Gray Whales

3/25/15

Just the snout alongside (calf)

Close enough to touch (calf)

We rented a car to drive to San Ingnacio and then out to Bahia San Ignacio to watch the whales.  I was shocked when the rental car was delivered on time and it was a new (2000 miles) Nissan.  Air conditioning and all for 900 pesos for the day ($60).  On the drive Cooper says "hey dad, there's a winch handle in the door and when you turn it the window goes up and down"  Crazy, the kid has never seen a manual window...  The drive was interesting as the interior up in the mountains was really green and pretty.  Typical of Mx driving the road was really pretty good but allowed for ZERO margin of error.  Just wide enough for two vehicles and NO shoulder.  Where the shoulder would be in the US were drops that varied from 2-500 feet with no guardrail.  The last 12km out to the camp was primitive and with so much washboard that we were able to only go about 10mph.  It was all worth it though.  After loading in the panga and going 15 minutes out to the bay it only took about 20 minutes until a mother and calf came right alongside the boat.  Close enough to touch!.  Splashing seems to attract them and the guide says they like to be scratched and they also will scrape along the boat.  It was spectacular when the calf came up to the boat and rolled onto it's side and opened its mouth a bit.  We could see the baleen and the eye.  They feel kind of odd, I expected them to be fairly firm but they are really kind of jiggly like jello under the smooth skin.  Researching them yield some crazy things like the calves drink 50 gallons of their mother's milk a day and it's close to the consistency of butter?  There were quite a few of the whales around and about the boat and we spent two and a half hours amongst them.  

Santa Rosalia

3/22/15 

We motor-sailed 30kn from Punta Chivato to Santa Rosalia.  We have never been here before and it looks like there is a lot to explore.  We walked through town and tried a couple of taco stands for lunch.  Found good shrimp and carne asada tacos.  We are pretty thin on provisions so we picked some items up at a larger tienda.  The marina has power, water, internet and showers so we are feeling pretty civilized after being away from these conveniences for over a month.  We will probably spend a few days here before looking for a weather window for crossing the sea back to San Carlos to begin putting Wiz away for the season and returning home.  Don’t want to think about that too much just yet but it’s getting closer. 

Punta Chivato

3/21/15 

Wiz at anchor at sunset

Punta Chivato is kind of interesting.  There is a well-groomed dirt runway just off the beach, a long string of fairly nice to super-nice houses along the shore.  There is also a golf course.  The golf course has zero grass. The greens are simply well groomed hard-packed sand.  The fairways rocky dirt, and the rough is just like the fairways except for scrub brushes and cacti. There was a fair amount of terain sculpting to make it interesting.  

Abandoned Pilots lounge complete with dungeons

We found a “restaurant” which was the only thing going on.  It was really like an attachment to a house.  We had some coronas and cokes. there was a young guy hitting golf balls from the tops of little piles of dirt he would build and tee up on.  I swear his technique was just like Happy Gilmore.  He insisted I take a swing, which I did and have no idea where I pulled the picture perfect shot from, certainly a total fluke.  We talked for a while using what he referred to jokingly as my “spinglish” turns out he is a “contractor” which means that he does whatever jobs are needed by the owners of the beachfront houses.  He was explaining that the owners have much money and most fly in on their King-Airs and stay for about a week a year. 

Shell Beach

 Later we took the dingy to the shell beach, literally miles of beach with a solid layer of shells covering it.  We explored a giant half-built and abandoned house.  It was pretty weird, looked like it had dungeons and strange rooms that we could not figure out a use for.  Speculation ran from water storage to contraband hiding.    

Caleta San Juanico

3/20/15 

We sailed up to San Juanico.  We had fairly rare East-Southeast winds so it was a nice sail but in the afternoon as we entered the bay there was a fair swell coming into the primary anchorage.  We tried to tuck in and put the anchor down in 17 feet but it was still pretty bouncy.  Just before dark, when the wind had not abated yet we picked up anchor and moved across the bay for more swell protection.  There was a large motor yacht there and the captain swung by in his tender to ask if we needed anything and also mentioned that our friends from Coaster were going to visit tomorrow.  Turns out he is friends with Daryl from Coaster’s dad.

