Sea of Cortez: Best of

[zeehag]

i am here today for donuts--yes i will!!! is weds--yipes i aint reddy--am on cop dock... wow we made it here!!!! LOL found some things ot repair and replace.... water pump">raw water pump, belts, just lil stuff.....

chris thanked me for sending ye-- i love referring folks to a worthy place-- i am glad ye like htem-- they rock!!! i will prolly get there at around 10am...

[Bash]

I just returned from two weeks in the Sea of Cortez, my second trip there this year. I'd like to caution you not to be too casual about water.

In Baja you will go through fresh water at a pace you won't believe, even if you're only using it for drinking and cooking. You will constantly be forced to abandon a great anchorage/beach/campsite and head into town because the water has run low. Two weeks ago, when temperatures were in the 90s, I was easily consuming five liters of water per day.

You can compensate for your boats low tankage with jerry jugs. You'll see this all over Baja, boats with as many as a dozen blue, five-gallon jugs strapped to the side decks. This is a Baja standard. Understand that you will spend a great deal of time filling these jugs, or paying the pangeros to do so for you, once you get to Baja.

As a Baja veteran who has spent more than a month there every year for the past decade, I would caution you that your posts so far in this thread sound a bit flip regarding the topic of water. In Baja, you're going to need to take this subject far more seriously.

[John A]

Bash
Thanks for reminding everyone.

Watermakers are priceless!

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by Bash

I just returned from two weeks in the Sea of Cortez, my second trip there this year. I'd like to caution you not to be too casual about water.

In Baja you will go through fresh water at a pace you won't believe, even if you're only using it for drinking and cooking. You will constantly be forced to abandon a great anchorage/beach/campsite and head into town because the water has run low. Two weeks ago, when temperatures were in the 90s, I was easily consuming five liters of water per day.

You can compensate for your boats low tankage with jerry jugs. You'll see this all over Baja, boats with as many as a dozen blue, five-gallon jugs strapped to the side decks. This is a Baja standard. Understand that you will spend a great deal of time filling these jugs, or paying the pangeros to do so for you, once you get to Baja.

As a Baja veteran who has spent more than a month there every year for the past decade, I would caution you that your posts so far in this thread sound a bit flip regarding the topic of water. In Baja, you're going to need to take this subject far more seriously.

Thank you for stressing this point!! We intend to have alot of water in jugs, etc. As you have cautioned. We will mimic experienced cruisers in every way possible.

We announced our intentions to friends about 2 months ago... What I have found is that about 15% of people are positive, and encouraging while stressing preparedness and caution... This is great!

It's the 85% that could ream us for unlimited amounts of time about pirates, sharks, comets crashing through the heavens and smashing our boat to bits, radioactive storms from japan, being abducted and sold as sex toys, even aliens and uso's!!! and all kinds of other stuff that is freaking ridiculous to begin with and will never happen... They sit there peppering us for hours till I'm ready to put them out of their own paranoid delusional misery.

Approaching our deadline, the stress is building... I don't know if anyone can relate to this or not but it is our maiden voyage so I'm not sure if it is more stressful due to the hobgoblins that we are countermeasuring for or less stressful due to our ignorance.

All insights from cruisersforum are taken with absolute respect and consideration at all times. If I have ever indicated otherwise I sincerely apologize.

We will always have lots of freshwater and food stores before we leave a port or anchorage.

My points before were that I am well versed in survival and rescue tactics. I would rather leave the docks with this than a watermaker that stops making water!! A water supply that goes bad, food that becomes rancid, etc. We will provision and prepare in advance as anyone would but the knowledge and skills are priceless to me, giving the willingness to set sail and stop talking about it.

This little boat with no watermaker, generator, A/C, etc is only to test the waters if you will. If we like it, upgrade time!!!

Additionally, if I'm too hot, I rent a house with ac. Storms, same or resorts etc... So while we are cruising we are not stuck surviving on the boat for lack of finances. If I knew that we were going to be living aboard on a hook on this little boat for the rest of our lives out of necessity we would definitely be adding lots of bells and whistles.

There is plenty of freshwater in the sahara if you know how to find it. I am 100% positive that there is enough to be found in MX as well.

While agreeing with everyone on the importance of preparedness I am inclined to stress the importance of survival skills. What would you do if stranded without water, food, radios, etc?? Something to think about... Basic skills for any area can be learned from scratch in a couple of days. I personally wouldn't go anywhere unless I knew how to survive in that area if necessary.

Most importantly, sincere thanks to all!

S/V Joyen's Dream

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i am here today for donuts--yes i will!!! is weds--yipes i aint reddy--am on cop dock... wow we made it here!!!! LOL found some things ot repair and replace.... raw water pump, belts, just lil stuff.....

chris thanked me for sending ye-- i love referring folks to a worthy place-- i am glad ye like htem-- they rock!!! i will prolly get there at around 10am...

We will stop in next week if you are still in town... Steff has the car today. At the least we will rendezvous with you one of these days! Safe travels in case we miss you!

Chris gave me a copy of their free cruisers guide and it is a nice addition to the cruisers guide - Sea of Cortez that we purchased. I really appreciate that tip!!

