do like canvas and sail repair, but we
can finally slow down a bit. After all was said and done we were back in the water more or less on schedule.
As we mentioned above, we had the condo for two weeks longer than needed. Mike, our son from Dallas, had not visited for a while so it
was the perfect opportunity for he and his girlfriend, Adriene, to visit and have a bit of a vacation as well. Oh, and he brought the
transmission dipstick with him. Good times were had by all and although it was hot, we anchored and fished for a day or two and Mike
caught a nice Dorado.
During the last three months we have learned that the marina works as planned for us. We also like the marina staff. You can get parts
and services (you just have to work at it) and the towns (San Carlos and Guaymas) are pleasant. Guaymas is much larger and mostly
comprised of locals. San Carlos has lots of resort type things (hotels and restaurants) and lots of gringos live in condos dotting the
mountain sides. Our bikes work great around here and taxis can be had for relatively small fees. On the negative side, the marina is small
and always full. If you decide to come this way, you may have a hard time finding a slip. We were lucky and found a guy who had occupied
a slip during the last ten years and recently decided to move his boat to the hard, more or less permanently. We are sub-leasing from him.
You can anchor in the bay, but we would not want to be there in really bad weather. Even though the marina is full, most gringos do not stay
with their boats during the summer, which means there are only a handful of cruisers around. That's fine with us but some people would not
like that. Also, air conditioning is a must. It gets really hot, but no hotter than Lake Texoma, north of Dallas, in July. All things
considered, it's just what we need.
Looks like we'll be here for another two or three months, until hurricane season winds to an end. There are worse places to be.
San Carlos (August-October 2009) - Yep. We're still here. Hurricane season is not over until November. We plan on staying until
then.
Speaking of hurricanes. Jimena was heading towards Cabo San Lucas as a category 5 hurricane during the first week in September. Cabo
San Lucas is only about 300 miles south southwest of here. The forecast had it staying on the outside of Baja, making landfall about
midway up, then either dissipating over the mountains of Baja or continuing east over the Sea of Cortez as a tropical storm before
dissipating over the Mexican mainland very close to San Carlos. Obviously, we paid attention.
Possible hurricanes is exactly why we are here. The marina inside the Bay of San Carlos is as protected as it gets. And we are far enough
north for any storm to be weakened by the time it arrives. Even though there was a low probability of hurricane force winds inside the
marina, we prepared the boat for the worst. So we were ready.
The hurricane made a glancing blow to Cabo San Lucas after having been reduced to a category 1 hurricane. Shortly thereafter, it crossed
Baja and was downgraded to a tropical storm. Once in the Sea of Cortez, it became stationary about 50 miles northwest of San Carlos. It
started raining on Wednesday afternoon and did not stop until Friday morning. And it rained hard. Ellis grew up in southeast Texas, close
to the Gulf of Mexico, and had seen numerous hurricanes and tropical storms as a kid. He had never seen so much rain. It rained close to
30 inches in only a couple of days. Some good news was that we never saw more than 45 knots of wind. The electricity and water stopped
sometime on Thursday.
On Friday morning we ventured out to survey the damage. We had none. There was only minor damage to boats in the marina. The worst
was a couple of pangas that had filled with rain water and sank. There were a dozen or so boats in the bay that had either sank or were on
the rocks around the bay. All things considered, not bad. Except. The flooding.
Many, many homes in San Carlos and Gyuamas had water and mud several feet deep. Many, many roads were washed out. Water pipes
and electricity poles were gone. The dry storage and work yard (where we had recently been) had a couple of feet of mud under the boats,
but surprisingly not much damage to them. It took three days to restore electricity and a week to get water.
The Mexican military took firm control and everyone worked around the clock in a very orderly manner to get everything back to normal.
There was no looting and there was plenty of drinking water for anyone who needed it. It's amazing how orderly things get, when people
know they will be shot on site if they get out of line. Fat chance of that happening in the United States. You can't shoot victims. Anyway.
The whole thing was a disaster by any standards. As in any disaster, there were many unfortunates, but they were well provided for. We on
the other hand, came through unscathed. That's exactly why we came to San Carlos. And we could have weathered significantly more wind.
If you need a place to hide from storms, Marina San Carlos works as advertised.
