12/27/09
We’re currently on a mooring in Puerto Escondido; an almost completely landlocked harbor about half way up the Sea of Cortez (just south of Lareto). Towards the west the Sierra Gigante mountains go almost straight up and wrapped around the harbor are large hills, a very snug place to be. Here’s what we’ve been up to since last I updated this blog:
12/18
We left La Paz with plans to make a small jump north to the Isla Espirto Santo but La Paz wasn’t going to let us go easily! We cast off the dock lines with a little help from our neighbors (thanks Mary & Ken from Kachina) and motored out of the marina into the channel when suddenly silence.... our motor had quit! Oh ##&%$##@* I grabbed the wheel while Tom ran below to try to figure out what went wrong. Now with a car when the engine dies, the car slowly glides to a stop; you pull to the side of the road, and commence troubleshooting. Not so with a boat. I knew that unless we got restarted quickly, or we found a spot to throw the anchor out, we would be drifting into lots of other anchored boats. I looked around for a spot we would fit but there was nothing except the middle of the channel, so as we slowly lost steerage, I abandoned the helm, ran to the bow and dropped the anchor. I believe this was a record for how fast I got it untied and dropped. People on the nearby boats were popping out wondering what the heck some fool was doing anchoring in the middle of the channel. We settled only about 20 feet from another boat (who were glaring needles at me) and as I was hastily tying fenders around the boat, I yelled over that our motor had died. The glares disappeared and they started offering suggestions and readying their fenders.
Meanwhile Tom was trying everything he could, switching the fuel filters, switching the tanks, bleeding the fuel system, running up and down and sweating bullets. Eventually he got the engine started and we cautiously restarted our journey. Later he found a very tiny air leak in our fuel filter system, only a small bubble every few minutes, but enough that over time we got enough air in the system that we lost vacuum and the fuel stopped flowing. Once Tom discovered the leak, he tightened the nut and it (hopefully) has stopped leaking.
We motored past Isla Espirto Santo, which had spectacular red bluffs:
We spent the next two days at Caleta Partida and Ensenada Grande:
The islands were dry and rocky but with interesting worn sandstone sections and some very tenacious plants:
There was a nice beach we landed on:

We then went to beautiful Isle San Francisco. I think this is one of the most photographed anchorages in the Sea. It’s a semi-circle white sand beach surrounded with rocky bluffs (we're the boat on the right).
One morning we hiked up the southern ridge. Sections were very scary, the trail only seemed a foot wide with (probably) fatal falls on both sides. The views though were spectacular.


Once back at the beach we saw some very big crabs. They were very wary and wouldn't let us get to close to them.
On the last night we were treated to a nice sunset
Overnight, the wind started blowing hard from the North-West which made for an uncomfortable rolly anchorage, so we pulled anchor and headed north to Puerto Los Gatos. We stayed on the boat but there were some incredibly red sandstone sculptured rocks onshore.
In the morning the anchorage was “invaded” by a National Geographic ship. Maybe one day we’ll be watching a special and be able to say “That's us, we were there”!

The wind was blowing harder (of course from the north, the direction we were going) so we were anxious to get to a more secure anchorage so we bashed our way up to Bahia Agua Verde (Green Water Bay). We holed up in AV for a couple of days while the wind blew, the water was calm and protected though.
In the afternoon I decided I wanted to go ashore. I had heard there was a little tienda (store) that sold excellent local goat cheese. Tom wanted to stay on the boat so off I went on my own. I motored over to the shore and checked out the waves, they didn’t seem too bad so I went ashore. Once I landed they seemed a little larger than they looked from the ocean side, but not too much for me to get the dingy back out so I dragged her up onshore and went in search of cheese. The little “town” at AV was much more spread out and a little bit more ramshackle than I had thought it would be after reading the guide books. About 45 minutes later I hadn’t found the tienda, but I had bought some cheese from a local so I went back to the dingy.
Once back on the beach I saw the waves had seriously increased in height and frequency! While they were only about 1-2 feet high, they were coming at less than 1 second intervals, and there were no slack periods. I tried to get the dingy re-launched for about ten minutes and ended up soaked and bruised. I would just get it pushed out into the waves, jump in and grab the oars when a wave would swamp me and the dingy. It was clear that there was no way I could get her out on my own. I walked over to a guy on the beach just pulling his panga (fishing boat) further up the beach and asked for help. We went back my dingy and watched the waves crash in, they were increasing by the minute! After much discussion in my pidgin Spanish, smiles and hand waving, he said it would be impossible to get out here but he could load my boat onto his suv and drive it to a nearby cove that was much calmer (and closer to Sunny). We put everything that could be taken out of the dingy into the back of his suv then put the dingy on the top and tied it as securely as we could. Even though our dingy is rather small, it’s pretty heavy and awkward.
We then proceeded to drive up, up, up and around a mountain to get to the cove. Tom was able to get a few shots of us coming down into the cove:



