La Paz to Barra de Navidad

1500, Friday, 17 Jan 2009 - Posn:22 29.0N, 107 50.5W, 110 nm SSE of Cabo San Lucas
We are under sail with the mizzen and the spinnaker flying in a 12-15 kt quartering wind and stern on seas of 3-4 ft. The GPS indicates that we are doing 5.5 - 6 kts over the ground and we are enjoying every minute of it. We are out of sight of land for only the second time in Gosling. The first was a day or so on the way down the west coast of the Baja last spring. The air is cool and the sky is clear. The flying fish are all around us leaping from wave to wave in their attempts to flee our intrusion and the boobies are diving in chase.
We departed La Paz at 0900 on Thursday into a freshening northerly breeze. By the time we arrived at San Lorenzo Channel it had reached the 10-15 kts predicted on the morning net. We were able to sail down the coast to Los Muertos but by mid-afternoon we had to supplement with the engine to reach the anchorage before nightfall, arriving just as the last light was fading.
We departed the anchorage the following morning, sails up and running before a 12-15 kt breeze and have yet to see it diminish in strength. We were even able to steer by wind-vane for a short period, another first for us, however with a slight backing of the wind we had to resort to the auto pilot.
The night was long and quite cool but by 2200 the waning moon in its last quarter brightened things up. Several times we were alerted by the shallow water alarm only to see a solid mass near the surface on the sounder. This morning we found several small squid on the deck leading us to believe that these were huge banks of these creatures coming to the surface to feed at night.
Rosie is not having a very good time of this. She has been seasick and yesterday she made quite a mess, however today she seems to have perked up a bit. She still prefers to stay in her bunk but she has taken on a bit of food and water. In my last entry I forgot to mention the extra expense I had at Marina Palmira. On our first night we went ashore to a small restaurant with several friends leaving Rosie in the aft cabin. On our return we found J-G’s electronic dock key pass in shreds on the bed where he had left it. So far, this has been the first item she has destroyed but a $50.00 (US) mistake on J-G’s part.
As I was finishing the last sentence I heard an ominous “bang”! The spinnaker was in the water, the halyard broken at the masthead! It took some time to recover it and it came in undamaged. Looks like I will be some masthead work when we reach Barra to re-rig it and correct whatever was causing the chaffing. These lines were replaced 3 years ago and haven’t had that much use. Of the 2 halyards this one had to be the one that led up through the inside of the mast.... We are now proceeding under genoa and Mizzen and still maintaining 5.5-6 kts but rolling as bit more.
10:20 Monday, 19 Jan 2009
We made landfall on the coastline below Cabo Corrientes at sunrise. We are power sailing in order to reach Barra in daylight but it looks doubtful so we are planning on anchoring in Tenecatita for the night and continuing tomorrow. We are familiar with this bay as we were last here 2 years ago with Royal Exchange . Except for a few hours of light winds yesterday morning we have continued to experience great sailing weather, however, a few hours ago the wind died off and we are now powering in an oily calm sea with long swells from the NE. Fran is enjoying the occasional visits by dolphins and whoops with excitement when they come close and play in the bow wave. We haven’t seen any whales yet but the challenge is out for the first to spot one.
With the engine on there is no concern about power consumption so we are charging both computer batteries and operating the water maker to increase our store of drinking water. The freezer continues to worry us. It draws 6 amps when running and it runs a long time before shutting down. We are quite certain the reason is a lack of adequate insulation in the original refrigerator. Another project for next season.
They say that bad luck comes in 3’s; I hope that adage is true. At the change of watch 2 nights ago Fran wanted me to investigate an odd noise from astern. Sure enough it was trouble. The wind-vane that I had rebuilt in Guaymas was being towed by the control cables. All 3 mounting brackets had broken. With the aid of the mizzen topping lift we were able to recover it and lash it on deck. Parts for repairing this will be impossible to find here. The following day we flew the spinnaker again without incident but when we recovered it we noticed that one of the pulpit supports was loose. The through bolt had sheared. Hope there is a good stainless repair facility in Zihuatanejo. The “to do” list is adding up. We also lost a big fish in mid-morning, taking the lure with it on it’s dive to freedom. I didn’t mind that loss and expect to have the big ones get away. We only want the “easy to handle on deck” versions.
I have managed to repair the broken spinnaker halyard thanks to my time in Oriole where I learned to splice Sampson braid. Now the hard part will be to thread it down the mast and fish it out of the sleeve.
1800, 19 Jan
We are anchored in the outer bay at Tenecatita. On to Barra tomorrow. Just heard on the SSB net this morning that a boat called Carpe Diem was abandoned not far from our track just east of Cabo yesterday. Crew was saved but the boat is adrift. No other details were provided. There are many Carpe Diem’s around.