As a footnote, we should report on the ridiculous weather forecasts during the storm. In retrospect, the National Hurricane Center did a
remarkable job of forecasting the weather which more or less predicted the actual conditions as described above. The problems came when
the many amateurs, who think of themselves as forecasters, flapped their lips. It started with the cruisers VHF net. In the beginning, the
same people who talk about local weather every morning on the net began making their own interpretations to the official forecasts (these
people live in homes around the bay and have cable internet access - so they are experts). If you don't have your own source, you would
never hear the official forecast. Then there were those who added to the cruisers net forecasts using their own interpretations of what Don
Anderson had said on his morning SSB weather show (we have never heard Don Anderson be terribly accurate in the first place so just
imagine). Adding to the confusion were those who reported actual weather conditions at the time. That would be good, except that we heard
reports of 70 knots in the marina at a time we happened to be looking at our instruments and saw something in the 40's. In the end, no one
had access to weather (no electricity which means no internet access), so Leta would download the NHC updates and read the forecasts on
VHF to anyone interested.
Weather lesson for everyone. If you ever pass on weather information, read it. If it's a voice report, tape it. Never pass on your
interpretation. Unless you're a meteorologist, you're stupid. Always make your own weather decisions based on several official sources.
Never rely on others. They're stupid.
Now for some really good news. Prior to the hurricane, we solved a couple of nagging problems resulting from life afloat.
We have discussed before that laundry is a problem. If we are away from marinas (which is our preference) the only way to do laundry is
with your basic bucket and toilet plunger. Just ringing out the clothes is a workout. We have looked for a solution for years and found
none. Most of the washers were so big that it would take major boat surgery to install the thing. Well. Look no more. Leta found a small
portable washer made by Haier. It's made to be portable and even has a quick connect water hose to attach to a sink faucet. The drain
hose is made to hang over the side of a sink as well. The washing machine met our goal of no major boat surgery and fits nicely in our aft
shower enclosure with no loss to functionality of the shower (besides, that's where Bogey goes when we are underway offshore). It's bolted
securely in place so it won't even wiggle in rough seas. Leta reports that it works great, washes surprisingly large loads, uses less water
than the bucket and spins the clothes almost dry. She's been grinning for weeks.
We've also talked about internet access (or lack thereof). Well. We found the savior at RadioLabs.com. They make (among other things)
omni-directional antennas. We had been looking for a while but had not found a permanent solution that worked well, looked good and
could withstand the marine environment. There are a few omni-directional antennas on the market (including Galaxy), but all had wires
exiting the side of the base. We wanted the wire coming from the bottom of the base so it could be routed inside the arch resulting in no
wires exposed. RadioLabs was happy to custom make their standard marine base to satisfy our wishes all for a monster custom fee of
twenty bucks. RadioLabs also had a booster (due to the lack of a better term) that connected on one end to the co-ax cable and the other
end to a USB connector. So. The end result is a good looking antenna connected to a co-ax inside the arch which in turn is routed inside the
boat to the nav station where it connects to a USB port on our laptop. There is no external power source needed since all the power comes
from the USB connection. We now get many networks to choose from and the speed is lighting fast. From now on, unless we are miles from
the nearest wireless signal, we should not have to leave our boat to connect to the internet. Cool stuff.
Additionally, we have debated propane capacity for a while. We have two small ten pound propane tanks. Leta cooks everyday (with
occasional bread making) so two tanks last about three months. That's not a problem unless propane refills become difficult. We've been
in some places where propane connections were different than our standard USA connections and finding adapters were difficult. We've
also been in places where there just wasn't any propane to be had (like the San Blas Islands in Panama). We wanted additional capacity to
enable us to stay afield longer. So. We bought two additional propane tanks (now we have a total of four) and decided the best place to
stow them was at the mast as long as we could devise a way to keep them completely secure in bad weather and out of the way without
significant modification to the boat. The pictures below are the result of our efforts.
Our final boat upgrade for the summer was the addition of a storm mainsail. It also doubles as a small spare in case we somehow lose our
main or have trouble with our furling gear. We've never had trouble with furling mainsails (this is our third boat with a furling main), but you
never know. The local sail maker (Tony Morrelli), built a super strong sail for us that is about a third of the size of our main. It slides into
an external mast track that is integral to our mast using our spare main halyard, so if the furling gear fails we can get the thing up
independent of that. The clew attaches to our outhaul car on the boom so we can use the rest of the boom gear (like the main sheet,
traveller, etc.) to trim the sail. We have felt for quite some time that we had a hole in our sail inventory. We feel much safer now.
