Boat Plans Catamaran | Leaving Ensenada

Boat Plans Catamaran

Notice the retractable bowsprit on this classic woodie.

Yesterday we traveled to the wine country in the Guadalupe Valley. I wont go into the details of each winery we visited but one that stood out was Adobe Guadalupe. The architecture of the buildings is distinctive as are their wines, and the tour was informative and entertaining. Another unique winery was JC Bravo. This is a small place, still under construction, but they are producing a red and a white that were quite good. At Bravo, wine is made the old fashioned way, with dry farmed grapes and old style equipment. Needless to say, we returned to the boat loaded down with a variety of interesting wines.

We decided to stay in Ensenada one more day so I had time to wander around the marina and look at some boats. This time of year is a slow season for the marina. Most of the boats that migrate south from the US and Canada to cruise in Mexico have come and gone, and its not yet the season for northbound boats to arrive. So most of the boats here are more or less permanent. Or they are like Finisterra, getting a late start on the cruising season in Mexico. As I wandered the docks I noticed that cruising boats seem to be acquiring more and more gear: Solar panels, wind generators, various antennas, dinghy davits and racks, etc.  Below are some photos to illustrate what I mean.

This pretty little cruiser is overloaded with steel-work and stuff. I would not like to be caught out in a blow on this boat, which is an otherwise seaworthy vessel. Notice that shes down by the stern and has a pronounced list to port.

Nereida, Jeanne Socrates boat was on our gangway and looks pretty good for a boat that has recently been around the world non-stop.

At the far end of the marina I spotted a MacGregor 65. It had been heavily modified for cruising, but I question whether it would ever be a good cruising  boat regardless of what equipment is added to it. M65s are very quick boats downwind but they are not well suited for cruising because they dont have the load carrying capability or structural strength for the work of a 65 foot cruising yacht. Of course M65s have been cruised successfully but Id wager that their owners kept the heavy cruising toys to a minimum.

Too much stuff on this M65? Notice that its down by the stern and listing to starboard.

I paid careful attention to the weight and location of all the equipment, supplies and provisions we put aboard Finisterra. Still, fully loaded she is down by the stern about an inch and lists to starboard about half a degree. But her decks are relatively uncluttered and shes easy to move around on, and her sailing qualities havent been compromised too much by a lot of steel-work and extra weight above the deck.

We have a nice weather window opening up so were leaving Ensenada tomorrow, headed for Turtle Bay. If sailing conditions  remain good well continue on to Bahia Santa Maria, or Los Cabos.

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Plywood Boat Plans | Rowing the Atlantic When you need to be a Tiger

Plywood Boat Plans

If you hang around long enough with ocean rowers, and find that youve developed a taste for expedition rowing (albeit in events you can fit into a weekend), sooner or  later youre going to come to the conclusion that, if your piggy bank can cope, theres really no good reason NOT to row an ocean yourself.

And so it was that my husband and I set off from the Canary Islands in our tiger-striped boat, and landed in Barbados nearly 11 weeks later. Along the way, wed lost a rudder, been brought another, seen dolphins for 30 seconds, enjoyed eating biltong in bed (only one of us), listened to all seven Harry Potter books, and been reminded almost every day that ocean rowing is much more about the ocean than it is about rowing.

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Event: Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2011

Where: La Gomera (Canary Islands) to Barbados

Distance: 2,549 nautical miles (as the storm petrel flies)

Duration: 75 days, 1 hour and 29 minutes

Boat type: 23 plywood ocean rowing boat Dream It Do It

Number of crews in the event: 17 started, 12 finished

Event Organiser: The race is now organised by Atlantic Campaigns

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We were last in our race, but were eternally relieved to have finished. A famous solo ocean rower, Gerald dAboville once said "You do not conquer the ocean rather, it lets you pass." Spot on.

Heating up Christmas lunch. The best meal of the trip.