Once unloaded, it was easy for me to get back to the boat in the relative quiet. Once again I am just astounded at the kindness and generosity of the people we have been meeting. We have yet to find a surly Mexican (other than a few government officials).
A few days later, after the wind calmed down, we sailed to Puerto Escondido. Other than a small marina, tienda, expensive restaurant, and a cruiser’s net, there is little here. It is well protected though. We did meet Deb and Alex on Nu Moon and had a nice visit on Christmas day. Deb and Alex were our dock mates in Alameda. We knew they were coming down a little after us but this was the first we’ve been able to meet up. It was great seeing them and I hope we cross paths again.
This is Tom smiling (seriously, this is his smile :-) ) Behind you can see the "windows", it's hard to see from this picture but there's a ridge of land between the humps to make this a well sheltered hole.:

The impressive Sierra Gigante mountains (more impressive in person):

We’re leaving tomorrow morning to make our way back to La Paz then probably cross the Sea to Mazatlan, it’s getting a bit cold here :-) Happy New Year.
Carolynn & Tom

12/17/09
Since last I updated this blog we went from Bahia Los Muertos to La Paz and have been in La Paz the whole time. La Paz is nicknamed one of the “fly paper” harbors since cruisers tend to sail in and get stuck. While in Spanish "La Paz" means "The Peace", Tom says that the name is really spelled “La Paws” since the city grabs onto you and sinks its claws into you. It really is a nice city that had everything we needed. We got everything fixed on the boat that was broken, met lots of new friends, renewed friendships with many cruisers we’ve met along the way, and enjoyed exploring the town.
The trip from Muertos to La Paz was tiring but uneventful. Because of fast currents in the Cerralvo channel, we wanted to time our passage so that we would ride the tide through the channel rather than fighting it the whole way. Unfortunately this meant leaving in the afternoon for a night passage. We left Muertos around 2 pm with only a light breeze (on our nose of course). Around the corner we spotted this building going up, we wondered if it’s going to be a house or a hotel, either way quite an impressive structure for way out here:
We had a quick passage, which meant we were estimated to arrive in La Paz at midnight. We don’t like entering any unfamiliar harbor in the dark so this meant we idled out in the bay until the sun came up. We pulled into Marina La Paz, right in the middle of the city.
La Paz is a very pretty city and not at all like Cabo. The bay is too shallow for big cruise ships, the sport fishing fleet hasn’t discovered the nearby banks, and there are no fancy beaches so it’s not a “touristy” town. There are no street vendors or time-share hawkers. I got so tired in Cabo of having to say “no gracias” (no thanks) every five feet as soon as we left the boat. And some of the vendors in Cabo were very aggressive, following you down the street and shouting at you if you didn’t buy their cheap trinket.
My favorite section in La Paz is the Malecon, a wide tiled, palm lined walkway along the waterfront. Every two hundred feet or so there is a wide spot featuring a bronze statue or other art. There are also sculptures scattered throughout town. Here is Tom along the Malecon:

Here’s the view looking back towards the marina:

Here are a few of my favorite sculptures (there are probably over 100 scattered around town):
Old man with a paper boat

Here is the translation for the inscription:

The old man ..... and the sea?

I have a paper boat
It’s made from a page
On which I have written my dreams
It has neither anchors, nor mooring ropes
I want to sail in it
On the seven seas; in the eighth
Where I know I will run aground in the port of my desires
... Has someone ever seen the light shining from his lighthouse?

Even the trash cans are colorful

Just around the corner from the marina is our favorite taco place. They have a grill right on the sidewalk where they grill the most wonderful arrachera (marinated flank steak).


