Los Muertes to La Paz

Up at 3am again and the same story with the light winds.



It was easy motorsailing all the way to the San Lorenzo channel.



The channel did prove a bit more challenging though. There are shallow areas or reefs on both side of this channel that normally has some navigational lights to mark them. Unfortuately they were no longer there when I passed through. There were some moments of concern as I was transiting the channel and the depth got uncomfotably shallow. Thankfully I could travel really slowly and watch the depth guage at the same time.

As you approach La Paz things get much more industrial. There is a large commercial harbour just North of La Paz which is where the Ferry and the tankers go to dock.

La Paz also has a very long entrace channel. (about 3 miles) of course I arrived on an outgoing tide so I had to do the whole thing against a 1 1/2 knot current.



Finally I was here.



N24.09.515
W110.19.470

Cabo to Los Frailes

CABO to Los Frailes




It started out as an easy day. I went into the Cabo harbour in the morning against a huge flood of sportfishing boats on their way out. I loaded up on fuel and water and then headed out. There was no wind so I just accepted motoring for a while. I even took a detour to try my luck at fishing an offshore seamount. (no luck today) It was all just peacefull motoring in 90 degree heat. There was even time to pose for some photos.



Then as I rounded what is essentially the eastern edge of the southern tip of Baja things started to change.(just past punta Gorda) First the wind. 10 knots. then 15 knots. Then 20 knots. ( of course this is all right on the nose....) It may hav even gotten stronger than that I lost track.... Before I knew it I had a double reefed mainsail and about a 50 % jib amd was still doing 5 knots upwind. It was messy though,. There was lots of splash and spray and everything was getting wet. I really was not ready for this one. I never really had the chance to put things away much less get any photos....

I began to think about my easy trip to Los Frailes. Looks like another harbor I would have to approach in the dark. I was now thinking that installing the radar was the best thing I could ever have done... An easy trip that should have taken about two hours took over four. I also had the added stress of arriving exhausted at a new harbour in the dark. (athough I am getting used to the dark thing)

N23.22.866
W109.25.324

The anchorage itself was pretty nice and eazy once you were in there. Lots of room in 40 to 45 feet of water.

Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo

Day 10

Rest day, clean up and prep for tomorrow. I also now had the full daytime view of the low point that I came close to running into. You can see it pretty easily during the day on the left of the photo...


Farther into the bay is where the majority of the boats were anchored..




Day 11

Day 11 started off real slow. The first four hours had no wind but lots of fish. They were the little mexican bonito that I caught the other day. Unfortunately my fridge was aready full of tuna. I wanted yellowtail or mahi mahi. I caught 8 fish in two hours. They were all bonito. I had to stop fishing cause I was just throwing them back anyway... Fishing is hard.....

Noon
N24.30.760
W112.05.990

Just as the sun went down the wind started to pick up. I started reeling in the lines and BAM. The other line got hit hard by something.

Of Course it would happen this way. I was now totally unprepared, the boat was picking up speed and wanted attention and it was getting dark. It was a mahi mahi and I wanted him bad. Once he was close to the boat I held the rod with one hand and the gaff with the other. I reached down and to my utter surprise I managed to hook him with the gaff and he was in the boat. There was a brief struggle but in the end I had my first mahi mahi.

Day 12

As I approached Cabo I plotted my course over an underwater seamount about 50 miles from Cabo. I knew that there should be good fishing there cause I'm smart like that (and that's what the guidebook said....) As I got closer I saw some other fishing boiats, and then some more and then some more. Remember that the closest land is 20 miles away. In all I think there were almost twenty boats in a square mile...

Noon
N23.20.457
W110.44.802

My luck was 50/50. I hooked a nice big mahi but lost him before I could get him on the boat...but then I caught a smaller one!!



The winds in the last 10 miles were all over the place. I had stuff from all directions and at various strengths. It made for really annoying sailing because I had to keep changing sails. Eventually once I was in the last 5 miles I resorted to motorsailing with just the main up.

I did my usual night approach to a new harbor. There were a lot more lights now so it was even more confusing. It was hard to tell the city lights from lights on the bay. The anchorage was farther west than I expected. I think the mooring ball area mentioned in the guide was no longer there.....

I anchored in 35 ft about 200 yards from the beach and a variety of hotels.