Tragedy (October 2009) - There is no easy way to say it. Our beloved dog son, Bogey, is dead. He had a seizure one morning and died
a couple of hours later. I guess there's a lesson here for all of us. You wake up one morning and it's your last. We expected him to have
another few years. Needless to say, it's a terrible loss and we are devastated.
He was such a special little dog. He made us laugh every day. And he was always so happy, unless of course we left for a few hours without
him. And then, when we returned he had such joy. He loved to play with tennis balls (thanks to aunt Cindy for teaching him many years
ago). He always had several of them within eyesight. He loved to sit in the cockpit and look out at life. He could sit for hours just
watching. He loved to pee on everything during his walks, especially trees and rocks. He would even hold some back, so he could mark
everything in his path during his entire walk. And he loved to sleep. He could sleep anywhere, through anything.
We found the perfect place for him. It's at the end of a little point of land in San Carlos. It's too small for a house, so it will never be
developed. His cremated remains are buried under a small mound of rocks along with his favorite tennis ball and a loving letter from his
mommy. His mound is between two large rocks beneath a small tree overlooking the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean beyond. We can
envision him forever looking out over the Sea and marking the tree and rocks when he gets tired of that. His ball and mommy will be with
him always to comfort him. Sleep well Bogey. We love you and we'll never forget you.
San Carlos (October-November 2009) - The last couple of weeks in October were busy getting the boat ready for an extended outing
all the while dealing with the death of Bogey. Ellis put another coat or two of varnish on the boat, we cleaned everything one last time and
did major provisioning.
We also had a potentially serious mishap prior to Bogey's death. Or more precisely, Leta did. We went out to dinner on a Friday night with
some friends from Phoenix. We rarely go out, but we were thinking that we may not see Dennis and Lynn again. When we returned, it was
raining. Other than hurricane Jimena, it had only rained a couple of times since we had been in San Carlos. Our boat was backed into the
slip. Ellis boarded from the back and was in the cockpit when Leta took a step from the dock, slipped on the wet swim platform and went
into the water with a big splash hitting her head on the dock on the way down. Ellis and Dennis (his boat was across the dock from ours) get
to Leta about the same time and fish her out of the water. She gets to her feet, clearly stunned, and about that time we notice blood coming
from her scalp under her hair. We couldn't see anything in the dark so Ellis takes her below, gets her in the shower so he can survey the
damage and immediately sees that stitches will be needed in the back of her head. Leta is still stunned and Ellis and Dennis almost have to
drag her out of the boat to get her in their car to go to the local emergency location. It's not really a clinic, but it has the equivalent of
nurses and emergency room things there. We had previously used a local doctor for our annual physicals and the emergency personnel
were able to call him. A couple of hours later, Leta had ten staples in her head and by then we knew she had at least a mild concussion and
possibly worse. On Saturday, it looked like the potential disaster was avoided since Leta was feeling pretty good. On Sunday morning
things changed. Leta woke up with the worst stomach problems imaginable so after taking to our brother-in-law, Dr. Dan, we went back to
the emergency room. Our doctor arrived in an hour or so and before long we realized that she was not suffering from concussion related
problems, but had a severe stomach infection. She had no fever when we arrived at the emergency room, none when the doctor arrived, but
15 minutes later she had fever of 102. We all deduced that her ailment was a result of swallowing nasty marina water before Dennis and
Ellis had fished her out. Anyway. After spending most of the day at the emergency room, going through 4 IV bags, getting several shots for
infection, fever and nausea, and taking a 30 minute cold shower to reduce the fever, Leta finally makes it back to the boat. After a couple
of weeks of mending, Leta's pretty much good as new except that she will have lingering concussion symptoms for a while and she has a
nice permanent scar under her hair (at least no one can see it). Needless to say, we had a tough October.
Then we went to Dallas for a couple of days during the first week in November. Ellis had to return there for business reasons and instead
of him flying we rented a car and drove. It took a week to get there and back after spending a day and a half in Dallas. Driving sounds
easy but it wasn't.
