By Jeff Hare, Tradewinds Instructor and owner of Emerald Sea
Tuesday February 4 at Noon.
Emerald Sea has just arrived at the little town of Punta Abreojos as I write this – the anchor and anchor alarm is set and I like to sit up for at least an hour to watch it before falling asleep for a well deserved rest – writing to you is occupying a little of that time. With just the two of us, we sailed nonstop from Puerto Vallarta (Marina LaCruz) across the Sea of Cortez to Cabo San Lucas, waited there for a few days as all 3 of our buddy boats gathered, and now sailed up the Pacific Coast of the Baja Peninsula to this town, another 314 miles nonstop over 74 hours. We are a little sleepy, so who knows what I might write in my barely conscious state…..???
We are joined by boats Dolce Vita and Folie a Deux who all intend to remain in our little fleet all the way to San Francisco Bay. Both of these other boats have flown their Significant Others back home and brought in experienced delivery crew – only Emerald Sea has just the two of us novices. So far, so good – we only have another 400 miles to Ensenada, 450 to San Diego, and about a thousand to San Francisco. Not overwhelming at all!
This being our 2nd year spending several winter months cruising Mexico, we enjoy it immensely! The Mexican people are honestly interested in getting to know you. The Xpats, both Canadians and Americans who live here seasonally or full time are always ready to give advice, help in any way, translate, or advise. The anchorage areas offer uncrowded bliss, remote vistas, and crystal emerald water. When you need a marina or boat work, these are also top-notch. We had Emerald Sea’s exterior detail-cleaned and she has never been so spotless (Thanks Aaron and team)!! Of course with a few hundred miles and offshore hours, she needs to be cleaned again…. Maybe after my nap.
I am very pleased that just the two of us seem to have been able to handle these longer distance segments. We impose shifts of 4 hours with the off-shift crew person staying right in the cockpit and acting as Watch.
Our little fleet will be anchored here for a few days as the rain you are all getting in California now, will bring high surf and eventually high winds here also – we will try to move the 100 miles north to Bahia Tortuga, but may also be stuck here up to a week while the storm eventually passes. I’ll update you one way or another. We will need a 3 day stretch of calm to cross the Bahia Sebastian Visciano to the north. (The white dot is our current location, the green dot is near Bahia Tortuga, the blue dots are other important weather locations I keep handy and all the red stuff is very bad for sailboats and sailors)…..
If you get your hands on a copy of the February issue of Latitude 38, please see our early cruise summary inside the Bahia de California (the Sea of Cortez) – we hope to spend an entire season there soon.
Also make sure to check the schedule for Cruising Catamaran on the Tradewinds Calendar. Time is running out, as Emerald Sea will soon be cruising more distant waters…..