N22.53.286
W109.54.012

CABO SAN LUCAS

Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria

Day 7

I had good wind for the first time of the trip. I spent the morning in about 15 to 20 kts. It was directly aft and so I eventually dropped the main completely so I wouldn't risk an accidental jibe. There was some decent sized swell and it was making it hard for Otto to steer. I spent the afternoon with just the Genoa (front sail) doing almost 6 kts.. The wind was steady all night giving me my first 24 consecutive hours of sailing without having to use the engine.

Noon
N27.28.110
W114.44.263

Day 8

The wind didn't last forever of course. On day 8 I was back to the normal 5 to 10 kts. Most of the day was actually 5 kts ot less.. Back to moving slow.

Late in the morning one of my fishing rods took a hard hit. I assumed kelp but I was a bit far out for that. At this point I was about 20 miles offshore. I started to reel it in but it was pulling really hard. RIght about then a large fish leaped out of the water. My 2nd real fish! After about 20 minutes I had him right beside the boat. Now what do I do? I needed someone to net or gaff him but there was only me. To cut the story short, he snapped the line. He was a 2 and a half foot dolphinfish (Mahi Mahi) and maybe 20lbs.....

Noon
N26.08.919
W113.34.287

Next came the crazy seal. I guess even seals get bored but an hour or two afte losing the fish this seal swam up to the boat and proceeded to give me a 10 minute acrobatic display. Jumps, summersaults, twists and so on. Then just as suddenly, he was gone...

When the sun went down I had the calm that you can only wish for. There was just enough wind to keep steerage but not enough to break one knot on the ol knotmeter. The amazing thing was that there was also virtually no swell. I had nothing to do, the boat was calm and comfortable and there were a million stars out. It was really surreal. Then of course there was a huge slow shooting star. (maybe it was an old russian satellite or something?) I just got comfortable in the cockpit and enjoyed the show.

Eventually we did pick up speed and broke the one kt per hour mark. We were sailing again!!

Next was really wierd. My depth guage usually just shows nothing when it gets deeper than 600 ft, but now it showed that we were in 35 ft of water. Now this happens a lot with a large school of fish, but when it's fish it's gone in a second or two. This was staying as a solid reading!! I was 45 miles from shore! I jumped for the chart (which was on the wrong page) and checked my position. There was a series of pinacles coming up but they were supposed to be a few miles away. I got really nervous since me specific spot wasn't on the chart. Maybe there was a spot here that was only a few feet below the surface and I would run into it.....

N25.47.178
W113.13.756

Shallow water is not something you really expect when you are 40 miles offshore but it seems like there is plenty of it here

This area probably has some incredible scuba diving but you would need to have your own dive compressor and be completely self contained....


Later on it got really busy. Funny, I don't see anyone all day but run into 10 to 15 boats overnight. Damn I can't even nap now.....


Day 9

Another low wind day. The hgihlight was going through a giant school of dolphins that must have been working groups of baitfish. There were literally hundreds of dolphin jumping, diving and swiming all around the boat. and then they were gone.

Noon
N25.04.251
W112.42.269

Speaking of dolphin, I caught another mahi mahi and lost him right beside the boat. looks like I need to bring crew along to act as gaff persons....

Later on I did manage to land a 8 to 10 lb black skipjack though.

Not long after that a bird landed on the spreaders and hung out there for several hours even though the boat was flopping about. a Booby perhaps??

Soon after that I caught sight of my objective. Maybe I could make it there before dark.....

Almost Aground !!

Of course I got to Santa Maria about an hour after dark. The moon wasn't up yet so it was really really dark. I was now really tired and just wanted to get in the bay and anchored. I couls see the faint outline of a hill and the light that marked the northern end of the bay. All I had to do was go around that light to the south and I was in. I could already see the anchor lights of all the boats inside. After checking the radar something didn't seem right. There was an echo well south of where it seemed there should be. The depth was also getting allot shallower than I liked. This is when I figured out that in Mexico the lights don't mark the edge of the danger zone, just their approximate location!! I made a hard turn for deeper water and gave this area a wide berth. Later I would see that there was a long low point sticking out well past the light. I could see the light of the anchored boats over it and so was confused into believing the passge was open. In the darkness the low point just blended in with the water. Thankfully I was double checking things with radar and depth and caught my mistake in time!!

