San Carlos/Guaymas to La Paz, Mexico

November 22, 2004 – La Paz, Mexico

On November 4, we threw off the lines at San Carlos and left the dock at 2:45 a.m. The seas were calm and the winds so light that we motored the entire 75 miles to Punto Chivato on the Baja. In the early morning hours of the crossing we had our first real success with our trolling lines. Up to that point in our cruising, the only fish we had caught had been Skip Jacks which are not very appetizing. During our crossing, however, we caught three Dorados (Mahi Mahi).
We arrived at Punta Chivato in good order and decided to go on to Bahia Concepcion to an anchorage we had stopped at in May. There we gathered clams and scallops, and had a fine two days on the hook. We continued South from Concepcion to Punta Pulpito, motoring for lack of wind, during which we caught a fourth Dorado! At Pulpito, we dinghied ashore for a walk. We found a large number of flat shells with a spiral pattern on them that looked like they should be used for buttons. We gathered a few, and some obsidian which is also in this area. Later we were told that the shells are from Conch and that when the conch pulls into its shell, this piece closes the opening in the shell.
From Pulpito we sailed to Caleta San Juanico, a beautiful anchorage framed by large rocks rising from the sea. We took our inflatable kayaks to the beach and then over to a lagoon behind the beach. We spent several days in San Juanico, kayaking, snorkeling, hunting for dinner, and visiting with friends. Steve had quite a scare here. At what became the end of a successful snorkeling outing for fish and scallops, Steve dove for another scallop. As he was using two hands to free the scallop from the bottom, a four foot Green Moray Eel swam under him and through his arms to have a look at what was going on! The eel was only inches from his face. He forgot about the scallop and headed for the surface, pointing his spear at the eel just in case. The eel was not impressed. He took a bit at the spear, and Steve retreated for the day. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful fresh seafood dinner. Only eight boats anchored at San Juanico while we were there. Four were twenty foot ketches from an organization called the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Each of these boats had three or four college kids aboard and an instructor. The students were learning sailing, first aid, survival and leadership skills. The program is about 75 days long, the kids trade off between hiking, kayaking and sailing. It sounds like a great experience for them, and they get college credits!In Pulpito we had seen another NOLS group on kayaks. We knew the people on two of the other boats in San Juanico. We met Robert and Virginia on Harmony last year in Mazatlan, and Stan and Rhea on Vagari this year in San Carlos. We got together with them for sailing discussions, drinks and dinner while at San Juanico. We also visited the “Cruiser’s Shrine” in San Juanico. Cruisers have been leaving mementos on, and around, a tree on the beach for years. Storms two or three years ago apparently destroyed a lot of the shrine, and the years and the weather have faded or erased the carvings, signs, and other hangings left by cruisers. We added our memento to the shrine, a burgee from the Loch Lomond Yacht Club with Dream Caper, our names and the date written on it, in hopes that it will not fade or be destroyed too quickly.
After San Juanico we sailed downwind at about 5 knots (Dream Caper is much faster with the wind at her side) towards Loreto to re-provision and make contact with the outside world. We anchored 9 miles away at Isla Carmen because Loreto is an open roadstead which means there is nowhere to dock and it is not a protected cove in which to anchor, but it is shallow enough to temporarily anchor for a few hours when the wind is calm. The next day we did just that and took our dinghy to the fishing dock. We walked to the center of town where we spent some time at the internet café, went grocery shopping, ate Thrifty’s Ice Cream (there are many Thrifty’s Ice Cream shops in Mexico) and bought fresh produce at the fruteria. We took a taxi right to our dinghy which had instantly become a favorite resting place for huge pelicans and seemingly all of the birds in the area. After shooing them away and finding surprisingly little bird poop, we returned to Dream Caper