Season Two Begins!

Sea Rover II gets a new bottom!!

Mid-September marked the beginning of Cruising Season Two for us in the Sea of Cortez.  Gary and our friend Rob on s/v Avant stuffed our Subaru Forester with boat crap and drove to Mexico with the intention of supervising work being done to both our boats, and to get a few boat projects done before the season began.  While it sounded like a good idea at the time, the reality ended up not meeting the expectations…   It turns out that the average temperature in mainland Mexico in mid-September (or at least in Guaymas, where the boat was hauled out) is about 40oC, with 100% humidity.  And did I mention it is still hurricane season then?  Gary and Rob survived one Tropical Depression, with 50+ knot winds and more rain than you can possibly imagine.  Gary spent most of the night going around the yard tightening the stands of all the boats around us, then went and slept in the car.  By then the boat was moving so much on the stands he was afraid to sleep aboard.  But, they survived, as did our boats!  After an unproductive week (for them) sweating and living in McDonalds and Burger King (for the air conditioning), they admitted defeat and came home.  Luckily, the Mexican worker bees fixing our bottom didn’t seem to mind the weather and got most of the job done.  As this wouldn’t have happened if Gary hadn’t been there to harass them, it was a good thing he made the trip.

After a quick trip home to arrange renting out our house, Gary was off to the boat again on October 18^th.  He arrived in the evening and was in the water 36 hours later, after a flurry of activity. 

Sea Rover II going back into the water after her "makeover"

Happily, Sea Rover II was no worse for wear after her summer baking in the Mexican sun.  At least the heat took care of the little cockroach problem we developed at the end of last Cruising season!

Having made a 6 month commitment to work for the summer, I joined Gary on the boat on November 3^rd.  I was shocked (and pleased!) at the condition of the boat – she was clean, organized, and most of the “put back into the water” boat jobs were done.  There were even flowers on board to welcome me home!   I promptly rewarded his hard work and efforts by catching a terrible cold, which I then shared with him.  Several whiny days later, I am now on the mend.  He is a still a few days behind.

Installing new flexible solar panels on the hard dodger

As neither of us has been particularly healthy the last 2 weeks, we are still in Guaymas.  Despite our crappy health, we’ve been slowly picking away at the boat jobs that need to be done (installing solar panels, working on sewing projects etc) and helping friends get their boat ready for launch. 

The weather has also “turned” in the last week and so we are back into the typical winter “Norther” pattern, where it blows like hell for 3 days, then there are 2-3 days of calm, and then it blows like hell again.  In the two weeks we’ve already weathered two of these, and are in the midst of the third.  Needless to say we won’t be going anywhere any time soon. 

On Saturday we had our first “boat lesson” of the year – always check the tides, even if you don’t think you need to.  You guessed it, we didn’t complete this simple task and ended up going aground on a small underwater knoll when the wind switched direction.  Apparently they have negative tides here…   Of course the “grounding” coincided with a crazy squall (some people are calling it a “Microburst”) that literally came out of nowhere.  One minute there was a stiff breeze out of the south, the next it was blowing 30+ knots consistently from the north.  Unfortunately we were aground broadside to the wind when it hit 46 knots (!!) [about 90km/hr], and so we got heeled waaaay over.  Although this sounds 

Street art from "Day of the Dead" parade

bad, it turned out to be a good thing as the wind actually heeled the boat over enough to push us off the knoll!  Luckily the whole event was over in a matter of minutes and no damage was done.  At least we know that our ground tackle can withstand 45 knots of wind, although I’d rather not put it to the test on a regular basis.   So, not unexpectedly, as this is an El Nino year, it looks like we are going to encounter some “weather” this year.  

Guaymas is a pretty great place to be “stuck” though.  We are currently anchored in the bay off the Marina Fonatur, where we can shower and use the internet.  Our car is parked at the marina, which has been convenient for provisioning with food and water (we can’t run our watermaker in the harbor – too mucky) and for making Home Depot runs.  The town itself is great – we’ve been serenaded daily by several high school marching bands on the promenade (the sound carries really well into the anchorage), and the street food is fantastic.  We can both eat our fill of tacos and ice cream for less than $8!  It is almost cheaper to eat out than to cook for ourselves.

