Sea of Cortez Winds - Apr/May?

[luft]

What great advice, thank you! Already reading away at Breeding/Bansmer's "Sea of Cortez" and brushing up on some anchoring techniques while I am at it. Ok, gusts of 35 I can deal with and I'll make sure to mark all anchorages for Coromuel and Northers, just in case.

This leaves me with the forecast problem. SSB, Pactor Modem or Satellite weren't really on my list for a one-week charter... How do you guys handle that, or are you all long-term cruisers down there?

[sv_pelagia]

If only for one week, you won't get far (the nearby "islands" and Isla San Francisco would easily give you a good week.)

Weather forecasts are a problem. For the southern islands, you should be able to get a Telcel cell signal (especially if you have a cell amplifier). With data, you could use many model sources.

From Caleta Partida north to Isla San Francisco, no cell.

Can you rent or borrow an Iridium satellite device?

You could also consider an inexpensive portable receive-only shortwave radio with SSB, and listen on weather forecasts on the marine SSB net (Amigo; Southbound) and HAM SSB net (Sonrisa; unfortunately no more of the excellent forecasts from Geary, who passed away) .

https://www.baja-haha.com/Nets.html

[Russian007]

Originally Posted by Zzmeyer

At $60, pricey, but a must is the book Sea of Cortez, a Cruising Guide from Amazon. It talks about all the anchorages. It is my favorite cruising guide, ever. There are several very nice anchorages. If you are chartering I bet you are picking the boat up at CostaBaja. Just a few miles north is Bahia Falsa, an OK stop. A few miles further north is Coleta Lobos and then a couple miles further the must stop Bahia Balandra. Espiritu Santo island isn't much further north. Note that the port captain in La Paz will close the port to departures for several days with strong winds. I don't know how charter fleets handle that. There is a cruisers net every weekday morning but I forget the channel. They talk about weather and lots of important stuff. They will know it at the charter company. Predict wind goes out 14 days, but isn't free. Windy is a free app. Download it now and start playing with it. The longer out the forecast, just like anywhere, the less accurate. I've almost never seen 50 knots, but 35 knots is fairly common in a norther.

The Blue Latitude publication?

[Zzmeyer]

Not sure of publisher, but authors are Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. There is a third addition.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by Zzmeyer

Not sure of publisher, but authors are Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. There is a third addition.

Yes, Blue Latitude Press. You can also buy directly. https://bluelatitudepress.com/sea-of-cortez

FYI: NOAA now has MARINE forecasts for Pacific Mexico, in graphical and text format. Importantly, these forecasts ARE made by humans, not just computer models.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/fore...anced_epac.php
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/offshores_eastpac.php

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Yes, Blue Latitude Press. You can also buy directly. https://bluelatitudepress.com/sea-of-cortez

FYI: NOAA now has MARINE forecasts for Pacific Mexico, in graphical and text format. Importantly, these forecasts ARE made by humans, not just computer models.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/fore...anced_epac.php
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/offshores_eastpac.php

Here is a link for just Text version of all Pacific Mexico forecasts. Easy/quick/small to download:

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/MIAOFFPZ7.shtml