Rapturous!

Vessel Name: Rapture
Vessel Make/Model: Caliber 40 LRC
Hailing Port: Berkeley, CA
Crew: Greg Newman, Susan Wells
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07 March 2024 | Tasmania
27 January 2024 | Manley Beach
03 December 2023 | The Gold Coast, Jumpinpin
22 November 2023 | The Boatworks, QLD
15 November 2023 | Morton Bay
27 October 2023 | Bundaberg marina
15 October 2023 | Townsville Marina
04 October 2023 | Townsville, Queensland, Australia
28 July 2023
08 July 2023 | Keppel Bay Marina
30 June 2023 | Gladstone Marina
20 May 2023 | Bundaberg, Australia
23 March 2023 | Antarctic peninsula
10 March 2023 | Calafate and El Chaitén
21 February 2023 | Puerto Varas, Chiloe and Cochrane
05 February 2023 | Santiago, Chile
21 January 2023 | Santiago
12 January 2023 | USA
Recent Blog Posts
07 March 2024 | Tasmania

Tasmania

A misty, high alpine scene

27 January 2024 | Manley Beach

Sydney

Sydney Harbour Bridge

08 January 2024

Southport to Coff’s Harbour

Coffs Harbor from Muttonbird Island

03 December 2023 | The Gold Coast, Jumpinpin

The Gold Coast and Southport

Walking the beach at Southport

22 November 2023 | The Boatworks, QLD

Boatwork

The reason for stopping in the Brisbane area was to get a few boat projects done. Greg had been talking to contractors for weeks and more recently he has been calling suppliers to make sure that parts would be available. Our first stop was Scarborough Marina where Greg and I started with giving Rapture [...]

15 November 2023 | Morton Bay

Bundaberg to Morton Bay

The next part of our journey down to Brisbane lay to the inside of Frazier Island. This area, called the Great Sandy Strait is a vast network of channels and shoals that have to be navigated carefully. The navigation channel is clearly marked but there are areas where it can only be navigated at [...]

Heading to the Mainland

10 December 2018
Susan
We're back in Bahia de los Muertos on the way to Puerto Vallarta. It's getting colder in the Sea of Cortez and many cruisers are thinking of warm Tropical climes. The movement is across to the Mainland. Mazatlan is 125 nautical miles which most cruisers can do in with one overnight sail if the wind and and waves favor them. It would be nice to join the migration but we are going to Puerto Vallarta, a 300 nautical miles voyage. Rather than doing the whole distance in one stretch, we decided to revisit "Muertos" and visit Bahia Los Frailes that we bypassed on the way to La Paz.

As always, it all about the weather. Northers blow down the Sea of Cortez regularly building up waves and wind gusts that intensify as they whip around the islands and through the channels. Behind the Norther, the wind is dead turning your sails into annoying, flopping rags.

When we left La Paz we deliberately caught the tail end of a Norther because we didn't want to motor. Early Sunday morning, we had to head into the wind to get out of the Bay and then turn onto a beam reach as we went through the San Lorenzo Channel. The wind was about 12 knots with 3 foot seas but as we made the turn we has 21 knots with gusts and at least 10 ft seas. Greg has always said that if we choose to go out in a storm, we own it. We'll, we owned this one! "Susan's storm". The good part is that I'd seen conditions like this going around Point Conception. Experience builds confidence even when it's hard won. It didn't freak me out and Rapture was as solid as ever. Nevertheless, I was relieved to turn downwind. With the wind and surfing the waves we averaged about 7 knots for almost 5 hours meaning that we arrived at our anchorage at Muertos just after sunset with plenty of light left to anchor.

The wind continued to blow the next day (I guess it wasn't the tail end of the storm). We stayed safe in the anchorage, dinghied to shore to find the restaurant west of the Bay. The restaurant is hidden among very fancy private residences surrounded by a rocky desert of cactus and mesquite. There are few tourists except for cruising boats at this time of year.. In summer it must be blazing hot so not many tourist then either and just a scattering of locals so I don't know how they keep going but the ceviche was fresh and the Pacifico scrumptious so we didn't ask questions.