Loitering in La paz

13 Jan 09
Well the few days has turned into a week. We were warned by Om Shanti that La Paz has a vortex effect on a lot of boats and we have found that to be very true. Mind you, the main reason we have stayed so long has been to wait out a gale that swept through here over the weekend.
It had been predicted early last week that the Northerly gale would hit the Sea of Cortez by Saturday with winds in the San Carlos area to peak at sand blasting strength and lighten as the system proceeded south. Initially we were at a dock exposed to the North but we managed to shift inside the marina with a few days grace. As luck would have it Kirk (Freedom Kirkland) was assigned the same berth and he was tossed about all weekend in the 25-30 kt winds.
We are also delayed by repairs to the freezer system that we had installed in Guaymas. Although the seller has guaranteed his system he can’t be here to make the modifications required so he has agreed to reimburse us the costs incurred here. Hopefully we will have the final tweaking completed by tomorrow morning so we can depart. Conditions are ideal at the moment but that can change quickly on the Baja side of the Sea. We have been monitoring the Magic Seaweed and Buoyweather websites for our forecasts as we can’t get the SSB forecasts here in the port.
Fran has been quite busy with yoga, Mexican Train dominoes and attending an information group for cruiser women. Last week the topic of discussion was weather forecasting and this week one of the members will make a presentation on her experiences of sailing to 5 continents.
We have joined up with our friends Bill and Linda (Tanque de Tiburon, Kirk (Freedom Kirkland), Ken and Patty (Red Pepper) and Vicky (Inspiration at Sea) and have had some good get togethers. We will be sad to part company but we hear Zihuatanejo calling. The party begins on the 4th of Feb so we still have lots of time to get there.
We have also met Robert Raymond an insurance adjuster with BC Yacht Insurance, the company that had refused us last year. He is here holidaying in the area and drumming up business amongst the local cruisers. Now that we have demonstrated that all of the survey recommendations have been satisfied they have agreed to cover us for the next year at a slight savings from our present coverage.
We have also acquired a 2-man inflatable kayak and have sold our 1 person model. We had been looking for a second single but Fran thought the double would be more suitable with her lack of experience and upper body strength. We are looking forward to using it when we get to the other side.
Sorry about the lack of photos. We don't seem to be able to upload from WIFI sites. Hope to get them on soon.
Next issue will be after the crossing.
PS Great news from Doug and Trish tonight. Doug underwent his PET scan in Tucson yesterday and the results indicate that his treatments were successful and that he is cancer free!

