Winter Wonderland

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Yes, while our boat basks in the sun in Mexico, we are still here in the frozen north.  Some would call this a winter wonderland.  After all, everyone wants a "white" Christmas now don't they?

In fact, this has been a very mild winter so far as Edmonton goes.  There have only been a few, very light, snow flurries; barely covering the ground in the city.  Out in the country it is just enough to make it look picturesque - in the city it is just enough to make the side streets into skating rinks.  The retailers are upset because people don't get into the Christmas (buying) spirit unless it really looks like winter.  We, on the other hand, are quite happy to have winter delayed as long as possible.

Down south, the boat is still in the "drying" process, with no idea of when it will be ready for the real work to begin.  So for now, we are here in Edmonton at least till Christmas and most likely into the new year.  Our prime winter cruising season is passing us by.  Sigh...

To get us more into the real Christmas spirit we have spent more than a little time Christmas shopping at the local malls including, of course, West Edmonton Mall.  This mall is possibly the closest we can come here to our cruising life, with the performing sea lions, pirate ships and the indoor beach complete with surf, but somehow it is just not the same.  Note: These pictures were taken early in the morning on a weekday - the hordes of people at any other time are hard to believe or describe.

So as not to sound too much like a Grinch, it has been very nice to visit many friends and relatives, especially during the holiday season.  Last year we spent Christmas in a foreign country with no one around that we knew at all.  This is altogether much more pleasant.

My apologies to those readers (and you know who you are) that feel I need to get my A in G and post more often - the main reason I have not been posting to this blog more regularly is that I am sure anyone who would be interested in the drivel I write here, is most likely more interested in the sailing/cruising life than in the minutia of our day to day existence on land.  With any luck we will soon be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to you all out there, no matter where you may be!

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}

The miracle is over...

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

First we got a little snow...

Then we got a lot more...

And finally, the temperature plunged to almost 30 degrees below zero (Today it got all the way up to minus 20 or so).  Looking at the temperatures in San Carlos, where the boat is, it is maintaining about a 40 to 45 degree differential from Edmonton, still hitting highs in the mid to high 20s.  Sigh!

So what do we do with our time?
When we are not out shopping for things we don't really need, we tend to stay inside, huddled for warmth.  Time is moving very slowly.

On the plus side, I am getting some much-needed exercise by shoveling snow.

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}

Miracle in Edmonton

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

After a grueling two-day journey from San Carlos - Guaymas - Phoenix - Denver to Edmonton, we find ourselves witnessing in a modern-day miracle.

This is Edmonton in early November and there is NO snow on the ground.  In fact, they have not yet had any snowfall, even the kind that just melts away the next day.  Could this be global warming at its best? Probably not - it is still plenty cold, hovering around the freezing point (just below at night, just above most days).  They expect to see snow by the end of this week.  We shall see...

Right on schedule, I caught a cold within two days of arriving in this frigid country - I am pretty much over it now.  Susanne has not had any problem - made of much hardier stock than me I guess.

Meanwhile, down south, Sine Timore has been caught with its pants down.  The industrious workers at the Star Marine Center have got the bottom completely scrubbed down to the raw fiberglass.  Apparently there has been some water infiltration and we feel we have done the right thing by tackling it now instead of later.  They estimate it will take at least 3 weeks to dry out (could be longer), then about 2 weeks to apply the epoxy barrier coats and bottom paint.  Sigh!  I guess we are back to one of the classic 'hurry up and wait' scenarios that we so often seem to find ourselves in.

I understand Edmonton can be quite lovely in the winter (Yah right - tell me another one - remember, we grew up here!)

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}

Our Favorite

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

As we prepare to leave this special place, we remember fondly our favorite anchorage in the Sea of Cortez.  If you ever have the chance to sail these waters, don't miss it.

This is Refugio, the northernmost point we reached during this last summer.  Well worth the visit...

 

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

 

The reality of owning an old boat!

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

In case you were ever considering buying and living on an old boat, maybe this will help with your decision.

Today was the day of the big haul-out.  Everything went fine - these guys really do seem to know what they are doing.   Instead of a travel-lift like we have seen before, here they use a hydraulic trailer.  The Seca Marina work yard and storage yard are located about a kilometer away from the boat launch, reached via a drive down San Carlos boulevard.  While this seems to be a perfectly practical way of moving boats, it is still somewhat disconcerting to see your boat trucking down the highway at 10 kph or more.

Once we had the boat in the work yard and had a chance to see the bottom, the bad news started.  We knew we were living on borrowed time when we last painted it, back in Nanaimo - lots of new blisters were appearing and we decided to just paint over them at the time, leaving the major work till we were here in Mexico and could take advantage of the supposedly lower labour rates.  But now it was time to bite the bullet and deal with the problem.

Marina hiding in the desert

We have elected to have the bottom completely stripped down to fiberglass, have any needed repairs done, then have a new barrier coat applied before repainting the whole thing.  The expense, while not insignificant, is not really the issue - the problem is the time required to do this job properly.  Once the old layers are stripped off, the boat has to be left out of the water long enough to totally dry out.  At this point, they are unable to tell us how long this could be - anything from a few weeks to 6 months.  We will know more in a couple of weeks when everything is exposed.  Meanwhile we are basically without our home.  Yes, we could live on the boat in the boatyard but that has absolutely no appeal to us.  Spending the winter in Edmonton has almost as little appeal.  If the boat is out of the water for many months, it also means we will miss the majority of the winter cruising season in Mexico, which we had really been looking forward to.  Oh well, we will know more in a couple of weeks - we will defray the hard decisions until then.
 

