She's 40 Years Old !!

 

 

No, Susan is obviously older than that. What I meant is that Windward Bound is celebrating her 40th year.  Construction on Windward Bound was begun in February, 1973. While she does show a bit wear from all these years, she still is a "Plastic Classic" of the era.  We hope to do her proud this spring as we get her painted and polished, probably in Mazatlan.

Since it has been quite a while since I updated our blog (so sorry!), I'll fill you in on our travels.

After leaving Redondo Beach, CA in October, 2007, we have cruised the west coast of Mexico, and spent 4 summers in the Sea of Cortez, moving with the seasons.  Winters are mild and lovely along the west coast of mainland Mexico, with land and sea breezes typical every day. It is a time when we can relax and get rested for the rigors of summer cruising. However, mainland western Mexico is definitely NOT the place to cruise in the summer. Convection builds every afternoon in the Mexican highlands, and thunderstorms are almost a daily occurrence. Quite a few tropical storms also affect this area, so being at anchor here during the summer is not recommended.

Summers in the Sea of Cortez are HOT. There's no other way to say it. On the bright side, there are numerous wonderful anchorages with great snorkeling and the water is typically clear and enough to cool you down a bit. Fishing is a great pastime, and you can feed yourself quite well all summer.  The Sea of Cortez is a rugged but beautiful place. I would love to know more about the geology of the area. It's quite diverse and sometimes fantastical. The desert comes right to the shoreline.  Some places go years without measurable rain.

The convection that builds along the Sierra Madre can be seen from the western Sea of Cortez, over 80 miles away.  Sometimes (more often than we would like), these thunderstorm cells move west across the sea and bring devilishly high winds, lightning and the occasional rain. Constant vigilance is the price you pay. Any shade covers that you deploy during the day, to protect yourself and the boat from the intense sun, MUST be taken down every night. The convection storms, called "Chubasco's", are quick-moving and vicious. The winds can come up to 30-40 knots within 2 minutes. If you're not prepared, it'll be a hard-learned lesson. Getting a full night's sleep is a rare luxury. This is the time to learn the fine art of taking a "Siesta".

 

Of the 150 or so boats that cruise mainland Mexico, only 30 or so spend the entire summer in the northern Sea of Cortez. If you go far enough north, the hope is to minimize the possibility of experiencing a hurricane.  We have many friends in this small community of masochists, and enjoy potluck dinners and parties at many of the anchorages.

By the time October arrives, the temperatures are more manageable, and the weather pattern changes. High pressure tends to develop around the "4 Corners" area, and is common from November to March. This creates pressure-gradient winds that funnel down from the north into the Sea of Cortez. It's not unusual for these "Northers" to blow 4-5 days, often with 20-30 knots of chilly wind, making it inadvisable to leave your boat. So most boaters return to either La Paz or the mainland - Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, or Barra de Navidad.

We have spent the last 5 Thanksgivings in Barra de Navidad. Jim's good friend from work brings his family to the luxury resort here, the Grand Bay Hotel every Thanksgiving. When we summer in the Sea, we wait until the danger of hurricanes is past, and move quickly down the coast to meet up with them.  Usually we've given them a small list of things we need from the states, but most of all we wouldn't want to miss the chance to see them.

Christmas in Barra is very special. More and more cruising boats arrive every day in December, until we have 30-40 boats, and about 60 people attend the cruisers' potluck turkey dinner and gift exchange. The food is always delicious, and a local businessman fries the turkeys for us. The gifts are usually fun and silly, and we have the swap/steal that makes it fun. It's a small way to make Christmas special away from home.

In 2012 we had decided to do something a bit different, just to keep cruising fun. We planned to take some inland trips and explore the interior of Mexico. Just getting away from the coast and up to elevation of 2000 feet or more makes a huge difference in the summer temperatures and the comfort level.

To accomplish this, we would need to learn more Spanish, as well as find a place to put Windward Bound while we traveled. We had a tentative plan in place. Friends who own a beautiful home on the canal here in Barra asked us if we would house-sit while they were away from mid-May to mid-July. We had to re-think everything and it worked out splendidly. We put the boat in the Grand Bay Marina in Barra so we could visit it (almost) daily and do some maintenance and varnish. We looked after their two boats, the young cat, their condo next door, and their lovely home.

Even though it was hot and humid, we never used the AC, since the house is oriented properly to take full advantage of the prevailing winds. We did use several fans, and the breeze was great. We cooked and baked and were even able to enjoy a thunderstorm - finally, after so many years of living on the sail boat. Typically, our mast is the tallest thing around, and metal to boot! Lightning striking even near the boat can ruin all of our expensive electronic equipment. The Grand Bay Hotel sits below the crest of a large hill, and looms high over the marina, with an impressive array of lightning rods. We felt well protected from the strikes.

My brother visited us in early June, and we rented a car and drove for several days, bird watching and checking out the scenery. Western Mexico is home to over 300 bird species found nowhere else, and he logged over 30 new birds for his 'life list'.

The homeowners returned in July and let us stay in their condo. How nice is that? We left Barra at the end of July to help our friend deliver his sailboat from Mazatlan to San Diego. Jim had agreed to do this some time ago. I wasn't sure if I wanted to ever do the "Baja Bash" - so-named because you are traveling against the prevailing wind and currents. In the end, I decided that having 3 people on the boat was a better situation than just two. The watch shifts would be shorter, everyone would get more rest, and if someone was injured or ill, there would still be 2 people to run the boat. It turned out to be one of the easiest "Bashes" ever. We took 3 weeks to go from Mazatlan to San Diego, a distance of almost 1000 nautical miles.

