Logbook and Photos

With the boat ready to go and finally a reasonable weather report we set sail for the Baja Peninsula side of the Sea of Cortez on the tail end of a "norther".  Here we're sailing only with our two headsails, both poled out on either side of the boat, like two wings.   It's a very comfortable way to sail when the wind is directly behind you.  Gerrit has also found a comfortable place to read in the shade.

With 250nm down and 625nm to go, passage making is going well and we're settled into a routine.  For the big 3-day jump coming up, we need to listen to the weather and time that passage carefully.  So we push on to our intermediate destination, Los Frailes, on the southern end of the Baja, ready to make the jump when the weather window presents itself.   It's not high winds were concerned about ... it's lack of wind!

Los Frailes is a nice spot and we end up staying here for a few days.  There is very little wind, except for the late afternoon land thermals.  Good for kite flying, but only a local phenomena.  Out on the "crossing", its dead flat calm.

On Sunday, we finally head out on a forecast that contains some wind and with a good dose of wishful thinking.   This next leg is 350 nm and should take about 3 days.   Once again, we're back in the Pacific Ocean and are greeted by the long ocean swells originating from some big storm systems way far away in the Pacific Northwest.   The winds are fickle and we end up motoring on and off  for long stretches.  Joel and Gerrit busy themselves in the galley and prepare this awesome afternoon snack.

On our third day out and as we begin to approach the Mexican mainland, the winds finally pipe up to a good reef-your-sails blow in the order of 25kts.  It's hard to give you an impression of the ride, but with the wind right behind us and a single headsail, it's like a fast but smooth sleigh ride and in the moonlight, too!

Mid-morning Wednesday, we arrive at Tenacatita Bay and quite rested.  Last season, we visited Tenacatita and spent 3 weeks here.  It is also the furthest south we have been in our boat, last year turning north again and heading to the Sea of Cortez.  This time it will only be a few days here before moving south into new cruising territory.

In Tenacatita, we met up with 6 other cruising families.  Sailing vessels Peregrinata and Atalanta were friends from last year while Dagmar, Quetzal, Mariposa and m/v Williwa were new to us.  All had kids of varying ages.  In addition, a number are continuing south towards Panama, so it was great to spend time together and get (re)aquatinted.  A bunch of us went up the "jungle lagoon ride" through the mangroves for an excursion.  I don't think the Mexican's at the other end have seen so many gringo kids.  Here a grandmother prepares coconuts for some of our thirsty kids.

We leave Tenacatita with a light wind forecast so we ready our gennaker. The winds materialize and we have a beautiful sail with 10-15kts of wind over our starboard quarter.   But as the wind dies late at night we realize that we have forgotten to refuel and don't have enough diesel to motor the entire remaining trip if  wind doesn't materialize again ... oops.  The wind returns at 5am, but its right on the nose. We try to tack but progress is so limited that by 10am Sunday the motor is back on and we are powering into the wind at low RPM.  We motor through the day and evening and make plans to stop in a place where we can get fuel by jerry-can. But to our extreme delight, around 9 pm, the wind returns from the NE at 10kts and gives as a beautiful close-reach into Zihuatanejo for Monday morning.

It's quite hard to give you a photographic impression of Zihuatanejo; it's a large bay with plenty of room to anchor, including room for large cruise ships.  Since Christmas is near and all sorts of activities are happening in town, we anchor off the municipal pier and beach.  The water is quite murky, so we don't swim here, but rather a short dinghy ride away at Ropa Beach.  Here the boys are goofing around on our flopper-stopper, a device to dampen any rolling motion of the boat while at anchor. 

On Christmas Eve, we attend an English caroling service in nearby Ixtapa.  (Ixtapa is where all the hotels are:  Zihuatanejo is where all the locals live and is more of a typical Mexican town.)  The singing is fun and on the bus ride home, our group continues to sing in beautiful harmonies much to the surprise of the locals getting on and off the bus.   We even took requests!

The kids are happy to find that Santa has found us again.  Apparently, some kind sole told Santa to check our latest position report to track us down.  See our little tree tucked up against the mast?

Every morning in "destination" anchorages, like Zihuatanejo, there is usually a morning "net" on the 2-way VHF radio.  New boats introduce themselves, departing vessels say good-bye, and those staying put check-in.  Also, there is an opportunity to exchange all sorts of information and get your questions answered.  With so many kids in the anchorage area, every morning they too had their own net, for kids only.   Here, Gerrit is net controller for the last day in 2003.

Here's the view from our boat anchored off the town. Later today, we and the crew of s/v Atalanta head for Mexico City for a week's worth of discovery and adventure.  Stay tuned.