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

The lap of luxury

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

I am sitting here on our king-size bed in our air conditioned room, watching the 5th game in the baseball world series, contemplating a beautiful view out the window over the bay of San Carlos.  How is this possible you may ask.

After a week of slaving away, scrubbing the decks and polishing the stainless steel, etc., we have scheduled a haul-out for the boat tomorrow morning. With any luck, over the next couple of weeks, the bottom of the boat will be stripped, epoxied and painted, a brand-new stainless steel rail will replace our aging life lines and the hull will be polished to a high gloss shine (or as close as it is possible to get an old boat like ours).  Meanwhile, in a couple of days we will be making our way north to Edmonton, via a local bus from San Carlos to the city of Guaymas, an 8 hour bus ride to the US border and on to Phoenix in Arizona, overnight somewhere in Phoenix, then on a plane to Edmonton (via Denver this time).  Two days to do what would be a simple 4 hour flight if we were in Mazatlan like last year - isn't life grand?

Thus, we have treated ourselves to a nice hotel room, right here at the marina, for the couple of days between getting the boat out of the water and starting our trek into winter.  We are trying to remember the last time we wore shoes or long pants, let alone a jacket.  I'm sure we will be fine - we are still Canadians at heart.

 

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

Zig and Zag

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Our wish was to go to San Carlos, but it did not seem possible.  We had  emailed the Marina San Carlos to see if there was room for us - alas there was no room at the Inn.  We thought about just anchoring out in the bay but we wanted to get into the marina so we could leave the boat on its own for a couple of weeks.  We thought about going to the Marina Fonatur in the nearby city of Guaymas but we were not thrilled at the thought of a busy, dirty commercial harbor - the boat is enough of a mess already.  So it was that with tears in our eyes, we set sail back towards Santa Rosalia, about 125 miles south along the Baja peninsula coast - not really sure where we would be going after that.

Really big butterflies in San Carlos

We left around 8AM and motored southward.  After about 5 or 6 hours, as we neared Bahia San Francisquito, I checked our email and found a new message from Marina San Carlos.  A boat had just left unexpectedly and the spot was ours if we wanted it.  I calculated a new course and we immediately turned left to cross the Sea of Cortez.  By 10:30 AM the next morning, we were entering Bahia San Carlos and by 11AM we were securely docked on the end tie of B dock - the space was really a bit too short for us, but we are not complaining.

As for the crossing, there was no wind and no big seas, so it was a total of 27 hours of non-stop motoring, covering a distance of 145 miles.  The night was quite incredible, with a full moon that lit everything up so it was almost daylight.  We saw more whales on this trip than we ever seen before, and were visited by a delightful pod of large dolphins that stayed around to play in our bow wave for about a half hour.

San Carlos.  What a contrast!  Instead of the dry, deserted desert, we find ourselves in lush surroundings in a busy community.  Fancy homes and mega-yachts and lots of people and noise.  In some ways this place is a lot like Cabo San Lucas, with all the charter and dive boats coming and going and the upscale restaurants around the marina.  However it is much smaller and much less expensive.  We have taken our slip at the marina for a month for a total of about $575 - that would buy you about 3 days at Cabo.

Now, we are busy getting a lot of boat chores done.  First job was just washing all the salt off of everything - it has been many months since we have seen fresh water in any abundance.  After that, we will just have to see how ambitious we are.  We hope to get the boat hauled here at some point, to get the bottom looked at - it has suffered greatly since our arrival in the warm waters of Mexico.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

Two more days...

Puerto Don Juan, BLA, BC, Mexico

The current strong north winds are scheduled to lighten up by Thursday of this week, so that is our planned departure date. Brisk north winds are not necessarily a bad thing since we are headed mostly south from here, but the accompanying high seas are not very comfortable and I really don't need a sick crew for the estimated 30 hour crossing.

Our anchorage here in Puerto Don Juan, which we had to ourselves a few days ago, has now collected a total of 7 other boats. Almost everyone here is about to make a break for points further south in the next few days, just like us. Hurricane Jova is terrorizing the southern coast of Mexico right now, due to make landfall late today around Manzanillo with winds around 120 knots. We are very glad to still be up here in the BLA area, around 600 miles north of the beast. There don't appear to be any other immediate threats brewing for our area so all is well.

With any luck, our next entry in this blog will come from the San Carlos area on the mainland side of the Sea, possible complete with a few pictures. On a related, and somewhat sad, note, I inadvertently took our small digital camera (one the we acquired when we were in San Diego last year) for a swim up in Refugio last week. It is not a waterproof camera and has suffered the consequences. A new camera has been added to our wish list.

