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
12 July 2012 | Ventura, CA
20 June 2012 | San Diego, CA
12 June 2012 | Turtle Bay
11 June 2012 | Turtle Bay
04 June 2012 | Bahia San Juanico
02 June 2012 | Outside of the Baja
31 May 2012 | Cabo San Lucas
27 May 2012 | La Paz
22 May 2012 | La Paz
22 May 2012 | Southern Sea of Cortez
15 May 2012 | Bahia Candeleros
15 May 2012 | Bahia Salinas
15 May 2012 | Isla Carmen
15 May 2012 | Isla Carmen
15 May 2012 | Isla Danzante
02 May 2012 | Sea of Cortez
02 May 2012 | Punta Colorada (Isla San Jose)
02 May 2012 | Sea of Cortez
02 May 2012 | Sea of Cortez
Recent Blog Posts
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 [...]

Strategy for "Bashing"

03 June 2009 | Bahia San Juanico
Dori
A number of you have asked questions about how long it will take to make the trip north or why we are making such long passages right now. So I thought I'd give a bit of explanation of our strategy for doing the "Bash."

There's roughly 800 miles between Cabo San Lucas and San Diego. Traveling north means heading into the prevailing winds most of the time--and those winds and their accompanying seas are notorious for being very ugly. So having solid weather information is a very important factor.

We have a number of sources for our weather data. Our weather-fax prints out weather charts via satellite. Jeff has several internet sites that he can e-mail for weather information. The ham radio nets relay forecasts from a couple of weather "experts." And when we make radio contact with other cruisers, the first question is always, "What kind of wind do you have?" or "What are the seas like?"

Which brings me to the concept of the "weather window." Once you have determined that the winds will be lighter than normal, or coming from a favorable direction for a while, that period of time is your "weather window", and you'd better take advantage of it while it lasts.

In our case, for example, we had to make the trip from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas. There were two anchorages in between, so we could have made three 50-mile day-sails. But from our research, there was a "weather window" coming up off of the southern Baja in just a day or so. That's why we made the choice to make an overnight passage of 150 miles. Then, arriving at Cabo at dawn meant we were positioned to go around Cabo Falso very early in the day. It seemed calm in Cabo San Lucas, so we decided to go for it. We still had winds of 25 knots and heavy seas but that's normal because of the "cape effect" which funnels the wind around those points of land. The conditions did moderate after that, so we felt we'd made a good decision. The section between Cabo San Lucas and Mag Bay/Santa Maria is pretty much always an over-nighter, because there is really no suitable anchorage in that stretch of coast. Thus the almost 60-hour passage between La Paz and Santa Maria.

Of course, the best laid plans are only made to be changed, and picking a "weather window" can be a lot like throwing a dart--blindfolded! When we left Santa Maria at dawn yesterday, we had in mind that we would head directly to Turtle Bay (230 miles north) or Punta Abreojos (which would still have been an overnight run). The winds were calm at first, but the seas soon became lumpy and we had 15-20 knots on the nose. Making for Turtle Bay, or even Abreojos would have meant pounding into the waves and our progress would have been very slow. So we turned off and pointed for Bahia San Juanico. Even though the seas weren't very smooth, we had a great wind angle and sailed very comfortably at 7 knots, making port about 10 P.M. and anchoring in the moonlight.

After a great night's sleep, we checked the weather forecasts, and it looks like we'll be here for a bit. It's supposed to blow hard for the next couple of days. Jeff is already taking advantage of our enforced stay here by going surfing with Chris from Cecily.

Entire books have been written about varying methods of surviving the Bash. People debate between hugging the coastline and going further offshore. There is a Clipper route version that takes you several hundred miles offshore. We know of folks who have sailed from Cabo, to Hawaii and back to the states, to avoid going up the outside of the Baja.

Jeff sometimes says he's of two minds as to our speed of travel. One part of him would just like to have this behind us, and he's tempted to push just to get it over with. But then, he also remembers that we don't have any deadlines and can take our time, picking the best "weather windows" we can find (and surfing). So we will probably end up doing a little of both.

I'll keep you posted on our progress. Dori
Comments
Journey's Photos - Main
We've posted our favorite photos from this year's cruising in the Sea of Cortez
46 Photos
Created 8 July 2012
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
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
This is a morning spent touring the estuary and river above Matanchen up to Tovara springs.
28 Photos
Created 27 January 2012
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
14 Photos
Created 20 December 2010
40 Photos
Created 15 November 2010