Lots of fish at San Juanico

Cooper and Darrell on the beach

The next morning the crew from Coaster showed up in their parent’s Grady White fishing boat.  We had a great afternoon on the beach and then snorkeling with them.  Kent, the captain and owner of the yacht Xanadu called on the radio looking for a fuse.  I had one and Daryl repaired the circuit on their tender.  We got a tour of Xanadu, very, very cool.  Turns out they are from Montana also! 

Ballandra

3/18/15 

Back to Ballandra for a couple of days of snorkeling, kayaking, and beachcombing. Susan went snorkeling at the northern point and collected a bunch of scallops for dinner, tasty! I did a boat project and took the damaged teak in the companionway down to bare wood and built back with 6 coats of varnish, messy. 

Wiz underway - pretty typical conditions

Susan and Cooper playing with a balloon fish

Better snorkeling than we are used to

Cooper in his wetsuit ready to go.

Puerto Escondido

3/13/15 

Cooper on the radio telling a joke on the morning net.

Cooper finally found a couple of friends to play with.  There were two boys that hung out in the marina where their mother ran a jewelry shop.  There was no common language but there were bikes and legos and lots of sticks to play guns with.  We also met the crew from the sailboat “Coaster”.  My “other brother” Daryl, his wife Janet and their 10yr old son Julian. We made a provisioning trip to Loretto with the crew from “Misty Haven”. 

Loretto Square - lots of easels set up for kindergartner art.

Loretto is probably one of my favorite towns on the Baja.  Shame it’s so difficult to get to as there is no protected anchorage nearby.  We had a great time exploring for the morning.  We did our other boat chores and laundry which we needed badly.  We got antsy for beach time and snorkeling after a couple of days and started to plan a trip north with stops on the way to Santa Rosalia.

Escondido

3/11/15

After School, we decided to sail to Escondido, largely driven by a desire to do some laundry.  It had been blowing to 20 the day before and looked like 15 or so.  It’s a 15 mile trip and we decided to sail even though it was dead downwind and 5-6 foot seas. It was a little rolly but hand steering not too bad.  At the end of the trip the wind died a little to the point that the rolling got bad enough that Susan started to feel poorly.  Pulled around the point and She started feeling better immediately in the flat water.  We’ll probably be in Escondido for a couple of days.  We don’t really like it here but it’s the only place between La Paz and Santa Rosalia to get laundry, provisions, and fuel.  We’re right at the mid-point of our trip so it’s a good time to re-provision. 

Ballandra

3/10/15

After a morning snorkel at Pulpito we had a good sail south to Ballandra.  Ballandra is a nice anchorage on Isla Carmen just 10 miles or so due East offshore of Loretto.  One thing that is interesting at Ballandra is that we can get marginal internet using our cellular booster and Banda Ancha dongle.  Just enough to catch up on email. We had one of the best snorkel trips yet.  We saw a moray eel and crown of thorns starfish.  Also quite a few different fish including a large pipe fish.  

Sea-Life

3/9/15 

A Dolphin showing off just 50 feet from our dingy!

We took the dingy and snorkeling gear around the point.  We could hear sea lions all the way from the next point 2 miles north.  When we got closer to the sea lion rookery there were a lot of sea lions on the rocks.  We were excited to see if we could swim with them but they got fairly agitated when we got close.  There were some very large bulls that were barking at us and got in and swam towards us.  We decided that these guys were not nearly as used to humans as the ones closer to La Paz which we had swam with several times.  It just looked a little sketchy so we just observed from the dingy for a while.  On the way back we got close to a couple of pods of dolphins.  They seem to ignore you totally right to a certain distance and then they just disappear.  One pod did get close and were jumping about 30 yards away.  Susan got lucky and snapped a great picture of one mid-jump.  Back at the point we had a good snorkel and saw a lot of fish.  Cooper lasts about 15 minutes before he’s so cold he has to get out.  We decided to stay and do one more snorkel tomorrow before heading to Bahia Ballandra.

