Leg VI Sea of Cortez 12/02 - 12/10
Topolobampo to Mazatlan
12/9-12/10 Sunday/Monday - overnight
Latitude: 23:16.14 N Longitude: 106:26.12 W
Weather: cloudy Wind: 0450 5-10 kts. Barometer: 1015
Engine Hours: 879 Fuel on Board: 297
Trip Distance/Total: 213/5797
It took us over an hour to wind the 7+ miles out of the port of Topolobampo and finally turn south towards Mazatlan. The weather looks perfect for the passage, calm seas with light wind so we are well ahead of the predicted 20-30 knot wind with 8-foot seas due by Tuesday or Wednesday. The weather certainly has been a serious factor in this beginning exploratory cruise in the Sea of Cortez.
While our daily weather resource, Don on Amigo Net, can’t be heard because our ICOM 802 single sideband still has an issue with loud static that will need to be fixed in port, the internet’s “Buoyweather” has served us well and kept us safe and comfortable. It has been accurate and daily updates can come by email thru our satellite phone so along with Nobeltec’s weather maps for the big picture, we’ve had a pretty good idea of what to expect at least the next 6-days ahead along the way.
The other factor we have learned to cope with is the accuracy problem with the old, pre-GPS Mexico charts. We’ve certainly been spoiled by the precise charts we used in Alaska and the Great Circle back East. If it wasn’t for our accurate digital radar and precise depth-sounder, finding our way down here would be a serious problem. Also helpful but not completely dependable is the information and waypoints provided by our cruising guides.
As to the Sea of Cortez, we’ve had a good overview of what is available. Enough to know that we could spend more time here if we had to but would prefer to keep heading south towards Panama given our choice. We are coming to terms with the realization that we are “destination” cruisers - more interested in the journey than just hanging out in any one location and doing little for extended periods of time. Perhaps that will change but for now we are already looking forward to moving on south to new places and adventures after Christmas and New Years with friends and family in Mazatlan.
It’s now 2:30 AM on Monday morning, still about 9-hours from port. The nav computer says that at our current speed of 7.5 knots we will pull into El Cid Marina at 11:40AM. We have enjoyed about as quiet a night as one could hope for when at sea. Minimal ship traffic, just a few fishing boats working closer to the mainland as we run down the coast about 12 to 16 miles offshore. Even out this far, the water is only 200 feet deep but very calm with only a gentle swell to let you know you are still afloat.
The rest of the passage went easily with the glow from the lights of Mazatlan on the horizon well before daybreak. When the sun did come up, the islands just offshore from the entrance to El Cid and Marina Mazatlan were in plain sight, the seas where a little rougher as the Southwest wind kicked up the swell but once inside the tiny breakwater, all went calm.
We are a week early for our Christmas slip reservations at El Cid so the staff was a little surprised to see us but very gracious in finding us a side-tie till our slip was available. With the adverse weather forecast, it will probably take a few nights at least till we can move to our Christmas homeport. Fuel dock was the first stop and then a quick wash down for WS before we take our first look around. Dottie & Ken on Dreamweaver are already here at Marina Mazatlan so we are anxious to see them and catch up again.
Fuel Notes:
Added 555.5 gallons at $1.99/gallon
Todate fuel used at filling: 2,365 at 906 engine hours.
Usable on board 750 gallons. Average =2.6 gal/hour.
Morning departure from Topolobampo
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Aqua Verde to Topolobampo, Mainland, Mexico
12/7-12/8 Friday/Saturday - overnight
Latitude: 25:32.01 N Longitude: 109:11.50 W
Weather: clear Wind: 1350 5-10 kts. Barometer: 1018
Engine Hours: 859 Fuel on Board: 340
Trip Distance/Total: 115/5584
A beautiful crossing! While a moonless night, every wandering star was out under clear skies over calm, phosphorescent seas, we easily made our way across the Sea of Cortez. This is the first overnight passage with just Jo and me alone on board since we did the California Coast in September. We left Aqua Verde and our friends Dave and Helen on “Jamin” at 6PM. We keep meeting up with them since our first encounter in Petersburg, Alaska and our paths have accidentally crossed so many times it has gotten to be a joke of who is following who.