Enjoying the pool at Marina Fonatur Guaymas

We’ve also been reunited with our main group of Cruising friends – Bill on Greybeard, Scott and Tanya on Kialoa, and Rob and Debra on Avant.  So, it has been a fun time. 

But, it is not all play… I’m still working for STEMCELL one day a week and so I’ve been spending time going through data and working out how best to hold conference calls.  This means I need access to the internet on a weekly basis, which will restrict what we do and where we go this year somewhat, but so far so good.  This is another reason to stay here – internet access is easy.

Sunset over Guyamas, from anchor

So, overall we are re-adjusting well to boat life.  We miss Charlotte, but I know she is happier at Fat Camp this year.  Hopefully my parents will survive having her for 6 months!  Fingers crossed.  

Home for the Summer

For those wondering where we are.  We are back in Vancouver.
We aren't sure what the plan is going forward.  Karina is happily back at work and I am sorting out whether my dog still likes me.
We will post again when we know more
All for now

So, The Haul Out Didn't Quite Go As Planned....

Heading for the marina...we think

Oh Oh.... this isn't good

They say there are three kinds of sailors: those who have been aground, those who haven't been aground yet, and those who lie. On April 14th, 2015 we firmly moved from category number two to category number one.

We set off from the Fonatur marina on a beautiful, warm sunny morning - there were six of us on board: Gary and myself, Scott and Tanya from s/v Kialoa, and Jim and Tricia from s/v Falcon VII.

We were set to haul-out of the water at the dry storage yard in Guaymas at 10 am, the second boat of the day (our friend Bill on s/v Greybeard was ahead of us).  We transferred Scott and Tanya to Bill's boat, then drifted around the bay while waiting for him to get pulled out of the water.

Finally, at 9:40 am we got the OK from the marina staff to move into the marine slip ways for the haul out.

Guaymas harbour is known for being extremely shallow, which strikes fear into owners of large draft boats like ourselves (we draw 7 feet below waterline). To remove the stress of going into an unknown, very shallow harbour, Gary had helped another couple into the marina a few days before. He took his handheld GPS and plotted a course, as well as used our handheld depth sounder to determine the depth of the channel leading into the marine ways (there are no buoys marking the channel, this being Mexico).  As he read 10 feet all the way in, we were feeling confident that we knew where we were going and all would go smoothly. Famous last words.

As we headed towards the slip way, the guys from the marina talked us in...'go left... now a bit to your right...'. In addition to these instructions, we were supposed to make sure we lined the slip way up with an old house on the shore behind us. As we were getting close to the docks, I looked behind and realized we'd drifted just a tad to the right. As I began to tell Gary to turn to the left...Thump. Bump. Yup, we were aground.

Aaaaaggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murray from s/v Ponga helping us to kedge off the reef...

 Did we mention it was a falling tide??

We sprang into action.

Plan A: Gary tried to reverse off the reef using both the engine and the bow thruster. No luck.

Plan B: We radio'd the boat set to haul out after us (s/v Ponga from Victoria, with Marty and Murray on board) and asked if they'd be willing to try to tow us off. They agreed. We threw them a line and with both engines pinned, we tried to pull us off. Again, no luck.

...Then trying to back off the reef...

Plan C: We attached one of our anchors (which was of course nicely packed away in our back lazarette) to a line on a halyard (which we had to re-run up the mast as we'd pulled all of our lines before leaving the Fonatur...lessons for next year - don't pack everything away on the boat until you are out of the water!). Murray from Ponga took the anchor and dropped it several hundred feet off our port side. We then reeled in the line and tried to heel the boat over enough to slide us off the reef. No luck.

... with some help from the Mexican Navy... No luck.

Plan D: Unknown to us, the marina guys had called in the Mexican Navy to give us a hand. The next thing we knew, a large panga with two Navy guys showed up. They picked up Andre and Roberto from the marina (who both speak perfect English, thank god) and came out to help. They attached a line to our back cleat and revved their 90 horsepower engine. Despite creating a lot of impressive wash in the water, we didn't even budge.

Plan E: Wait until high tide and float off the reef.