Arrived in La Paz

Saturday, 3 Jan 2009
We are finally at sea and headed south. We have departed an overnight anchorage at Agua Verde and are headed towards La Paz. The wind is on the nose so we are powering and making good 6 kts at 1680 rpm.
We departed San Carlos mid morning on the first of January after spending the evening with friends at the Captain’s Club. Out of 5 couples at our table only 2 made it to midnight. The cruiser’s midnight of 2100 was obviously well ingrained. We were ready to depart. All preps were completed and we had bid farewell to everyone the night before. Julie (Sea Fire) cast off our lines while Rosie cast longing looks at the shore and at her pal Cortez. Trish (Ka-Em-Te) waved from her boat as we slipped along the moored boats and headed out of the marina. On the way out we passed Daydream, with Wayne and Susan from Ladysmith. They will be heading for the Marquesas this season.
Once out of the harbour we were met by light easterly winds and a 2-3 foot swell from the southwest but after an hour the wind veered to the SSW and freshened to 15-18 kts. We were able to sail all day and night under genoa, main and mizzen with the wind abaft the beam. Mid afternoon we had a strike on the fishing line and brought in a nice 8-10 lb Dorado. We have enough for 4-5 meals thanks to the freezer we had installed in Guaymas. By sunrise we were east of Isla Carmen and by 9AM the wind died. We continued under power to Agua Verde, one of our favourite anchorages and joined 2 other boats for a quiet night. Sometime after 2am Fran summoned me up on deck to see the phosphorescence produced by schools of bait fish and larger fish feeding on them, a beautiful sight and a reminder of the reasons we are here. The windlass completed its first official task and performed flawlessly.
After settling into the anchorage last night we tried to connect up to the WINLINK system (E-mail by HF/SSB radio) but found a broken plug at the back of the modem. It took several hours for J-G to do a temporary fix by soldering the wires back onto the DIN plug. We finally got it operating and got out a few e-mails and our first WINLINK position report. We will try to be more regular with these so that you can follow our track on the WINLINK site. Boats are identified by radio call signs. Ours is VE7JGN .
Sunday 4, Jan
We are anchored in San Evaristo Bay, about 55 miles from La Paz. We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a motor-sail down from Agua Verde due to light winds. We had initially intended on anchoring at Isla San Francisco but the anchorage is fully exposed to the westerly wind that has established itself during the afternoon. Our decision proved a wise one. By 1 AM the wind had risen to 25 kts for the remainder of the night. Our fearl of dragging made it a sleepless night but the anchor held firm and the Nobletech anchor aid showed a tight drift pattern of less than 40 yards. By the time we woke up it was too late to attempt the last leg to La Paz so we decided to lay up here for another day.
This morning several boats departed but one in particular raised J-G’s interest. There was something familiar about the name Om Shanti, a Westsail 32 that had been anchored just beside us. He didn’t realise until they disappeared around the headland that this was the boat owned by the couple who had written the newest cruising guide to the Sea of Cortez and who we had purchased our copy from at the Blue water cruiser’s meeting last October.
We have spent a nice quiet day relaxing and attending to minor odds and ends. We also met Ken and Patty Starr, two retired teachers from Powell River, aboard Red Pepper. By sundown the bay filled up with another bunch of boats seeking shelter from the westerlies predicted overnight. Tomorrow we expect to have the northerlies fill in so our trip to La Paz should be a comfortable one.
Monday, 5 January 2009
We completed our transit to La Paz today. We departed at 7:30 into a freshening northerly wind. We were able to make over 7 kts but needed the engine and sails to get us in by 3PM. We were greeted at the dock at Marina Palmira by our friends Bill and Linda (Tanque de Tiburon) who had been expecting us for the past few weeks. While we were checking in we spotted Kirk (Freedom Kirkland), our prairie farmer from Kirkland Alberta, wandering along the docks. Rosie was overjoyed of having solid land under her feet and she didn’t stop thanking us for the remainder of the afternoon.
This is a wonderful facility and we will stay for a few days before heading south again but we will certainly return here in April on our way back north.

