Sea of Cortez: Best of

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by John A

Green is an unknown color in the Sea of Cortez.

Aw, come on. The cacti are green.

[John A]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Aw, come on. The cacti are green.

cute.

[highseas]

If you get to southern Baja in November it can be quite green if it was a rainy summer season,the desert is in full bloom.The new book by Heather and Shaun,called "Pacific Mexico" is by far the best cruising guide at this time.

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by SuddenVibe

Marina talk was more for in the sea of cortez if it was as windy as they say... The boat is insured and if I ever washed up on shore I seriously doubt if I would wish she were still in the water!! If we were ever in trouble I'd run her into the shore with a smile!! We are prepared for the challenges getting down the coast on the pacific... I was getting nervous that Cortez might be off limits for the whole summer due to wind and honestly... We are still going even if it was! We are in no rush to get to or from anywhere so we can wait out any inclimate weather without sucking up vacation time. Hull speed on our Hunter 28.5 is about 6.5 kts... Bulletproof yanmar and outboard backup... New standing rigging... Good sails... Plenty of rum... Let the games begin!

S/V Joyen's Dream

There aren't many Marina's in the Sea of Cortez either. It is La Paz then the next one North is -- I believe more then 200 miles away. Don't know about your tankage but I have 70 gallons plus 20 in Jerry jugs and my range is 720 miles. Not enough to motor the entire trip from San Diego to Cabo but close.

I am just encouraging you to do your homework on the trip. There are places that are too rocky so that you can't run your boat ashore and others that are so desolate that when you do run ashore you might not see anyone around for months.

I looked at the tankage on a stock Hunter 28.5 and it said 11 gallons of fuel 25 of water. That will need to be augmented if you are taking the trip slow. If you sail 10 hours a day that would be 62.5 miles and the distance from San Diego to Cabo is around 750 so you are looking at 12 days. You can replenish water halfway in Turtle Bay so -- you do the math I was an English Major LOL.

It isn't that you can't accomplish the trip in your boat it is just going to take some preparation, planning and discomfort. I've raced down that coast four times and delivered 3 boats back. I am not an expert but have had some experience. If you are going to be waiting for weather windows etc the trip can easily take a month or more.

"Slow Boats to Cabo

March 7 - Pacific Ocean

A week to sail 800 miles? That seems to be the unfortunate reality for the 2007 Newport to Cabo Race. In stark contrast to the record-setting pace of the PV race a week or so ago, breeze for the Cabo fleet has been painfully meager since the March 3 start. The good news is, there's enough to provide some tight competition within each of the five divisions. But there will be no records this year, unless they open up a category for frustration. Several boats have retired, including the SC52 Lightning, which anchored in Turtle Bay yesterday, and the Swan 47 Equity, which was headed there under power.

"The 51 boats starting off Newport last Saturday had some good wind, but it soon went away, particularly inshore. There was a brief tease of 10-14 knots for a few hours last night, with 'significant improvement' in the weather forecast for the southern part of the course this morning. The Class A boats - Stark Raving Mad III, Peligroso and Medicine Man - are now expected to finish sometime tomorrow morning, according to the race Web site, www.07caborace.org. At this point, almost everyone else just has their sights set on finishing before the Friday noon deadline." From Lat 38.

These are racing boats some of which can easily make half again as much distance in a day as our cruising boats.

[John A]

Originally Posted by highseas

If you get to southern Baja in November it can be quite green if it was a rainy summer season,the desert is in full bloom.The new book by Heather and Shaun,called "Pacific Mexico" is by far the best cruising guide at this time.

Rather that rely on Cruising quides, I went there and found the area to be a desert. Dry and barren except when rare rains would encourge vegatation to attempt to grow.
Based on my experience in the high mountain deserts of sourthren Idaho and northren Nevada, the Baha and Sea of Cortzs areas are a desert.

Outside of the population centers it is a country that progess has ignored. Small stores with dirt floors where the lights are turned off when the villige generator is turned off for the night. Supplies are delivered twice a month. Transportation is a 20 mile road to a weekly bus and a 300 mile ride to La Paz, bring your own food.
If you're going to spend a season in the sea, forget watches or marinias or internet. Sit back and enjoy the lack of modren toys.

[LuvToSail]

The Sea of Cortes is absolutely one of the greatest place in the world to cruise. The sea life is amazing,

Originally Posted by Charlie

There aren't many Marina's in the Sea of Cortez either. It is La Paz then the next one North is -- I believe more then 200 miles away.

There are actually excellent services and Marinas north of La Paz, 120 mile to Puerto Escondido, 240 to San Carlos and Guaymas....

Many doing a circumnavigation will go to the Sea of Cortes and San Carlos because of the excellent and cost effective services.