Eventually I worked my way in to a spot in 35 ft of water near what would be considered the SW portion of the anchorage. This area had no boats nearby and was easier for me to get into in my very tired condition.

N24.45.567
W112.15.129


Flop into bed for another 14 hour sleep.

By the way, if you didn't already figure it out you'll notice that I don't really sleep much on these passages. Mostly I get 15 to 30 minute naps here and there but no real sleep. I wait until there is nothing on the horizon or on the radar and then set the timer for 30 minutes. I just can't relax enough to get completely asleep while the boat is moving even though I am really tired....
;

Turtle Bay

This was my first chance to get more than an hour of sleep at a time and I took great advantage of that. 14 hours later I awoke and started on my little list of things to do and fix. With broken Spanish/English I put my fuel order in with the local "Panguero" who came to my boat to offer his services. I ccoked up all the fish, made a big pot of rice and stocked the fridge with prepared food for the next leg of the journey.

San Diego to Turtle Bay

Day 1 Monday - It Begins


Well, they forecast light winds and they were right.. I decided to leave after lunch as winds are often better then. I guess it sort of worked out for me. I had a nice easy spinnaker run all afternoon. The wind shut down promptly as the sun went down so then I was just drifting. I needed to get south of Enesenada before slowing down in order to get past the majority of the busy border traffic. With any traffic around me I can't get any naps or short sleep periods, so I ended up motoring much of the night..



Noon
N32.41.328
W117.20.732


Day 2 - Tuesday - Dead Calm


This ended being a really hard tiring day. It was dead calm almost all day. I had a little wind in the morning but only enough to move me five miles in over 3 hours! I sat around all afternoon waiting for the wind that never came.

Unfortunately dead calm is not as fun as it may sound. The wind stops but the swell doesn't. This means hat the boat is rolling around uncontrollably all day. When you are sailing you have the pressure of the wind on you sails to help minimise this, but not during calms. The boat actually rolls around more this way than in most ather sailing conditions... I couldn't even sleep because the rolling was so bad. For once I was actually jealous of the container ship as he motored by me... At least it made for some pretty pictures. After 10 hours of this I gave up and turned the engine on...





Noon
N31.21.092
W116.53.979



Day 3 Wednesday - Fog, Fish and Fun

After midnight I turned the engine off. The swell had gotten smaller and was not being quite so hard on me and the boat. I left the Genoa up and even though I was registering zero as my speed it gave me just enough so that Otto could keep steering. (If the boat has no forward motion the rudder can't change the direction the boat is headed). Of course it would fill with a WHACK as the boat rolled to one side. Then it would roll to the other and all the air would roll out of the sail. Then it would roll back with a WHACK as it filled again and so on.... I managed to get 3 hours of sleep anyway. (getting up every hour to check on things, of course)

Ovenight it got really foggy and

really wet so I busted out my fancy cockpit enclosure. I tell you I was LOVING it!! Everything else got soaked but I stayed pretty dry. small things make you happy on day three.





In the morning I put the fishing lines out again and caught my first yellowtail tuna. It was just a baby but I ate him anyway. I even tried my first home caught sushi and it was delicious!!

Noon
N30.37.121
W116.26.456

The rest of the day wa either very light or no wind. I did sneak in a bit more motoring though. After a while you just can't take it.

Day 4 - Far Offshore

This was the section I was farthest from shore. Once I passed San Carlos the coast dropped east and I continued SSE for the west side of Isla Cedros. As I got farther offshorethe wind began to show itself so out came the spinnaker. Soon was doing 6 knots and actually enjoying my sail. The swell was much bigger (maybe 8 - 10 feet) but that was fine as I was finally making time.

Noon
N29.29.720
W115.53.937

Day 5 - Whales and Fish and the one that got away


This was the day that made the last four worth everything. I was sneaking a small nap in the cockpit when I heard a very loud exhale beside the boat. I jumped up expecting to see dolphins and was amazed to see a large humpback whale following my boat. He/She was very curious about this strange fish plodding along in the water nearby. There were several passes on both sides of the boat as well as a few directly underneath. I was so excited I totally forgot about my video camera inside the boat, I barely remembered my camera which lives in the cockpit with me.





The day just got better. Soon after onew of the fishing reels started spinning.. I reeled in (expecting the usual clump of kelp) and was delighted to find a 3-4lb Mexican Bonito. I caught 6 more in the next two hours. At one point, I barely had the line in the water before I caught the next one.