Saturday, 3 Jan 2009
We are finally at sea and headed south. We have departed an overnight anchorage at Agua Verde and are headed towards La Paz. The wind is on the nose so we are powering and making good 6 kts at 1680 rpm.
We departed San Carlos mid morning on the first of January after spending the evening with friends at the Captain’s Club. Out of 5 couples at our table only 2 made it to midnight. The cruiser’s midnight of 2100 was obviously well ingrained. We were ready to depart. All preps were completed and we had bid farewell to everyone the night before. Julie (Sea Fire) cast off our lines while Rosie cast longing looks at the shore and at her pal Cortez. Trish (Ka-Em-Te) waved from her boat as we slipped along the moored boats and headed out of the marina. On the way out we passed Daydream, with Wayne and Susan from Ladysmith. They will be heading for the Marquesas this season.
Once out of the harbour we were met by light easterly winds and a 2-3 foot swell from the southwest but after an hour the wind veered to the SSW and freshened to 15-18 kts. We were able to sail all day and night under genoa, main and mizzen with the wind abaft the beam. Mid afternoon we had a strike on the fishing line and brought in a nice 8-10 lb Dorado. We have enough for 4-5 meals thanks to the freezer we had installed in Guaymas. By sunrise we were east of Isla Carmen and by 9AM the wind died. We continued under power to Agua Verde, one of our favourite anchorages and joined 2 other boats for a quiet night. Sometime after 2am Fran summoned me up on deck to see the phosphorescence produced by schools of bait fish and larger fish feeding on them, a beautiful sight and a reminder of the reasons we are here. The windlass completed its first official task and performed flawlessly.
After settling into the anchorage last night we tried to connect up to the WINLINK system (E-mail by HF/SSB radio) but found a broken plug at the back of the modem. It took several hours for J-G to do a temporary fix by soldering the wires back onto the DIN plug. We finally got it operating and got out a few e-mails and our first WINLINK position report. We will try to be more regular with these so that you can follow our track on the WINLINK site. Boats are identified by radio call signs. Ours is VE7JGN .
Sunday 4, Jan
We are anchored in San Evaristo Bay, about 55 miles from La Paz. We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a motor-sail down from Agua Verde due to light winds. We had initially intended on anchoring at Isla San Francisco but the anchorage is fully exposed to the westerly wind that has established itself during the afternoon. Our decision proved a wise one. By 1 AM the wind had risen to 25 kts for the remainder of the night. Our fearl of dragging made it a sleepless night but the anchor held firm and the Nobletech anchor aid showed a tight drift pattern of less than 40 yards. By the time we woke up it was too late to attempt the last leg to La Paz so we decided to lay up here for another day.
This morning several boats departed but one in particular raised J-G’s interest. There was something familiar about the name Om Shanti, a Westsail 32 that had been anchored just beside us. He didn’t realise until they disappeared around the headland that this was the boat owned by the couple who had written the newest cruising guide to the Sea of Cortez and who we had purchased our copy from at the Blue water cruiser’s meeting last October.
We have spent a nice quiet day relaxing and attending to minor odds and ends. We also met Ken and Patty Starr, two retired teachers from Powell River, aboard Red Pepper. By sundown the bay filled up with another bunch of boats seeking shelter from the westerlies predicted overnight. Tomorrow we expect to have the northerlies fill in so our trip to La Paz should be a comfortable one.
Monday, 5 January 2009
We completed our transit to La Paz today. We departed at 7:30 into a freshening northerly wind. We were able to make over 7 kts but needed the engine and sails to get us in by 3PM. We were greeted at the dock at Marina Palmira by our friends Bill and Linda (Tanque de Tiburon) who had been expecting us for the past few weeks. While we were checking in we spotted Kirk (Freedom Kirkland), our prairie farmer from Kirkland Alberta, wandering along the docks. Rosie was overjoyed of having solid land under her feet and she didn’t stop thanking us for the remainder of the afternoon.
This is a wonderful facility and we will stay for a few days before heading south again but we will certainly return here in April on our way back north.

