We found that the anchorage at San Marcial in 2017 was a much more heavily-visited destination than it had been the last time we'd anchored there in 2009. That is fine; people should get to see the classic-yet-somewhat-secluded example of Baja boating that San Marcial offers. San Marcial has much reefy goodness encircling its northeastern…
It has become clear to me that I have somehow lost most of several months' worth of cruising photos. Oh, I very carefully organized them and stored them in not one but two locations. Flash drive plus external hard drive. Because I believe in backup, you betcha. Now I can't find them anywhere. On any…
March 20, 2016: There we were, minding our own cruiser business. The morning had been the typical lazy cruiser day of dinghying to a restaurant for a nice meal, chatting amiably with fellow cruisers, and returning to The Fox in the afternoon when the typical offshore breezes began to pick up. I heard screams, and…
Warning: many f-bombs in this post. Late November, 2015. We had driven from New Mexico to Mazatlan per our usual strategy. We rolled into Mazatlan on the afternoon of November 26 and found the city was packed with people. It was difficult to get a decent hotel room at the prices we were willing to…
We left Marina Chahue in Huatulco on February 7, 2015. I noticed that even at mid-tide on a falling tide, the surge in the marina was impressive. As it can be, there. (Protip: break out the trucker hitches you'd used as mooring lines in Mazatlan, and use them again in Marina Chahue.) It was very…
So, yeah, that fair current that pushed us along and right out of the way of that brewing Tehuantepec gale? To avoid making landfall somewhere around Huatulco in the middle of the night, we had to drop our engine speed to 2100 rpm. We saw we were still scooting along the 30'-35' depth contour at…
So. About earthquakes in southernmost Pacific Mexico: They haz them. During the summer that The Fox rested on jackstands in the boat yard at Mariana Chiapas, there was a spot of bother: an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude occurred just offshore of Tapachula, Mexico, at about 37 miles deep in the Earth's crust. There is nothing…
Well, OK; maybe it wasn't the absolute WORST takeoff from a dock we've ever made, but it was definitely among the top 5. Maybe one of the top 3, since a MOB (man overboard) was involved. There we were, 5:40 in the morning of April 15, 2014. Nicaragua. Looked very much like this:Sun was rising,…
Some areas of the US East Coast's Intracoastal Waterway regualarly fill up with sand and silt from the small tributary creeks and rivers along its length. Certain sections are actually shallow rivers, themselves. This constant water action builds up sand bars, expands them, and sometimes even causes them to migrate from one point to another.…
[For my story of Days 1 through 3 along a section of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), go here.] Day 4: Left Alligator Pass about 2 hrs. before high tide in Fernandina Beach, 10 miles further north. Had trouble finding deep enough water on 1st try; 2d try was able to re-enter ICW and continue north.…