Once clear of the rocks, reefs and Catalina Island (the original I think), we settled in for our watches of 3-hours on and three off for a night of two watches each. By first light, WS was passing the formidable San Ignacio Farallon, a huge solid rock some 385′ high and several miles offshore with a lighthouse perched on top showing the way to the entrance of Puerto Topolobampo.
And what an entrance it is…miles of shallow water, a wandering channel, sand bars, breaking waves and hundred of pangas shrimping everywhere. Once out of the buoyed ship channel you are on your own. With no useable chart to guide us, we are basically left to feeling our way in slowly with the depthsounder. In places, it was as shallow as 7′ (we float at 5′) so several times we had to reverse course and find the deeper water to proceed to our destination, the rather exclusive Marina Club. As it turns out, this private fishing club does not encourage visitors but we manage to secure a slip for the night and are on our way to explore the quaint town by noon.
Town is really a village with a large commercial port attached. We manage get invited into a busy tortilla factory for samples and to find a neat 2nd floor thatched roof restaurant over looking the bay for a decent shrimp lunch before heading back to WS for afternoon naps and dinner on board.
A quiet lunch in Topolobampo
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Isla Danzante to Aqua Verde
12/6 Thursday
Latitude: 25:31.35 N Longitude: 111:04.41 W
Weather: clear Wind: 1500 5-20 kts. Barometer: 1014
Engine Hours: 851 Fuel on Board: 367
Trip Distance/Total: 59/5469
What started out to be a short morning cruise up to Ballandra Bay on Isla Carman turned into an all day run to Aqua Verda Bay 50 miles to the south. This was due to picking up an internet weather forecast that said the east mainland coast was going to get rough after Saturday with another northerner due to hit early next week.
These island off shore are uninhabited and look much like our own Channel Islands off the Ventura coast. They have recently been protected by a national marine trust and a permit is required to fish or go ashore above the high waterline. Navigation is tricky due to many reefs, rocks, and inaccurate charts but still worth the quick visit before turning south.
Jo was determined to see Aqua Verde, reported to be one of the prettiest coves in Baja, before we left this side so off we ran a round Isla Carman, down its backside, then passing by Montserrat Island, we arrived in AV just before dark. The preferred anchorage was full of sailboats so we anchorage just off the village beach in 20-feet and had a good set in spite of the shale bottom.
Being anchored here puts us in good position for the 99 mile overnight passage to the mainland tomorrow and still allows us a full day to play and enjoy our last stop in Baja.
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Puerto Escondido to Honeymoon Cove, Isla Danzante
12/05 Wednesday
Latitude: 25:47.70 N Longitude: 111:15.46 W
Weather: clear Wind: 2140 5 kts. Barometer: 1012
Engine Hours: 849 Fuel on Board: 368
Trip Distance/Total: 4/5410
The shortest hop of the voyage so far today - only 3.7 miles due east across the strait to Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante. Morning is spent finishing up duties on board, emailing, taking the car back, and one last stop at the rather meager markets for limited produce in Loreto.
Arriving at the island before 1pm, we pick our spot in a small bight on the southern end of the cove protected from the predicted southerly winds which did not materialize anyways. It’s a near picture perfect cove with a sandy beach, shear rock wall to the southwest, towering, cactus covered hills and best of all, not another boat in sight.
After dark, we are treated to the bright lights of Loreto in the distance and a moonless canopy of stars overhead. It is late night now with zero wind and WS settle into the 16-feet of water under her keel with little more than the weight of the anchor chain needed to hold her in place.
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At Dock in Puerto Escondido
12/02 to 12/04
Our nasty little Northerner blew for a solid two day and nights with out a break. Fortunately, we had been able to tie up to only few feet of north/south aligned dock in the marina. This kept the wind waves which became rather large across the long fetch of the bay from bother WS too much and things remained calm on board.