Punta Pulpito

3/8/15 

We had a nice trip 45 miles south from Bahia Conception to Punta Pulpito yesterday.  We set the anchor down in the early afternoon under the point and Cooper was dying to go to shore and explore the exposed vein of obsidian on the side of the hill. We med-moored the dingy as there was no beach just large boulders and irregular shoreline.  Cooper had a blast collecting pieces of obsidian.  We had to cull his finds way back as he had about 15 pounds of stone he wanted to take back. There was a lot of varied geology to look at all in one location.  Interesting to see so much evidence of volcanic and sedimentary formations in one location.  We also explored some sea-caves out around the point.  The snorkeling looked promising but the light was going so we decided to wait till the next day.  

The Other "Black Mountain"

A large piece of Obsidian

Trek to Internet

3/6/15 

The North winds are predicted to die down tonight and we are planning to head south. We walked up to the highway and hitched a ride to Mulege.  We are sitting in the courtyard of a restaurant.  We are all catching up on email, blogs, finances and work.  Coop is updating his blog.  We plan to spend the next week or so getting down to the Loretto-Escondido area.

Fun on the beach

3/5/15

Today was Susan’s birthday.  Coop was having a bit of difficulty with school and I lost my patience and had him jump of the bow and swim around the boat.  The water is a little chilly and this worked as an attitude adjuster.  Susan instructed Cooper through the process of cooking breakfast and a birthday cake.  Later in the afternoon I saw some kids on the beach.  I ran Cooper in and we met a family from Montreal that were collecting clams in the shallows.  I went back to the boat and left coop playing with their two boys.  A bit later I went back to the beach and there were about 20 cool cars lined up on the beach.  At first I thought it was a car show, there was a cool little canary yellow Porsche 356 SC and a real racing Mini-Cooper.  It was a rally from Ensenada to Cabo.  Real driver-cars, catered lunch etc.  As I was talking to sever of the drivers (all from Mexico) someone launched a DJI quadcopter.  I saw it fly out downwind over the bahia towards a hillside. Then it zipped up over the hill and I thought “that’s gone”.  It was blowing 20 with gusts through the hills.  I couldn’t see the pilot, but about 10 minutes later a delegation came and asked if I would run the pilot out to look for the drone in the dingy.  We went out and looked, but could not find it.  I’m pretty sure they sink and completely sure that if you land one under power in salt water every bit of electronics is done anyways. We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows on the beach with a group of people travelling in RV’s.

Horsing Around

3/2/15  

We went on a horseback ride today.  The guide’s wife picked us up at the beach just before lunch. We drove through Mulege and then out a valley about 15 miles into ranch country.  The roads were primitive.  The guide met us and his son took us on a two and a half hour ride through the arroyos rigth at the base of some mountains.  It was incredibly pretty.  I think we lucked out as a couple of weeks ago there was a lot of rain and the vegetation was quite green. There were huge piles of driftwood and uprooted plants piled against the upstream side of small trees and cacti.  Evidence of a LOT of water recently in the dry riverbed.  A bunch of strangle Spanish later, we learned that the water was running 5 meters deep down the arroyo.  Obviously not the place to be when the rains were heavy.  In Mulege, near the mouth of the river it was running 9 meters above normal, nearly wiping out the bridge. It was a really neat trip and worth the significant saddle pain.  My horse’s MO was to drop back and then trot to close the gap.    

Mulege

3/1/15 We caught a ride from the owners of Ana's Restaurant at playa Sanispac into Mulege.  We are sitting in another restaurant (the only one with internet) and catching up on email, blogs, finances, work, etc.  We do this all in bursts now when we can get connected.  We arranged for a horseback ride tomorrow. The weather is threatening rain but we will see.  Odds are against it.  Maybe it will be pleasantly cool with some overcast for the ride.  Will probably not get internet again for a couple of days at least.  Mulege is pretty cool with the river running through.  Lots more lush that the surrounding desert.

