Sea of Cortez - April 15-April 26

The Sea of Cortez is a blend of geological formations of the desert, the changing colors of the ocean and the contrasts of the sky. The Sea is approximately 700 miles long with an average width of 93 miles. Years (and years ago) the Sea of Cortez actually went as far north as Palm Springs, California. The Salton Sea is the remnants of the Sea of Cortez.

There are about 100 islands within the Sea of Cortez and on the outside of Baja. Many of these islands are preserved as natural parks. According to the Nature Conservancy “the Sea of Cortez is the second most diverse marine body in the world.”

We have been without internet or cell phone coverage for the past 2 weeks. It is the first time we have experienced not knowing the date or day of the week. It is great!

We have been buddy boating with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray, Ed and Annette on Wind Song and new friends Trudy and Del on Island Grace. We have enjoyed many Happy Hours, Pot luck dinners, picnics on the beach, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and a new game – Bocci Ball. And at each new anchorage we have met new friends and seen old friends.

Our first anchorage after La Paz was at Caleta Partida, which was a cove between the channel of 2 islands, Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. Its origin is from a volcano as it is a crater of an extinct volcano. We spent time kayaking and hiking. The water looks like pool water around the shores, so clear. We went on a hike through one of the canyons on Isla Partida. It was hard work climbing over huge boulders and rising elevation. The climb was well worth it for the scenery and also the absolute quietness. The surrounding rocks are layered of dark brown, black and ivory. During our snorkeling we saw many scallops which we would of loved to have, however, it is against the law.

We experienced winds which we have found is common in the Sea. The winds around these islands are called the Coromuels. These winds usually begin in the evening and blow all night.

Surprising it is much cooler in the Sea than we expected. When under passage in the morning we have worn sweat shirts. Day temperatures are not much hotter than 80 degrees, night time has gone to the 60’s and the most unfortunate part is the water temperature is only about 71 degrees.

Our next anchorage was Isla San Francisco, which I think is our favorite so far. It has a crescent shaped bay surrounded by white beaches and views of red rocky cliffs. When we hiked to the top of the ridges on the islands we could see both sides of the island. It was a magical view. We were also able to walk to the opposite side of the island for good swimming. Shell collecting has become one of our favorite past times. There are so many shells.

Next stop was San Evaristo (on Baja). So far this is our least favorite anchorage. Evaristo is a very small fishing village. On our walk the village was very dry and dusty. There are limited activities at this anchorage. We had to stay longer in this anchorage due to high winds. The winds always seemed to come at night. We clocked 44 knot winds, (we heard some areas clocked 87 knots) thus a miserable night.

Onward to Puerto los Gatos. This was a very rough passage. Wind was on our nose. At times we were taking water over the Dodger. The uniqueness of this anchorage is the dark red cliffs and rock formations. We took many walks along the beach rocks, again the views are beautiful.

We are currently at Puerto Escondido. We have arrived here earlier than we planned due to our alternator has gone out. Thank goodness for Wally’s mechanical ability to diagnose a problem. We are about 14 miles from Loreto where hopefully we can get it repaired. We will be in Escondido for about a week. We are participating in a fund raiser, Loreto Fest. Actually it will be filled with social activities with fellow cruisers, games, eating, crafts, and special workshops.

Angel has become quite a swimmer and hiker. She too is enjoying the cruising lifestyle!

La Paz, Baja California

La Paz (Spanish - The Peace) is the capital city of Baja California Sur. La Paz has a population of approximatly 190,000. La Paz was first inhabited 10,000 years ago by the Neolithic hunting gathers. Their existence has been found in the form of rock paintings in Baja California. We are looking forward to viewing some of these paintings.

The year round temperature of La Paz is 75-77 degrees. We have been experiencing 90 degree temperature during the day, however, the winds pick up in the evening and becomes quite cool.