I'll be heading up to minneys soon in case you wanted to tag along. I hear it's the best for sails and misc used gear. If you want me to keep my eye out for anything in particular I would be happy to!!

S/V Joyen's Dream

[Rearsteer]

I have been crusing in Mexico for the last five months but have only paid for a slip once to check in at Ensenada(no anchoring), but if I was to stay in a marina I would skip Cabo. Go 19 miles to the next marina. Get both Charlies Charts and Sea of Cortez By Shawn & Heather. Charlies Charts covers all of Mexicos west side. Shawn & Heather dosent cover outside of the baha. We have no water maker but do hold 100 gal. Take two 5 gal water jugs to get water to your boat and for backup water. We carry 20 gal of diesel on deck for total cap of 60 gal. Also 10 Gal of gas on deck. You cant get you boat to fuel dock all the time. We have no solar or wind gen but do have a Honda EU 1000 gen on bord. If you dont have a SSB radio, get a Kaito KA1103 SSB reciver. We have been able to get Dons weather on the Amigo and South bound net from Manzillo to Santa Rosalia. Also Son Risa Net. No VHF weather down here. Try to be self-sufficient for 30 days. All most everything is more money down here IF you can even fine it. You can get stuff sent to you if need be. Its a great place to cruise so injoy!

[Capt Phil]

Gee, Bash... I went through 5 liters of cervesas a day but not water! Spent a tota lof 4-5 years gunkholin' around and loved every minute of it. Before the days of watermakers, though. Still remember the fun chats on Sonrisa and a couple of other nets, one of which had an Aussie gal as control. Hard to make the adjustment back to Gringo time and I agree, give Cabo a pass... it ain't what it used to be! Don't stress out, Sudden Vibe... just relax and enjoy. You are building memories that will last a life time... cheers, Capt Phil

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

Gee, Bash... I went through 5 liters of cervesas a day but not water!

Claro que si. I should have mentioned that I was sea kayaking the last two weeks. When we sail, the aqua/cervesa ratio is a bit less critical.

I was up in Bahia Concepcion a few years back, and we ran out of water before we ran out of beer. Fortunately, Mulege wasn't that far away. Before we got there, however, we discovered that while you can brush your teeth with cervesa, it's not a good ingredient for making oatmeal.

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by Minggat

Sea of Cortez - A Cruiser's Guidebook

Latest and greatest cruising guide to the Sea of Cortez. And you will likely meet Shawn and Heather in the Sea (authors) always collecting info for updates to the book. Really good people.

Since Our copy arrived I've barely been able to put it down!! It's the next best thing to having an ole salt in your back pocket! I plan to get their other guide for mainland Mexico as well.

S/V Joyen's Dream

[svcambria]

Yes, it's a dry unforgiving lee shore with sudden chubasco thunderstorms and no body in sight for days or weeks, etc etc etc, but I have come across some very unlikely characters down here who a) got here, and b) survived.
- A Canadian who bought a little boat in San Diego and started sailing it south - even though he had never been on a boat before! Couldn't figure out how to steer it in time and went up on the beach in Tijuana; the Mexican navy pulled him off and were recharging his battery when a USCG vessel came along and claimed him. They both fought over him for a while until they learned he was Canadian, then both set him loose. I met him in the Sea of Cortez and later in Ecuador, where he still didn't know the names of stuff on his boat but he had a better idea of how to use them...
- another fellow sailed down from Washington state to the Sea - using road maps! Not charts, not guides, %&%@* road maps. We called him Lucky Bob...
- another fellow who knew how to sail but shouldn't have been sailing what he had - a 50' concrete trimaran, held together with vinyl patch and duct tape. Met him in the Sea and later in Ecuador...still had the boat. Nicest military survivalist I ever met...
- another fellow sailed up from Mazatlan to San Carlos with short term memory loss. He had to file a float plan with himself. Still made it...
And there are others.
Also know a few people who have lost their boats and a couple who lost their lives, but out of the hundreds of people I have met in Mexico, they were the distinct minority - but it can happen...

Michael

[Charlie]

Sudden Vibe did you make your departure date? If so hope you are havign a great trip. If not good luck getting everything ready.

[Capt Phil]

svcambria... my wife was wondering if that was me you met sailing from Maz' to San Carlos (?) She always claims I left my brains on the dock somewhere in MananaLand! Cheers, Capt Phil

[SuddenVibe]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Sudden Vibe did you make your departure date? If so hope you are havign a great trip. If not good luck getting everything ready.

We are planning to cut the lines on the 26th... Weather permitting... We should be in And out of Ensenada by the 28th and gliding into LaPaz somewhere mid to late May... We aren't in a rush so we could get sidetracked but it will not be in Cabo!!

Thanks to all for the valuable tips, pointers and best wishes! We are excited about our adventure and hope to meet some of you on the seas!

[SuddenVibe]

I am still interested in anchorages and marinas on the pacific side of the peninsula... So far we have Ensenada, Bahia Tortuga and Magdalena Bay to look forward to... We would like to have a few more in case of emergency rather than rely on charts alone... Anyone know the BaHa-Ha-Ha stops?? Would probably be good for us and I'm about outta money so buying the whole book to score an anchorage or two just isn't in the budget.

[sww914]

I have no experience but I think you just named them all.