{GMST}28|56.5|N|113|27|W|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Sleigh Ride to Don Juan

Puerto Don Juan, BLA, BC, Mexico

With a weather prediction of north winds for the next few days, yesterday we took the opportunity to head back south to the Bahia de los Angeles area and the safety of Puerto Don Juan. We did not want to get caught in the exposed anchorage in Puerto Refugio during a northerly blow. Interestingly, the other 6 boats in the anchorage decided not to head south but instead just moved to the slightly better protection of the West bay at Refugio. They probably know something we do not.

The journey south was pretty exciting. We left around 8 AM and for the first 2-1/2 hours we had virtually no wind at all, just some current against us (no more than 1 knot for the most part) and some choppy water, reminiscent of the Strait of Georgia back in British Columbia. We had our mainsail up, but it did little except stop us from wallowing back and forth as we motored along at about 5 knots.

At precisely 10:30 AM, the north wind came up, just as if someone had turned on a switch. It immediately started blowing at around 15 knots. After trying to sail with both the main and genoa for a brief while, we elected to take the main down - the boat just does not like sailing down wind with this configuration - the genoa gets blanketed by the mainsail and the boat keeps trying to round up into the wind - the autopilot had the tiller hard over most of the time just to keep on a broad reach.  So we turned into the wind and wrestled the main down, then resumed our course using the foresail alone. Both boat and crew were much happier.

The tide now started to go out and we sailed down wind in some building swells from the north, with a following wind and a current now in our favour. We sailed the rest of the way to Puerto Don Juan in about 5 hours at a speed that held between 5.5 and 6.5 knots the whole way, gybing only 3 times in total. The seas were up to about 5 feet at very close intervals and looked pretty intimidating, but since they were all going our way, they posed no problem.

The winds built to about 20 to 25 knots by the time we reached Puerto Don Juan and we were very happy to get into the anchorage around 4 PM. After 3 attempts at anchoring (I kept misjudging how close we were to shore and ended up in too shallow water for our comfort), we got our hook down by 5:15 PM. We were in bed and asleep by 7:30. Lack of sleep on the previous 2 rolly nights in Refugio plus the exhilarating sail took their toll.

There were two other boats in the anchorage when we arrived but they both left for the village this morning. So we have the entire place to ourselves. We have had our usual effect on this anchorage and have managed to chase everyone else off (maybe they saw my attempts an anchoring?)

Last night, the winds died and we had a wonderful calm night with no wind or swell. Today, the north winds have been blowing, as predicted, all day. But they never got much over 20 knots and there is very little fetch here so we are very comfortable. The winds are expected to stick around or get stronger for the next few days, so I guess we will just wait them out. Our next passage is likely to be a long one, as San Carlos is some 150 miles away, on the mainland side of the Sea. We would like it to be an easy passage if possible.

{GMST}28|56.5|N|113|27|W|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Blowin' in the wind

Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico

We are still here in Puerto Refugio. It seems as though the winds don't want to let us go.

Having made the decision to head south, the SW winds have come up with a vengeance. It has been blowing now for 3 days, with a short period off during mid-day yesterday. Typically we are seeing West or SW winds in the 10 to 20 knot range with occasional gusts of 25 knots. From what we are hearing on the SSB and Ham nets, we are not getting the worst of it, probably because we are located on an island about 10 miles east of the Baja peninsula coast, and we have reasonable protection from the SW in this spot.

 Apparently they are getting winds of up to 40+ knots by the BLA village, south of us, and the same thing up north of us, along the coast as well. The problem is that for us to go south, we really don't want to have a 20 or 30 knot headwind if we can help it. So here we sit, biding our time, waiting for a shift in the winds - maybe tomorrow?

At this time we are now sharing this anchorage with 5 other boats, 3 that just arrived a couple of days ago, and the other 2 that are, like us, awaiting a north wind to start heading back south. Our most likely destination will be back to Puerto Don Juan, about 40 miles south, where we can ride out the remainder of these stiff winds, no matter what direction they are coming from. From what we hear, there are already 6 or 7 boats holed up there right now, having been chased out of other nearby anchorages.

Just to add some drama to the situation, there are a pair of developing cyclones off of the southern coast of mainland Mexico, either of which could head our way. At this point it is too early to get any accurate predictions of their potential tracks - just something to keep an eye on.

With the winds we are also experiencing a definite cooling trend. Our daytime temperature yesterday failed to reach 30 degrees, for the first time in over 2 months. At night, we have had to resort to closing our hatch over the bed and huddling under a sheet and blanket, as the temperature plummeted to as low as 23 degrees. Believe it or not this feels really cold to us now. Yesterday was the first day that we actually put on more clothes than just a bathing suit - it is back to shorts and T-shirts again. Life can be pretty hard sometimes!

{GMST}29|32.33|N|113|33.4|W|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Bullet dodged

Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico

Hurricane Hilary has come and gone, quietly dissipating way west of the Baja peninsula - turned into a non-event for us here in the Sea of Cortez. There is still a possibility of another storm before the season is over but it is looking pretty good right now - no immediate threats forming down south in the tropical kitchen. By mid-October the hurricane season is essentially over.

Meanwhile, we are still sitting in the west bight of the east bay of Puerto Refugio, which is quickly becoming our favorite place in the Sea of Cortez. The scenery is spectacular, although very desolate. At night the skies are so clear you can pick out individual stars in the Milky way, and during the day it is usually calm and clear as well. Outside of one short-lived wind event a couple of nights ago (no more than 20 knots, from the east), the weather has been picture perfect, although we have seen some pretty frightening lightning off to the east (near the mainland coast) on several evenings - never near enough to hear any thunder.