But whilst our row was slow (as it turned out, we decided we couldnt really be bothered with the 2 hours on/2 hours off routine that is the quickest way to get across, given our only objective was to get to the other side, still happily married), our expedition blog proved to be very popular – not least because the supporters of all the other crews found them,selves suffering from ocean rowing-supporting withdrawal symptoms once their crews had finished (the fastest two finished in just over 40 days).

The links below point to some of the better postings from our original blog. Please bear in  mind that it was written whilst at sea, which explains some of the bad spelling (our Land Team Communications Manager did her best to sort this out, but she was working with some pretty awful material) as well as the deranged humour.

Day 9: Wildlife at sea

Day 14: Making tea at sea

Day 17: On salt

Day 18: Outbreak of OARS in SW London

Day 25: A day at the sales

Day 29: The catch

Day 32: The Atlantic Ocean plc

Day 40: Ocean strategy

Day 44: Im just going to have a quick shower

Day 52: Wildlife action

Day 69: The sounds of the sea

Day 72: How would you like your ocean?

Barbados is a very nice place.

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Plywood Boat Plans | Boat vs Whale

Plywood Boat Plans

A couple of days ago a sailboat named "Luffin It" entered the harbor under tow. It was a Pearson 367, a 36 foot cruising cutter that is slightly larger than the Honcho. I have downloaded a couple of photos of a sistership, which I got from Yachtworld.com to give you a sense of the size and shape of this boat. Or you can visit this web site for a lot more information on it: http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/boatMergedDetails.jsp?boat_id=2013084&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=1644&url=

Pearson 367
Sistership to Luffin It

Luffin It was leaving Bahia Tenacatita a few days ago when it came into contact with a whale. The result was a severely damaged boat and what I can only speculate was an unhappy whale. Fortunately, aside from a few bumps and minor bruises, there were no injuries to the couple onboard, and no visible injuries to the whale.

The whales tale was apparently caught between the keel and rudder. The bronze strut is about 1/2" thick and was bent nearly 90 degrees

I spoke to the owners about their experience and looked at the boat after it was hauled out at the La Cruz Shipyard. They were under sail around 1530, moving at a slow 3-4 knots on a course taking them out of the anchorage at Tenacatita, headed toward Chamela when the whale apparently attempted to surface, unaware that there was a boat above it. They felt the boat heave upward and thought at first that they had run aground, but then immediately saw the whale close alongside with its tail apparently still under the boat and caught between the keel and rudder. In its effort to free itself it flapped its tail several times before swimming away. It left the boat with a bent propeller shaft and strut, a chunk missing from the rudder, and structural cracks in the hull. This is what was visible from the outside. The owner told me that the internal damage was extensive. Many of the internal bulkheads and floor timbers were displaced as the hull flexed, knocking the head loose, jamming doors and drawers, and other damage. They immediately broadcast a mayday on their VHF radio and within minutes other cruisers in Tenacatita came to their aid. They got the leaks under control and eventually made it to La Cruz, partly under their own power and partly under tow.  You can read their firsthand account of the incident on their blog: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/luffinit/?xjMsgID=164231

We dont usually wear lifejackets when were sailing in light air and flat seas, and the crew of Luffin It werent either. Fortunately neither of them went overboard, but its a reminder that you never know when a life threatening emergency will occur, and its good policy to wear your PFD all the time. I dont plan to do that but well keep them at the ready in the cockpit in the future.

Whale sightings are very common in these parts this time of year. I cant count how many times weve been sailing along on a perfectly peaceful sea when suddenly a whale comes rocketing out of the water like a submarine launched cruise missile within a couple hundred yards of the boat. There is no warning, just an explosion of white water and a whales head 20 or 30 feet out of the water. Such displays inspire lots of respect from us. I did some searching on the Internet regarding how much power resides in a whales flukes and could not find an answer but it is clearly an enormously powerful animal, as the encounter between Luffin It and the whale shows.