We lowered our dingy into the water and Gary rowed Jim and Tricia to shore. They were along to help, but we didn't want them to have to wait around for 6 hours while the boat heeled over and came back up again. Overall the day was quite instructive for them as they learned where NOT to go and what NOT to do.

Low tide

Low tide was at 1:20 pm. Happily we only ended up on a 14 degree angle. Apparently the last boat that had gone aground a few days earlier (another BCA boat, s/v Swerver II) heeled over to 45 degrees. So we felt pretty lucky.  We were also happy that the afternoon wind waves weren't that big and so we weren't bounced up and down on the bottom. We just rested sedately on our side and waited to float again.

Self-explanatory

A look says a thousand words

View of the travel lift from our grounded boat at low tide. So close, yet so far...  we were just 10 feet too far to the right!! 

Sea Rover safely in the marine ways after her ordeal

Finally, at 4:10 pm the reef decided it had had enough of us and let us go. Thankfully we were in the cockpit discussing what we would do when we drifted free and so we were quickly able to turn on the engine and get underway (before we were pushed over to the other side of the channel by the wind and ran aground again). We turned the boat around, got in touch with the marina guys and told them we were coming into the dock. Luckily they were on the dock waiting for us, as the strong cross wind made for a very tricky entry into the marine ways. More hands on deck would have been useful, but we got the lines to the guys and they pulled us in to safety.

As it was too late in the day to haul us out, we stayed in the marine ways overnight. We were then hauled out first thing the next morning (ahead of s/v Kialoa, who were scheduled to be the first boat of the day - sorry Scott and Tanya) without incident.

No damage done, except to our egos. Phew.

Easter in Santa Rosalia

Church designed by Gustav Eiffel (of the tower fame)

Santa Rosalia is an old mining town about midway up the east coast of the Baja peninsula. It is our last stop on the Baja side before we head over to Guaymus to haul the boat out for the summer. The copper mine here operated for about 150 years before shutting down in the mid 1980's. The mining history here is quite rich, as much of the infrastructure is still standing (and, it being Mexico) accessible.

Rock crusher in the processing plant

We toured the mining museum (which is still recovering from losing most of it's roof in Hurricane Odile in September), then walked through the ruins of the old smelting plant. Although definitely a walking safety hazard, you can still get up to the second floor and look around. The old furnaces still stand, as do some of the turbines etc. We had fun trying to figure out the processing process.



The town itself was apparently constructed from BC timber and much of it is still standing. It is certainly the only place we've seen in Mexico where the houses are made of wood. Interestingly, they've made most of the new stucco construction look like wood to match. So, kind of a neat town.

It is definitely NOT a tourist destination. The only gringos here are the Cruisers.

Jesus at the beginning of the procession

We'd been told by other Cruisers that the Easter celebrations on Good Friday were not to be missed. We understood that there would be a parade and that it was quite elaborate. This turned out to be an understatement. Ten Cruisers lined up with about 1000 locals to watch (and participate) in the proceedings.

The judgement of Jesus

Leading Jesus to his fate

Following the crowd 

It started off by Jesus and the three thieves being dragged into the square by several soldiers, while the 'townspeople' watched.

Jesus was then de-robed, whipped, re-robed and dragged down the street, followed by the crowd (us included). The procession proceeded through the town, stopping every couple of blocks so the next part of the story could be played out (all 12 stations). The crowd, full of families, babies, grandmothers, dogs, teenagers etc, all sang between the different acts of the re-enactment as they walked along. This went on for 2 hours while the thousand of us wound our way through town and up the hill to the big cross that overlooks the city. Then, yup, you guessed it, Jesus got nailed (well, tied) to the cross.

The final scene of the re-enactument

 I'm not sure we'd participate in something like this again, but we are certainly glad we did. I gather this is a pretty common Catholic tradition, but it was amazing to see the whole town participate. Quite an experience

Crews of Falcon VII, Avant, Kialoa and Sea Rover II (all BCA members)

The next few days were filled with boat projects, as it is time to start preparing the boat for it's 6 month 'vacation' on the hard in the blistering Mexican summer sunshine. We've been washing canvas, rinsing the boat, oiling all the woodwork, sorting through and cleaning all the cabinets and cupboards. Fun fun.