There are only 3 boats left up here now. Most of the fleet had congregated at Puerto Don Juan for an end-of-the-season party on September 29th. I guess there were about 23 boats there. Now, it seems as if a lot of the cruisers are leaving, or preparing to leave, for points further south. The end of September seems to mark the end of the summer cruising season in the northern sea. As for us, we will probably stick around here for a few more days. The tides here are quite large (up to 13 feet during the new moon) and the resulting currents can be a help or a hindrance when trying to go south in these relatively shallow waters. Also, the winds have been very light and unreliable - what we really want is a steady north wind with an ebbing tide to push us along. Of course, if we do get a north wind, it means we are totally unprotected here in this anchorage (open to the north) and that would add some incentive to our decision to head south.

When we leave here, our intention is to make our way across the sea to San Carlos on the mainland coast, where we hope to be able to park the boat in a marina for a while. We need to get a few things done to the boat (our every expanding list of wants), and we are going to try and find a way to get back to Edmonton for a visit.

Life here in Refugio has been a treat. The snorkeling is the best we have seen so far - interesting reefs with lots of fish. We joined the other boats (4 of us at the time) for our own party and pot-luck on the beach on the 29th of September. We feasted on fresh-caught yellow-tail and grouper and some scallops and mussels harvested on the reef next door. Susanne made a key-lime pie for dessert and we all had a great time. Some kind soul had left an old barbecue on the beach which we used to grill the fish - how great is that?

The weather lately is still quite warm. Our nightly lows get down to about 27 or 28 degrees, while the daytime highs are sill in the low to mid 30s. The water temperature is down a bit to around 27 degrees as well, which actually starts to feel a bit cool after you have been in for an hour or so. Summer is definitely waning.

Today's project will be to try and tackle some of the growth on the bottom of the boat again. Just getting the prop clear of barnacles makes a huge difference to our efficiency when motoring. Then we may go for a short hike on the island - it still gets pretty hot walking in the desert for any length of time.

Before I go, I would like to thank everyone who has sent us emails - it is so nice to get word from home to let us know what we are missing - sorry if we are remiss on timely replies. Most everything we have to say is covered in this blog, making it difficult to come up with any other original news that would be worthy of an email. Basically our life is pretty simple right now and we would like to keep it that way - excitement on a boat usually coincides with heart-pounding anxiety, which we can really do without.

{GMST}29|32.33|N|113|33.4|W|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Refuge in Refugio

Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico

Well, we made the break from Bahia de los Angeles, at last. We have traveled some 40 miles further north to the tip of Isla Angel de la Guarda, the most northerly island of any size in the Sea of Cortez. It was a windless journey, motoring the entire way, helped for most of the way by a following current - a very pleasant trip.

Puerto Refugio is a very picturesque and secluded anchorage which is surrounded by various very rugged islands and rocky islets, lending themselves to snorkeling and diving. The anchorage itself is quite large and mostly open to the north - not a place you want to be in north wind and waves. The main bay is divided by reefs into three bights, the west, middle and east, of which the middle is the largest and has the least hazards. So of course it was the middle bight we headed for.

When we anchored, there were 2 boats in the west bight, 3 boats in the east bight and 3 other boats in the middle bight with us - a busy place. After a very calm night, all but 3 of the boats left, including everyone from the middle bight except us, heading for various points south. As usual, our appearance has prompted everyone to leave.

We had a lovely day, taking the dinghy over to the nearby Isla Granito, on which a sea lion rookery can be found. It was an incredible experience to float down the coast of this island with sea lions swimming around us, watching mothers with their pups and occasionally being threatened by the big bulls out to protect their harems. Back nearer the boat, we did some snorkeling along one of the reefs, followed by a brief swim in the late afternoon - a pretty perfect day.

Last night, around 2 AM, a nasty swell started to roll into the anchorage, making us rock and roll around and making it difficult to sleep. In the morning, the remainder of the boats still in the anchorages, either left or moved to a smaller western bay to try and get away from the swell. We elected instead to just move to the western bight of this bay to see if it was any better there. By the time we successfully got the anchor set (took 3 tries), the swell had pretty well abated, so it is hard to say if this was a good decision or not. We shall see tonight.

Meanwhile, the big issue is hurricane Hilary, which is currently churning away down south of Cabo San Lucas. A lot of the weather gurus are predicting that this could be a bad one for the Baja. Hurricanes this late in the season have a tendency to turn north, following the outside of the Baja peninsula, then sometimes turning east to cross the peninsula and into the Sea of Cortez in the northern portion, right where we and all of the other boats are currently spread out. It is too early to tell just yet what we will do if it looks like it is heading our way. We could head back south to Puerto Don Juan, or we could try going another 45 miles north to Willard bay, the only other reasonable hurricane hole on this coast. It was our hope that Puerto Refugio would be the furthest north point we would be going this summer, but time will tell. Here is hoping!

{GMST}29|32.33|N|113|33.4|W|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico|Puerto Refugio, BC, Mexico{GEND}

First year in review

Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico

Yes, it is our anniversary!