How can sailboats safely travel upon seas that are also home to these magnificent animals? Aboard the Honcho we take a few precautions, but I dont think there is any reasonable way to prevent all accidental contacts with whales. During the nighttime hours we frequently run the diesel engine whether or not we have sails up. The hours of darkness are a good time to charge batteries, run the watermaker, etc. and I think the engine noise might help to let the whales know were in the neighborhood. Some people play music instead of running the engine. At any rate, Im fairly confident that sailboat/whale collisions are very rare, and most likely accidental. Still, its something to think about as we share the ocean with them.

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Boat Plans Australia | Panama City to David

Boat Plans Australia

Its been an interesting three days trying to get to remote Bocas del Toro. Flight delays, missed connections, holiday travelers, etc. have conspired to keep us from reaching our destination, but we are pretty sure that with a little ingenuity well finally reach Almirante tomorrow, where we can catch a water taxi to Bocas Town. From there its a short ride in a panga to Bastimento Island, where the Red Frog Marina is located. We left Puerto Vallarta on the 28th and I expect to arrive at the Red Frog a few minutes before the new years eve festivities begin.

Right now were in the city of David (pronounced daveeed). The ride, around 350 kilometers in a taxi, took us through the heavily industrial parts of Panama city, through rough looking suburbs, and then through wildly beautiful tropical countryside. Looking out the windows of the truck that served as our taxi, we saw people living in squalid tin-roofed shacks, caballeros astride beautiful horses tending their herds of brahma cattle, poor people trudging along the road carrying all manner of things, including chickens in cages, sides of beef, and other small caged animals. At one point we passed an overturned tractor trailer that had split open and kids were taking cases of soda that had burst from its seams. At another point, we passed a scene where the police had captured, handcuffed and roughed up two men alongside the road. Life in Panama is a long way from how we live in Orange County.

I just finished reading David McCulloughs fascinating book, "Path Between the Seas". Its an account of how the Panama Canal was built and the forces, political, economic and military that were brought to bear to accomplish that stupendous feat. Just as important to humanity was the discovery and implementation of effective means of controlling and eradicating yellow fever and malaria in ths region. The USA played a key role in the founding of the Republic of Panama and has been involved in many of this countrys most important historical milestones, from Teddy Roosevelts support for its secession from its mother country of Colombia in 1903 to George 41s decision to invade the country and capture Manual Noriega, Panamas president, in 1989. That particular adventure was called Operation Just Cause.  I suppose it should be no surprise that the local people of this country have shown us little of the buoyant friendliness that we have constantly experienced in Mexico, but I should also say that in spite of the delays and frustrations of our travels, weve been enjoying our time here. Delays are part of travel everywhere in the world at this time of year, and were very glad that its not snowing and freezing here. Wherever you are, have a rockin good time ringing in the new year!

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Yacht Boat Plans | Mazatlan to La Paz

Yacht Boat Plans

Our week in Mazatlan flew by ever so quickly. This was due in part to the repair project I spent some time on but mostly because whenever I wasnt working on the boat there was lots of fun to be had. One evening we did Mazatlans version of PVs Southside Shuffle, only here there was a lot less art and more wine tasting. On a couple of days we simply strolled along the malecon and up the streets to the Plaza Machado in the heart of Old Mazatlan. Like all cities in Mexico, the public transportation system is excellent, with buses, taxis and other forms of transportation easily available. In La Cruz we often traveled by "collectivo" which is a small van with lots of seats, usually crammed full of people. Its not exactly fun, but they got us pretty much where we wanted to go very inexpensively. In Mazatlan they have a unique and much more fun mode of transportation called "Pulmonias". These are small open topped cars with air-cooled Volkswagen engines that are everywhere in this town. They are cheaper than a taxi, much less claustrophobic than a collectivo and simply fun to ride around in.

Pulmonia. 

"Pulmonia" means pneumonia in Spanish.  When these open cars first showed up in town back in the 1960s, the local taxi drivers were outraged and warned people not to ride in them because they would catch "pulmonia", so people started calling them Pulmonias and the name stuck.

Iguanas are a fact of life in Mazatlan. Around the pool at  El Cid they would gather around people who were eating and wait, with prehistoric patience for a handout.

