From the delightful white sand beaches of Agua Verde, Baja California Sur we made our plans to cross the Sea of Cortez to the busy metropolis of Mazatlan. We decided to do a day trip south to Isla San Francisco (just north of La Paz) and then head east from there across the Sea. Mazatlan is almost due east of Cabo, so with the prevailing northerly winds and and seas we expected a beam to broad reach the entire way. The passage was expected to be between 40-48 hours depending on winds.
To get the boat ready to go, we spent a few hours going through our 'offshore' checklist. Jacklines secured, tethers and safety equipment ready, satellite tracking, starlink set for offshore mode and easy meals prepped. And off we went!
Side note: For those of you that followed us last season, you may remember boat cat Leia! Well, rest assured, boat cat Leia is VERY happy at her new home in Spokane Washington where she is taking care of Dan's parents. She has not missed us a bit! However, we've noticed that in our preparations to go offshore or for any long sailing day, we find ourselves apologizing to her. "I'm so sorry Leia, this trip will only be for a few days..." and then we are greatly relieved to remember that she is happily running around a warm, non-moving house, chasing birds and getting tons of love!
We left Isla San Francisco at noon on Tuesday. There was a 10-15 knot breeze and a 1-2 meter swell (left over from the winds of the previous night). Over the last year, we've been honing in on how we do our watch schedule. We think we've landed on one that we both like pretty well and enables us to get enough sleep to function.
Dan takes the 7 - Midnight shift, so I can get 4-5 hours of sleep. Then I take Midnight to 4 AM. Dan is back on from 4 - 7 am for sunrise. Between 7 and 7 during the day, we still switch back and forth but more based on who needs a little more sleep, depending on conditions and who is cooking (which is usually Dan).
This passage was quite pleasant and very uneventful. Dan hooked 3 fish, but they all got away. We lost one lure. I finished a book. Dan watched some movies. We saw the La Paz <-> Mazatlan ferry. We saw a fishing boat. We used all our sails at least once including the drifter (used for 5-15 knots downwind), the code zero (used for 5-15 knots at the beam) and we used the new spinnaker pole we installed back in Seattle. It was cool at night in the mid 70's and 85 during the day. Very chill.
On the second morning, we were nearing Mazatlan too early before sunrise, so rather than turn on the engine, we settled in at about 3 knots sailing under jib, and partial main. The seas were calm. We could smell the 'green' scent from land 15 miles away. We both slept great on that second night, finally getting into the swing of things.
We choose to anchor in the old commercial port of Mazatlan rather than going to the resort area marinas north of town. This would put us within walking distance of the old town. We knew we'd be at plenty of resorts later this season.
The entrance to the Mazatlan harbor is tightly controlled by the harbor master as the opening is very narrow (large enough for one cruise ship -- by a matter of feet). After several lame attempts in spanish, the harbor master responded in english (phew) and we were given permission to enter the harbor. We still wonder how we every survived 25 years ago when we didn't have google translate!!
We anchored, got settled in and were pleased to see our friends from Puerto Penasco were still here and invited us to go with them to do some exploring. We are sad to say good bye to the Sea of Cortez but are excited for what's next. Onward!
on our way again!