Cruising Again

2/28/15

Now we are cruising.  I woke up and dug out the inflatable kayak.  Cooper helped me blow it up and then he jumped in and started paddling for the beach.  He didn’t get far, as he forgot to untie from the boat.  After Cooper returned and started school with Susan, I took a long paddle around the bay and stopped and talked to a guy who rode out the last hurricane in his trailer on the beach.  The 100 knot winds moved his trailer about 15 inches he said. And strewed everything outside the trailer all over the hillside behind. Takes all kinds…  After Cooper finished school (sometimes a battle) we went snorkeling.  The water was OK in shorty wetsuits. Cooper’s is a little big and he got cold.  We saw fish and rays and a giant porcupine fish that moved so slow that Susan was able to “pet” it.  Her theory was that it had to be really old to be that big and slow. One of the genoa sheets cover parted on the passage so I re-purposed the Spinnaker sheets which rarely get used. New sheets are in order for next season. Flushed the propylene glycol from the water maker and it’s making water for us. Things are going well and we are starting to slow down a bit.  Still not sure if we will be heading North or South this trip. There is no phone or Internet without a hitchhike to Mulege.

Finding Treasures

This porcupine fish is roughly the size of a football.  Susan was able to swim up and touch it.

Susan picked up this starfish and it really freaked Cooper for some reason.  My Aliens reference was totally lost on him :)

Good passage

2/27/15 

Hey, it’s my birthday. Not much sleep last night during the crossing.  It was a good crossing and we sailed for about 7 hours before the wind died.  We were close hauled all night in 10-15 knots of breeze.  The seas stayed reasonable and we only got the deck wet a couple of times.  Dawn saw us 15 miles from the point.  Coming into the bay we saw some whales spouting in the distance.  I thought they were heading away from us but about 15 minutes later one surfaced about 150 feet of our starboard bow. Holy Shit! It was big, maybe 65-75 foot long.  Too big and close for my liking, but spectacular nonetheless.  Dolphins also played in our bow wake a couple of times as we approached the anchorage.  By late morning we had the hook down in Bahia Santa Barbara.  The forecast was for SE to 20 so this looked good.  Susan and Cooper took the dingy out for some beach combing and I took a nap.  The wind and waves piped up out of the NE of course.  I needed a good nights sleep so we moved to a better anchorage.  

Wiz finally at anchor again,  It's worth the effort it takes to get to this point!

Heading across the Sea of Cortez

2/26/15

Cooper on the bow watching dolphins

Entering Bahia Conception

We spent the day in final prep to leave.  One last trip to Guaymas to fill the propane tank, and pick up fresh provisions.  Then Tacos for lunch at JJ’s.  Checkout with the marina. Then we washed and stored the car.  Storing the car makes us start to feel like we are really cruising again.  We waited for the tide to come up a bit and then untied the lines and headed out the channel.  With a 1ft positive tide we had about a foot and a half under the keel at the shallowest point in the channel. We wanted to get started before dark to shake out any issues before starting a 90 mile crossing. The engine was making a strange noise but we tracked it to the carbon brush that presses on the shaft to provide electrical bonding. The shaft was a little rough. Solved with a quick shot of WD40. The next issue was no tachometer reading.  I had put a new instrument panel in a couple seasons ago so I knew how it was wired. Also the alternator was not charging.  The “sense” wire on the alternator was just loose. Set the autopilot and everything seemed to be working.  We decided to cross to Bahia Conception.

Weather Delay

We are a bit delayed by a "Norther" coming in tomorrow.  Winds to 35kn for a couple of days.  This produces fairly nasty seas here.  5 feet at 5 seconds is no-bueno!  This is a picture of WIZ taken from in front of the marina office where we can get quite good internet.  Wiz is ready to go but since we are delayed I'm having a diesel mechanic come look at the Yanmar.  I think it needs new valve stem seals as it's burning some oil and blowing some smoke.  It runs like a top, but is overdue for some maintenance.  We hope to be able to cross the Sea of Cortez on Friday or so.  There are worse places to be stuck for weather!  Susan and I are catching up on some work stuff and Cooper has found a group of kids to play with.