It was one year ago, on September 21, 2010, that we cast off the dock lines at Stones Marina in Nanaimo.  Just for the fun of it, here are some statistics for our first year:

Total mileage: 3050 NM
Engine hours: 491.5
Sailing hours: 191.3
Average speed: 4.467 Knots
Days spent on the boat: 340
Days spent off the boat: 25
Nights in Marinas: 256
Nights at Anchor: 92
Nights at Sea: 17

As you may notice, we have been more or less essentially a power boat for much of the year, particularly on the way down the west coast of North America, where we were harbor hopping from marina to marina (or dock to dock).  A lot of the nights at anchor have only happened in the last couple of months, here in the Sea of Cortez, since we left La Paz.

What will the new year bring?  Your guess is as good as ours...

Today we left the anchorage at Puerto Don Juan with a mind to head further north before the summer season ends (also getting further out of the way of the potential of hurricane Hilary, which is just getting up some steam off the southern Mexican coast).  However, before we could venture further afield, we had to make a quick stop at the village again to pick up some more bread (literally).  So we will spend the night here and continue tomorrow - as with all things in Mexico, there really is no rush.

Although I seem to have picked up a Wifi Internet connection here in the anchorage, it does not appear to be up the task of downloading any pictures.  Sorry!

{GMST}28|57|N|113|33|W|BLA Village, BC, Mexico|BLA Village, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Winter comes to BLA

Puerto Don Juan, BLA, BC, Mexico

Well maybe not real winter, but definitely a cooling trend for the Sea of Cortez.

After a few mostly overcast days, including the aforementioned Chubasco, we are now experiencing some cool clear fall-like days. The nighttime temperatures have been much more enjoyable - we had a low of around 24 degrees last night. The daytime highs are no more than 33 or 34 and the humidity is much lower, making everything more comfortable. Sue has even started using the oven again!

Otherwise, not much to report. We made a day trip over to the village yesterday to finish off some internet business (and grab a burger at Guillermo's). While there, I did attempt to update this blog, but with little success - so it is back to sailmail for the time being. What the trip to town did make very obvious was that the bottom of the boat is in bad need of cleaning. When we were motoring we seem to have lost a good 2 knots on our speed (ie: when we should be going 5.5 knots at 1400 RPM, we are now only getting 3.5).Today's task has been to tackle the jungle that has been growing on the bottom of Sine Timore. It is hard to believe just how much crap can accumulate in a short time in these warm waters. I got about half of it off and will continue the battle tomorrow.

Otherwise, we are just carrying on as usual, eating, reading, playing scrabble and going for our daily social swim in the afternoon. All in all, life in paradise is not so bad.

{GMST}28|56.5|N|113|27|W|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Food, fun and forces of nature

Puerto Don Juan, BLA, BC, Mexico

A pretty exciting week for us.

We were in the anchorage at Ensenada la Gringa for the "Full Moon" party. We arrived a couple of days before the big event in order to attend a talk that one of the cruising couples was putting on, regarding cruising south from Mexico to Ecuador. This took place on Sunday afternoon (in order for all of the American football fans to listen to a game on their satellite radios in the morning).

We all gathered at around 4:30PM as a dinghy raft-up near the beach - there were about 20 people attending. We did this in spite of the ominous-looking black clouds full of lightning and thunder that we could see just at the south end of the bay. Sure enough, about 15 minutes into the talk, we heard a shout from one of the boats nearby, warning us of an approaching line of rough water. You never saw a bunch of dinghies move so fast! By the time we got back to our boat, the wind was blowing at 20 knots and the seas were beginning to build. We managed to get the motor off of the dinghy and get it stowed on the back of the boat, and then just sat back and watched a repeat of our horrible experience of the Chubasco just a week ago, right here in the same south exposed anchorage. When will we ever learn?

The winds did not get over about 30 knots but it was coming directly from the south where the 10-mile fetch allowed the waves to really build up before expending all of their energy on us. Again we found ourselves hobby-horsing up and down and putting an enormous strain on the anchor (and our snubber, now attached with a rolling hitch instead of the chain hook that we lost during the last storm). But this time, instead of being virtually alone in the bay, we had a total of 26 boats in the anchorage, one of which seemed to be no more than 50 feet directly behind us. I started the engine just in case, but our anchor held and, in the end, we were none the worse for wear. The whole squall did not last much more than an hour, although the seas did not calm down quite as fast. As far as we know, only one boat had an anchor drag and they were able to get re-anchored OK. Two boats left altogether to find a less-exposed anchorage. The talk was postponed until the day after the party.