In the past, whenever weve stayed in Mazatlan, it was at Marina Mazatlan. Its a nice place as marinas go, but we were very happy that we chose to stay at Marina EL Cid this time. It is connected to the El Cid resort, so it also has beautiful swimming pools, private beach, an excellent restaurant and a staff that is always eager to assist you with every little thing. We had a great time basking in the luxury of the place.

Looking east toward Isla Cerralvo in the predawn light.

Just before the sun rose over the horizon a pod of dolphins passed by.

Pelicans roosting on the rocks at Puerto Balandra

After that week of luxury, and with the boat all put back together, it was time to say adios to Mazatlan and head for La Paz, the gateway to Sea of Cortez cruising grounds. So on April 8th, Finisterra cleared the breakwater under a sunny sky and an easy ten knot breeze out of the southwest, perfect for a close reach on port tack to the northern tip of Isla Cerralvo. But within half an hour the wind began to veer and before long we were headed north-northeast instead of our desired course of northwest. We sailed in this direction for about ten miles, basically skirting the coast north of Mazatlan, then tacked.  This put us on a course about 40 degrees south of where we wanted to go, but by evening the wind had veered far enough that we were back on course on starboard tack in about 15 knots of wind. We sailed this way for the next 120 miles of the 230 mile passage. Then the wind disappeared and I started the engine.  We motored the rest of the way in three to eight knots of breeze out of the northwest.

Pelican in La Paz

After passing Isla Cerralvo we were approaching the San Lorenzo channel, which separates mainland Baja from Isla Espiritu Santo around 0300. I slowed down to about four knots as we reached the entrance to the channel. Its fairly narrow and there was a lot of ship traffic passing through it, and I didnt want to arrive at our destination of Puerto Balandra in the dark. We transited the channel around 0700 and by 0800 we were anchored in the southwest corner of Balandra and settled back to enjoy a couple of days of snorkeling, sunning and just relaxing. It was hot during the daytime but at night the Coromuel wind showed up, bringing cool air in from the Pacific which lies not far to the west.

Nesting gull

Our next stop was Marina Costa Baja, which lies at the entrance to the channel leading into the inner harbor at La Paz. This is a 5 star resort with a marina.

"Galeocerdo"

The bulwarks fold outward on both sides of the hull to provide more lounging space on deck. There are lots of videos of this boat on youtube.

In a luxury marina full of large and very large mega yachts, Galeocerdo, a Wally 118 motor yacht stood out. Its like a Ferrari of boats, with a top speed of about 70 knots and a price tag of $30 million. With its dark, stealthy gray/green paint and styling reminiscent of an F-117, it looks kind of dangerous. I dont know why anyone would want to spend $30 million on a boat like this, but there you have it.  Galeocerdo is the scientific name for Tiger Shark.

F117

Tomorrow well head north to some of the beautiful coves of  Isla Espritu Santo and Isla Partida. This area is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Were looking forward to some awesome scenery and snorkeling.

Isla Partida, on the left is separated from the larger Espiritu Santo by a narrow channel.  Well anchor in Ensenada Grande, the large cove near the left end of the islands.

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Boat Plans Stitch And Glue | Three Weeks in La Paz

Boat Plans Stitch And Glue

Finisterra took a berth in Marina Palmira on April 24th where I had planned to do some routine engine maintenance, the most important of which was to service the fuel injectors. Rob from Cross Marine did the injector work and gave the engine a complete inspection while I replaced filters, tightened belts and generally puttered around the engine. In the course of his inspection Rob discovered a slight leak in the raw water pump. Fortunately I had a rebuild kit in my spare parts cache and within a day or two that job was done.

La Paz  with Marina Palmira in the foreground. Its a nice hike up a rocky trail from the marina to the top of the hill where these pictures were taken. 

La Paz is the only city on the gulf coast of Baja California. It boasts a population of around 250,000 including nearby suburbs. Mulege, Loreto, and Santa Rosalia are also located on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja Peninsula, but I categorize them as towns or villages with populations of  4,000, 15,000 and 12,000 respectively.