We're off to Frailes tomorrow about 50 nm motoring all the way. There will be no wind for the next 3 days so we will make the crossing to Puerto Vallarta on Thursday under moderate winds. There are no Northers in the forecast. Our biggest worry is that the winds don't materialize.
Comments
Rapture's Photos - Main
166 Photos
Created 16 March 2024
75 Photos
Created 26 January 2024
51 Photos
Created 6 December 2023
17 Photos
Created 17 August 2023
57 Photos
Created 20 July 2023
41 Photos
Created 24 May 2023
34 Photos
Created 2 May 2023
76 Photos
Created 6 April 2023
119 Photos
Created 26 February 2023
39 Photos
Created 28 January 2023
Nov 2022 to Jan 2023
20 Photos
Created 14 January 2023
68 Photos
Created 15 October 2022
81 Photos
Created 7 September 2022
146 Photos
Created 13 June 2022
21 Photos
Created 31 May 2022
16 Photos
Created 17 April 2022
21 Photos
Created 7 April 2022
74 Photos
Created 22 March 2022
32 Photos
Created 24 January 2022
61 Photos
Created 5 January 2022
80 Photos
Created 31 December 2021
26 Photos
Created 6 December 2021
89 Photos
Created 11 November 2021
7 Photos
Created 15 July 2021
187 Photos
Created 26 March 2021
80 Photos
Created 25 February 2021
8 Photos
Created 27 January 2021
8 Photos
Created 13 January 2021
66 Photos
Created 18 December 2020
39 Photos
Created 30 October 2020
29 Photos
Created 12 October 2020
15 Photos
Created 11 October 2020
54 Photos
Created 23 September 2020
18 Photos
Created 10 September 2020
56 Photos
Created 11 August 2020
40 Photos
Created 11 July 2020
11 Photos
Created 14 June 2020
6 Photos
Created 8 June 2020
21 Photos
Created 23 May 2020
12 Photos
Created 8 March 2020
33 Photos
Created 8 March 2020
57 Photos
Created 22 February 2020
58 Photos
Created 21 January 2020
19 Photos
Created 21 January 2020
34 Photos
Created 30 December 2019
Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, Bora Bora
83 Photos
Created 9 June 2019
14 Photos
Created 23 May 2019
15 Photos
Created 15 April 2019
7 Photos
Created 15 April 2019
2 Photos
Created 24 November 2018
50 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 30 May 2018
9 Photos
Created 8 August 2017
Photos of the boat, people and places in the Bay.
3 Photos
Created 24 June 2017
Memorial Weekend 2017 Greg, Susan, Mike and Toni Spicer, Nick Spycher
11 Photos
Created 23 June 2017
29 Photos
Created 21 May 2016
July 25 to August 15 San Franciso, Half Moon Bay, Monterey, Morro Bay, Cojo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz Island, Santa Rosa Island, Santa Barbara Island, Catalina.
15 Photos
Created 23 August 2015
The Food Saver vacuum sealer is a really useful device. The aluminum packs contain a 2 person serving. They just need to be defrosted and thrown in the oven - no prep work required. We could bake all 3 at once, or the crew that is sleeping can bake theirs when they wake up.
6 Photos
Created 24 June 2014
Memorial day cruise from San Fran down to Monterey, but we turned West at Santa Cruz for about 50 miles before tacking North for a direct beam reach back to San Fran.
12 Photos
Created 18 June 2014
The second overnight cruise. San Fran North West to Pt. Reyes, then south cutting east to Pillar Point and back to San Fran.
21 Photos
Created 18 June 2014
2 Photos
Created 6 May 2014

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Photo Albums
16 March 2024
166 Photos
26 January 2024
75 Photos