The "Full Moon" party was a hoot. A lot of people dressed up in wild costumes and created some very inventive "floatees". There is a lagoon at one end of the bay here. The water flows in and out of this lagoon whenever there is a high tide (such as we have during a full moon). So the whole idea is to get onto some kind of raft (floatee) and let the current send you into the lagoon just before high tide; then out again about an hour later, just after high tide. There are prizes for the most inventive rafts and costumes. High tide on the day of the party (Monday) was at 2:15PM, and the weather actually cooperated (no Chubasco). In the evening everyone gathered on the beach for a pot-luck supper and prize awarding ceremony. This is sort of the culmination of the entire summer cruising season here in the BLA area - there were about 50 people at the event, and everyone had a great time.The next day (Tuesday) we attended the rest of the talk on cruising south, and in the evening experienced a little taste of an "Elefante" wind. These winds come from the west, over the peninsula, and last for several hours. Fortunately, from that direction the anchorage has no fetch and there are no big waves - the winds were steady at around 15 to 20 knots, never really getting much higher - this was much less traumatic than the Chubasco. Reportedly the winds were a bit stronger at the BLA village, which we understand is normally the case.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we decided to stop pressing our luck and finally left la Gringa. With more westerly and NW winds forecast for the next few days, we just made a quick trip into the village (about 5 miles south of la Gringa), had a late breakfast at the Costa del Sol restaurant, got some important paperwork done on their internet connection (we have to renew our boat insurance), and then left for the very protected anchorage at Puerto Don Juan, where we knew we could have a very restful night without having to worry about wind from any direction! Don Juan is the only real hurricane hole in this area.

Last night, we were kindly invited over to a fellow Canadian cruiser's boat for a supper of clams and brownies. While sitting out in their cockpit in the evening in the calm, with a perfectly clear sky above, we saw a sight that will stay with us for a long time. We witnessed the death of either a meteor or a piece of space-junk that was truly spectacular. An object that traveled across the sky, visible for about 15 seconds, leaving a flaming trail of green, then yellow and red, till it seem to break up before our eyes.

In summary, I guess this sort of exemplifies cruising. There are times when things seem to be going so bad that you wonder why you are out here. Then something happens that makes you wonder why everyone isn't doing this. Eventually we will figure out which camp we are in.

{GMST}28|56.5|N|113|27|W|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico{GEND}

A day in the life

Village of BLA, BC, Mexico

Not much happening here - just trying (and not always winning) to keep cool. Temperatures are pretty consistent, in the mid 30s during the day, falling to around 29 or 30 at night. The humidity is the real killer though, varying between about 40 and 90 percent. Basically just hot, hot, hot!

The nights are usually very calm, no wind at all, so we sleep with a fan blowing on us continuously (both night and day actually). Our day typically begins at 6:30AM, when we tune into the Sunrisa HAM net. A lot of the boats check in each morning (we do once in a while) to give a brief summary of their weather and what they are up to. The boats are spread throughout the Sea of Cortez, with the majority being in the BLA area, so there is a lot of repetition. At around 6:50AM, an amateur weatherman (currently a guy in Arizona) gives a weather prediction for next couple of days - this is most helpful as we have no reliable internet here in BLA. Then the process is repeated on the Amigo SSB net, starting at 7:10AM, with weather from Don Anderson up in Oxnard, California at 7:30AM. In this way we are kept informed as to the likelihood of a hurricane coming our way - so far so good on that score.

Breakfast for us usually consists simply of cereal, as it is too hot to think about cooking anything. One of the greatest inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries has got to be long-life milk - this stuff keeps forever without refrigeration and tastes just the same as any other milk. Lunch usually consists of sandwiches (no heating required again). Note: Bimbo bread (think of Wonder bread) is available everywhere and also seems to last forever - we are not sure what is in it, and I am sure it is really bad for us, but it is so nice to always have a fresh supply of bread on board. Supper is the only meal that gets the stove going - basic one-pot-wonder kind of meals most of the time, but Sue does manage to make up some pretty amazing feasts as well. We still have a fair supply of various meats in our freezer and the village here has a reasonably well-stocked store where we can get fresh fruit and veggies once in a while. Since a lot of the more ambitious cruisers fill their time with fishing, they always seem to catch more than they can use, so there is a ready supply of fresh fish available, especially Dorado (Mahi Mahi), which seem to be very abundant in the BLA area (fresh Dorado on the barbecue is hard to beat). Being by the village, we also have the option of taking the dinghy to shore and having an occasional meal at one of the many restaurants nearby.

The rest of our day is mostly spent reading, playing various games, and just watching the wildlife. The snorkeling is not so good here by the village, but the daily visits by the Whale-sharks kind of makes up for it. We quite often go for a swim, sometimes in company with other nearby crews, around 4PM. Even though the water temperature is close to 30 degrees, it is still very refreshing.

As the days are getting shorter now, it starts to get dark around 7PM. We quite often have a rousing game of Scrabble or Train Dominoes before hitting the sack around 9 or 10. There is another SSB net (the Southbound net) that starts at 5 minutes to 6, with weather at 6PM, so we have another chance to catch the latest predictions for the next day, and catch up any exciting news from the other cruisers (lots of fish stories and such).

Tomorrow we will be making our way back up to the anchorage at La Gringa, where there is to be a big "full moon" party and potluck on the beach on Monday. On Sunday, one of the cruising couples is also putting on a little talk and Q&A session on sailing through Central America, so we though we would catch that as well.

So there in a nutshell is our day to day life. Boring it may be, but it still beats working!

{GMST}28|57|N|113|33|W|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Current score

Bahia de los Angeles Village, BLA, BC, Mexico

We have been tested, and found wanting.

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out. Oh, wait a minute, that's a different story.