Mmmmmm, deep fried bacon-wrapped hotdog... 

In between all our boat chores, we did find time to eat some ice cream and try our first deep fried bacon-wrapped hot dog though...mmmmm. Definitely a treat not to be missed.


We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. We will be celebrating with a potluck dinner with all the other Cruisers at the dock tonight, but we'll be thinking of you all.

Heading Further North

Caleta San Juanico

After a slow sail from Isla Coronado, we spent three days in lovely Caleta San Juanico.  This quickly became one of our favourite stops on the trip north. We arrived just before dark, but managed to snag an ideal anchor spot between several rock reefs. At least, it was ideal for the first two days... until a strong west wind threatened to push us into one of the reefs - in the middle of the night. After both lying awake for several hours waiting to hear the crunch of our rudder on the rocks, we decided to up-anchor and move to a deeper, less rock-strewn spot. Still, it was nice while it lasted.

Gary's Birthday dinner - thanks Bill and Phil!

We spent our days snorkeling (which unfortunately wasn't great as the visibility in the water was poor), hiking, and walking the wonderful beaches.

Our stay here coincided with Gary's birthday. After inviting several other Cruisers to help us celebrate, Bill and Phil (both single-handers) took it upon themselves to catch the birthday dinner. Miraculously, they each managed to spear a large parrot fish, so we ate like kings. Gary BBQ'd it with garlic and butter...mmmmm.

Gary's Birthday dinner

He even got a cake...with icing

I even managed to bake a cake (from a box) and make icing (from scratch). For those of you who don't know me well, I don't bake. So, this was a pretty big deal. It was even edible (or at least our guests had no trouble gobbling it up - but then again they are Cruisers...).

Leaving our mark at the Cruisers shrine in San Juanico

Before leaving, we added our contribution to the famous "Cruisers shrine". Basically each visiting boat hangs something or places something under one of the small trees on the beach. Some of the displays are quite elaborate (like the huge carving made in the hillside above the tree - no idea how the people got up there to do the carving). We found things from several other Blue Water Cruising boats, so it was kind of fun to poke around the area. We chose to carve our boat name into a small piece of sandstone and placed it on the ground near the tree. Guess we'll see if we can find it next year.

Heading north early...Sunrise at Punta Pulpito

We reluctantly left San Juanico and had a very boisterous up-wind sail to an anchorage 8 miles north called Punta Pulpito. We had pretty consistent 18 knot winds directly on the nose, so we bashed our way north with a reef in the main and genoa. Not the most comfortable sail of the year, but it certainly was fast!

From looking back at pictures from our sea kayaking trip 13 years ago, we determined that Punta Pulpito was one of our stops, as was Caleta San Juanico. It was certainly different to see it from the perspective of the sailboat this time.

Whale shark (dark lump) and campers - Playa Coyote

After a quick overnight stop, we left at sunrise for a 50 nautical mile day up to Playa Coyote in Bahia Conception. We had pretty much decided to by-pass Bahia Conception this trip as other Cruisers had warned us it would be extremely busy. The week after Easter is a school holiday in Mexico (Semana Santa) and so many families (ie, thousands) descend on the beaches in Bahia Conception for their once a year camping experience. We weren't sure we wanted to experience that after being in such remote places for so long, but then our friends Rob and Deb on s/v Avant told us there were whale sharks in the bay! That clinched it for us (well, for me anyway).

Following a whale shark on the SUP

As it turned out, Bahia Conception was also a highlight of the trip north. When we arrived the beach at Playa Coyote was only about half full of campers, but it was amazing to watch it fill up with tents over the next few days.

The Mexicans take car camping to a whole new level. Each campsite housed several extended families, each of which had tents with full kitchens, eating tents, sleeping tents, port-a-pottie tents etc. Some families had set up hammocks in the palm trees, and most had water toys of some variety. One night they had an impromptu disco on the beach. While we were there, a small tienda (store) popped up on the beach, along with a hot dog stand and beer tent. And the ice cream truck drove by on a regular basis. Although this sounds kind of awful when you try to describe it, it was actually really interesting to watch. It was a total family atmosphere and so the vibe was really good. No one was overly rowdy, everyone just wanted to visit with their extended family and have fun.

