There is a group of islands just north of LaPaz...Isla Espiritu Santo, Isla Partida, Isla San Francisco and Isla San Jose. The closest which is Isla Espiritu Santo is only about 20 miles from our marina and Isla San Jose is the furthest north in this little island chain...approximately 50 miles away. All these islands have beautiful anchorages and most are well protected from the northerly winds. If you ever travel to LaPaz these islands are easily accessible on a day trip by a fast panga.

West of the islands is a mountain range with shear cliffs and spectacular striations of different layers of multiple colors. These layers are colored in rust, charcoal and green. The rust must be from iron and the green is obviously copper...but, not sure what is forming the deep layers of charcoal.

Larry and Karen Burnworth...friends of ours from the Corinthian Yacht Club...arrived last week for an adventure on Warren Peace. Their arrival coincided perfectly with a great weather window which allowed us most of a week at the more popular anchorages. Our days were filled with sailing from anchorage to anchorage, fishing, swimming and snorkeling. It seemed however that the main goal of the week was to catch fish...particularly Dorado (also known as Mahi Mahi). It was only on the next to last day when we were sailing from Isla San Francisco to Isla Partida/Ensenada Grande that we hit the jackpot...twice. We were all in the cockpit talking about how nice the trip had been when Karen looked back at the fishing lines and there were two of the most prized fish on our hooks. Karen pulled in one of the lines and I pulled in the other to find two nice Dorado's that were willing to give themselves to us...well, maybe they weren't that willing...but we kept them anyway. (picture is attached of Karen with her Dorado)

Our last night was spent anchored at Ensenada Grande which is most beautiful. The sea was like a swimming pool...totally flat...which made the water crystal clear. You could see every detail on the sand about 20 feet below our boat. It seemed that you could almost reach out and touch the anchor...the water was like glass.

All good things eventually come to an end. On the last night of anchoring the winds and swells started building about 2:00AM in the morning and our friends got to experience the uncomfortable side of being at anchor. The boat starting pitching, the anchor chain started growling and no one got any sleep from that point on. We pulled the anchor just before daybreak and motor sailed back to Marina Costa Baja in 20 to 25 knot winds with lumpy seas, however...the weather did improve as we got closer to LaPaz and all ended well.

All in all...a wonderful five days of sailing the southern Sea of Cortez with friends. Good times had by all!

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We left San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico at 7:11AM on Sunday morning and after a quick 27 hour sail almost due south down the Sea of Cortez we anchored at Isla San Francisco...about 200 miles total. As of Monday night, we're at Latitude 24' 49.284 north by Longitude 110' 34.170 west. (You can actually Google Earth that Lat/Lon and see the anchorage.) The trip was nice because the seas were almost flat with winds at 6 to 10 knots. It couldn't have been a better crossing.

We dropped the anchor at Isla San Francisco and within 30 minutes there were two dinghies coming along our side. As it turns out...one of the couples we knew from Alameda, California was Rob and Teri Moore. They both were Commodores at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. They introduced us to Jay and Gail Bryan from South Lake Tahoe. Both couples were cruising together on their own boats coming to Mexico on this year's Baja Haha. Within a short period of time...Sharon organized a sunset beach party. Our first full night of anchoring at Isla San Francisco was shared with old and new friends. How quickly we slipped back into the relaxed mode of meeting friends and enjoying life on anchor. Life is really good here!

At dusk we watched the sun fall over the mountain range of the Baja. It just doesn't get any more beautiful! We were at a small anchorage with friends watching a spectacular sunset on the Baja after a long journey down the Sea of Cortez.

At anchor tonight...it is so dark with so little moon...the evening sky is totally black and spectacular on this island. You'd think you could reach out and touch each star...the sky is brilliant with celestial life! It's totally amazing how beautiful it is!!!

Tomorrow morning we will pull the anchor and sail to LaPaz. LaPaz will be our base for the next five weeks as we have friends flying down to join us and lots and lots of boat maintenance. Mucho varnishing to be done!

All is well here and we hope that all is well with you. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Love to all our family and friends.

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It's a long way to LaPaz by road from San Carlos...probably close to 1500 miles or more. Actually...S/V Warren Peace just got splashed yesterday and the ride from the dry marina to the wet marina is only a short distance. It's quite a site to see a huge boat going down the main street of San Carlos!

Sharon and I arrived San Carlos only one week ago today and it's been non stop work getting Warren Peace ready to launch after a summer of sitting on a cradle in the dry heat of Mexico. Amazingly...she did quite well. We've stored her in the dry marina now for several years and feel like we have the whole process down. All of Warren Peace's systems have come back to life with almost no problems. A huge battery bank that we have on board charged back to full power in about 24 hours, the refrigeration unit cooled down the refrigerator and freezer in only a few hours this morning (this is of major importance to keep the steaks cool and the beer cold), the main engine started with no problem, the genset started with no problem and most importantly...all the new navigation software came up on our new laptop. GPS (Global Positioning System) is working fine which is the most important piece of navigation equipment we have on board. We are having some difficulties with the new software on our VISTA (@#%^!) computer talking to the autopilot...I guess we'll just have to hit a few more buttons at the helm until I figure out the problem. The radar, VHF radios and our Single Side Band radio are also working again after having all the antennas disconnected for the summer...we disconnect all antennas due to possible lightning strikes during the rainy summer months. We turned our XM radio back on so we can get news and music from the USA. The only major piece of equipment that we haven't turned on yet is our water maker and we probably won't do that until we leave LaPaz for destinations south of there on the Mexican mainland.