Noon
N28.01.509
W115.20.218

The one that got away made me sad though. It was a beautiful 10 - 15 lb yellowtail tuna that took me about 15 minutes to reel in. After a good long fight I finally had him beside the boat and I made the mistake of trying to use my net instead of the gaff. Well the net broke, the line snapped and he got away ( with my favorite lure!!) A few more inches and he would have fallen inside the boat. Oh well, I only hope that he can shake the lure from his mouth now. That part made me feel bad.....

The end of the day was a race to see if I could make turtle bay before darkness set in. It's always better to enter a new harbor during daylight. I had the engine and the sails going and the boat was flying as fast as it's design allows but I still didn't make it. crap. thank God for radar....

Preparation - Hair today, gone tomorrow

Well, long solo trips are not the best for showers and I really needed a haircut so....

I now have a shaved head.

It's not the best looking cut, but it sure is a lot easier to keep clean and tidy.

sorry about the lack of photos lately. Been having lots of trouble uploading them. Here are a few from the Avalon to San Diego trip....

Trip Summary

THE TRIP SO FAR
OK Quick summary of the trip so far – Plug these into Google Earth and you can "fly" my trip….
Sept 30th -Leave San Francisco
N37.50.483
W122.18.771

Oct 2 - Arrive Santa Barbara
N34.34.560
W119.40.691

Sat 14th - Santa Rosa Island – Bechers Bay
N34.00.956
W120.02.736

Mon 16th - Santa Cruz Island – Albert’s’ Anchorage
N33.58.221
W119.41.965

Wed 18th _Santa Cruz Island – Santa Ana winds at Coches Anchorage
N33.58.106
W119.42.389

Thurs 19thth - Santa Cruz Island – Little Scorpion Anchorage
N34.02.745
W119.32.768

Sun 22nd - Santa Barbara Island
N33.28.985
W119.01.687

Mon 23rd - Catalina Island – Avalon
N N33.20.803
W118.19.566

Mon 30th - Catalina Island – Cat Harbor
N33.25.651
W118.30.471

Nov 1st - San Diego
N32.45.617
W117.14.200

THEN PLANNING TO GO TO CABO – 750 Miles – approx 10 to 14 days


Only stops planned are

Turtle Bay – about 4 days into it. Stop for 1 or 2 Days
N27.39.000
W114.54.000

Bahia Santa Maria – About 2 days later. Stop overnight.
N24.46.270
W112.15.520

Then Cabo San Lucas at the East side of the end of Baja – about 2 days after that J

Avalon to San Diego

AVALON TO SAN DIEGO


Avalon N33.20.803
W118.19.566

Avalon was ok, but not really my preferred type of spot to hang out. All the fun things to do require plenty of money and I was busy spending my limited supply on boring things like maintenance and groceries. Also the internet cafe here charges $20 per hour!! Doing the blog was a big expense this week!!

Anyway Rob's friend Jenny came out to crew on the leg from Catalina to San Diego.

First we headed around to the backside of the Island to Cat Harbor. We did some fishing on the way and caught some kelp. It was a big one and it put quite a fight. Unfortunately we don't have the skill required to prepare seaweed so we just threw it back...



We arrived at Cat Harbor to a cold cloudy mid afternoon. It was really quiet here with only a handful of other boats around.

Cat Harbour

The breeze picked up and the temperature dropped so we settled in to a bit of chess and some reading for the night.




We spent the night there and headed off for San Diego on Tuesday afternoon.

Cat Harbor
N33.25.651
W118.30.471

We expected about a 20 hour run, arriving Wednesday morning, and that’s about what it took. The wind was really light again and so we motored more than we sailed. I think if this keeps up I will have to consider reclassifying Symphony as a “slow motorboat” rather than a “sailboat”…



The only excitement on this run was that 20 miles from anything there was a gigantic Super-Tanker just drifting around with enough lights on to confuse it with a small city, (You really have to see one of these things up close to realize how BIG they really are). Then, within the next hour, 3 large ships came within 2 miles of me. (That is actually REALLY close, by the way). After that it was a pretty boring night.

IN San Diego I got a slip at a marina in mission bay. Time to clean up, reload and get ready for the jump to Cabo !!!!