Taco's and Fish.

 2/21/2015 -  Until now we have been eating out most meals.  Now that Wiz is in the water and the refrigerator and propane stove are working and we can cook.  We've had lots of tacos at our favorite taco place JJ's.  Cooper has declared that Carne-Asada tacos are his favorite food.  Pictured at the right is a "Super-Donky" like a very large burrito.  It's enough to feed all three of us.  These go for 130 pesos or about $8.  Not a bad deal.  Eating out generally runs us $15 for three people.

Above to the left is a fish Cooper caught.  He met a couple of 10yr old boys (American) that live down here and come down to the dock beside ours to fish in the evenings.  The day before they caught 2 giant fish, probably 20lbs or so.  Funny to watch them wrestle them up to the dock and debate how to kill it with their fillet knives.  This is all unsupervised.  They taught Cooper how to cast.  I was flabbergasted watching one of them instruct Cooper while simultaneously flipping his rod deftly and casting backwards over his shoulder.  The next night Cooper caught this little fish and his friends told him it was good to eat.  He talked Susan into cleaning and cooking it up.  He was so proud of himself for catching his own dinner!  

Splashing Wiz

 2/19/2015 - On Wednesday morning we launched Wiz and the water stayed on the outside and the diesel started right up!  We got in the slip and worked on getting the sails up before the afternoon winds came up.  The car on the genoa roller furling was hanging up badly on several of the joints in the foil.  I spent a couple of hours in the bosun's chair filing and polishing the joints so the car would travel smoothly.  Finally got it, and raised and furled the genoa just as the wind piped up.  All the other systems seem to be working, though we have not started the outboard.  Sold the old inflatable dingy so we may put the new one together tomorrow.  Went to Guaymas today and did some provisioning.  The exchange rate is the best we have ever seen it.  We got nearly 15 MXN per USD at the ATM.  Gas, however is still roughly twice as expensive as home, not sure why.  Check out how you buy Acetone here.  They decant it into a used water bottle and tape a skull and crossbones on it!? 

Working on the Boat

2/18/2015 - We were pleasantly surprised when we looked Wiz over.  Last year, it had been nearly 2 years on the hard and was a complete mess, I still believe there was an osprey living in the rigging.  This year after 10 months it was in really good shape.  The batteries were still at 12.4V which was encouraging.  After a bit of unpacking we went to the hotel where we would stay until Wiz was put in the water.  We spent the next 3 days working on Wiz 8-5 and then crashing in the hotel.  I tore down the folding prop, re-greased and changed the pitch up 2 degrees.  We did maintenance on the throughhulls, and I spent one full day on scaffolding buffing the topsides. 

At the right is a picture from the hotel.  Not from our room mind you, we were in the cheap section overlooking the street.  This was taken from the end of the hallway.  It overlooks Marina San Carlos and the Bahia (bay) beyond.  We hope to be anchored in the Bahia in a few days.

Back to Wiz

2/15/2015 - Starting another trip to Wiz.  Susan and Cooper started ahead of me and took three days driving to Phoenix from Polson, MT.  They detoured through the grand canyon and had a good trip.  Cooper has a Blog at WheresCoop.com.  I Left Polson Thursday the 12th and had an easy flight to Phoenix.  Susan picked me up at the airport and we spent a couple of days with Cooper's Grandma and Grandpa.  Swimming and running a few errands before we left saturday morning for Mexico.  The drive was easy and the border crossing non-eventful.  We had a car packed with a new dingy, new v-berth cushions, boat parts and a walmart run for supplies we knew to be difficult to find in Mexico.  We arrived in San Carlos around 3 in the afternoon and went out to the boatyard to check on WIZ.