We were intending to sail across the Sea of Cortez from San Carlos to San Juanico...one of the most beautiful anchorages on the Baja side of Mexico...on Wednesday night, however weather has us pinned down until this weekend. We now plan to sail across the sea on either Friday or Saturday night. The crossing is approximately 95 miles and should take us about 13 hours.

We'll give the ole blog an update when we arrive LaPaz. We have a slip already rented for the month of January at Marina Costa Baja.

We're very excited to get back underway on Warren Peace for another season of cruising in the warm winds of Mexico! No more blue jeans and long shirts....we're now in shorts, T-shirts and flip flops. Temps have been in the high 70s and should be slightly warmer once we get to Lapaz.

I'll update our pictures of Warren Peace being launched....you can see the pictures in the gallery as soon as I get them posted.

Take care all......

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We are now in the beautiful Sea of Cortez. Several weeks ago we were in LaPaz and managed to sign up with 32 other boats to participate in the Sea of Cortez Sailing Week sponsored by Latitude 38 Magazine. The main reason the group sailed out of LaPaz is because of the location. There are several islands very close to LaPaz which make for great sailing destinations...Islas Espiritu Santu, Partida and San Francisco. The schedule for the week long event is to sail from LaPaz to Isla Partida and then further north to Isla San Francisco...turn around and sail back to LaPaz. We raced to an island then anchored for a day or two with fun activities on the boats and beach...then race to another island, anchor and party for another day or two...are you starting to get the picture? Latitude 38 describes the event as a race between the islands with parties at the anchorages, but their definition of a race is very different than you'd think. The huge catamaran owned by Latitude 38 motors out to a designated area, tells all the other boats to line up behind them and then they say "GO"!!! No detailed racing instructions, no PHRF racing divisions to equalize the boats, and sort of a designated finish line...in other words...it's a very loosely run race. The idea is to go sailing and have fun. They say..."Everybody get ready, go have fun sailing and we'll see ya on the beach". Now that's my kind of racing!

We sailed with the group for four days and when they turned around to sail back to LaPaz we kept sailing north saying goodbye to a new group of friends. The sail we had between Isla Partida and Isla San Francisco was one of the best down wind runs we've ever had. Winds were blowing about 15 to 16 knots steady all day directly behind us which made for a great spinnaker run all day long in inky blue waters.

In the past two to three weeks we have put quite a bit of water under our keel. We sailed across the Sea of Cortez from Mazatlan to LaPaz and then started sailing north up the island chain anchoring at the islands and on the Baja peninsula. The water in the sea is very clear this time of the year and getting clearer as we approach the summer months. The air and water temps are considerably cooler as we head north.

We are now in Puerto Escondido, just 14 miles from Loreto...about half way up the Sea of Cortez and only have two weeks remaining in our cruising season. There is no doubt that this has been the most fun year cruising Mexico. We would recommend to anyone to visit this area and enjoy the sea, the fishing and the delightful people. This part of the Baja has incredibly beautiful yet rugged mountain terrain. The scenic mountains are breath taking.

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Isla Isabela is a popular destination for boaters when sailing from Bandaras Bay to Mazatlan. The anchorage is normally very clear with a sandy bottom and good place to stop half way between Bandaras Bay and Mazatlan...however, on our trip it was very rolly and very uncomfortable. That didn't take away from the beauty of the island. The island is a magnificent Bird Sanctuary. Numerous frigate birds nest in the trees surrrounding the small lake while blue and yellow footed boobies nest on the cliff tops and terns and gulls live in the crevices of the cliffs. When we were there a few days ago...there were many baby birds that had just been hatched. The boobies were literally everywhere nesting their young. What an incredible sight...pictures don't do it justice. (I have added pictures of our walk on Isla Isabela to the picture gallery...please take a look)

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Our sail from Chamela to LaCruz was very fast for Warren Peace. The first few hours we motored under bare poles as the seas were absolutely flat with no wind and then a nice 16-18 kt breeze came in on our port side still with perfectly flat seas...Warren Peace was in her element and we were doing 8s and 8.5s all day long. Most all sailors just wish for those sort of days. The sea conditions were perfect and inkly blue. We made LaCruz in just over 12 hours.

But...here's the really neat part of the whole day. For hours we were sailing through hundreds and hundreds of sea turtles. Their shells are about two and half feet in diameter. We've never seen anything like it before in all our years of sailing. This year we have seen so many sea critters...whales, dolphins, and now turtles. Many of the turtles had birds sitting on their shells...I guess just taking a break from flying around in the ocean with no place to land. You'll notice the white area on the turtle's shell...remnants of the hitch hiking birds!!! Attached is a picture of one of the turtles and you can see just how inky blue the ocean was on that day.

We are now back in Bandaras Bay at the marina in LaCruz. We'll be moving Warren Peace to Paradise Village (a very nice marina in Puerto Vallarta) on Monday for three days and then start moving north once again on Thursday if weather permits. Our stops will be Punta Mita, Chacala, Isla Isabella and then Mazatlan for several days. Warren Peace will need more diesel and good weather to make the 200+ mile crossing to LaPaz from Mazatlan.

Take care everyone...we miss you! Hope your weather is as fantastic as ours. Everyday here is the same...blue skies and mid 80s.

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