SAN DIEGO

N32.45.617
W117.14.200

Well I’m not really doing anything fun here. Jenny helped me get some groceries before she left so at least I didn’t have to cart all of those around in a taxi. Thanks Jenny!! Other than that it’s just laundry, and the final prep for the big jump south,

Boat Details

My CAL 34

Here are some of the technical details about my boat

1969 Cal 34 - Symphony

Yes this boat is 37 yrs old!! The good news is that fiberglass seems to last forever. Also boats of this era were built a little more solidly than modern boats as they were still learning about the strength of fiberglass back then. At least that's what they say (whoever "they" are....)

Hull

LOA – 33’6” overall length
LWL – 26’ length on the water
Freeboard – 36” Height the boat sticks up out of the water
Mast Height - 40'
Boom - 14 ft

Hull Thicknesses

Companionway Bulkhead
¼” Fiberglass over ¼” Marine Ply with final 1/8" sandwich fiberglass layer


Keel
5/8” solid Fiberglass on both sides and is an integral part of the Hull (not bolted on)

Deck

Hard Dodger – that windshield like thing
Propane Locker w 20lb Horizontal Aluminum Tank
Propane BBQ w disposable tanks

Engine

Atomic 4 - 4 cylinder 30 hp Gasoline engine
Fixed 3 Blade Prop

25 Gal Fuel Tank + 2nd tank of 25 Gal in Starboard Rear each to separate Racor fuel filters.

The engine uses about a gallon per hour at 5kts. This give me a range of 250 miles of motoring.


New Dripless 2003
V Drive Overhauled 2003

Running Rigging - (Ropes n Things)

All New 2002
Lazy Jacks
Boom Vang

Standing Rigging (Wires that hold up the Mast etc...)

New 2002
Upsized Wire one size and upsized turnbuckles – Also switched to 316 stainless

Sails

New 2006
Furling Genoa – Sail up front
Cruising Spinnaker – Big colorful one
Gale Sail – Storm sail for front

Used
3 reef main

furling 100% jib -spare

spare small spinnaker

Ground Tackle

MAIN ANCHOR SYSTEM
Manual Bronze 2 speed windlass – thing that pulls up anchor
140ft Chain 44lb Claw (also has extra 150ft rope attached)
spare 33 lb Claw in chain locker

Stern Anchor (rear)
20 ft chain 150 ft 7/16 (Nylon 6000lb) on a 30 lb Danforth

Plumbing

New 2002
26 Gal Fresh
44 Gal Fresh
Old 20 Gal Fresh

Shower bilge with 2200 GPH bilge pump
New Inline water heater for shower
New shore water inlet and shore water plumbing

Salt water hand pump at galley sink

New Jabsco Head (toilet) w 13 Gal Holding
Tank can be pumped out to pump station or directly out to sea


12V Electric


New 2006
3 x 95 AH Gel Batteries (Bank 1)
New 2002
1 x 80 AH Standard Marine Reserve (Bank 2)
New 13 breaker panel with all new wiring
New 100 amp circuit breaker from Battery

Charging sysems
90 watt Solar (3 x 30w)
Wind Generator - Air Marine
Balmar 65 Amp High output Alternator

ok I get about half my energy needs from solar. The wind generator will fill in the other half if it's windy but the reality is that it's rarely windy and sunny at the same time. This means that I end up running the engine for an hour or so every other day...


120V Electric

New 1750 Watt Inverter 2006

New 2002
New 3 breaker panel
New Shore power inlet




Electronics
New 2006
Raymarine Radar/Chartplotter
New 2005
Raymarine Autohelm ST4000 Autopilot
New 2003
Raymarine ST40 Speed/Depth
New 2002
Standard Horizon Intrepid DSC VHF Radio
Standard Horizon GPS Chart 400 w C-MAP Super Wide west coast chip
Jensen Stereo Cassette Player



Hummingbird Super 60 depth sounder (still works)

Handheld VHF and GPS as backups

Galley

Hillerange 3 burner propane oven
12V/120V chest Refrigerator – this guy is pretty small (basically a small bar fridge on it’s back)

Misc extra equipment

EPIRB McMurdo 406 GPS - (Satellite Emergency Beacon)

Removeable Garhauer Davit Arm for engine Retreival and lowering.

2200 GPH Bilge pump w float

New 200410ft Inflatable Dingy (zodiac) w Honda 8 HP