After much research, the only cost effective way to do it was to catch a bus to Nogales, Mexico, catch a taxi to the border, walk across the
border with luggage, clear customs, catch a taxi to Nogales, USA, rent a car from Enterprise, drive to Dallas, drive back to San Carlos (to
unload our loot - more on that in a minute), drive back to Nogales, USA, return the car, catch a taxi to the border, walk across to Mexico,
catch a taxi to the bus terminal in Nogales, Mexico, finally catching a bus back to San Carlos (actually to Guymas then a taxi to San Carlos,
but whose counting). Whew.
The whole thing actually worked very well. The Tufesa buses were first class and we would do it again. Enterprise was relatively
inexpensive, including insurance, and charged us a weekly rate with unlimited mileage. Since we do not have a car anymore, we do not have
liability insurance. Enterprise is the only car rental company that includes liability insurance in the rate and we used a credit card that
provided comprehensive. It also gave Leta the opportunity to get back to the States (it had been almost three years for her) and the
opportunity to buy some things you can't get out here. Basic stuff, like a new small vacuum cleaner, Orville Redenbacher popcorn, mounds
of Taco Bell sauce, new pillows and a couple of decent baking pans. Then there we things like snap shackles and replacement bulbs from
West Marine. And, of course, we got to see Mike and Adriene for dinner one night and breakfast one morning. So we blew in and blew out
of Dallas in short order, after leaving our nasty colds with Mike to enjoy later.
We left San Carlos two days after returning.
Back to the Sea of Cortez (November-December 2009) - Our plan was to travel up to the northern Sea in order to visit places that are
rarely visited. Our northern most goal was the Bay of Los Angeles on the Baja peninsula, specifically the anchorage at Puerto Don Juan.
Our biggest challenges would be hiding from northers that make their way through the Sea of Cortez every few days during the winter
months and travelling against the prevailing northwest wind during the calm periods.
The first day out was only eight miles to the local anchorage at Algodones Bay. We could put the boat through its paces to make sure
everything worked as intended. You can do all that at the dock, but there is no substitute for the real thing. Everything was a go, so the
next day we went about 15 miles further to a very pretty secluded anchorage at San Pedro. We stayed there only for a day because a cold
front was coming and San Pedro would be untenable in southwest winds clocking around to the northwest. So we headed for Isla Tiburon
before the strong winds came calling. We left at three in the morning and arrived about three that afternoon after a long day of motor
sailing. Even though the wind was light it was on our nose and the small, wind-chop waves were about three feet at four seconds which made
for lots of water over the bow. Our nice clean boat was now fully back in cruising mode.
Isla Tiburon is the largest island in Mexico and is only about twenty miles from Kino on the mainland. The island offers several anchorages
that together would provide the protection we needed from the next cold front. We spent a few days at Dog Bay on the southeast side, then
moved around the corner to Monument Bay on the south side to stage for a short six hour ride up to Punta Willard on the western side of
the island.
Dog Bay was a good anchorage in southwest to north wind, although a bit rolly, but kept us comfy during the norther. The only problem with
Dog Bay is that it is also a refuge for shrimpers. They would arrive in the morning after a long night of fishing and would be gone by dark.
We're not talking one or two of these guys, but more like fifteen or twenty. There was plenty of room, but not our idea of a secluded
anchorage.
Monument Bay was rolly and Punta Willard was very rolly and exposed. We would not have even considered Punta Willard in anything but
very mild weather, which it was, but it would give us the opportunity to get to Puerto Don Juan in a day sail as long as we left about three in
the morning. The Punta Willard anchorage was fringed with lots of rocks, in and out of the water. As a result, we anchored in about fifty
feet of water to get enough swinging room to stay out of harms way. The cruising guide said that the holding was sand and rocks and based
on what we could see in shallower water, there were more rocks than sand. Obviously, we couldn't see our anchor in fifty feet, but we
backed down pretty hard and the anchor held. That sounds okay, but having dived on our anchor before in similar bottoms, our anchor
could have snagged a rock to hold really well while backing in one direction, only to be unsnagged as soon as the wind came from a different
direction, possibly not snagging another rock in the process. As we said, the conditions were mild enough not to cause a problem (our
anchor is big enough to keep us in place even if not snagged), but we were glad to get out of there at three a.m.
