Once we passed the upper-Baja drift net and entered the port of Santa Rosalía we had a grand time seeing cruising friends again, and meeting new ones. Most cruisers in Santa Rosalía in July were making their way north; only The Fox and a very few others were going south, ever mindful of the summertime…
Folks who cruise their boats up in the northern Sea of Cortez during the whole summer – and there are quite a few of them – are far tougher than we are. Things were really beginning to heat up in the northern Sea during July. The hours from 1100 to about 1400, when the sun…
On July 5, 2009, the wind rose with the sun and at 20 knots out of the SW it made our anchorage at Isla Mitlán too choppy for snorkeling. However, it was perfect wind for sailing, so sail we did. Destination: about 35 miles NNE to the northernmost tip of Isla Angel de la Guarda…
Cruising can be easy in the area around Bahía de los Ángeles. If you travel a few miles to the NE, you encounter a small group of islands that have pretty little anchorages that are best for one or two boats at a time. Ah, privacy in a wilderness setting. Just be mindful of the…
There are dozens of very nice anchorages throughout the northern Sea of Cortez and the Midriff Islands – there are at least 6 in Bahía de las Ánimas alone, and another 4 continuing north along the Baja shore before you get to Bahía de los Ángeles, a mere 35 miles distant. If you stop at…
A few words about bail-out anchorages in the Sea of Cortez during summer cruising. By now you may have the impression we've had to use them a lot. Well, we used them occasionally, maybe more often than in other places we've cruised – but do not let that deter you from coming here. The vast…
When last we read of the intrepid Fox, it was bouncing its way southwestward through early morning darkness and a dissipating June thunderstorm toward Bahía San Francisquito on the Baja peninsula. Bahía San Francisquito is located about 90 miles up the peninsula from Santa Rosalia on the western (Baja) side of the Sea of Cortez.…
The northern half of the Sea of Cortez has a cluster of large and small islands in the center. These are the Midriff Islands. On the Baja (western) side of the Sea, the bottom has a very deep trench that brings cold water and nutrients up toward the surface. Critters of all kinds follow the…
After the inauspicious first start out of San Carlos and with a happy Tohatsu outboard, we skedaddled north out of San Carlos for the second time on June 13, 2009. GB and I were both itchy to start cruising again after having spent so long tied up to a dock (somewhat against our will) in…
It's high time I told the details of our trip around the upper Sea of Cortez in June & July, 2009. We'd wanted to explore the northern part of the Sea of Cortez because (1) we hadn't done that yet and (2) we were keen on sailing south from Mazatlan in November 2009 to Central…