Being about 25 K south of the town of Loreto made renting a car a must as the cab fair alone would have been $70US round trip and we were not about to miss anything while waiting for this storm to pass.
As it was we really made good use of the time with a visit to the San Francisco Javier Mission for it’s 305th anniversary festival (up in the moutains, 35K of dirt road in the center of Baja), visits to Bahia Concepcion, and a day in the wonderfully quaint little town of Mulege which we really loved.
Scenery of the way to the Mission
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Santa Evarista Bay to Puerto Escondido
12/01 Saturday
Latitude: 25:49.49 N Longitude: 111:19.16 W
Weather: cloudy Wind: 2700 5 - 10 kts. Barometer: 1017
Engine Hours: 840 Fuel on Board: 397
Trip Distance/Total: 65/5406
Light rain greeted us in the morning after a night of rain and southerly winds. WS rode securely on her anchor and stayed in position among the fleet of small sailboats. I was a bit concerned, because of her size and windage, that she might set differently then the sleeker boats and move closer that comfortable during the dark.
Anchor was up and secured by 0630 and we were on our way to our chosen storm port for the coming northerlies. Most remarkable today was the beauty of the mountains on this side of Baja. The colors of the rocks, strata and vegetation look much like the Grand Canyon here in contrast to the “Catalina” look on the Pacific side. Traveling only 2 - 4 miles off the coast all day allowed us plenty of time to enjoy the scenery.
Today’s challenge, once again, was the ½ mile discrepancy in the 1881 charts. While crudely correct in land structures, the land was shown either ½ mile closer or further north or south than our GPS indicated. The depths shown look like mostly estimates. With radar overlay to correct this deficiency, coastal travel is not difficult but where it does get dicey is when you need to go between narrow opening between points and rocks just offshore. This we needed to do several times today and it was a time to hold ones breathe to be sure. Thankfully, with the accurate depth sounder, look-ahead sonar, digital radar and great care, these passages can be made safely and smoothly.
Puerto Escondido is a rather unique perfectly round lagoon with a very tiny passage way for an entrance. It had been the target for a rather ambitious development but, like so many projects down here, it ran out of money early leaving many scars of the once pristine landscape. Lately, it has been taken over by the government run Singlar Baja marina development program and they are making headway in establishing a first class boating destination with all the amenities.
Over 100 mooring-balls have been planted in the bay with plans for more docks in the future. We are assigned a stretch of prime frontage dock, which cost us a little more, instead of taking a ball but we want to be free to walk around at our leisure since we will be here for 4- nights waiting out this wind storm.
Once secure, checking formalities taken care of, we are free to hike to the small gringo encampment (a former trailer park that has gone casitas) which has a first class bar and restaurant. We try their great fish tacos and several margaritas before hiking back to WS in the early twilight.
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Partida Cove to Santa Evarista Bay
11/30 Friday
Latitude: 24:54.81 N Longitude: 110:42.17 W
Weather: lt rain Wind: 1300 5 - 10 kts. Barometer: 1016
Engine Hours: 836 Fuel on Board: 410
Trip Distance/Total: 30/5341
With only a 30-mile run today, we are casual about getting started and manage to get the anchor up by 0830. Most of the sailboats including friends from Alaska on Jamin are away before first light…heading for the same anchorage of Bahia San Evaristo back on the Baja coast. It’s raining most of the day but the navigation is easy in spite of the charts being ½ mile off of what the radar now shows as reality.
With the radar image overlayed on the chart you can easily figure out where you are but gone is the security of the spot-on accurate charts we enjoyed in the PNW. Here we give all solid objects a wide birth and travel the extra distance to be sure we are well away from rocks, reefs, points, and shoals.
Evarista’s bay is well protected from the predicted 20 knots of south wind we expect later tonight. We are in just before noon and soon after the four sailboats that left in the wee hours of the morning. Anchoring just astern and to the port side of Jamin, we are soon set in about 20-feet of crystal clear aqua water. What a pleasure it is to be able to watch your anchor settle all the way to the sandy bottom - something that can never happen up in the black water of the frozen, muddy north.
