GB & I left Mazatlan on the morning of November 2, 2008, crossed the southern Sea of Cortez to the Baja peninsula, and spent six glorious weeks at anchor. We arrived at Marina Costa Baja in La Paz on December 15. The next few posts catch up to our doings during the breakneck pace we kept: 6 weeks, 479 miles, 21 anchorages. An average of less than 80 miles per week. I laugh.
We left Mazatlan at 0945 on Sunday, November 2, 2008, just after high water slack. Once again we were westward-bound across the Sea of Cortez, and not a moment too soon. We love us some Maz and we will return there for the next hurricane season, but 5 months at a dock makes both GB and me itchy for some change.
Maz was very hot and steamy – June started off slowly, with temps in the high 80s or so, and by October the temps and the % humidity were both in the mid-90s. On November 2, the weather forecast for most of the next week, for the area from the central portion of the Sea of Cortez several hundred miles south to Acapulco, called for very light winds and flat, gentle waves – if any – on top of a 4-foot swell. And so it was. We had “gusts” from 7 to 11 knots for about 1-½ hours in the wee hours of the morning when we were in the middle of our southern crossing of the Sea. The center of the Sea is where the most wind typically is, so it stood to reason we saw at least a breath of air there.
Most of the 165-mile trip gave us breeze of less than 7 knots and a relatively smooth series of swells – much in contrast to our southern crossing along the same track that we'd taken in early March 2008. This time, we had the cockpit cover up for shade and the dodger down for ventilation. On the mainland side we saw brown pelicans, magnificent frigate birds, pigeon guillemots and terns all over the place. Plus a small pod of dolphin cruised past the Fox on their way to somewhere else. GB caught and released a fat skipjack Sunday morning, and that evening at sunset a small shark chased GB’s lure for a time – fortunately, both shark and fisherman were unsuccessful in catching their prey. No fish dinner for us, but all in all an auspicious beginning to the 2008-2009 Baja cruising season.
The southern crossing the way we did it took us from Maz to one of our favorite Baja anchorages, Bahia Los Frailes. Frailes makes a good start to any cruise. In flat-calm weather like we had, it’s a no-brainer, 165-mile, 26-hour drive on a 265 compass heading. A basic overnight trip with no obstructions and little to no vessel traffic. The trip to Frailes is just you, the sun, the stars and the occasional meteorite, a nice way to get reacquainted with your boat and the water. Just make sure you have enough fuel. Ahem.
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