Crossing the Sea of Cortez December 12, 2010
0530 Mountain Time


I t was a dark stormy night... or maybe not. We pulled the anchor at Bahia Frailes 0330, neither Skippy (Red Sky) or I sleep much it seems the night before a crossing. Heading 105m and looking at Venus in the southwestern sky like a giant anchor light. Out of the bay we saw 7-10 kts and small seas both out of the NNW pushing us along. 8, 8.5, 9 kts with the motor running at less than 2000rpms. Beautiful sunrise see (attached photos) and a smooth day of sailing making good time till 1200 when the wind died. We kept to or pace of 8+ with the Big D. Just after lunch we landed a small Dorado, nice to add to the freezer. Kids spend the day reading, Tommy finished a new book in one day 250-300 pages. Whitney painted, sketched, painted nails, read, cooked, and about ten other tasks ( I think she has Dad's ADD). Red Sky reported losing a lure to a shark mid afternoon, must have been just after we cleaned our fish off the stern platform.
The seas remained calm almost glass like through the night. Tommy and I took the first watch 1800-2400 after dinner. We had a couple of Good card games speed and gin then ended the bash with poker and "21" for Oreo cookies.
Tommy's quote for the day; " I don't like the night watch deal I would rather just go to sleep and when I wake up we are there, makes the trip a lot shorter" you have to love his logic.
Mom and Whitney took the midnight to 0300 shifts. Whitney made it till 0230 on her first real night watch. Another first was Whitney's first shooting star.
We are a few hours from Isla Isabel and a successful crossing of the Sea of Cortez. We are in the Pacific and look forward to some surf along the mainland as we head for PV over the next week.
Take a look at the photos and have a great day.