We moved from Matanchen Bay into the Marina Fonatur in San Blas Saturday February 18. We stayed there for a few days, visiting the old fort and church on the hill above town called La Contaduria. Took care of several routine chores and maintenance aboard, including changing fuel filters, adding fuel, and taking on water.

Upon leaving San Blas on Tuesday, February 21, we set course for Isla Isabel, some 40 nautical miles distance off the mainland coast. Isla Isabel is a nesting ground for Frigate birds and Boobies. Probably other birds as well. And there are lots of iguanas. We anchored off the east side of the island in a small marginal, rocky anchorage of about 20 feet. After spending a few hours ashore observing the literally thousands of frigates in various stages of nesting (we were able to approach the birds quite closely), we discovered that my anchor chain was around a large stone. So i donned SCUBA gear and went down to free it. Successfully. after freeing the chain i moved the boat to a sandier area of the the anchorage.

On Thursday, February 23 the anchor was weighed and our two boats set sail for Mazatlan. I was luck to have one member of Eagle's crew, Brian Connors, join me for the approximately 20 hour trip to Mazatlan. We were able to sail about half the 93 nautical miles way before the wind died and the motors were started. We arrived at Mazatlan around sunrise, but waited until 0800 before contacting a marina for slip assignments. We checked into the Marina Isla Mazatlan Golden Resort, a small marina, but with all the amenities tired crew would relish.

We departed Mazatlan at 0900 on Sunday, February 26 and began our westerly crossing of the Sea of Cortez. Brian Connors again joined me for this leg of the voyage. The crossing was eventful, with little wind and motoring in glass calm seas. We had originally planned on crossing to the Bahia de los Muertos, south of La Paz, but changed plans and set a course for San Evaristo on the eastern coast of Baja California Sur, inside Isla San Jose. We stayed here until Friday, March 3, but spent most of the time aboard due to a strong northerly wind that again pinned us onto a lee shore. we did get ashore for some provisions, a walk over to the salt ponds, and an excellent dinner at the only restaurant in the small fishing village.

On Friday March 3rd we motored the short distance south to Isla San Francisco, anchoring there in about 27 feet of water. The bay we were in is quite striking. We went ashore (all shore trips were done in Eagle's dinghy; I left mine folded and deflated on the deck), hiked up along the dizzily steep ridge on the southern shore. On Saturday March 4 we motored the short distance to Caleta Partida, an attractive anchorage between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santos. And then on Sunday, March 5, we sailed and motored up to Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Santos. There we suffered an awful night with short, steep waves blowing in with an all night westerly wind, perhaps a Corumuel wind. Finally, on March 6, Monday, we sailed to La Paz, slowly, but managing to sail most of the way. We arived at Marina de La Pas around 1500.

Total distance for this trip from La Cruz was 524 nautical miles, bringing my total since leaving Portland to 6376 nautical miles.