And a full tray of all the condiments:
Sunset and sunrise from Sunny in the marina

And a buddy that visits us

The people here are wonderful, both the locals and the cruising community. There is a radio net each morning where new arrivals introduce ourselves, we can get the weather, local news and events, and ask for help troubleshooting issues or finding parts. The net was very helpful in getting our alternator(s) working. There is also a cruisers club that has a book exchange, a DVD lending library, and has free coffee each morning where cruisers gather to meet.
As much as we have enjoyed La Paz, we need to leave before we grow roots :-) Tomorrow we’re off to visit the local islands and try to find some quiet anchorages. We’ll be out of internet range for awhile so Happy Holidays to all.
-Carolynn & Tom

12/2/09:
The definition of cruising: “Fixing your boat in exotic locations with no parts.” But I’ll get to that later.
When last I updated this blob we were headed out of the Cabo marina to spend a few days anchored off the beach. Cabo is the vacation destination for more than 500,000 tourists each year and since the water is a major attraction, there is a big industry in renting jet skis, ski boats, and taking people parasailing. The Los Cabos bay was an absolute zoo and our boat was continually rocked and buzzed by all of the above as well as fishing pangas, water taxis, large sleek fishing trawlers, sailing boats, etc.
At one point there were three gigantic cruise ships anchored in the bay. It was fun at first people watching but got tiring quickly. The water was a tempting 82°F so we tried swimming off the boat, but we didn’t dare get more than a few feet away. After two days we had enough of that and decided to head towards a quieter anchorage.
We left the Cabo anchorage early in the morning on Wednesday 11/25 headed for Los Frailes, approximately 50 nautical miles (nm) away (1 nm = 1.15 land miles so this would be about 57 “statute” miles). After leaving the anchorage I checked our batteries and discovered the charging system wasn’t charging our batteries! Just like in a car, when we are running the engine the alternator should be making electricity and using the excess to recharge the batteries. We were worried about our electrical system since earlier we had lost the tachometer readout. We did some troubleshooting on the tach in Cabo but decided it would have to wait until La Paz to fix since parts would be more readily available and cheaper there. Now though with the charging system on the fritz it was a different matter. We discussed limping our way all the way to La Paz (170 nm) using the generator to top off the batteries each night and pulling up the anchor by hand, but decided that wasn’t the prudent decision and changed course to a marina about 20 miles from Cabo called Puerto Los Cabos.
Puerto Los Cabos is a brand marina advertizing all the amenities of a first class resort; showers, laundry, swimming pool, spa, golf course, restaurant, etc and one day it might be finished but at this point there was only one section of slips and some very nice landscaping. They had converted a trailer for the showers but the plywood floors and walls wouldn’t last too long. While slightly cheaper than Cabo, at $111 per night it was disappointing. The staff though was very nice and the maintenance manager helped Tom to determine that there was something wrong with our main alternator, but we discovered that there were two alternators on our engine and Tom got the smaller one working (after lots of swearing and burnt knuckles). We would have to be careful of power consumption but this smaller alternator should allow us to get to La Paz to do a better repair. Keep your fingers crossed for us. The last night in the marina we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
Leaving early in the morning, we made our way to Bahia Los Frailes. The wind was on our nose the whole way and the seas were choppy so we had to motor and bash our way up the entire trip. Without a tachometer we were guessing at how much we were pushing the motor and were worried the whole way about overheating. Going into the wind and seas sometimes it felt at times that the whole boat would come to a shuddering stop while it broke through a wave, not a pleasant journey.
We finally made Bahia Los Frailes (the Bay of Friars, so called because the rock formation on the point looked to mariners of old like Friars climbing the hill). We spent two nights in Los frailes to recover from the beat up. During the day we went snorkeling by the point, there were quite a few colorful tropical fishies and some coral. Around the other side from the anchorage is Cabo Pulmo Reef marine sanctuary, the only living hard coral reef on the west side of North America, and supposedly very good diving. We briefly though of trying to arrange a scuba dive there but decided that we were over budget at this point so diving would have to wait. Once we were rested we set out for the next stop; Bahia de Los Muertos. Once again the wind was on our nose and we spent the whole trip bashing into steep waves. If anything this was worse than the previous jump to Frailes. We averaged a bit under 4 knots and barely got into the anchorage before full dark, exhausted and cranky.
Bahia de Los Muertos ("Bay of Dead Men"; so named for the giant “dead-men” anchors used here to moor barges in the early 1900 while offloading ore from the silver mines at El Triunfo), is a nice wide pretty bay with a small fancy resort at one end and the Giggling Marlin restaurant (of Cabo fame) at the other. Developers don't like the name so they are renaming it Bahia de los Suenos (Bay of Dreams) but that sounds so cheasy that most people continue to call it Muertos. There are no other facilities but it’s well protected and there were lots of cruising boats anchored out. We found a good free internet wifi signal and spent several days just relaxing and recovering. We started to run a little short of beer so one day we loaded the bicycles in the dingy, landed on the beach, then bicycled the 6 miles to the nearest small town. On the way there was a palm farm.

