07/12/2012, Sweet Pea Cove, Isla San Marcos
After breakfast this morning, we moved around to the north part of the bay, where we will have a little bit more protection from the SE winds that are blowing, and are predicted to continue for several days. We had bit of a down day, with some reading, computer work, a couple of minor boat projects, a swim, a walk on the beach...oh, and the ever important nap!
Tomorrow, we are going to explore some of the sea caves that are near here. Some are really large, you can drive your dinghy right into them, but we will take the kayaks so we can really get a good chance to look around.
Any of you friends or family that have our Mexico phone number and want to give us a call, we have great reception here in this bay, but wont be able to make any calls out as our phone minutes ran out. we will buy more on Saturday, when we go into Rosalia to provision, and do laundry
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07/11/2012, Sweet Pea Cove, Isla San Marcos
Hello to our fans, when we left you last night we were in Punta Chivato, it was getting windy, rolly and we had a lot of lightening off to the east. Well, the lightening never made it, but the winds did. We have found that when we have a rolly anchorage, it never seems to go away over night, and last night was no exception. In fact, got a whole hell of a lot worse! By 1:00 Am the winds had built to 26, with gusts over 30, and we had wind waves crashing into the anchorage that were over four feet high.
So, right after the net this morning, we pulled anchor and headed father north, to Isla San Marcos, and the anchorage called Sweet Pea. We mostly motored thru the 3-6 foot seas, with little or no wind, but the last 7-8 miles we were able to set the sails, and have a screaming fast sail, at 6.5 to 7.2 knots.
Jeanne is just pulling a pizza out of the oven, and we might just pull the anchor again, and go around the corner to a northern anchorage that will protect us from the southerlies that are now building.
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07/10/2012, Punta Chivato
We decided to make a run towards the north this morning, with the idea that we "might" get some wind to sail. WE DID!! we went 27.2 miles today, and sailed 25 miles of, with great winds, in the 15-18 knots the whole way.
We are anchored in south side cove of Punta Chivato. It is dark, a bit rolly, and we are watching the lightening out in the middle of the Sea. If you read my weather blog, you will know that is where we watch for Chubascos to come from. Looks like we are OK tonight, as they all seem to be passing towards the north of us.
We might move on tomorrow, as this just seems open and rolly.
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07/08/2012, Playa Santa Barbara
One of the things about living full time on a sailboat, especially one that is not tied to a dock, is a need to stay informed about the weather. The sea of Cortez has some of the most unique weather I have ever seen. The shape of the sea, and the different land shapes around it have so many different effects, that while predicting the weather can be an interesting challenge, there are some things that remain consistent. In the winter, we have mostly a series of northerlies that can blow up and down the sea to 40 knots, causing some pretty good wave action. As spring time rolls around, we are subject to some changes in weather here in the Sea of Cortez, many of which are localized, and also based on the shape of the land. In La Paz, where the low land funnels winds from the Pacific ocean we get the Coromuels. The warm air and waters of the Sea of Cortez, pull the cooler winds from the Pacific Ocean side primarily in the evenings. These winds are usually 15-20 knots but can, and usually do, occur almost every night in the La Paz area
As early summer rolls around, the dominate winds are now out of the south. This new direction now brings into play a few other phenomenons to consider. The first one, and a more common occurring event, are the Chubascos. These are convection based cells, that originate on the mainland, and migrate towards the west. They are very powerful, but short lived storms, lasting usually only 45 minutes, but sometimes as long as 4 hours of 50-70 knot winds. The next one is the Elephantes, a westerly based wind, that is much like a Coromuel, but are usually visible when their elephant trunk shaped cloud forms over the larger valleys or arroyos on the Baja.
And, last but surely not least, are the Pacific Hurricanes. The word Hurricanes brings to mind such violence and damage, and is with out doubt the biggest weather concern we have while here in the Sea of Cortez. Historically, there has never been a hurricane come up into the sea prior to August, and the higher you travel up into the sea, the lower your chances are of a direct hit by one. With that very thing in kind, we are heading north, and plan on being in the Bahia Los Angles area before the month of August gets here. The months of August, September, and October are three months that hold a threat for us to encounter a hurricane.
