Mexico

[Jmolan]

You just made me think of something.......Sirus radio has a weather data service I think I saw at a boat show. I wonder if they have any data for Mexico? I never thought of using it, but it just dawned on me that you get a signal there, maybe they have the weather coverage too! I will investigate....thanks!

[rcmpegasus]

I have Sirius on my boat in Puerto Vallarta and it works great. You do have to point the antenna toward the horizon about 45 deg and in a rough northerly direction. It worked fine all the way south down Baja.

I have a portable unit, boom box type with the remote antenna.

[Catalysis]

Bob and Jmolan thanks for the info on Sirius coverage.
We'll sign up for coverage.
Paul

[rcmpegasus]

I checked into the Sirius/XM weather and it uses feeds from the US National Weather Service. It appears that you will not get much if you are too far south of the border. Still get major fax type charts but the detailed real tiime stuff does not appear to be available. Wish it was, I would do it.

[Jmolan]

Bob thanks on that, I was going to ask you before I started to do searches on it.
When we get the SSB amigo net and Sonrisa net I felt we had more than enough info to go on weather wise. I found it very informative and covers all the way down to Panama and out into the Pacific. Great education on some of those discussions. They take each section of your world and cover it.
It's the big stuff you want to know about and need to watch for. All the rest is local fluff and you just deal with it. At least in the Sea of Cortez.

[Cheechako]

Thanks Tao, I really enjoy reading about the Sea of Cortez, I spent a year and a half there in the mid 80's on my Rawson 30.....

[Cyndimarcus]

We too are heading to Mexico this fall. A Mexico forum would be of great interest to us. I've already added Sonrisanet to my favorites!
Cyndi

[Catalysis]

how do we get this Mexico forum moved up beyond the "other" category ?

[Compass Rose]

JMolan, thank you for starting this thread. My husband and I are heading to San Carlos July 9 to look at a sailboat we're really hoping to buy. We'll have it surveyed and do a sea trial while we're there. We just heard that the one person who shipped boats out of the marina the boat is at (I think it's the San Carlos Marina; it's the one right by the Marinaterra hotel) retired, so we're looking at other options for shipping. We live in Seattle and would likely have the boat shipped up if we buy it. We considered moving it to San Diego and shipping from there but didn't realize quite how far it is.

I'm wondering if you know anything about the marina and how good of a job they do looking after boats that are moored there. The current owners live in California and have kept the boat in San Carlos for a few years; I'm just wondering how well it's been looked after during that time (guess we'll find out when we have it surveyed!)

Lastly, any recommendations for local restaurants and/or things to do?

Thanks!
Deborah

[Sailabel]

Hi Deborah.... congratulations... I hope the boat is everything you expect. San Carlos is going to be HOT... but I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

When we've stayed in a hotel in San Carlos, we have stayed at the Best Western Hacienda Tetakawi. We found their rates to be quite a bit better than the 'resort-type' hotels there, and the rooms are nice... but if you're looking for a resort.... You'll find that San Carlos is quite 'americanized'. Good grief, even the 'stop' signs say 'stop' instead of 'alto'. Billboards are in English. But it's a nice town. The marina area appeared to be mostly sport-fishing folks.

The restaurant right in front of the RV park (and next door to the BW hotel) has excellent seafood. I believe it's family operated... good service and decent prices. Other than that, we've only eaten a a few places in Guaymas.

An option for getting a boat back to Seattle is to have it shipped via Dockwise (I believe that's the one) from LaPaz to Nanaimo. When we were there last, I believe that have a ship that leaves around December. It may be a better option than trying to 'bash' back up the coast from Cabo. That's assuming the truck transport option is out. I believe the truck shipping was previously arrange by Marina Seca San Carlos, which may be a good option for storage until you're ready to bring the new boat back home to the NW. Another option to consider is to leave it there for a while and cruise the Sea of Cortez for a bit.

I don't know anything about the marina or the care they give. Our boat is currently in dry storage (marina seca) in Guaymas.

We may be driving down from Seattle to Guaymas shortly after you... probably leaving around 7/15.

So, what kind of boat is it??

Best of luck.

Steve

[Compass Rose]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the response, and the restaurant suggestion - I've been craving seafood, so maybe we'll check that out! We got a room at the Marinaterra for a pretty good price ($90, which I thought was decent; we definitely don't care about staying at a resort).

I'm expecting the weather to be horribly hot, but I read that the average water temp in July is 89 - very nice!

My husband just found out about Dockwise and we're looking into using them to ship the boat. We definitely don't want to sail it back. From everything I've heard about that slog up the coast, it sounds like a brutal trip. It looks like Dockwise does have a boat going from La Paz to Nanaimo in December, so we were thinking if we buy the boat it would be fun to cruise in the Sea of Cortez in late November, then drop the boat off at La Paz to be shipped north. We've only chartered once in warm water (Croatia), and I know once we get the boat back to Seattle it'll be a while before we get to again, so I'm excited about that possibility.

The boat is a 1989 Island Packet 38' and looks to be in very good shape. It's been outfitted extensively for offshore cruising, which is nice. We almost bought a Tayana 42. They're beautiful boats. How do you like your Tayana? (I looked at your site - nice boat!) How long have you had it?

Thanks for the good wishes. We've had a few boats surveyed and I'm really hoping this one works out.

BTW, we're chronicling our boat search on our website, www.threesheetsnw.com, if you're interested (under the Sailboat Search Chronicles).

Cheers,
Deborah

[jackiepitts]

It seems unlikely that we will get our own forum on Mexico so I decided to post a question here.
We will be heading south with the haha in October and I am curious about any inside information regarding the tuna pen situation. There have been several boats that have been caught in them heading to Ensenada and the reports have been unclear as how far out the pens were located. It seems they are not lit at night and I am hearing that they are moved frequently. We have seen the pots at the coronados and todos santos islands and know they are hard to spot (maybe impossible at night?)
So any information on what we can expect when heading further south would be greatly appreciated.
Jackie

[Cyndimarcus]

Steve, we are planning on leaving our boat in Mexico next spring for the summer, probably Marina Seca.
Can you give me an idea of the cost?

Also, thanks for the website, it is really helpful!

[Ramblin']

Greetings, this is off-topic, but wonder if you that live in San Carlos area have ever seen flax meal and almond flour in the larger grocery stores? Perhaps they have a health food store in the "mall"? We used to take the bus to the "mall" and I hope it is still there!

Thanks!

[DOCRIVERS]

Thanks, Tao, for your suggestion. We will check out the Baja Ha Ha. Sounds like a fun way to start the tip south. You bet we're waiting til after hurricane season, like Nov 1, if we finish the major refit on BLUE CHIPS in time. We should have been "through" months ago, but modernizing the boat turned out to be a complete gutting and re-do of everything electrical, not to mention restoring her great teak interior.
Of course, now, we're just finishing her new cupronickel hull coating. It's increasingly difficult to get a fairly big wooden boat hauled in lots of places, so the prospect of extended cruising in pretty warm waters presented a daunting prospect re bottom jobs. No more worry about that, now that we have a basically permanent fouling-proof bottom. Now, if the polyurethane brightwork just holds up like it's touted in that climate.....

Still looking for anyone with experience with places to slips to rent in the Acapulco region of the coast.

DOCRIVERS