We also stopped to look at the Cerralvo channel, our next jump before the La Paz area. According to the guide books, this channel can have fast currents and the wind tends to funnel down the channel, great..... It didn’t look too bad from 20 miles away :-)
The small tienda (store) had what we needed and once back at the bay we had a nice lunch at the Marlin and took some pictures of the pretty bay.
You can’t really tell but our boat is the farthest one out.
It’s now Wednesday, December the 2nd and we are running our generator to charge the batteries and plan to leave in the afternoon at the beginning of the rising tide so we will (hopefully) be able to ride the current up the channel. Hopefully this won’t make the wind chop too steep as it will be dark by then. It’s going to be a long night but hopefully by tomorrow we’ll be in the La Paz area. We plan to be in La Paz for a few weeks, refilling our provisions and repairing everything broken.
-Carolynn

11/21/09 – We made it to Cabo San Lucas, the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, almost 800 NM (nautical miles) in the past two weeks (at the speed of a fast walk). What a dramatic contrast Cabo is to the Pacific coast of Baja we’ve been sailing down the last two weeks. The Baja peninsula (at least the western side) is a rather dry, desolate place with only the occasional tiny village. While there are a number of anchorages down the coast, there are only two that are relatively safe in all wind directions, so we didn’t really tarry anywhere. For the most part, the villages had few services and almost no provisions. While the villages look rather poor, everyone looked happy and well fed plus there were fairly nice trucks and jeeps in evidence (a sturdy truck is necessary when the nearest town is hundreds of miles away over dirt roads). The main income for these villages is fishing and dodging lobster pots all the way down the coast kept us on our toes.

Getting the dingy down and functional is a hassle, so we usually just stayed on the boat. The water is still pretty chilly but we did go swimming a few times (also our shower is being used for storage so jumping overboard is the easiest way to get relatively clean).

On the last leg we sailed by Russ and Heidi on Tillicum 1. We first met them in Newport and later in San Diego. We exchanged pictures of our boats sailing, this is the first picture we have of Sunny underway! You can see in the background how dry the land is.

Here’s Tillicum 1
The last leg from Magdalena Bay to Cabo was an overnight sail and as we got closer we started to see the hotels and condos lining the coast.

Rounded the famous rocks guarding Cabo and soon we were tied up in the marina.

Cabo is surreal. Around the point of Baja is some of the world’s best Marlin and other sport fishing and this marina is grand central. Some of the sport boats are multi-storied affairs with seats perched way up high and dozens of satellite and other antennas, all to catch a fish :-)

There are fancy shops and dining.

And even Burger King, Hard Rock Cafe, and Dominos pizza!

Russ, Heidi and I took a taxi out to the Walmart to provision, just like at home :-) Cabo is very touristy though and I’m getting tired of the constant “buy this” and “have I got a deal for you”. This afternoon we’re getting out of the very expensive marina and will anchor off the beach for a day or so, then continue around the point towards La Paz. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

-Carolynn

(From Tom)

From time to time there will be bits of information that has been observed along the way, they will be labeled NOTES FROM THE BILGE (NFB)

NFB note1. Before leaving we were advised to purhase a strong magnet and some line so we could retrive the items that would periodically fall overboard, hopefully when in a marina or at anchor. This seemed to make sense and we aquired the said equipment. Now after several items have gone by the board and never been seen again I have rethought the idea. There is one major problem in this system, most items that are suitable for use on a boat are made of either bronze, nickle or stainless steel. None of which are magnetic!!! The only thing the magnet accomplishes is to stamp the lost item deeper into the mud / sand so even if you finally go diving for it it will be impossible to find.

NFB note2. The people who build Marinas are smart and understand that most sailors like wind. Since most boats are sold in or very near a Marina wind is a desirable feature for being able to demonstrate the boats sailing features without having to go miles from the dock. After traveling for hours and hours offshore with only 5mph winds we are frequently amazed that the wind in the marina always seems to be at least 20mph, and often going in the direction that makes docking most challenging.

