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 [...]

Chalk up another 85 miles!

05 June 2009 | Bahia San Hipolito
Dori
We enjoyed our time at San Juanico. Jeff got in two days of great surfing, and we went to lunch at the local surfer cantina, the Scorpian Bay Hotel. We also crossed paths here with fellow Venturans Chris Catterton on Sophia, and Rob Miller and Jim Graves on Ocean Fever. Rob and Jim came into the anchorage right at sundown and were as surprised to see us as we were to see them. Rob is bringing his sailboat back to Ventura after three years in Mexico.

After gathering all the (sometimes conflicting) weather info we could get, we decide to push on up the coast. Conventional wisdom down here says that the hours between 11 PM and 11 AM are often best for traveling because the wind dies down a bit and the seas are a bit calmer. Well, the conventional wisdom worked for part of the night.

About 8:30 PM we pulled up the anchor and the next four or five hours weren't bad. We had little wind, motoring fairly smoothly for a while with just the bare poles. About 12:30-1:00, we put up the main sail just to balance the boat better. The wind gods just couldn't make up their minds, though. The breeze picked up, so we pulled out the jib. Then it backed off, and the wind angle changed, so I rolled the jib up again. That was the signal for the wind to pipe up again. I rolled out the jib again and tried throttling down the engine to see if we could sail...no go! Fifteen minutes later, it's blowing 15 knots and we're sailing to weather.

The wind kept building, and we reduced sail rapidly, reefing the mainsail once, then twice, and then reefing the jib. It was a bumpy ride, but we made pretty good progress.

Punta Abreojos was the next anchorage in our path, and we passed it by about 8:00 in the morning. The wind had died off at sunrise, so we decided to continue on to the the next anchorage--San Hipolito. Today we had winds everywhere from 2 knots to 25 knots. Of course, it was right on the nose, so we ended up motoring unto some very lumpy seas. But we dropped the anchor about 2:00 this afternoon, and are enjoying a well deserved rest.

Bahia Asuncion is only 19 miles north, so we've set that as a goal for tomorrow.

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