Four to eight miles is a good seek range for radar, but also 1, 1/2, and 1/4 miles for trying to find the landmarks in a dark and stormy anchorage - especially the ones that act as range markers. Found radar also useful for trying to
work out the antics of the shrimp boats as they dance around you. Not very useful for finding dark pangas which are either
wood or
fiberglass.
I had a
Furuno 8 and then a 16 mile LCD radar with the
monitor mounted in the
cockpit that worked out well. Now I have a 36 mile
Furuno so I can see mountaintops far far away...
Large vessels in the upper Sea are essentially the Santa Rosalia/Guaymas
ferry and the ore
boat that goes to San Marcos Island (near Santa Rosalia). Anything else is usually
Navy of one stripe or another and presumably they see you...
Bring sunbrella or nursery cloth and a grommet kit to make shade.
Michael