Merry Christmas from San Carlos

Merry Christmas from San Carlos. Gosling has been alongside at Marina San Carlos for the past 2 days. We decided to come in to get the remainder of the work done before leaving for the Baja side.
After arriving from Guaymas we had a busy week working on a number of items but life at the buoy was tedious. Trips ashore invariably turned into half-day events where little progress was being made onboard but, on the other hand, were socially rewarding. After all, this is Christmas week. The main event of the week was the Christmas dinner given at the Yacht Club. For 80 pesos (approx $8 Can) we had a great lunch and lots of Christmas atmosphere, almost as good as we would have had at CFSA but without the white stuff outside..... We teamed up with Doug and Trish (Ka-Em-Te), Gil and Lexie (Sunday) , a British couple off of Fantasia and our old friends Lin and Lee from Royal Exchange who have arrived to complete the preps on their boat after an 18 month delay.
It was nice to see Lin and Lee again and recall our adventures together for the four months we sailed in Royal Exchange 2 years ago and which were the incentive that caused us to take the big step of doing it on our own.
The cruising population here is very transient at the moment with new people arriving daily to rejoin their boats, and others leaving their boats and heading north to be with family for the holidays. A few are heading south already but the majority prefer to remain here enjoying a much chillier San Carlos for a few more days or weeks. Although we still have nice sunny and warm days the nights are quite cool dipping into the mid 40’s F.
The main reason we have come into the marina is to have our batteries changed out. They were ordered on Saturday and are supposed to arrive on Monday. Trish has been helping us install the windlass and if all goes well that should be completed on Monday as well. The installation of the windlass has not been as easy as the instructions make it out to be. There had to be a few modifications made to accept the components and we found out that the 2/0 cables were too stiff to be wired directly to the windlass. Luckily Trish has some smaller, more flexible cables that we will be able to complete the job.
With any luck we should be good to go by Tuesday or Wednesday. We are still experiencing Northerly winds so it should be a good sail to the other side. During the past few days it has been quite blustery with Northwest winds gusting to 30 kts in the anchorage. We managed to get to the dock before the wind developed on Friday and Fran did a nice job of driving Gosling alongside. Keith Hanna would have been proud.
Rosie has been very thankful for the opportunity to go ashore anytime she wants to and do her business and play ball. She has another puppy pal, Cortez, a Peekapom, the same age actually that belongs to Greg and Julie of Seafire, a boat from Nanaimo. It is really cute to see the 2 of them playing in the parking lot.
Tuesday, 30/Dec
This will be a late post as we are now dependent on a few local bars for our internet.
The Windlass is in and working and the batteries have arrived and are onboard. They will be installed tomorrow. We had planned to leave tomorrow but after considering that we would be far away from anyone on New Year’s Eve we decided to stay another day and enjoy the festivities. Our revised departure date is now New Year’s Day so Happy New Years all.

Back to San carlos for Christmas

We are finally away from the noise of downtown Guaymas. We had planned on departing early in the week but delays with the mechanic and adjustments to the freezer took longer than expected. We finally cast off on Saturday and headed up to San Carlos. Had we left a few days earlier we would have been able to sail up, however, we had to slog up the coast with 18-25 kt headwinds. A big engine is an asset in those conditions and we were able to make headway despite the wind and 3-4 ft seas covering the 19 miles in just less than 6 hours.
We have rented the buoy from our German friends, Elka and Uva from Marina Seca, Guyamas. It took us 4 attempts to tie up to the buoy but it was worth the effort. It certainly takes the worry about dragging anchors, besides; the windlass is this week’s project.
During our stay at the Singlar marina we met Ron and Pattie (and Matie, the dog) from California in Bagabundo, an Offshore 40. We were really impressed with the design and comfort level built into this boat.
Since we arrived we have continued to work on projects. J-G’s priority is the wiring for the windlass. He is finding it quite a challenge to access areas to pass the wires behind cupboards that require hours of disassembly. Once accessed there is usually another task that should be done before access is closed, in this case it was replacing bolts holding down a pad eye.
Since we arrived in Mexico Rosie has been used to regular walks and good places to do her business. She is finding that sailing sucks! She doesn’t like the engine noise, rocking and rolling and that windswept look. Most off all she misses the dusty boatyard and the small patches of grass at Singlar. The thought of having to pee on a small carpet on the bow doesn’t appeal to her at all, however, by the evening of day 2 at the buoy she decided that she couldn’t hold it any longer, much to our mutual relief....
Now that we are dependent on our battery power we have come to the realization that the four old 6-volt batteries that remained from the original bank will have to be replaced before we leave. As the only source of decent batteries is north of the border we may have another delay to obtain replacements. Unless we can find someone going north we may have to make a quick trip to Tucson ourselves.
Fran set up the “Christmas Palm” today, complete with solar Christmas lights and several guy lines to keep it from being blown away by the strong Northerlies we are still experiencing in the late afternoons and evenings. We are booked into the Christmas day dinner at the yacht club but, with all of this we will miss the kids and grandchildren, this being our first Christmas away since England in the early 90’s.
Have a great Christmas all.

