update....it's about time!

Wow a lot has happened since the last posting I made on here.
We left Cabo San Lucas on the 8th of June for our 850 mile "bash" up the outside of the Baja. We had originally planned on leaving with better weather window since the 850 miles is notoriously a difficult uphill climb but with hurricane Adrian (the first hurricane of the season) predicted to track into the Sea of Cortez we decided to leave Cabo early and get as far from the track of the hurricane as possible. The "Baja Bash" lived up to it's name. It took us 8 days to get into San Diego after leaving Cabo which includes 2 nights that we spent on anchor at Bahia Santa Maria. We pulled into Turtle Bay to re-fuel and killed approximately 12 hours there before making a straight shot into the police docks in San Diego. It is really hard to describe what a difficult trip this was other than to say it was the most uncomfortable 8 days I have ever spent but in the end the sense of accomplishment was well worth the discomfort.
After spending about a month in San Diego licking our wounds, doing repairs on the boat (part of the staysail furler broke from all the pounding in big seas) and reconnecting with family and friends we started to make plans to make another 450 mile passage up to the San Francisco Bay area.
We were able to find a friend from Fiddler's Cove to help bring the boat up from San Diego to San Francisco which allowed Amanda and I to drive her car up. It took 60 hours from the time the boat left Fiddler's Cove marina to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge. From what I understand the seas where flat and they were able to motor at 7-8 knots for most of the trip. What a treat to get such a great weather window for this uphill leg.
As of today we are located in Redwood City which is considered the peninsula area of San Francisco Bay. We are staying at a great little marina by the name of Pete's Harbor which is very boater friendly and centrally located to everything (what a difference over Mexico). The weather here in Redwood City is amazing (I think it may actually be better than San Diego)and we are very happy to be here rather than spend another HOT summer in the tropics. Amanda will be going to school while we are in the bay area and we will be spending time exploring the area and planning future trips.

Isla Carmen and Agua Verde

Before returning to LaPaz we had a few more anchorages that we wanted to visit. We would have liked to visit all the anchorages but there simply were too many. You could easily spend years in the Sea of Cortez exploring the many anchorages.
The island of Isla Carmen was absolutely gorgeous and would have to be remembered as one of the most beautiful places we visited during our time here in the Sea of Cortez. We hiked from one side of the island to the other and even ran into a bighorn sheep. It was exciting to be able to get a few photos of this beautiful ram.
Agua Verde is a quaint little town. With beautiful clear blue/green water and a little fishing village that supplements their income by raising livestock (mostly goats). It was one of our favorite stops and a place that you could easily spend weeks exploring. The locals there were friendly and buying fresh made goat cheese was a special treat for us.

San Juanico and Isla Coronado

Leaving the safe harbor of Puerto Escondido we headed north approximately 40 miles to the lovely anchorage at San Juanico. San Juanico is the furthest north we will be going up the Sea of Cortez before heading back south in order to be in Cabo San Lucas on June 6th. We spent several days in San Juanico snorkeling, fishing, hiking and having a great time. San Juanico is home to a cruiser's shrine and we spent some time exploring the creative ways that cruiser's left there mark at this shrine. We even had to leave a little momentum of Chrokeva's trip to San Juanico. It was difficult to leave such a wonderful anchorage but there were many anchorages we wanted to explore on the way south so we finally pulled up anchor headed out.

Our next stop was Isla Coronado. This is a island located just east of Loreto and falls under The National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP). A special permit is needed to visit these areas and the cost of these permits help to maintain the beauty of these national parks. With Isla Coronado's beautiful turquoise blue water and beautiful white sand beaches it would be a hard place to pace by without stopping. We ended up hiking to the top of Isla Coronado which turned out to be a very challenging hike but the views from on top where just incredible.

Loreto Fest

We had a great time here at Loreto Fest 2011. Approx. 200 boats came into Puerto Escondido for several days of fun events, music, seminars and just a all around great time. If ever you get a chance to make it to Puerto Escondido for Loreto Fest in the future I would highly recommend it.
We took one day to head over to Loreto proper and tour this quaint little town and another day we spent hiking Steinbeck Canyon so I have added a few photos.