to find someone sitting on the swim steps. Someone had been on our boat in our absence! The young man who had a bag of clams and snorkel gear motioned that he had gotten tired from diving and taken a rest on our boat. Well, he seemed sincere but we did not like this at all. He said thank you and left. We were VERY glad that we had taken the precaution of carefully locking up the boat including all hatches and exterior storage areas, and putting anything of value inside. We later heard that cruisers on another boat while at anchor and asleep at a nearby island were interrupted by a prowler who had climbed on their boat and was carrying their dinghy motor away!
From Loreto we sailed south to Bahia Candeleros where, while at anchor, Portia made cinnamon rolls from scratch! Yeast and all! Hand kneading, too! Having never had the occasion to make bread from scratch during her previous career, Portia felt very much like the nickname Steve exclaimed, “Betty Crocker!” Another cruiser had given Portia the bread/cinnamon roll recipe along with some yeast. It is such a treat to have fresh baked items such as this while cruising, and Portia has now made cinnamon rolls, bread, and pizza.
We continued south to Puerto Agua Verde, a very protected and beautiful anchorage with a large solitary pinnacle near the center of the entrance, rock formations and sandy beaches. Steve speared a 1 foot Graybar Grunt which was enough for 3 fish tacos. From there we continued on to Puerto El Gato where large reddish rock formations surround anchorages and beaches with beautiful vistas to the interior of Baja, beyond the beaches. Just outside of El Gato Steve caught a 3 foot Dorado on our drag line. Such a brilliant fish, fluorescent yellows, greens and blues. So now it is Dorado fish tacos, Dorado in Vera Cruz sauce, Dorado in wine and butter sauce, and barbecued Dorado. This fish is delicious so we haven’t grown tired of it yet.
After 2 nights in El Gato we sailed to Evaristo, some 30 miles south, which is a very protected anchorage. We took the hooka out. The hooka is a 5.5 horsepower compressor that runs air through two 100 foot hoses and using regulators which are attached to the ends of the hoses, we can stay under water indefinitely. We will use this for cleaning the bottom of the boat and for catching lobster; the latter is definitely more appealing. However, we have not found the right area to try for lobster but we are sure we will soon get the chance.
From Evaristo we had a wonderful sail in 15-18 knot winds on our beam. During the 30 mile ride to Isla Partida; we averaged 8 knots of speed. Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo are two almost connected islands just northeast of La Paz. There are numerous lovely anchorages on these islands. We spent 5 days at various anchorages: El Cordonal, Caleta Cardoncita, El Candelero and Caleta Partida. Winds from the southwest kicked up which then limited us to those anchorages which were protected from such winds. The inlets and coves here are reddish hills and cliffs on which various healthy cacti proudly grow, even in the cracks on the cliffs. The clear aqua water contrasts with the reddish earth and laps lazily at the sandy white beaches which are usually at the head of these coves.
Since leaving San Carlos, water temperature has averaged 80 degrees and the air temperature was usually 78-80 degrees. It has been very pleasant. There have been some “stingies” (jelly fish) in the water but we usually wear our dive skins or lycra, and Safe Sea lotion (which repels jellyfish) to avoid any problems. Cruisers who have sailed the Sea of Cortez for 15 years have told us that the last 2 years have been the worst for jelly fish.
We will be at the dock in La Paz for a week during which we will have our port engine alternator repaired because it is not charging its battery bank. There is always something to repair on a boat. We were able to make last minute flight arrangements to fly to Los Angeles where Steve’s parents and brothers are all rendezvous-ing for Thanksgiving. We will fly out Wednesday afternoon and return on Friday afternoon. Upon our return, we will provision and prepare Dream Caper for the 2-day crossing to Puerto Vallarta.
Portia has now become the undisputed Gin champion of Dream Caper, and Steve is looking for another game to regain some self respect.
We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