We have splashed!

Gosling is afloat! We splashed as scheduled last Friday. It was a harrowing experience to see the travel lift raise her off her stands and slowly traverse the few hundred feet to the launching basin but it was accomplished within ½ hour of a spring tide. With the help of many friends we were able to spin her around to face the channel and keep her centered in the basin until we finished checking for leaks. The engine started up without any coaxing and we were off across the Bay within ½ hour of launching, our German friend, Elka, along for the ride.
Gabriel, the yard owner, had marked the channel for us but as we reached the end of his buoys (tethered pop bottles) the depth reading went from 3 ½ ft to 1 ½ below the keel. Gabriel will need to do some more dredging! We reached the Singlar Marina without incident and we have been tied up here for the weekend getting re-rigged and cleaned up. Omar is arriving this morning to replace the engine mounts and align the engine. We expect to leave here by Wednesday if all goes well.
Our last week at Marina Seca Guaymas was a blur of last minute tasks, many of them in the “nice to do” realm. The anti-fouling was touched up with the local brand, Comex Americoat #3. It has a 50% copper content. I watched the local workmen apply it to another boat and they added a pouch of copper powder before application to increase the copper content to 70%. Other tasks included paint and varnish touch-ups to interior parts, completing the plumbing below the sink and making up some shelving and a base for that one. We also removed the old windlass and started to prep the pad for the new unit. Ted completed the freezer installation and I was able to begin re-assembly of the cupboard I had to take apart (to give him access to the original freezer conduits). That was quite the job. The builders didn’t skimp on screws when they assembled this boat!
Marina Singlar hasn’t changed much since our last stay but there are a few more establishments in the complex. The former assistant manager, Carlos, has left to pursue his masters in Mexico City and has been replaced by, Ariana, a pleasant young lady from Guaymas, who spent some time in Vancouver to learn English a few years ago. There are a few more boats here, including 4 on the hard and three at the dock. The main building has a few more businesses now. There is a bar and restaurant on the top level and a sushi bar, souvenir shop on the lower level to complement the coffee shop that has expanded. They have also put in a spa on the upper level of the main building. Fran and 2 of her friends, Trish and Lexie, spent a few hours getting pampered last week for Fran’s birthday on the 10th. It was also to pamper Trish, who has been caring for her husband who is battling cancer.
Saturday morning was another early start, with a drive out to San Carlos for the monthly Marine Mart cruisers swap meet. We arrived and spread our junk, er , treasures on a tarp, and hoped for the best. As usual JG bought more then we sold, but it was ALL needed for the boat....
A few local items: I don’t know why Mexico isn’t higher on the world beer consumption ratings but local supply stores are everywhere. Each major company has their own outlet or “deposito” where you can pick up cold cervesas until quite late in the evening. What a decent concept! Guaymas is decorated to the hilt for Christmas. As we left a restaurant last night we discovered that the local Christmas parade was about to pass. Our grand-daughter would have enjoyed the cheerleading squads from the local schools. It was nice to see all the children excited about it all. They are off school for a month since last week. The huge malecon/marina project is progressing here. There is much excavating being done and a lot has been done since we were here last. The main portion of the malecon near the city centre has been completed. There are nightly water shows at the fountains and people are everywhere during the evenings. The marina, itself, hasn’t begun construction yet but this ambitious project will need considerable dredging of the bay before it becomes reality. It will be interesting to see if Singlar survives the competition for the boating traffic.
We hope to leave here Wednesday for San Carlos Bay, as it is caro (expensive) here and we just can’t take too much more of the downtown nightly noise. Fran has resorted to wear ear plugs at night. Rosie will be in for a shock when we leave here. She hasn’t had to resort to a carpet on the bow since last summer, but she has adapted well to all the changes to date so we are hopeful.