Weather in the North Sea of Cortez

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
majority of boaters who cruise the Sea of Cortez go no further north
than Santa Rosalia (Baja) or San Carlos (mainland), about halfway up
the Sea of Cortez. That's too bad, because there is so much to see and do in the northern half. I speculate that most boaters don't travel north because the
spring-to-summer weather in the northern half of the Sea can be really
squirrelly.  Locals in Bahía de los Ángeles told us the weather doesn't calm down from winter
conditions until about the second half of May. Thereafter, as the
summer weather picks up, conditions again become unsettled as winds and waves shift their predominant direction from northwesterly to southerly. The unsettled conditions seem
to intensify in the area around the northern Sea's Midriff Islands. In
June and July, chubascos (basically, sudden strong downdrafts of wind
that last a few hours) and thunderstorms become more regular but still cannot be predicted to strike in any particular place. The
early summer thunderstorms generally stay along the mainland shore but
sometimes the cells can get big enough for boats in anchorages across
the Sea on the Baja side to feel what's going on. Starting in July, the
northern part of the Sea gets hot. Very hot. Does not cool down at
night. Tropical storms and the occasional hurricane come to the region
– especially late in the season during August, September and October.
(Hurricane Jemina visited both sides of the Sea in September 2009.) Bottom line: from what we
had heard previously and from our own experience this past summer, it
seems the best weather window for cruising the Sea north of Santa
Rosalia is from the start of June through about the first half of July.
Not as long a cruising season as you might expect – especially
considering that there are some boats every year who spend the entire
hurricane season, from June through October, in the northern Sea. Those
people are tougher than us.

Due to all the mountains, canyons, islands and whatnot that make the wind and rain bounce all over the place in the northern half of the Sea, weather forecasters can only describe
general patterns over broad areas of open water leaving the average coastal cruisers to figure out local conditions for themselves. Our experience with summertime's most unsettled weather
always seemed to start with small ripples on the sea surface on an otherwise
calm day. Sometimes the ripples kept building to a steep chop but were not accompanied by any
wind; other times the ripples built to a small chop and the wind
suddenly gusted to the 30-knot range. The large tide ranges sometimes enhanced whatever else was happening with the sea state. Overhead, the most ominous clouds could rapidly build up over the mountains, and then…disappear with no noticeable effects. During the night, we began to see lightning and storms along the mainland side of the Sea. Sometimes it sent us a chubasco, most times not. After a few weeks of cruising, it seemed to us that the weather patterns that most consistently preceded the worst conditions and were most likely to cause us to bail out of where we were to seek better shelter elsewhere, were: long flat cloud cover capping the top of the volcano on Isla Mitlán; thick haze at the water level reducing visibility to two miles or less; and subtle ripples on the water that were not accompanied by wind. Those were the conditions we noticed, about 6-12 hours before strong winds blew or a nasty chop picked up. But, individual results may vary. I have no clue whether we were noticing any particular patterns, or just thought we were.

Lessons learned: in the northern Sea of Cortez, always have a bailout plan for every anchorage. Most of the time we didn't need to leave the anchorage we'd chosen – Ensenada Quemada, for example, located between Bahía de las Ánimas and Bahía de los Ángeles, gave us excellent shelter, cooling afternoon breezes, and lots to do onshore and in the water. Puerto Don Juan is an excellent hurricane hole with things to see on shore, but it is so well protected that it's a stifling place to be in settled conditions.

The weather can change so quickly, we found it wise to prep the dinghy and outboard most evenings to make a quick getaway if we had to leave an anchorage in the middle of the night. Even if we stayed in an anchorage, we were prepared to take down our shade covers if the wind picked up during the wee hours of the night. And we listened closely to the weather forecasts on the SSB – many times, in the mornings as well as the evenings.

But finally, to be very clear: none of this squirrelly weather prevented us from having
a really great trip – it just kept us busy, paying all that attention.

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