A Taste of Cruising Mexico
| Vessel Name: | Journey |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Passport 40 |
| Hailing Port: | Ventura, Ca |
| Crew: | Jeff and Dori Beller |
| About: | We're home ported out of Ventura, California. Jeff is a software engineer and Dori is a special ed teacher. We're both on sabbatical from our carreers or early retirement. We're not too sure which and don't really care. Cruising fits us real well right now. |
| Extra: | This is our third extended cruise to Mexico. I guess we like it there! We hope you enjoy reading this journal of our cruise. |
19 March 2020 | Ventura, CA
Another Taste of Mexico
This is a photo from back in 2008, the first time Journey went cruising to Mexico. The boat was full and overflowing with guests come to wish us Bon Voyage before we set off on our travels. It is a memory we still cherish.
12 July 2012 | Ventura, CA
Home Sweet Home
Journey has been home for just over a week, after sailing into Ventura harbor on the Fourth of July.
20 June 2012 | San Diego, CA
Survivors of the Un-Bash
It seems there is no rest for the weary. (OK, after resting four days, I guess being weary isn't an excuse anymore.) Anyway, we've received a few 'gentle' hints from some impatient readers. They've noticed that our position reports show we've reached San Diego, but our blog hasn't been updated to reflect [...]
12 June 2012 | Turtle Bay
A Night at Anabel's
Last night we debated whether or not to leave Turtle Bay early this morning, but one day's rest just didn't put a dent in the sense of exhaustion we were feeling after this last week. So we put off our departure until tomorrow. Our reward for making that decision was spending this evening at Anabel's. There [...]
11 June 2012 | Turtle Bay
The Half Way Point
Arriving at Turtle Bay is a milestone because it means you've reached the half-way point in your trip up or down the Baja. Several of the boats who left Cabo with us had a little celebration by having a scrumptious potluck lunch hosted by Mary and Jack on S.V. Oriana. We also attended to mundane details [...]
04 June 2012 | Bahia San Juanico
The 'Un-bash'
With one-third of the trip north completed, the good news is that we haven't really been 'bashed' much at all. The closest we've came was the passage around Cabo Falso early Saturday AM which Jeff described in his last post. As he mentioned, once that was behind us, it was all motoring in calm seas [...]
Wet, rainy Baja?
Our afternoon and evening in Punta Chivato couldn't have been more pleasant and we went to bed fully intending to spend another day there. But in the early morning hours, the wind kicked up, blowing straight into the anchorage and making things pretty uncomfortable. So we beat to weather and headed for Bahia Concepcion. It made for a long day of sailing since all the tacking added extra miles.
Jeff landed a fish during this passage. We had it pegged as some kind of tuna. But a check of our reference book ID'ed it as a 'black skipjack' and no good for eating, so that was a disappointment.
The large Bahia Concepcion offers many choices for anchoring. We ended up in Bahia Coyote which provided good protection from the southerly winds. Meanwhile the skies had started out overcast and grew ever darker. We had some rain on Saturday night. Just enough to put smears in the dust-covered rigging and such, but not enough to really clean anything.
Sunday morning brought more gray skies. Jeff and I did a 5-6 mile hike that climbed to the top of the mountain and gave a great panoramic view of the whole bay. Along the way we saw a number of petroglyphs carved in the rocks. We were actually thankful for the cloud cover which kept things cool for the hike. The rain held off until we were in the dinghy about 100 yards from the boat.
It rained about 1/2 inch during the rest of the day and night. On the plus side, it got a lot of dirt off the rigging, canvas and stainless. The downside was no sun for the solar panels and no wind for the wind generator. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, but our batteries are 8 years old and were depleted by the summer storage. We had to run the diesel for an hour just to keep a minimum charge going.
Since watching a DVD was out last night (due to power constraints) I talked Jeff into a game of Scrabble. After a hard-fought contest, I was the victor with a margin of 4 points.
Today we have sun and wind so we are charging again. I already went kayaking and Jeff tried to scare up some targets for his spear gun. No luck with the fishing, I'm afraid, so it's hamburgers for supper tonight.
We plan on sticking around a few more days before continuing south. Dori
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We've posted our favorite photos from this year's cruising in the Sea of Cortez
46 Photos
Created 8 July 2012
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Four glorious days of surfing "the longest wave" at Matanchen Bay in warm water, tropical surroundings, and no crowds.
11 Photos
Created 13 April 2012
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Dori shot these photos of a morning surf session at Barra de Navidad. She was standing on the breakwater which adjacent to the surf break, giving great access for pictures.
15 Photos
Created 22 February 2012
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This is a morning spent touring the estuary and river above Matanchen up to Tovara springs.
28 Photos
Created 27 January 2012
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Yelapa is a unique little hidden away village on the south side of Banderas Bay. No roads reach it and the only way to get there is by water.
14 Photos
Created 15 March 2011
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