The trip to Puerto Don Juan was fairly uneventful even though the wind was on our nose at 10 to 15 with that nasty little three foot, four
second, wind chop. We also got our first taste of the really strong tidal currents in the northern Sea. Isla Tiburon is one of a handful of
islands from Kino on the mainland side westward to Baja. Collectively they are called the Midriff Islands. Most are steep to with no
anchorages. Some have marginal fair weather anchorages. All of them have serious tidal currents around and between them. Our track
took us very close to Isla Partida, a small island with a couple of spots to anchor. Isla Partida was our bail out anchorage (about 30 miles
before Purerto Don Juan) if, for some reason, the currents nailed our speed over ground. Well. We saw currents of one to two knots
against us to one to two knots with us, with no pattern that we could discern. Lucky for us, our average speed over ground was about six
knots, so by the time we got to Isla Partida we were confident we could make it to Puerto Don Juan during daylight hours. I say "lucky for
us" because once we saw the anchorages at Isla Partida we realized they would only serve in an emergency. I'd rather be lucky than good.
Anyway. We get to Puerto Don Juan in late afternoon. Just in time for the next norther. Notwithstanding the name, Puerto Don Juan is
not a port. It is however, a very protected anchorage. It has a small entrance that opens up to a large anchorage. The guide books say
there is room for a hundred boats and the anchorage is considered a hurricane hole. I don't know how you get a hundred boats in there and
it is no hurricane hole, but it is a great place to be in a norther. We also had the place to ourselves. This is more like it. The surrounding
mountains make for great hiking as well. The kind of place we could stay for a while.
Except. Before we left San Carlos, Leta broke a tooth and had to get a bridge. Problem was, the permanent bridge would not be ready for
a while and she was wearing the temporary. Sooner or later we would have to go back to San Carlos to get the permanent one. To make a
really long decision process short, we decided to take the next weather window back to San Carlos and get it done and over with. That
would rule out having to fly or take a bus back to San Carlos during the next few months.
So. We had one great day of hiking while the wind blew and then we were back underway.
San Carlos was 150 miles southeast. That's a twenty four hour sail. Turned out to be a motor sail because we had no wind. This time of
year it's either lots of wind or no wind, nothing in between. We left one morning around eight to arrive the next morning. We spent most of
the day between Baja and a string of Midriff Islands in what is called the Salispuedes Channel or "Leave if You Can" Channel. The
channel is only 15 to 20 miles wide and is several thousand feet deep. All the things that make for serious current. Our speed over ground
fluctuated between four knots and eight knots. By late afternoon we were finally getting to the end of the channel and made a course
change to a more easterly bearing that would take us most of the way to San Carlos. It would also take us very close to San Pedro Martir
(the southernmost Midriff).
The water was very deep but very close to depth gradients that went from thousands of feet to shallow in less than a quarter of a mile. That
along with strong currents bring nutrients from the depths up to the surface. So it was not surprising to see the biggest group of dolphins we
had ever seen. There must have been hundreds. They were everywhere in all directions as far as we could see. The mass feeding frenzy
lasted for over an hour. Cool. However. Porpoises were not the only wildlife attracted by the rich sea life.
About dusk, we were a couple of hours away from Isla San Pedro Martir and Ellis went below to take a quick nap before his eight to
midnight watch. About the time he laid down, Leta powers back abruptly to neutral (remember we were motor sailing) and swerves the boat
hard. Ellis immediately runs up top, just in time to see a huge whale narrowly miss our boat. The thing was just slowly moving along on top
of the water and continued to slowly move off. We almost ran over the thing. I want to make sure I don't exaggerate here, but that whale
was bigger than our boat. We looked it up later in one of our cruising guides and decided our near miss was with a Sperm whale. We also
read later that Sperm whales in particular hang out in the area between the southern end of the Salispuedes Channel and Isla San Pedro
Martir. Great. Anyway, we see another one about dark (further away this time) and worry for the rest of the night whether we are going to
be sunk by crashing into a whale. Once we got past Isla San Pedro Martir we felt much better because the water became much shallower,
but having said that, we still worried all night and neither of us got much sleep.
Nevertheless, we get to San Carlos about nine without further mishap and after visiting the dentist the next day we were moving again.