We have been enjoying walking the beautiful La Paz Malecon which is a seaside walkway. Many statues are along the walkway. As usual we also see many fishing pangas. There are also many restaurants. We watch many beautiful sunsets across the bay.

The city has a much different feel than the mainland Mexico. We see many more American products in the grocery stores. Some of the food items and restaurants seem higher also.
We have not seen the normal cobble stone roads. The streets are clean and the city appears well tended. We took a city tour which was very picturesque of the city, however, the tour guide never talked about any of the sites. Oh well, not all tours work out.

Marina Palmira

Sea Turtle

Flying manta ray, we think

Rosie and Linda enjoying the water

La Paz Melacon

La Paz at sunset

Andanzas at sunrise

Statue along the malecon

"El viejo y el mar" (Old Man and the Sea")
The following is a poem that was written in Spanish under the statue.

I have a paper boat
It's made from a page
On which I have written my dreams
It has neither anchors, nor mooring ropes
I want to sail in it
On the seven seas; in the eighth
Where I know I will run aground in the port of my desires
...Has someone even seen the light shining from the lighthouse?

We plan to leave La Paz tomorrow to explore the surrounding islands.

La Paz, Baja California

We had a beautiful day from Muertos to La Paz. We had flat seas with about 5 knots of wind until the last couple of hours coming into the Bay when the wind went up to 20 knots. The coast line was desert mountains. We went 52 miles to Marina Palmira in La Paz. We continue to travel with Wind Song and Serena Ray. We will stay in La Paz for a few days.

Sunrise in Muertos

Baja Coast

Baja Coast

Serena Ray

Wind Song

My crew

Marina Palmira

Ensenada de los Muertos, Sea of Cortez

Ensenada de los Muertos, or translated in English, Cove of the Dead. This is a beautiful anchorage with clear green water, white sandy beaches, and desert beyond the beaches. There is one restaurant on one side of the cove and an exclusive resort at the other end of the cove. Potential developers of this area would like to change the name to Bahia de los Suenos, or Bay of Dreams.

Years ago, 1920's, this cove used to be a cargo port for near by silver mining operations. In later years it was used for transporting salt. Currently it is a potential development for tourism.

Muertos is 190 miles west of Mazatlan across the Sea of Cortez. We crossed the Sea with John and Rosie, of Serena Ray, and Ed and Annette, of Wind Song. It took us 27 hours to cross. We left Mazatlan with 2-3 foot swells and 10-15 knots of wind. We had a half moon and brilliant stars during the night. In the early morning hours the seas went flat and wind dropped to less that 5 knots.

We saw all kinds of sea life - flying-jumping sting rays, sea turtles, flying fish, and dolphins.
Once anchored in Muertos we have continued to see flying sting rays, flying fish, dolphins and a whale. I wish I could grab the camera fast enough for pictures of all the sea life.

We have been swimming from the boats. The water temperature is about 75 degrees. The day temperature is in the low 80's. The nights are cooling down to the 60's. We have been walking on the beaches exploring and collecting sea shells. We have had pot luck dinners with our friends.

While the first day and a half the weather has been good the past 2 days we have had wind up to 20 knots in the anchorage. It has prevented us from moving on, however, tomorrow looks good to head north to La Paz.

Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

Happy Spring! We have been in Mazatlan for the past few weeks. Wally has been busy repairing and installing a new auto pilot, shower sump, water pump, and many other items that he seems to keep busy with all the time.

While Wally has been working I have been visiting my family in the States. I was in 3 different locations and 8 flights round trip. I enjoyed all the visiting, shopping, and playing. One of the highlights was my granddaughters first birthday party.


We are leaving in the morning for La Paz. We will spend the next 2 months exploring the Sea of Cortez.

Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

We have arrived at Mazatlan, our home port in Mexico. We went first from La Cruz to Mantachen, a distance of 63 miles and 10 hours. For the 6 hours we had huge seas of 12-14 feet about 10 knots of wind. We were bouncing all over. Remember we are now hand steering due to no auto pilot, great on building arm muscles. The second day we made a run to Mazatlan, 134 miles and 21 hours. The seas were calmer this day. We were fortunate to be following Serena Ray during the night. They were our north star to follow.

Wally has many projects to complete while in Mazatlan. All of our new parts, auto pilot, shower sump and water pump, have arrived from the States via Ed and Annette of WindSong. While Wally will be working I am flying home to the States to visit my family. I have the better deal.

I have continued to improve seasickness. First use the electrical impulse ReliefBand, swallow Sturgeon ( a medication not approved in the US), suck on Ginger Altoids and anti acid tablets. When all of that fails, pray that it will be over soon.

We had the pleasure to celebrate Ed and Annette's, Wind Song, wedding. We had a celebration, and affirmation of wedding cruising vows on Serena Ray. All of us were participants in the celebration. We had Ed and Annette as Bride and Groom, Wally as the Reverend, Linda - Wedding Planner, John - the Chef, Rosie -Assistant Chef, Teresa -Assistant Wedding Planner, Steve - photographer.

La Cruz, Nyarit, Mexico

We are slowly making our way north to Mazatlan. Our first leg of the trip was Ixtapa to Las Hadas, a distance of 189 miles and 30 hours. We had a very rough night with seas 10-14 feet and wind 20-25 knots, both coming from opposite directions. First time, Wally was even saying he had a quesey stomach. We stayed 1 night in the anchorage at Las Hadas.

Second leg was from Las Hadas to Barra de Navidad, a distance of 26 miles and 4 1/2 hours. I love these short runs. Our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray have been waiting for us in Barra. We were grateful they were there as when we were coming into the bay we decided to get fuel. Unfortunately it was low tide, we hit a sand spit and went aground. John and Rosie with their 40 hp dingy and another 45 hp dingy had to pull us off the bar. There is a saying here: If you haven't gone aground yet, you will. Makes us feel a little better.


We spent 4 days in Barra enjoying the pools, being with our friends, and kayaking. During the time we were in Barra the Chili earthquake occurred. This resulted in a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast. We were notified by VHF radio that there was a warning. We monitored all the reports to determine our course of action. Many boats left the anchorage and marina to go to sea for deep water, suggested greater than 150 feet. We decided to stay in the marina. The only things we saw were huge current changes in the bay.

Next leg of the trip is Barra de Navidad to Tenacatita, a distance of 15 miles and 3 hours. In route we lost our auto pilot and our running lights. While we had planned to spend a few days at Tenacatita we decided that without auto pilot and not knowing if the weather would change we would leave the next day. We are currently buddy boating with Serena Ray.

We went from Tenacatita to Chamela, 30 miles and 5 hours. We had seas 6-8 feet and wind 5-10 knots. We are currently hand steering the boat. We stayed one night at Chamela. The next morning we left, Chamela to La Cruz, a distance of 92 miles and 14 hours. We started up with 5-10 knots of wind which built up to 20 knots going around Cabo Corrientes (Point Conception of Mexcio). We came into the marina at night and were definitely tired after hand steering.


We have been in La Cruz the past week. We have mostly been working on boat projects. Wally determined that our auto pilot is history. In addition, our shower sump is going out and our water pump is failing. We have ordered all new equipment and should arrive in Mazatlan with our friends Ed and Annette. Wally will have his hands full repairing all of these things. I will be playing Girl Friday.

In addition many of our friends are here. As you probably note we have friends in every port. Our friends Jim and Lucy on Passage II, and Craig and Eva on South Trails, both from Ventura, have arrived. It is great catching up with them. We have been kayaking, dock parties, evenings out and visiting, shopping, and visiting surrounding towns.

We plan to leave in the morning with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray and Stan and Val on Pax Nautica heading first to Matanchen and then our last leg to Mazatlan.