Luckily for us, all the activity in the bay didn't affect the whale sharks, at least for the first day and half we were there. We were able to quietly follow them on the paddleboard while they cruised the shoreline. It was pretty amazing to see them just swimming around our boat.

Another unexpected benefit of going into Bahia Conception was that the water temperature was 25oC. Definitely the warmest water we've seen in Mexico. You could easily swim without a wetsuit. We took advantage of this and cleaned the bottom of the hull (Gary) and removed the tar that had been stuck to the side of Sea Rover since California (me). It was nice to spend a few hours in the water.

Mulege - oasis in the middle of the desert

Another highlight of trip to Bahia Conception was spending a day in the tiny town of Mulege.  Mulege is a couple of miles up the Rio (river) Santa Rosalia and so the valley is absolutely filled with palm trees. It is always weird (but welcome) to see palm trees in the middle of the desert.

Our group of Cruisers (5 boats) had made friends with one of the Mexican families camping on the beach and so the father Ceasar) very kindly drove us into town. We spent the afternoon exploring, enjoying tasty fish tacos and visiting the 250 year old mission.  We had an "it's Mexico" experience on the way

250 year old mission in Mulege

home as Ceasar had arranged for someone to take us back to the campsite. Of course when we showed up at the rendezvous spot the guy wasn't ready... then he was busy... then he couldn't do it at all, but he'd arranged for someone else to take us back (or at least this is what we think they were telling us!). After about an hour of waiting, another guy did show up to take us back. But of course the price was 50% higher than what Ceasar had initially negotiated for us.  But, he got us back to the boats in one piece (he drove like a maniac) so we can't really complain.

Although we loved Bahia Conception, the lure of strong south winds convinced us to head further north to our final destination on the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez for this season. We left in the company of another Blue Water Cruising boat, our friends Jim and Tricia from Falcon VII, and had our best sail of the year - a 9 hour spinnaker run almost all the way to Santa Rosalia. Truly fantastic!  We plan to spend Easter weekend in Santa Rosalia before heading across the Sea to our final final destination of Guaymus, where we will haul the boat out of the water for the summer.  More to come!

Chasing down s/v Falcon VII... Best sail of the year - a 9 hour spinnaker run!!

Heading North

Now that we've finished with all our guests on board it's become time to start heading north for the last part of our trip this year.  We have a haul out date of April 13th in Guaymas which is about 300 NM from La Paz.  On paper it doesn't seem very far but we'll be fighting the north winds all the way....  Or so we thought...
We left La Paz in light northerlies under sail and through out the first day the winds slowly clocked around to the south.  For the next two days we sailed long days taking advantage of the unexpected perfect "going north" weather, sailing past our planned stops happy that we didn't have to use fuel.

Caleta Nopolo at dawn

For those that haven't kept up with our blog, winds in our favour is a very big deal for us here in the Sea.  Since we've arrived we've been told that winds are generally from the north.  Which has consistently been the case until we decide we had to go south.  Our mast head wind indicator has only functioned as a pointer of where we are trying to go, meaning the wind has been against us for the vast majority of the past three months.  For once the wind was perfect and we were enjoying every minute of it.

New vs Old (ie, from the engine) impeller

On the third day the sea gods figured we'd had enough enjoyment and decided to smite us.  The day started off pleasant enough under light sailing conditions, but slowly the winds increased from the north and the seas built.  Happy that we were still able to sail we reefed and deployed the padding to keep our bums happy.  Then the clouds grew darker.  Then the lightning and thunder started.  Then the winds and seas picked up more.  Then we decided it was time to get off the water.  The closest indent that offered any protection was Puerto Los Gatos, a small bay surrounded by jagged rocks.  We sailed right into the bay proud that we had survived the day.  Unfortunately the sea gods weren't done with us yet.  As we turned the engine on and dropped the sails we realized there was no water cooling our engine.  After a Chinese fire-drill of trying to decide what to do (remember there's a thunderstorm overhead and wind and big seas), we drop the anchor where we sit and shut the engine down.  We didn't get into the bay enough to offer complete protection so we were stuck with fun house conditions until the engine was fixed.