Because of its location La Paz is the place where cruisers gather before heading up the Sea. Of course there is a fairly large contingent of cruisers who have become more or less permanent residents of this area, some of whom anchor out in the channel between the city and the El Mogote Peninsula, which lies between La Paz and the Sea. Hurricane Odile ravaged the Baja Peninsula last year, passing just to the west of the city and wreaking havoc ashore and among the boats in the anchorage. As we sailed down the channel on our approach to Marina Palmira, we could see evidence of Odiles fury in damaged buildings and torn up docks in the marina. Odile did almost one and a quarter billion dollars worth of damage in Mexico and took over a dozen lives.

The pilings in the upper left are all thats left of the docks at the entrance to Marina Palmira. Notice the boats in the storage yard.

One day I helped deliver a boat out to the Tramper, a heavy lift ship that was anchored in the bay. The Tramper was on a voyage delivering yachts from one place to another. After its stop in La Paz, it was headed to Ensenada, then British Columbia.

As far as I know, the Tramper picked up three boats in La Paz

This 40 racer/cruiser was picked up before our boat.

The boat comes alongside the ship, a couple of handlers descend the jacobs ladder and the slings are lowered aft of the boat. Then a pair of divers, which you can see holding the slings in this shot, align them under the boat, making sure they arent touching the shaft, prop or rudder. 

Before the boat is hoisted aboard the ship, they do a test lift to make sure it hangs in the slings the way they want it. If all is good, the boss gives the order to load the boat.

Our little boat was up next. It has spent many years cruising in Mexico and is headed home to Canada for a rest and refit. It got shoe-horned between the dark hulled C&C and the white boat with the black stripe.

With the job done, we climbed aboard a panga and headed back to shore.

La Paz is usually a hot place this time of year, with average daytime temperatures of 92 degrees under a usually blazing sun. But over the last couple of weeks weve enjoyed temps in the low eighties with cool Coromuel winds blowing almost every night. Its made hiking and exploring the city quite bearable and weve enjoyed the place more than ever. Of course, friends are what really make a place enjoyable and weve spent a good deal of time socializing with great people.

With Finisterra well provisioned, fueled and ready to go, were heading out tomorrow for the islands to the north of us. The rough plan is to spend a day or two in Puerto Balandra, then a few days in the coves of Islas Espiritu Santo and Partida before heading further north to Isla San Francisco and beyond.

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Boden Boat Plans Australia | Home again and back to work

Boden Boat Plans Australia

Home again.

It’s a long way home from Vancouver to my ship in Auckland, Skytrain in Vancouver (great public transport, quick, quiet and cheap! Well done Vancouver BC) then a flight to San Fran, (very nice airport terminal by the way, so much better than LAX, in future I’ll be  paying the slight difference in airfares to avoid the latter) then the loooong 11 ½ hour flight across the Pacific,  then two buses and a 2 km walk towing my suitcase. 25 hours in all. 

You have no idea how glad I was to walk up to the crest of the hill and look down on the river!

Just a comment on airline comfort, Air New Zealand now has seats where a family or friends can fold the oversized leg rests of adjacent seats out to make a couch. Behind me there was a couple with a young child, and they were able to get much more comfortable than is usual in cattle class.

I was super lucky on this flight and was the only one in a row of three so was able to lie down flat, got some “real” sleep which makes a big difference. Recommended, even if you can’t get an empty row those seats are better than any others I’ve seen.

Other than that, I watched (again, for about the fifth time) the first two episodes of  “The Hobbit”, noting all the places in the scenery that I know and have been to.

Its an odd feeling watching a fantasy movie and recognising the mountains and the hills in the background, fun though.

I made it through the trip in fairly good shape which is a relief, a couple of trips ago I would not be fit for much for a week or more afterward but today I’m good. It will take a day or two to reset the sleep cycle, but today I’m going to be working on the drawing board some, have to do some lawnmowing, will be off up the river in the kayak for my excersize run for the day, and will be putting the mast box into SEI. 