Now, with all that in mind, I am going to post a link for all of you back home, and around the world following along, to see what our weather is doing every day. Geary Ritchie, the host of the 4th of July party this week, is also our weather guru. He is a full time beach bum extraordinare, and the guy we rely on for daily weather. He does a live broadcast on the ham net at 7:45 AM local time (13:45 Zulu time - 3.968 mhz LSB ham), and then puts the daily weather on a podcast on the website that supports the ham net. If you go to the website. click on weather podcast and you can listen to exactly what we do every morning.
Sonrisa Net ham net
www.Sonrisanet.org
http://sonrisanet.org/podcasts/today.mp3
Hope you get a kick out of this!!
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Thanks.
07/08/2012, Playa Santa Barbara
It is the weekend in El Burros Cove. Now normally that fact would not mean much to us, but here in El Burro Cove, that means some of the locals all come to the water to swim, party, play loud music, and worst of all.....break out the jet ski's! So, with that in mind, you will understand why we have moved a couple of miles south the a small little bay called Playa Santa Barbara. The water is 83.6 degrees, as clear as any place we have seen since getting into the bay of Conception, and we have the place all to our selves. Well, except Time Piece and Nyon, who have followed us down here.
Everybody joined us here on Eagle tonight after the net for a couple of games of Farkle, where we have had a first!! Rick off of Nyon has rolled the first 6 dice all of a kind. It was fours if anybody cares!! and that put him out with a final score of 13, 400 points. way to go Rick!
Not sure how long we are going to hang around here...just have to wait and see
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07/07/2012, El Burro Cove
Ok, I know, I have been remiss in my posting of our activities! So in a quick review, i will try to catch everybody up.
July 2nd, we were able to catch a ride into Mulege and do some shopping with Baja Geary, the reason for this 4th of July party, and weather man extraordinary. Riding in the back of a pickup truck, doing 60 MPH thru the 100 degree desert heat is a new experience. We were able to take care of every single thing that was on our shopping list. Then back to the boat to off load of booty, before joining a few of the other cruisers in the cove for a cold beverage on the beach.
July 3rd, we spent most of the morning doing a few boat jobs, Jeanne polishing more stainless steel, and i mounted our BBQ o it's newly drilled rail mounts and hooked up all the gas lines. That evening we hosted Diane and Terry from SV Harmony, out of Anacortes, Wa for drinks and stories on Eagle.
July 4th, the big beach party hosted by Baja Geary, with a pot luck, hotdogs, beer, fire works, Pit doing his fire eating, and New Zealand poi balls on fire show. There were 40 boats here for the celebration. early that morning, by 6 AM I had left the boat and hiked up to he top of the highest ridge so that I could get some pictures of the boats that had gathered.
July 5th, a sleep in, recovery day. Richard off of SV Dream Ketcher came by to try to help me with the issues that my Ham radio were having, but we were not able to get a complete fix on it. ARGH!! We went snorkeling, took a nap in the hammock, took Rick and Kyra from SV Nyon around the corner in our dinghy to the little tienda that is located in the cove to the south of us, in Bahia Coyote. Then back to the beach for a couple of games of Farkle.
Today, we were up early for a quick breakfast, caught the morning net and then went fishing. We caught quite a few, but they were all to small to keep. About the time we were done, John on Time Piece sailed into the bay with his new crew member, Ginger. We have only just met her, but so far she seems to be pretty awesome. Fits right in with this crowd. She even kicked our butts in two out of three games of Farkle tonight.
It is warm tonight...we have had warm days but always with a nice breeze....tonight, no breeze. It is now 11 PM and we have a cabin temp of 91 degrees
we will probably stay here another night or two, and then continue heading north.
manana
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