Originally Posted by zeehag

you DO realize that cruising season in mexico begins in november,, when hurrycame season ends???? that late april and may are NOT the cruising season in baja as there are northers--winds that occasionally hit 70 kts blowing down sea of cortez as desert warms up???/

There are Northers in the winter but November, April and May have amazing moderate weather and great winds to sail by. Just like most places, there are seasons.

[senormechanico]

John A pretty much nailed the general scene of Baja.

One of the happiest little kids I ever saw was living in Bahia Magdalena.
His toy was a cardboard box tied to a 3' piece of string which he towed through the dirt. His smile could melt your heart!

[Capt Phil]

A word of caution if you plan to wind your way to Puerto San Carlos on the east side of Mag Bay, paricularly by sail. The channel is very windy, marked by questionable buoys and little room for error. If you get out of the channel, you WILL be aground. The Port Captain used to live there and would arrive at the anchorage on the west side of Mag Bay by panga to check you in. The port itself is picturesque with a fuel dock and folks are very friendly and accommodating. Couple of decent restaurants as well. Forget trying to navigate the south entrance of Mag Bay, believe what the charts say. I've seen local fishermen in smaller vessels go in and out but local knowledge rules down there. Great place to go ashore and walk the beach and scramble west over the dunes to Bahia Santa Maria, anther fine anchorage sheltered from the North Westerlies. Not a bad idea to bring along a bag of spare kids clothes to give to the Port Captain for distribution to some of the poorer families. Hope this helps folks traveling south... cheers, Capt Phil

[SuddenVibe]

Charlie, thank you for taking a close look at the hunter 28.5 specs and making recommendations. All of you on this forum are helping us greatly with your insights and they are greatly appreciated.

This hunter 28.5 is really only for the first 1-3 months if cruising...if we like the life we will upgrade.

We are planning to stay pretty close to shore, hop anchorages and marinas at 2-3 days of sailing max... Not going far enough from civ to get stranded, run out of water etc. We will always have 3-4 weeks of food onboard for emergencies and to take the stress off of finding palatable food. We will maintain this level. We will bring tons of water with us but I ain't too scerred about running out of water cuz:

a. This is heavily travelled area
b. We just aren't going to run out but especially
c. In a survival situation a 20 minute sea water enema each day will keep you hydrated.

Most important... We aren't running out of water!! If we are stranded on land making fresh water from sea water is slow going but possible using twigs or trash and a plastic bag.

I wish that we had experience cruising like all of you... We dont. I am very capable of handling our boat in fair weather up to say 15' seas and 20-25 kts of wind... No storm experience at all...

Here's the thing... Our desire to do this NOW is far greater than our fear of failing. I want to believe that with a well maintained hunter we can at least scoot from port to port and have fun doing it!

I have heard that approximate 1% of a cruisers time is spent in foul weather and seas...

So my question is... Decent boat, low exp captain, good charts, guides, gps... Great advice from you all and cruisers along the way... Us not going out in poor conditions... Our willingness to let the boat sink while we are tented up on shore if we are ever really in a jam and can't make it to port... Are the odds of us surviving the first 3-6 months greater than 95%? Not the boat... Literally our lives. I care about our lives and this adventure during my life... not losing the boat, repairs, tows, lack of food water, pirates...

if I lived in fear I would have never bought the boat in the first place... I'd never be able to take a trip like this... I wouldn't be self employed... I'd be 2.5 kids white picket fence married to my first love blah!! That shuts for my siblings... I need to be on the edge!!

Last tidbit... I have spare impellers and filters, gps, VHF and a few other things but I am NOT bringing alternators, standing rigging etc and here is why... I can not fix them myself anyways... I probably would not mind waiting on a part to be delivered... Would rather pay more for part than have a stock of 1000 things that might be needed someday... If it's really bad I'll tie the boat up and do some land adventures while we wait.

This hunter is a 1986... The original owner did have spares of everything... They are ALL still on the boat!! Which kills me cuz something that was $1.98 that i find stowed away is now $38.99 at westmarine .

This is a day cruising adventure... Coastal cruising... It can't be all that frigging dangerous. I guess that the percentage of sailors who DIE each year from lack of water or anything else that could possibly be prepared for is less than 1%. Notice I said death from something that could have been prepared for... Not things like getting sawed in half by rigging or brained by the boom.

I salute anyone who respects fear but pushes through... Singlehanding around the world is about the gutsiest adventure that I can imagine. Hats off to all of you who chase that dragon.

S/V Joyen's Dream

[Uncle Buck]

You'll do great, as it seems you are doing the homework up front....three notes of caution based on my experiences there.

1) It is not heavily traveled. Southbound (albeit this was December when most are already there) I was lucky to see another boat/ship once every 24-48 hours. I did not see a single other sailboat. Northbound (which is the real challenge depending on time of year/prevailing conditions) I saw a few more (this was in March), probably because I was close to shore on occasion.