November 3, 2004 - San Carlos/Guaymas, Mexico

November 3, 2004 – San Carlos/Guaymas, Mexico

Dream Caper “splashed” back into the water on October 23, after being on the hard (in dry storage) in Guaymas since June. Because Dream Caper is 23 feet wide, she cannot be taken in and out by trailer as most boats are down here. We have to use the shrimp boat/commercial boat lift. All went well after a 5-day delay which is normal, yet frustrating, here in Mexico.
We had originally planned to keep Dream Caper in Mazatlan for the hurricane season (June to October) but because we lost our starboard propeller due to a cracked shaft after crossing from the Baja to San Carlos, and it would have taken at least 3 weeks for the replacement parts, we had her hauled in Guaymas. Steve and his brother, David, drove to Guaymas in July with the replacement shaft and propeller for the starboard engine, but when they began to oil the shaft and propeller on the port engine, the port propeller fell off! That was bad, but the good news was that it happened then, rather than when we put the boat back in the water after hurricane season.
In mid-October, we took our scheduled return flight to Mazatlan, but jumped ship in Phoenix and took a bus from there to Guaymas by way of Hermosillo. Because any checked luggage would have gone to Mazatlan, we FedEx’d our repaired spinnaker and two assembled replacement shafts (which we could not carry onto the flight) to our friends in Phoenix (Sean and Jenny), who picked us up at the airport, fed us breakfast and deposited us at the bus station that afternoon after our last FedEx package arrived. After a 9-hour bus ride to Guaymas with an overnight stop in Hermosillo to renew our non-resident visas (which is a whole other story, but we ultimately succeeded in the renewal a week later in Guaymas), we settled into an efficiency apartment for $100 per week. Dream Caper was on land without water or electricity and she was covered with 4 months worth of dust.
Steve put on both shafts and propellers, and installed most of the connections for our new solar panels. Portia organized the interior and supply stores, polished the stainless steel and had a semi-emergency root canal done by a Mexican endodontist. When a toothache got much worse fast, Portia started making plans to fly back to Marin to have her endodontist perform his $1500 job, but we found a seemingly very competent local specialist who did the job for $300. While he was at it, Portia also had two crowns replaced at 1/5 the normal Marin County cost. She has survived thus far and is free of pain.
We had a wonderful summer back home in Marin County. We bought a new home in San Rafael. We plan to retire from cruising in the next 9-10 years and thought it would be good to have a one-level house with a flat yard to totter around in. Although we lived on the top (street level) of Portia’s duplex, it is 3 stories (storage on the bottom floor) with the backyard 4 stories down the hill. It was getting a little annoying having to stumble up and down those stairs with sore knees. So, we happened to find an Eichler home (glass walls/atrium entry) which we loved and which backs up to open space in San Rafael. The sellers accepted our offer out of the multiple offers and it was suddenly ours after a 3-week closing. Steve sold his houses in Long Beach last year so it was a good time to buy a house. We believe that in 9-10 years we won’t be able to afford this kind of house as houses in Marin seem to double in price every 10 years. It is a stretch to make the payments and cruise but we figure it is worth it.
Besides buying the house and moving, we had to get our duplex unit ready for occupancy (the downstairs tenant of 7 years moved up to our unit) and then we had to rent and get the lower unit ready for occupancy. We also took a 12-day big ship cruise from SF to Alaska on Crystal Cruises in September with Portia’s brother and his fiancé, Debbie. What a fun trip! We wish we had that pampering cruise service on our own boat here in Mexico! Steve did not go for Portia’s suggestion that we sell our boat and, with that money and the funds involved in maintaining the boat, take big ship cruises for a few months every year and see the world! He said he would weigh 1000 pounds after just a few years of big ship cruising. We need the exercise. We decided to keep cruising on Dream Caper!
Portia’s son, Mako, and his friend, expertly moved all of our heavy furniture while we were in Alaska to the new house. Mako has also used his building skills to do texturing, painting and minor repairs on the new house. What a great help he has been and so handy! Oh, and on July 1, Portia had arthroscopic surgery on her knee but managed to play tennis 3 weeks later for her Piper Park team which went to District USTA Finals in Moraga and then Sectionals in Carmel. It was a fun but very busy summer.
We are at the dock in San Carlos waiting out strong northerlies (20-40 knots), 10 foot seas, before embarking on the 75 mile crossing to the Baja. Steve has completed installation of the solar panels. Dream Caper is full of fuel and water. We are fully provisioned and Portia’s dental work is complete. The strong northerlies are subsiding. Many other cruisers in San Carlos have been waiting for the good wind window for the crossing so we have lots of company and people to socialize with. Last week we saw the total eclipse of the moon on a very clear, calm evening and while the moon was totally eclipsed we watched the Boston Red Sox win the World Series! We then watched the light return to the moon. It was beautiful!
The cruising community is a very interesting group of people from all walks of life who have this common drive to get out on the ocean and go! Because we have so much in common and we pretty much depend on each other, we get acquainted very quickly. A few days ago a sailboat left San Carlos, and 20 miles out the top of her mast broke. After she returned to San Carlos, several cruisers joined together and, using their boats and dinghies, removed the mast while still afloat and delivered it to the yard for repair. While we were in the Sea of Cortez this past May, a power boat went aground in a remote area and despite help from the Mexican Navy and local cruisers she sank near shore. Cruisers in the area all rallied and four days later she was floated and towed to La Paz for repairs. As is common, the owners had no insurance and it was their only home. So, although we are seemingly alone out here, there is support when we need it.
We leave at 2:30 a.m. tomorrow! It should take us 11 hours to cross, arriving during daylight, which is always good for anchoring and finding our way into a new port. We are very anxious to get away from the dock. N