After 3 blissfully quiet nights in the bay at La Gringa, we finally experienced our first weather "event" of the season. In the evening, around 8PM, it was perfectly calm and we were watching a movie on DVD, when suddenly we noticed that there was a flash of light outside. We poked our heads out the companionway to find a nice light show (sheet lightning) going on just to the east of us, out in the center of the Sea of Cortez. This has happened a couple of other nights and nothing has ever come of it, so we went on with our movie, although we did make sure to stow anything that was on deck that seemed likely to blow away if the wind were to come up (in this regard we were a little negligent).

Around 8:45PM, the boat started to swing around to an east wind and the lightning was getting brighter and there was a tiny sprinkle of rain. We closed the hatches and turned on our wind instruments and chartplotter and sat in the cockpit to watch what was to develop. Within a few minutes the wind was howling at us from the east - this was definitely our first taste of the dreaded "Chubasco" (summer time convection storm). The first big gust of 40+ knot wind caught our "roving" solar panel that we had completely forgotten we had just lying on top of the dodger - it was quickly tossed away into the sea. After that, the winds kept blowing a steady 25 to 35 knots - the highest gust we recorded was about 42 knots. Since we were in the lee of a spit of land on our east side, the seas were not an issue and the boat just did its usual thing, sailing back and forth around our anchor, seeming eager to be somewhere else. By watching our track on the GPS chartplotter, we were able to confirm that our anchor was holding and we were not really going anywhere. This kept up for about an hour and a half and then seemed to slack right off. We, and apparently everyone else in the area (lots of talk on the VHF radio), assumed the worst was over and we went to bed.

Almost as soon as our heads hit the pillows, the winds came up from the south. They really never got over 25 knots this time, but we had no real protection from the waves in that direction and we were soon hobby horsing up and down as badly as we have ever experienced. The bowsprit was just touching the water when the bow plunged down, and the dinghy, which was lashed onto our davits on the stern, was dipped into the water as the stern took its turn. It was impossible to sleep with all the motion but we figured that was the worst of our problems. Then there was sudden "Bang" from outside! I surveyed the deck and found that our anchor snubber (a length of rope that we use to lessen the noise and strain on the anchor chain) had snapped in two - we were now riding on the chain rode itself. As it turns out, this was not really a big problem - just a bit noisier. Unfortunately it did mean we lost our one and only chain hook that we were using to attach the snubber to the anchor rode.

By midnight, the wind and seas calmed down and the worst was over. The final score: Sea of Cortez 2 (one solar panel and one snubber) and Sine Timore 1 (we survived relatively unscathed).

Today, after another very quiet peaceful night at La Gringa, we motored the 6 miles into BLA village where we have made a shopping run and are now sitting back with some ice cold Diet Cokes and congratulating ourselves on our mostly successful weathering of our first Chubasco. Listening to the other cruisers in the area, it appears that we were not the only ones to suffer from snubber withdrawal, and it was apparently even more exciting by the village. Lots of boats in close proximity and they recorded winds in excess of 50 knots here. They were exposed to the same south seas, so they suffered the same rocking and rolling as well. No major damage though.

As for our losses; the solar panel was not really much of a loss - it was very old and I was never able to get much power out of it. I wouldn't have used it at all except that it came with the boat and I did not have the heart to discard it. Now it doesn't take up any space on the rear berth any more when not in use. Still it is annoying that I forgot about it. As for the chain hook, it seems as though most of the experienced sailors do not use them and just tie their snubber lines on with a "rolling hitch" knot instead. I got out my book of knots and tried it and it does seem to work fine - one less item of equipment we have to worry about. We will become real salty sailors yet!

{GMST}28|57|N|113|33|W|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico{GEND}

August gone

Ensenada la Gringa, BLA, BC, Mexico

It seems as though August has come and gone. Nothing particularly exciting to report, which is a generally a good thing.

After spending 5 nights at La Mona, about 5 miles south of the village of BLA, we have moved to Ensenada la Gringa, a long crescent-shaped beach lining the north side of the bay, about 5 miles north of the village of BLA. While it was windy for much of the time in La Mona, here it has been very calm; just a light breeze occasionally to help keep the heat down. This has meant that we have been able to take a swim any time we want and that really helps keep us cooler as well. Overall the weather has been great. The highs during the day peaking around 37 to 38 degrees, cooling off to as little as 28 the last couple of nights. For some reason 28 degrees now feels a quite cool to us.

We will probably make our way back to the village of Bahia de los Angeles tomorrow as we need to replenish our bread supply, among other things (we have heard that there is a laundry service there somewhere). We have been keeping clear of the village the last few days while it is crowded with a lot of the "social" cruisers having a party for the SSB and Ham radio controllers - there are currently 16 to 20 boats anchored by the town (the majority of the boats in the entire area). Here in la Gringa we have had the place to ourselves except for one other boat that arrived yesterday.

With September now here it means we are entering into the peak hurricane season for the Sea of Cortez. As yet, there have been no threats at all and at the moment it does not sound like too much is brewing down in the hurricane breeding grounds off of Central America. As we understand it, that could change rapidly, although to date this has been an overall mild year for east Pacific hurricanes.