BACK IN THE SEA OF CORTEZ

The timing was finally perfect to leave Mazatlan to make the 180 mile crossing across the Sea of Cortez to Bahia del las Muertos so after a short anchor stop at Stone Island for a bottom cleaning (not something you want to do in the old harbor at Mazatlan) we were on our way. The passage could not have been more perfect as the wind blew southwest at 5-10 and the seas were flat. We made it to Muertos in 29 hours motor sailing which is the same amount of time it took for us to make the crossing going the other way back in December of 2009.
It was great getting back to Muertos as it had been one of our favorite stops on the Baja last we had been there. The dogs where anxious to get to shore after there 29 hour plus passage and honestly so were we. We had dinner at the little restaurant that we had gotten so familiar with last time we were there and spent a little time exploring Muertos before heading back to the boat. We left Muertos the next morning at approximately 6:30am heading for LaPaz. The trip through Ceralvo Channel was a easy one in contrast to the one we had made back in 2009 (one of the roughest passages I can remember). We decided to put off heading directly into LaPaz and stop for the night and anchor at Puerto Ballandra. It was a great decision as the anchorage is absolutely gorgeous with white sand beaches and beautiful scenery.
It is really amazing to see the blue water of the Sea of Cortez once again. It had been so long since I had seen truly clear water I guess I must have forgotten what it looked like because I was absolutely awestruck by it's beauty. At the same time it was odd to see the desert as we had been in the tropics for over a year and a half and it seemed odd to see cactus and desolate landscape once again. I can absolutely confirm that the old saying is true that when there is a desert on land there is a jungle underwater and when there is a jungle on land there is a desert underwater. The Sea of Cortez in truly a amazing place and we are really excited to be able to spend the next month and a half exploring all it has to offer.

Manzanillo to Mazatlan 2011

We left Manzanillo on March 30th which was almost a whole month after what we had originally planned. Amanda spent spring break with us which was great but once she had left to go back to San Diego we were anxious to get moving north. Although there was a prediction of strong NW winds and large swells we decided that things seemed benign enough to take a chance and start our long trip north into the Sea of Cortez for the spring. We figured that we could always stop at the anchorage in Tenacatita if the weather turned poor which was only 35 miles north of Manzanillo. By the time we reached the anchorage at Tenacatita the wind was building and the swells were getting large and nasty and since we were beating into the weather we decided to spend the night on anchor and head out the next morning and hopefully be able to make a straight shot to Mazatlan which was about 285 miles from the anchorage. We headed out of Tenacatita early on Thursday morning but we soon figured out that making a straight shot to Mazatlan was not going to happen on this day as both the wind and swells were getting even worse than the day before. We ended up tucking into Chamela which is another protected anchorage approx. 30 miles north of Tenacatita. There were quite a few boats there waiting out the weather for a chance to round Cabo Corrientes which is about 70 miles north of the anchorage at Chamela. It was nice to tuck into this protected anchorage but by about midnight the swell inside the anchorage got ugly enough to make sleep almost impossible. We had been told there would be good weather on Friday but not until later in the day. We decided to take a chance and leave first thing in the morning (7:15 am) figuring it could not be much worse than the anchorage had become and for a change we were right. The swells out in the ocean had flattened down and the wind stayed in the 10-15 knot range the entire day. We made the decision to go ahead and make a straight shot to Mazatlan rather than to stop at one of the many anchorages along the way. We passed Cabo Corrientes at approx. 5:00 PM on Wednesday and started to head off shore to make a straight line to Mazatlan. Unfortunately during the evening the motor started running hot and at about 5:00 AM the heat alarm went off so everything was shut down while Mark tried to figure out what the problem was. At this point we were approx. 125 miles from Cabo Corrientes and 125 miles from Mazatlan (basically the middle of nowhere). Within two hours Mark and figured out the problem (a clogged heat exchanger) and we were back on our way. The passage although extremely long could not have been better as far as weather was concerned. We motor sailed the entire distance averaging 6.5 to 7.5 knots and made it into the anchorage at old Mazatlan harbor just at dark on Saturday evening, approximately 36 hours after we left the last anchorage at Chamela.

The only thing that really stands out on this passage (other than breaking down) was that there were literally thousands of turtles out on the ocean. It actually got tricky trying to avoid hitting them there were so many. I spent much of my time snapping photos of them which provided for some entertainment on our long slow trek.

We plan to spend a few days here in Mazatlan waiting for a weather window to head across the Sea of Cortez which will probably be sometime mid week. We are really anxious to get back to the clear water in the Sea and look forward to spending the spring exploring places we have not yet seen.

how cool is this?

The view from the anchorage at Las Hadas was pretty amazing today. A couple of whales put on quite a show and I was able to snap this photo so thought I would share.

another day in paradise

We are sitting at anchor right now outside of Las Hadas resort in Manzanillo. We left Barra de Navidad on the 9th of January and after spending a little time in Santiago Bay we headed further south to Las Hadas which is where we plan to stay for the next few weeks. The anchorage here is nice and it is great to be able to use the wonderful facilities and dinghy dock for a small charge.
Amanda left us on the 12th to fly back to San Diego and we miss her a bunch already but have already made plans for her to fly to La Paz during spring break in March so we can't be too sad.
As it stands now our plans are to spend the next 4 weeks or so cruising the many beautiful anchorages located in the 100 mile stretch of mainland Mexico referred to as the Mexican Gold Coast. We then plan to head back north by the beginning of March to be in position to cross the Sea of Cortez. After that we will spend the entire spring up until June exploring the Sea of Cortez which is something we are very excited about.