It was 0200 on a dark and clear night in the Sea of Cortez – also known as the Gulf of California. We were motoring along at 1600 rpm in a 1985 40 foot O’Day sailboat making about 3 knots, the oil pressure was wavering between 7 and 15 pounds, (the engine was rated for…
As a general principle, the longer you spend at anchor and away from marinas and fancy restaurants, the cheaper cruising gets. Let's look at our expenses from November 2008 as an example. All expenses have been converted to US dollars where they weren't already US dollars. Our out of pocket expenses were: One day at Marina El Cid, Mazatlan:…
The cruising publications are correct when they describe the great travel to be had amongst the islands in the Sea of Cortez within a very small radius of La Paz. Like, within a 35-mile radius are four islands plus the Baja peninsula. For those of you from the PacNW, think "San Juan and Gulf Islands, but…
In these difficult economic times, we wish all of you prosperity and hope to see you soon down here. Live beneath your means. Don't feel you must own real estate to have a decent nest egg. Pay off your boat. Move aboard. Let go of your possessions – or at least as many of them as you…
At least one popular sailing publication encourages boaters in Mexico to spend as little time as possible in the Sea of Cortez in November, or bypass it altogether, and instead steers them to mainland destinations like Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo and Manzanillo. It's hard to tell whether or not these areas were popular with cruisers before the sailing publications…
We had about one week to really get everything done in Mazatlan after hurricane season officially ended there – on Nov 1 the rates doubled from $.27 to $.50 a foot. For October 2008, we spent about $200 running an 8000 BTU Home Depot AC unit 20 out of 24 hours. It's real hot in…
Our family. All the good friends we left behind in the Seattle area. Our good friends in other states, whom we've known for so long. Colleagues from work. Some very cool cyber-friends we have yet to meet in the flesh. Great people we've lost touch with, all too soon. Fellow cruisers we've met in three…
We had some hitchhikers with us on November's crossing of the southern Sea of Cortez. About 25 miles offshore from Mazatlan, two hummingbird-size moths landed in our cockpit. They found spots with good grips for insects (like the binoculars we have hanging from the helm in that pic over there); used their forelegs to shield…
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…
A while back we shared what we knew about getting a first-time Mexican sportfishing license before crossing the border. Well, if you stay down here a spell, you'll need to renew that license. Which if you do it in Mexico may range from piece-o'-cake E-Z to a clusterfark of epic proportion. Our own experience with our recent renewal…