There is not so much to do to the little boat now, and I’m determined to get her in and sailing in time for our summer.

I miss sailing small boats, they give a feeling of connection to the water that bigger boats don’t, and its been a while since I had a boat that I could sail on impulse, my little gaff sloop takes an hour from arriving at the ramp to sailing, and an hour to pull her out and unrig her.  Much too long for a sail after supper, but SEI will take maybe 10 mins, less if I leave the rig set up and just bundle the sail and spars.

Note that the rig fits in the length of the boat so its all “inside” when being transported, I trimmed the mast by about 100mm and altered the plans to do this, makes things much easier.

On sails, for SEI I have one of the OZ Racer RSS sails from Mik Storer, you can get these from Duckworksmagazine 

www.duckworksbbs.com/sails/rss/index.htm

Nice sails, very well made, and super well priced!  I expect to be able to put up a post telling all about performance and set, but from what I have seen so far I’m impressed.

Its dead of winter here, the shortest day is only two weeks away, we lose another four minutes out of an already short day, dawn is about 7 30 am, and sunset about 5 15pm.  Yes I know its not anything like the UK or the Northern states, Canada or Scandinavia, but its still wetter and colder than summer, so its heater on so the pens will work, and sitting at the drawing board with my dog curled up asleep in the warm.

Nice, I don’t mind the weather at all.

But roll on springtime.

J

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Pontoon Boat Plans | La Paz to Bahia de Concepcion

Pontoon Boat Plans

Ensenada Grande with mainland Baja in the background.

On Saturday, April 13^th we went grocery shopping at the local Mega, took a long swim in the pool and had dinner at Steinbecks. The next morning we checked out of Costa Baja and headed north to Isla Partida. In the Sea of Cortez the wind generally blows up the sea or down the sea. Today it was blowing down the sea so we motor-sailed directly into a 15 knot headwind and lumpy, choppy seas as we passed up the west side of Isla Espiritu Santo toward our destination of Ensenada Grande on the west side of Isla Partida, arriving in the late afternoon. There were a few other boats in the anchorage, but it’s a big enough bay that we were able to anchor in a fairly secluded spot close to some bluffs on the south side of the bay. The water was clear enough that I could see the anchor send up a cloud of sand as it hit the bottom 22 feet below the surface. This made the snorkeling great, and we saw lots of tropical fish and healthy looking coral. Later we took the dinghy around the southern end of the bay, past Punta Tijeretas and into the tiny cove of Las Cuevitas where there is a blue footed booby rookery. It’s not the nesting season now, but there were still a lot of boobies around. That night I set my alarm to wake up at 0200 so we could watch a total eclipse of the moon. There is something awesome about seeing a lunar eclipse from the deck of a sailboat where there is no light pollution from any nearby civilization.

Sunset is a perfect time for a paddle in Ensenada Grande.

I have no idea how these unusual rocks were formed but they are fascinating to explore.

While there, we hiked up the hills behind the bay and explored the strange rock formations that line the north side of the bay. When we got restless we sailed north again toward the fishing village of San Evaristo on the mainland of Baja.

With a nice breeze out of the southeast, we had a pleasant sail for about twenty miles then about six miles from the anchorage, the wind died and we began to motor. We had been trolling all day without a bite, but about four miles out, the reel lit up and we caught a 20 pound dorado.  This was our first fish of this kind and as soon as we got the anchor down in Evaristo I had the BBQ out and we had a fine meal of grilled dorado, wild rice and a fine bottle of pinot grigio, supplied by my friends at C1. Thanks guys!  We spent a couple of days in Evaristo then departed for Puerto Los Gatos, about thirty miles up the Baja coast.

We caught him just in time for dinner.

A dorados beautiful colors quickly fade when they die. After giving him a couple of shots of rum this fellow relaxed and died peacefully.