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La Paz to Partida Cove, Isla Partida
11/29 Thursday
Latitude: 24:31.95 N Longitude: 110:22.71 W
Weather: overcast Wind: 0900 5 - 15 kts. Barometer: 1017
Engine Hours: 832 Fuel on Board: 419
Trip Distance/Total: 22/5311
Up early and eager to get underway despite a rather dodgy weather forecast. It is calling for several rough patches of northern winds over the next 7-days that stir up the long fetch of the Sea of Cortez into short steep, square waves with virtually no time/space interval. This is indicative of the change from winter to summer where the winds tended to come from the south. Undaunted, we check and with mixed emotions out of the marina and are passing the outer breakwater by 0830 heading for our first anchorage just 22-miles due north after a busy morning of checking out of the marina and saying goodbye one last time,
We leave behind our now old Nordhavn friends from Ba Ha Ha of 2005 and then San Francisco on Paloma, Patrick & Susan (with son Jonathan and puppy Scout) and new friends from FUBAR on Alanui, Scott & Marian. We all hope to cross wakes again in several months as we reach Puerto Vallarta and perhaps head further south together.
This beginning passage is bouncy as we head into the oncoming wind waves but short enough so that by lunch we are pulling into Partida Cove and looking for our spot. Seven boats are already anchored here but spread out enough for us to drop our Rocna (our NZ anchor) in about 20 feet of clear blue water. This little cove is almost surrounded by hills with a small opening to the east over a sand bar and an entrance that is only ½ mile wide to the west. Thus it seems well enough protected from the forecast winds from the north for tonight’s stay.
Too cool and overcast to bother getting the tender down so we settle in for a quiet afternoon of reading and napping while we enjoy the feeling of being on our own, cruising again. Evening brings light winds from the east with occasional gusts from the north but all 16 of us anchored here spend a snug and quiet night.
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Docked in La Paz
11/19 to 11/28
Funny how hard it is to get disentangled from port after a long passage. There is always some seemingly compelling reason why you should stay snug and secure for another day as the days add up to yet another week. Weather could always be better, something else could always be fixed to the point were you just need to finally say “Enough! We’re leaving in the morning” and mean it. Our stay in La Paz was just too comfortable, the beautiful Costa Brava Marina with all its amenities, the great restaurants and convenient shopping, and the night life mixed with new friends and old in an endless stream of boat hopping cocktail parties.
It is easy to understand why many cruisers never get further than this fair city. Rich in history from its early days as an outpost and experimental colony of Cortez, much of the old world charm remains intact in spite of being the major seaport of lower Baja. Unlike out of control Cabo, here tourism remains in the background as this Puerto struggles to keep its soul intact. Plans are afoot for major development, condo, golf courses, resort hotel and alike but at a slower pace that may very well never come to fruition in our lifetime.
It is here we spent a delightful Thanksgiving under the stars as about two hundred gringo boaters, most just arriving with us and the FUBAR, were treated to a fabulous feast prepared by our marina resort. Another special night it was light opera outdoors with the world famous Mexican tenor, Fernando De La Mora. After an anxious prelude of electrical problems, how he sang his heart out for hours in the open-air, solid natural rock amphitheater adjacent to our boat slips where we boaters were joined by the society class of La Paz for gratuitous pre and post cocktail parties on our veranda a few yards from Wandering Star.
We had a rental car due to the distance to town so most afternoons were enjoyed bashing around like a native on the colorful streets of La Paz. Shopping is a delight with just about anything you need somewhere just finding it becomes the game. For example, we needed to buy a temporary microwave till a replacement for ours can be brought down at Christmas and it took a whole afternoon of adventures all over town only to wind up buying the first one we found anyways.
Our new favorite restaurant, “The Three Virgins,” beckoned one night for an outstanding night of dining on their very Mexican courtyard patio (reminiscent of another favorite, “San Angel Inn,” in Mexico City many years past). I had a lamb shank with chipotle sauce that was as gourmet as anywhere for very few pesos, delightful service, and leisurely dining in the true mañana tradition.
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Passing a fellow trawler at sea