We are just hoping that with the coming of fall the temperatures might moderate a bit. Our fridge and freezer are running very high duty cycles just now and we are struggling to keep our batteries full. On a positive note, the last few days, with no clouds in the sky and slightly lower temperatures at night, have meant that we have not had to run the engine at all - the solar panels are just barely able to keep up with the demand - we are even able to run the watermaker enough to keep up with our current requirements. Ideally we do not want to have to refill our diesel tank until we are further south again - lugging jerry cans from the gas station in the village to the dinghy and back to the boat doesn't look like that much fun. So far, so good.

{GMST}29|02.33|N|113|32.8|W|Ensenada la Gringa, BC, Mexico|Ensenada la Gringa, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Shark attack

La Mona, Bahia de los Angeles, BC, Mexico

After a few days parked just off of the village of Bahia de los Angeles, we have moved some 5 miles south to the SE corner of the bay, a beach known as La Mona. It is much quieter here, without the local pangas zooming back and forth past us at all hours of the day and night. A couple of mornings by the village, particularly on Sunday morning, we found ourselves surrounded by fishing boats, trolling and casting for bait before heading out to deeper water to catch bigger prey - a little disconcerting for Susanne who was sleeping in the cockpit and awoke to find a couple of local pangas filled with fishermen watching her from a few feet away.

The highlight of our stay by the village was a visit by some whale sharks. There were 3 of them slowly cruising around the boats at anchor, with some tourist boats following them and jumping in the water to swim with them. These fish are about 15 to 20 feet long and are mostly mouth. They just swim very slowly along at the surface of the water with their mouth wide open, to catch the tiny organisms that keep them fed. They are absolutely magnificent to see up close. After all of the local boats and tourists had left, one of the sharks came by our boat several times and actually collided with our dinghy (which was tied on behind and was swinging around with us as we were sailing around our anchor in a light wind at the time). I got some great pictures but was not able to post them as what internet connection we previously had, had now gone away.

Here in La Mona there is only one other boat currently at anchor, so we have the place pretty much to ourselves. Being at the end of the large bay, it would appear to be very exposed from the NW, but so far the only winds we have seen have been from the East and NE and we have not had any problem. The winds are very welcome here too as it is very hot and humid. We hit a high of 41C a couple of days ago, although it has been much cooler since - normally around 37 or 38 as a high, dropping to around 30 at night. Yesterday we took the dinghy to shore, along with our pump - it seems that the poor thing is losing some of its integrity in the sun, especially the high-pressure inflatable floor. I pumped it back up but it most likely will not last. Note: Most of the cruisers we have met down here refer to their dinghies as "deflatables"; I wonder why?

The marine life here at La Mona has been spectacular. We had a large pod of dolphins passing back and forth past our boat most of the day yesterday, hunting for food we assume. There are a couple of whale sharks that are cruising around, but have not gotten very close to us as yet. And there are quite a few rays of some kind that leap out of the water and do acrobatic tricks in the air - we have no idea why, but they do put on quite a show. At night the phosphorescence of the water is incredible - the fish darting all around and leaping out of the water make for a sort of fireworks display on the surface - we sat and watched this for a long time last night. All and all, this is our favorite anchorage in the BLA area so far.

{GMST}28|54|N|113|29.5|W|Playa La Mona, BC, Mexico|Playa La Mona, BC, Mexico{GEND}

Calm before the storm?

Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico

We had a very nice peaceful night anchored here off of the village of BLA.  Listening to the experienced cruisers on the radio nets and in person, we hear that this can be a very tricky place to be at times.

This area of the Sea of Cortez is subject to violent, but short-lived squalls called Chabascos, usually accompanied by thunder, lightning, rain and strong winds.  These are summertime convection storms that can come up with very little warning; in some ways not so different from what we have seen in the prairies back in Alberta.  So far, we have only experienced the edge of one such blow, while we were safely tucked in at Puerto Don Juan - the winds there never exceeded 30 knots, but we heard that some nearby areas were hit by up to 50 and 60 knot winds.  One boat limped into the anchorage with broken back stays and shrouds and a mast that was being held up only by jury-rigged lines, so we do try and keep an eye on the sky at all times.  Not sure what we would do different though.

To make matters worse, here off the village of BLA they often experience another type of wind called an Elefante.  These are localized, strong, westerly winds that funnel through the valleys between the high mountains on the peninsula - basically what we would call a katabatic wind.  They are usually experienced when both the west and easy coast of the Baja peninsula are experiencing calm conditions, exactly like we have now.  Rumor has it that these winds can top 100 mph and last for several hours, but only occur in a few specific spots along this east coast, including where we are right now.  So far, we have not seen any sign of these winds either, but that is most likely what we caught the edge of during our overnight passage from San Francisquito about a week ago - they were westerly winds that fortunately never exceeded 25 knots where we were at the time.

Regardless of the risks, we have decided to stay put here for another day.  This morning we were off the Guillermo's for breakfast before some further exploration of the village - I think we have seen most of it now (it is not that large).

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks...

Sailing Close-hauled north of Santa Rosalia

Sunset on overnight passage

The usual dolphin escort

I would post more pictures but this Internet connection really sucks.   What you here see has taken me the best part of 2 hours to upload, and even using our little Toshiba netbook, this does take power we can ill afford right now.  Maybe tomorrow?

{GMST}28|57|N|113|33|W|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico|Bahia de los Angeles Village, BC, Mexico{GEND}