It was a beautiful starboard tack reach, with about 12 knots of wind out of the east under a hazy, somewhat overcast sky. I like the overcast because it provides some relief from the sun, which can be brutal here in the Sea. We approached Los Gatos from the southeast and saw a boat anchored in the far northern part of the bay, which is about half a mile wide. We anchored in the southern part of the bay, about as far from the other boat as we could get and were looking forward to a beautiful, quiet evening.  But within an hour three other boats came into the bay and anchored close enough that we could hear them talking as they enjoyed their sundowners.  A couple of them left early the next morning so we were able to explore this beautiful bay pretty much in peace and solitude. Different voyages have different flavors. The last time we were here, three years ago, we were delighted to have lots of friends from other boats around. This time, we have been inclined to seek the solitude of empty bays and quiet nights. 

Our dinghy is a speck on the beach at Los Gatos.

On Saturday, April 19^th we got the anchor up early and headed for Bahia Agua Verde, about 13 miles north. With three knots of wind out of the southeast, there was no point in trying to sail, so we fired up the diesel and a couple hours later we anchored about a hundred yards off the beach in Agua Verde. Since it was the day before Easter Sunday, the beaches in the fairly large bay were crowded with Mexican vacationers here to celebrate the holiday. The next morning we hiked into the country behind the little settlement. Aside from fishing, the locals raise goats, pigs and a few cattle. There is a school and church, along with a couple of small tiendas and a restaurant or two, so Agua Verde, though it has no cell phone or internet service is fairly cosmopolitan compared to most other places in this part of Baja California.

Later in the day we raised the anchor and continued north 22 miles to Puerto Escondido.  We arrived around 1700 and passed through the narrow channel into the lagoon that makes this place an excellent all weather port of refuge. The lagoon is over a mile long and half a mile wide and until recently had over a hundred moorings. Now there are only a few moorings left, and they don’t look well maintained. Ashore, things have declined from the last time we were here. There is still a boatyard with a Travelift and a floating dock and a few boats hauled out here, but the place is pretty desolate. The restaurant has closed down and so has the little tienda. Puerto Escondido should be a thriving community, but apparently there has been a lot of disagreement within the local business community and with the government which has had a bad effect on the village. We had hoped to stock up on fresh food and use the Internet here, but instead we spent one night in the lagoon tied to an iffy looking mooring and left the next morning for the town of Loreto, about 14 miles up the coast.

Puerto Escondido sunrise. Regardless of the business situation in the village, the scenery remains awe inspiring. 

There is a tiny harbor at Loreto but it is for the exclusive use of the local fishermen, so we anchored outside and took the dinghy into town where we had a nice meal at the Hotel La Mision, checked email and wandered around the town a bit before heading back out to the boat. While ashore we visited a unique museum of sorts, with the skeletons of whales and dolphins on display.  Back aboard Finisterra, we spent a peaceful night anchored outside the harbor, then left early the next morning for Caleta San Juanico.   

 The distance from Loreto to San Juanico is about 27 miles and with scant wind, we motorsailed the entire distance, arriving in the early afternoon. There were four or five boats anchored in the north end of the bay and a couple more at the south end, so we chose a nice spot just off the beach in the middle part of the bay, anchoring in about 15 feet of water. With a light breeze coming out of the southeast and crystal clear water, the swimming was delightful. Later we grilled the last of the dorado I caught a week ago for dinner. The next morning we were underway early for the 50 mile passage to Bahia de Concepcion.

Caleta San Juanico is dotted with rocky islets.

 The wind blew out of the northwest, exactly the direction we wanted to go, so we motored toward Punta Concepcion until we were a few miles out. Then the wind shifted to northeast and piped up to about 20 knots and we had a fast sail around the point and about six miles down the bay. Then we furled the sails and picked our way through the pass between Punta Piedrita and tiny Isla Pitihaya, toward Playa Santispac. There were several boats already at anchor there, so we bore away toward the little cove at Posada de Conception where we anchored in about 20 feet of water in the lee of some tall bluffs which offered good protection from the strong northerlies that sometimes blow down the Sea of Cortez. Finisterra was to remain at anchor here for the next nine days. 

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