Who turned up the heat?
17 June 2010
It's summer in the Sea of Cortez
Since we entered the Sea of Cortez last November, we've been very pleasantly surprised how comfortable the temperature has been.
We'd been told it would be too cold in the winter and then too hot in the summer -- the best months, and when the most boats are here, are between April and June.
Our decision to spend a year in the Sea has so far worked out very well. The winter didn't seem that cold -- especially to our Pacific NW acclimated bodies and it was a rare occasion that I would need to put on a light jacket at night or a pair of socks on a cool morning. I was thrilled with the sunny days that usually weren't too hot for us to walk to town or go hiking in the middle of the day. And even in January the water wasn't too cold for us to swim in when we'd go out to the islands near La Paz.
Since we left the La Paz area at the beginning of March the weather has been continuing on much the same, though we have found a few places up north that the water hasn't warmed enough yet for us to stay in for long.
A few days ago someone threw the switch and the hot days of summer in the Sea have begun.
So far we're able to keep things pretty comfortable aboard Cetus by keeping shades on the portholes, the cockpit covered by the bimini and our new friend Windy (that I introduced a few blog posts ago) is doing her part to keep it comfortable. It's always warmer sitting in a marina and we were very encouraged when a cruiser that has spent the past 3 summers here in the Sea said that if this weather isn't bothering us we should be fine up in the Bay of LA (where we plan to spend most of our time) because it doesn't get much hotter than this up there. We'll see....
So in the meantime, we're adjusting our activity to the increasing heat. We're moving our morning walk up a little earlier because it's now getting warm out there by 7:30 -- and our evening walk is a little later for the same reason. No more going into town in the middle of the day for groceries -- that's now an evening activity.
Terry's still spending time outside throughout the day working on boat projects, but I'm spending the hot sun hours down below in my comfortable little cave working on the computer and other indoor projects.
When we're out at anchor again, we'll spend a lot of time in the water during the day, but for now, while at the dock, we've been enjoying cooling off in the late afternoon with a dip in the lap pool here at the marina before a refreshing shower.
I've also been working on new ways to cook. Nothing heats the boat up more than turning on the stove or oven so I'm experimenting with doing more cooking outside on the BBQ -- things that you usually cook in the oven like bread and pizza. Right now it's not so hot that I can't cook downstairs, but I know there will come a day that I just won't want to add any heat to the cabin.
So, only time will tell if we continue to enjoy our Year in the Sea of Cortez.