2) Staying close to shore. This is far more dangerous and stressful - there are shoals/reefs in certain areas that extend way out, and crab pots in the water all over the place. If you want a relaxing trip go offshore and stay in deep water....until you are nearing your chosen anchorage of course. You'll also be able to sail more since the wind can shut down at night in close but keeps blowing on the " outside ". South bound I ran the engine to charge batteries only and to cover the last 30 NM stretch rather than sit becalmed all night and miss dinner on the beach after 6 days at sea...

3) Baja is dangerous, so don't take it lightly. It's one long, rocky, barren lee shore and it can be very windy and rough. I saw 15-25knots with a couple of days gusting over 30 and large groundswell both south and northbound. Others have described very benign, pleasant conditions with plenty of motoring required - obviously conditions can go either way.

Experienced sailors have wrecked boats there (one in particular this year). Again, the dangers are in close.

Either way, you'll have a fantastic trip - enjoy it!

[janders]

We spent seven months in the Sea of Cortez and spent a grand total of 5 nights in marinas. Anchorages abound. As to the original question, here's our favorite anchorages in the Sea of Cortez (none of which I would ever describe as "green" or "lush" though):

Bahia Muertos. Beautiful sand beach. Clear water. Unsecured wifi in the anchorage. The best 50 peso nachos in the WORLD. Seriously, we got done with the nachos and there was still piles of cheese and jalapenos. When the dolphins would show up to fish, we'd hop in the water while they swam around us. Plus, if the swanky resort doesn't have any guests (they never have any guests), you can use their eternity pool for the price of a cold Pacifico. Get here while you can. Developers are trying to make this another Cabo. Any whiff of a southerly and you best make your exit. The southerly fetch stretches down to Ecuador.

La Paz. Beware La Paz. The anchorage is huge and easy to anchor in (just pay attention to the sand bar in the middle), food and beer are plentiful, cruising supplies are easier to get than anywhere else in Baja, and the community is great. This place has a gravity that is very hard to escape. There is a whole subset of exist-a-boards whose boats' haven't moved in years. For entertainment, listen on channel 21 before the daily net for what we called the "Tinfoil Hat Net". Some pretty great conspiracy theory stuff going on.

Balandra. This became our go-to anchorage when we'd get tired of La Paz. We also learned that if you tuck way down into the southern lobe of the anchorage, you can avoid the nightly (seriously, every damned night 25 knots out of the SW) coromuels. Great snorkeling and the best white sand beaches we found. Great bocce games. Watch for sting rays, though. They are all over the place here.

Isla San Francisco. Another great anchorage, awesome hiking. Plus huge salt ponds that you can go scoop sea salt out of. No more paying $7/jar at Trader Joes. We filled up 10+ big yogurt jars full of sea salt.

Agua Verde. Fresh goat cheese. Yum!

Honeymoon Cove just outside of Puerto Escondido. If you have a stern anchor you can tuck into the NW bight and have this incredible mini-anchorage to yourself.

Concepcion. We spent several weeks in Concepcion. We met some great ex-pats, including the famous Geahry the weather guy. Very relaxed feel.

Goodonya for getting Heather and Shawn's guide book. We consider that to be the only reliable piece of navigation data in that area. Everything else we found was off by a long shot.

Have fun!

Jason

[zeehag]

when travellin gunder sail from sd to la paz. 40 miles off shore is my idea of minimum-- what the wind can blow you onto the beach in 4 hours plus a bonus for dazedness upon awakening. need to be welloff shore. folks who sail better than i do have lost boats as a result of sailing too close or mkaking a mistake in exhausted state. there are marinas in ensenada, anchorage in turtle/tortuga, and anchoring in asuncion, but beware of wind direction changes- is only protected from north . mag is as was said-- i have been advised there is nothing until la paz for boat berthing or work.
i plan on making for mazatlan in one leg. hopefully. is plan. i didnt realize your boat is such a cute lil one.... mine is burlier-- and i cannot harbor hop-situation necessitates using of engine as little as possible-----i need to beeline to my friends and a dock and yard. too many boats being found aground in mexico the past 2-3 yrs-- i hope to not join htat number--i need to be as far off as comfortable-- for me is one watch of sleep-- 4 hours, at dead fast speed--fastest she can pull, and add another few miles on that f or safety. as fast as a boat can surf--i am presuming mine maxes at 8 kts...never known one to go faster than that.. and add 5 miles formy damncomfort.... so 4x8=32+5=40. perfect. now ye know why i didnt do wellinmath. lol.