Red rocks at Puerto Los Gatos

8 hours later in rolly, hot and humid conditions (those conditions always make me soooo happy and easy to be around), we had the engine back together after finding most of the pieces scattered in various parts of the complicated water cooling system from the rubber water pump impeller vanes.

This was the same issue we had on the west coast of Baja after another bumpy sail.  Somehow we are getting airlocks into our water cooling system that the pump cannot overcome.   We have some thoughts on changes to make in order to prevent it from happening again but for now we will just be vigilant in making sure water is always flowing out the back.

Road Runner...Beep Beep!

The next morning was a new day and the sea gods had finally focused their attention somewhere else.  We had a pleasant sail to Agua Verde and spent two days snorkeling and exploring the small remote community in search of their famous goat cheese.  Unfortunately it was a Sunday so most residents were at the church.  Given our recent history with the gods we decided not to press our luck and pull someone out of the service to sell us the cheese.  We did see many goats and surprisingly lush gardens for the desert.  Our first viewing of an actual "road runner" brought back great childhood memories.

View from crater on Isla Coronado

After two days of rest it was time to move on again.  We made good distance in reasonable conditions with a small sailboat race mixed in.  We aren't sure if the other sailboat knew they were racing or not but we beat them anyway and anchored at the south end of Isla Coronado.  This was an island we had visited almost 15 years ago by kayak which had us reminiscing... well actually doing our best to remember any details of the surprisingly foggy memories.  I guess we are getting old.

Having made great time north we have caught up to a few of our sailing friends, Kialoa, Grey Beard, Falcon Seven and a new boat Victoria.  We all got up early and hiked the 900 ft up the extinct volcano for fantastic views of the surrounding area.  After that strenuous activity most of us retreated below decks for naps, except for Bill and Phil, who aren't human and decided they would catch us all dinner by spearfishing.

We had a pleasant sunset on the beach catching up with our friends adventures, and on the walk back with Karina in the lead surprised a rattle snake catching the last rays of sun on the path.  For some reason we don't have any pictures, but there was a lot of screaming and rattling.  In the end the snake convinced us to find a different way to the boat and all was well.

 This morning we awoke to splashes and were treated to dolphins fishing and playing around our boat.  We've got light winds right now but hope for another southerly to pick up this afternoon which will carry us further north to San Juanico where we plan to spend a few days doing a few boat jobs.

Waking up to dolphins off the stern

Poor baby Charlotte

I'm sad to report that Charlotte went home to Vancouver Island with my parents on Sunday. Unfortunately she didn't take to the Cruising lifestyle as well as we'd hoped. As she is a beagle, she requires a LOT of stimulation, something which we couldn't seem to give her on a regular basis while on board.

At home she went for 3 walks a day, had agility training on weekends, and had a lovely bed in the window where she could watch the world go by when we weren't home. On the boat she couldn't see outside when she was in the main cabin, she couldn't make it up and down the companionway on her own, and only got to go to shore once or twice a day.

Plus, the trip down the coast was difficult. We often had big, lumpy seas and so she'd be forced to stay below decks the entire time. Either Gary or I was always down in the cabin with her, depending who was off-watch, but she hated it none-the-less. We were forced to do mostly 24-36 hour passages with her as well, and so that was hard. While she did learn to "go" on her artificial grass pee mat, it was a long, and probably painful process for her.

The result of all this was that we started to see some behavioral changes in her, namely, she blamed Gary for everything and a thus a battle of wills began. While we were mostly able to keep this under control (we are bigger than her, you know), it wasn't fair to her or us to continue things as they were.

We made the difficult decision to send her back to Canada. My parents graciously agreed to take her home and re-arranged their trip down to see us to do so.

So, Charlotte is now off the boat and roaming free in my parents' lovely big yard on Protection Island. I'm sure she is getting fed on time, getting her 'treats' in the evening, and is walking my Dad's legs off. I know she is happier, and that is the main thing, but it was still hard to see her go.

Gary and I will continue on and end this years Cruising as we began it, alone.

Thanks, Mum and Dad for looking after the wee beast.