Hola from Ensenada Mexico!
When last I updated the blog we were in Oceanside. My mother and brother were visiting us in a couple of days so we spent several hours on Tuesday scrubbing the boat down til she sparkled. Then on Wednesday we got a strong north wind that blew tons of dust and dirt from nearby Pendleton marine base over the marina. By Thursday morning Sunny looked like she hadn’t been washed in weeks, grrr!!
Thursday we had a wonderful lunch and visit with mom and Chuck. The wind had died down and the weather was very pleasant. One of the negative things about going cruising is that we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get back and see friends and family.
There was the cutest little “tug” tied up just across the fairway from us. It was only about six feet long but was like a big tug only in miniature. There was a tiny bridge, bitty steering wheel, and even a little dingy on deck. I’m not sure what they use it for, it looked like a small wake would swamp it but obviously someone spent a lot of time and thought in it. There was a guy working on it almost every day we were in Oceanside, obviously his baby.

On Friday, 10/30 we had a wonderful trip from Oceanside to San Diego. We almost got to sail part of it! Coming out of Oceanside we had 8-10 knots on our beam and we raised the main and our Genoa (large sail on the front of the boat). We thought of turning the motor off but we would only be able to make about 3-4 knots in that amount of wind and we needed to make at least 5 to be able to get into San Diego before the police dock closed. Plus we hate coming into port in the dark, even into an area we know well such as San Diego. We tried everything to “encourage” the wind to build enough, we whistled, we touched the mast, but we never saw more than 10 and after a few hours it had dropped enough that we had to bring in the sails. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted :-)
We saw several whales and were visited by a large pod of dolphins!!! They played on our bow for probably 15 minutes. It’s amazing how quick and graceful they move through the water. There were even a couple of babies swimming alongside their moms.

We spent five nights at the San Diego police dock. Using our folding bicycles, we did some last minute provisioning and sightseeing. I also took Ginger to the vet to get her caught up on all her vaccinations as well as get her an international health certificate. Initially I was going to have to strap the cat carrier on the back of my bicycle and ride to the vet, about three miles from the dock. While doable, it would have probably been rather traumatic for all concerned. I met a wonderful couple on the dock, Katrina and Rob, and Katrina offered to drive me to the vet. This worked out great and Ginger was only partially traumatized about being stuffed into her carrier and tortured by the vet :-) Thanks Katrina!!!
We saw a number of cruisers that we had previously met and compared tales. I look forward to meeting the same people over and over again as we head down the Pacific coast. It’s interesting that a large percentage (more than ½) of the cruisers we have been meeting are Canadian.
One day we rode our bikes in a big loop around San Diego and ended up at the marine museum. The museum has a fabulous collection of old and reproduction boats as well as two submarines you can crawl through. I’m glad we got these bikes; it’s really expanded our exploration area. Here’s the Star of India, built in 1863, she’s the museum’s flagship.

The Star is the world’s oldest active sailing ship (though not with those sails).
At Tuesday, Nov 3 at midnight we left for Mexico in very dense fog. We could barely see about 200 feet, I’m so glad we have radar! Other than the fog, it was an uneventful trip and we got to Ensenada Mexico around 2pm the next day. We decided to stay at hotel Coral marina, a very upscale hotel and marina a couple of miles north of Ensenada. Two years ago when we were down here after just buying Sunny, Coral’s rates were prohibitive and we stayed near the cruise port, but between the poor economy and the bad rumors in Mexico, business is very poor and Coral’s rates are a little more affordable for us. The marina and hotel are beautiful and everyone has been very nice.
As soon as we got in we hoisted our yellow quarantine flag. This tells officials that we are newly arrived.

We checked into Mexico the next day. The last time we were here I did the check-in myself and though I succeeded, it was very confusing and nerve racking. This time I decided to pay $60 to have the Coral staff walk me through. It was very much worth it and now we are legal. The quarantine flag comes down and the Mexican courtesy flag goes up

We spent several days exploring Ensenada and provisioning for the run down the Baja coast. They have done quite a bit of work around the main plaza and it looks very nice (unfortunately I forgot my camera every time I went to town; I need to get better at bringing it). Transportation around town is very easy, there are busses that run frequently that only cost 8 pesos (~ 60¢) and a taxi is about $6. We saw several cruise ships come in so the swine flu panic seems to be easing.
We’re planning on leaving today (11/8) for the next jump, a 24 hour run down to San Quintin. I’m not sure how available internet will be for the next few weeks so don’t worry if I don’t post for a while. I promise I’ll be better about taking pictures :-)
-Carolynn