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by zeehag

when travellin gunder sail from sd to la paz. 40 miles off shore is my idea of minimum-- what the wind can blow you onto the beach in 4 hours plus a bonus for dazedness upon awakening. need to be welloff shore. folks who sail better than i do have lost boats as a result of sailing too close or mkaking a mistake in exhausted state. there are marinas in ensenada, anchorage in turtle/tortuga, and anchoring in asuncion, but beware of wind direction changes- is only protected from north . mag is as was said-- i have been advised there is nothing until la paz for boat berthing or work.
i plan on making for mazatlan in one leg. hopefully. is plan. i didnt realize your boat is such a cute lil one.... mine is burlier-- and i cannot harbor hop-situation necessitates using of engine as little as possible-----i need to beeline to my friends and a dock and yard. too many boats being found aground in mexico the past 2-3 yrs-- i hope to not join htat number--i need to be as far off as comfortable-- for me is one watch of sleep-- 4 hours, at dead fast speed--fastest she can pull, and add another few miles on that f or safety. as fast as a boat can surf--i am presuming mine maxes at 8 kts...never known one to go faster than that.. and add 5 miles formy damncomfort.... so 4x8=32+5=40. perfect. now ye know why i didnt do wellinmath. lol.

As always, thank you!! We are trying to go slow and see as much as we can on the way down... We are stopping in for donuts in April! Would love to buy you a coffee before you leave sd!

S/V Joyen's Dream

[zeehag]

thankyou-- i think i need to be at sea by march 31-- a crew is coming from nor cal with 14 days only --maybe only going to la paz or where ever we come across in 14 days.......i willbe in mazatlan for looong time--i have a formosa to repair,after all, so i may be there a coupla days or so--i want to get to caribean--- but it think i wont make this year..lol...not before years end, anyway...
coffee would be good--i just dont know when logistics is gonna get me a bit of time--is all packd in tight. bad planning.... mine....
i need to be at the cop docks for a few days before we leave-- so i am trying to get a diver on my boat for this move... mine doesnt do winter....

as you have a nice shallow sweet smallish boat-- stop in mag bay to see whales if you leave in time-- there should be some --is protected harbor-- and more whales than usual htis year.


i almost forgot---please go to conapesca before you leave and get your mexican fishing licenses--needed for humans on board. if youhave fishing gear, then ye need them. are 49 ish dollars for a year--not bad as the fish there are awesomemly deelish.....conapesca is in san diego.

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by zeehag

if you are seeking lush vegetation, dont cruise a desert. mexico is a desert until after baja, and sea of cortes is in that desert. you will find little lush vegetation. there are cruising guides for baja-- one is free and located in down wind marine, 2804 canon st, sd.
chris frost, the used to be owner of downwind, before sdmx purchased them, gives assistance for cruisers including mail drop and info. stop by on a weds by 1000 for coffee and chatting with folks about your big adventure-- they have a lot of good info and help for cruisers and wanna be cruisers. for lush vegetation, one needs to sail further than the reaches of the desert--- mexican riviera comes to mind... manzanillo, acapulco, places south of mazatlan. there is a lot of good culture to not be missed in those desert areas--some of the best and least expensive food i have eaten is there.
what month are you planning your adventure?? there is a hurrycame season here on west coast--might be a good idea to avoid that--is same timing as the hurrycame season in the gulf--june thru oct. northers in baja are april until hurrycame season--winds howl down sea of cortes as the desert heats up for summer. ...
for internets--wifi is there and so is mextel--can get a card with removable sim chip for use outside usa. is cheaper. also fone service--mextel... simcards ar wre,movable and each lil country has these services. is almost like real life only while travelling.
if ypu are going to cruise sea of cortes, ther ear marinas--san carlos, lapaz, puerto escondido, baja......many places-- you really need to get a cruising guide for info. go to downwind marine-- they will help to guide you.. sounds like you are just beginning your research... noonsite is a good resource for cruisers, as well. has much of the necessary info needed for cruising safely.
go to conapesca for fishing license for mexico. they donot allow spear guns. they donot allow many kinds of fishing we assume are free, in mex is considered poaching-- be AWARE OF THE REGULATIONS AND BE SAFE. NEED A CRUISING GUIDE. IMPORTANT.
mexicannavy will board you in mexican waters ND DO AN INSPECTION FOR UNLAWFUL ITEMS SUCH AS SPEARGUNS, FISHING EQUIPMENT WITHOUT A LICENSE, CONTRABAND..... get the license before you go to mexico-- get it in person. takes 5 minuets.
you DO realize that cruising season in mexico begins in november,, when hurrycame season ends???? that late april and may are NOT the cruising season in baja as there are northers--winds that occasionally hit 70 kts blowing down sea of cortez as desert warms up???/

I went to downwind, told them you sent me... They are great and I'm going to get alot done there!! I got the cruisers guide and all of these tips are helping alot!

Thank you all for your support!!

Will you be in town for donuts next Wednesday??

S/V Joyen's Dream