Sea Of Cortez

Upon leaving San Blas on the mainland we had planned to head to Agua Verde on the Baja, and slowly work our way to La Paz, about 100 miles south. Unfortunately our weather window closed on our crossing and we had NW 20 to 25 k winds on our nose, short and steep seas, making headway difficult. So we hove to for 36 hours, slowly drifting NE, allowing us to head west when the winds came down. Our landing was at Isla Partida, 80 miles short of our goal, but we were on the Baja.

Nancy had driven down the Baja in 1986, both of us drove down in 1990, and we twice towed our 26 ft trailer-able sailboat, s/y Krill, to Bahia de Los Angeles in the mid-90's. We love the Baja!

We spent a month cruising between Isla Espiritu Santo and San Evaristo. The anchorages provided good hikes, beach combing and snorkeling. Pelicans provided most of the entertainment. Wherever the bait fish were, the pelicans were diving in a feeding frenzy. Seagulls boldly waited for the pelicans to surface and then they'd try to steal fish out of the pelican's beak. We never tired of the show.

Local fishermen have set up fish camps in most anchorages and use their small shacks to store equipment and clean their catch. Their catch is either taken to town directly or taken to a road where a truck takes it to town.

We arrived in La Paz during Carnival and anchored across the channel from town. The sound at night during Carnival was unbelievably one loud conglomerate of intense noise, as there must have been four or five bands playing simultaneously. Also every amusement ride had music blaring. The main goal in La Paz was to haul out, clean and paint Tamara's bottom, it being almost three years since our last haul out. In addition to the normal slime and barnacles, there were area that had gotten ground down by ice to the bare metal. We barely made 4.5 k full speed as we entered La Paz channel due to the foul bottom.

Back in the water we began to provision and make ready for the voyage to Hilo, Hawaii. We also took in a few movies, Slumdog Millionaire (great!) and Operation Valkrri, and Nancy got her teeth cleaned and visited a dermatologist. We left La Paz Saturday, 14 March and are currently on our way, expecting to arrive in Hilo in three weeks.

We have enjoyed our four months in Mexico and have met many fun and interesting fellow cruisers.



Ciao!