We went back to Algodones to stage because it would be three or four days before we could cross back to Baja, since another norther was
on the way. Our plan was to travel the 80 miles or so to Bahia Concepcion as soon as we had a weather window. We had what appeared to
be a small weather window on the day after Thanksgiving and we left at two a.m. in order to make sure we had plenty of daylight for the
fourteen hour trip. Soon after leaving the protection of the mainland, we began to see steady twenty knot winds (we were expecting no more
than fifteen). Then, once we get out five or six miles we began to see twenty five with gusts close to thirty forward of our beam. Hey. We
don't have to do this. It didn't take long to decide to turn back and go to sleep.
Next day the weather did not look good for a southwest crossing. The forecast was for unseasonable south, southwest and west winds for
days. So. We began to rethink our plans. We could go back north and northwest to make our way back to Puerto Don Juan. It would be
great to spend several days in the solitude and we could hike the mountains a few more times. So that's just what we did. Once we got back
that far north the prevailing northwest wind would be relatively easy to ride southeast along the Baja coast. Also, if the southerly winds
held for a while we would be able to stop at the predominately summer anchorage of Bahia San Francisquito. The plan worked out great.
We went back to Dog Bay on Tiburon. We left there and made it all the way to Puerto Don Juan in one day thanks to a strong current
behind us (we averaged about seven and a half knots). We stayed there four days until we got tired of hiking and were alone the entire
time. From there we went about fifty miles to San Francisquito staying three days while hiking around the area (all by ourselves). San
Francisquito was rolly but tolerable until the last day when we left at dark to go about 80 miles to the marina at Santa Rosalia. After rolling
all day in the anchorage we finally get underway. As soon as we get around the point heading south we realize that we were in for a windy,
sleepless night. At first it wasn't too bad (about twenty), but by ten it was twenty to thirty for the rest of the trip. Luckily, the wind was from
our stern and our only real problem was going too fast. We did not want to get to Santa Rosalia before daylight. The harbor has a small
entrance and a boat was lost a couple of weeks before by hitting the rocks trying to get in during the night. Anyway. We finally got the
right sail configuration to stay under six knots (full main sheeted very tight for stability and staysail for slow forward progress) and we pull
into our slip about eight.
The marina is very small, but nice and comfy. The town is not much, but cruisers love the place. We're guessing that cruisers love it only
because some of the buildings were built by the French (specifically by Eifel, the tower guy) a hundred years ago when Frenchmen owned
the local copper mining operation (which is long since gone). Santa Rosalia a nice town but it certainly did not live up to the hype.
Once the wind died, we made it thirty miles to Punta Chivato. Not much there except a few houses and a closed hotel (looks like they are
repairing damage from Jimena). The anchorage is fairly protected from north wind and worked fine for us.
The next day we went 20 miles to Bahia Concepcion, more or less three weeks after our original plan. However, we are glad that we went
back to Puerto Don Juan and stopped at the other places on the way down.
Bahia Concepcion is called the Sea within a Sea. I'm not sure why, because the bay is only 22 miles long and three to six miles wide. The
bay does have plenty of anchorages available for protection from any wind and wave direction. Almost a week of strong northerly winds
were on the way and once they arrived we were very comfortable (no roll whatsoever) in the Santispac anchorage. The beach fronting the
anchorage was an RV destination and it was interesting seeing the RV'ers, since we have never really been around RV's before. There
were several ways to hike around the area and we did. There was also a restaurant on the beach, but Leta said no way when she went in
and saw several cats roaming around free in the place. The only negative, although it didn't bother us much, was that the anchorage was
very close to Highway 1 that goes from California all the way to Cabo San Lucas, so there were lots of trucks.
More to come...
| Scenes from Frailes |
| Beautiful desert mountains |
| Striated mountains north of La Paz |
| Anchorage at San Evaristo |
| Bahia San Marte |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Home sweet home! |
| Gigi getting new paint |
| Marina Seca from our condo |
| On the road back to the marina |
| Bogey taking it easy after all his hard work helping Daddy! |
| Scenes around Marina San Carlos |
| Pictures from Mike and Adriene's visit |
| Bay wreckage |
| Road to Marina Seca. This used to be paved. |
| The drop off next to the road is about 15 feet. Land and beach washed out to sea. |
| Leta's Baby |
| The antenna is in the middle with a red rope at the base. |
| Dad and Son |
| Scenes from Tiburon |
| Scenes from Don Juan |
| Scenes from San Francisquito |
| Scenes from Santispac |