The afternoon winds were always against us and stronger than the night and morning winds, so we adjusted our schedule to arrive at our next anchorage by early afternoon. We traveled short distances (40-50 miles) almost every day, and it was a very pleasant passage. We said good-bye to our friend in San Diego, and were sorry to hear that he didn't get any help on the rest of his journey to Oregon. He had to go another 1000 miles single-handed.

We arrived in San Diego in time to celebrate my brother's birthday as well as my own. We had a blast - cooking, making ice cream, and just catching up. After taking care of our errands in San Diego, and a quick trip to Mammoth, we flew back to Mexico.

We still had one month of "summer rates" at the marina, so we took a 4-week trip, by bus, to several towns in the interior of Mexico. Jim has a card that gets him 1/2 price on the long-range busses, so it was quite economical, as well as being an excellent adventure. The long -range busses are very nice. You get more room than a typical airline seat, a snack, and movies and music. Quite civilized!  If you want to look up the places we went, here's the list:

Jalisco State

·         Tapalpa

·         Ajijic

·         Mazamitla

Morelia State

·         Uruapan

·         Patzcuaro

Queretaro

Guanajuato State

·         San Miguel de Allende

·         Dolores Hidalgo

·         Guanajuato

Needless to say, it was a very interesting trip with a lot of beautiful scenery, lovely historic colonial towns, and great experiences. We spent a week in Guanajuato in a small apartment just to see if we would enjoy a longer stay. Our thoughts for future travel include Central and South America and perhaps renting an apartment for a month or longer, moving occasionally to another town. Our Spanish would certainly improve then!

Well, now we're back cruising the mainland coast of western Mexico. Since we didn't cruise very far this year, except for our trip up the Baja, we decided to head 200 miles south to Zihuatenejo. We hadn't gone further south than Manzanillo in years past, and I'm glad we did. This is a beautiful area, and we hope to be here for a couple of weeks before returning to Barra. We might even be tempted to stay for Guitar-Fest, a week of music that brings in talent from all over the world.

It has been far too long since I last posted on this blog, and for that, I apologize. I hope that this extended update wasn't too long-winded for you, but now you're up to date. I plan to post some more photos and will probably go back and narrate some of our earlier experiences in detail, just to fill in the gaps. Though it has been a long time, I do hope we haven't lost our audience entirely, and that you enjoy some of our tales from our time here in Mexico. Part of this, in truth, is a selfish endeavor. Someday, I know that Jim and I will want to read this blog just to bring back great memories of our adventures.

So long for now. 

Susan & Jim

p.s. When I get a better Internet connection, I will post more photos.

 

Happy Holidays from Windward Bound!!

LAZY SUSAN

As you may have noticed, we haven't updated our blog in a while. My apologies. While I wouldn't say that we've been lazy, exactly, we did manage to let our communications slide. We very much wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, so it seemed like a good time to get back into the swing of writing the blog update more often. Here goes...

Windward Bound landed in Mazatlan in late October, and we hauled out there, having some engine maintenance done and applying a new coat of paint on the bottom. All went well, and Total Yacht Works did a great job, on time and on budget. YEAH!!

We had some time before our haul out, so we worked hard on cleaning the things that needed it while we had fresh water to work with. It's amazing how dirty everything gets in the summer up in the Sea of Cortez. Fresh water is such a luxury, that we utilize the time we spend at the dock cleaning everything we can think of. We did get a bit of varnish work done as well, even with the high humidity of Mazatlan.

For the past couple of years, we have hustled down from the Sea of Cortez as soon as the threat of hurricanes is past so we can meet up with our friends, John and Cheryl and family in Barra de Navidad. They bring their family down to Barra each year for Thanksgiving, and it's such a treat to see them that we move quickly to get here.

Well, this year the boat wasn't quite ready, so we took a bus from Mazatlan to Barra instead. The road trip was fun, and we got to see some of the countryside. Our friend, Joe, has a beautiful home on the canal in Barra, and he was generous and gracious to let us stay with him for the week that we were here.

Part of the deal was that we would cook Thanksgiving dinner. Joe has a wonderful kitchen, so it was a real treat. Some friends from another boat joined us, and as is typical, they pitched in, providing several of the dishes. It was a great meal, and lots of fun. We had leftovers for everyone, and enjoyed turkey dinners for the entire weekend.

Back to Mazatlan, and three days later we were ready to head south. Our passages were mostly uneventful, except for a couple of close encounters with Humpback whales. Enough to get your adrenaline going, but luckily no contact. We got to buddy boat part of the way with Ted aboard Harrier, and had a spectacular time in San Blas. Someday we'll tell you about the martinis.

We arrived in Barra several days ago, and have enjoyed the town immensely, as always. Restaurants are plentiful, and run the gamut from ridiculously cheap, to what we call "special occasion" places, and the food is very good at both. It turns out that this is Birthday Week here. Jim’s birthday was Monday, and there are four more celebrants among the cruising community before Christmas. Quite a lot of partying going on, over and above the usual holiday stuff.

On Christmas Day we will have a gathering of about 60 people off the various boat, coming together for a potluck. Someone who lives ashore here has offered to fry two turkeys, and we’ll have a gift exchange. Should be a lot of fun.

We miss our friends and family back home even more during the holidays, and hope that this holiday season is filled with wonderful times and great memories. Please take good care in your travels and enjoy the people close to you.

Much Love and Happy Holiday Wishes,

Susan & Jim

Windward Bound

Our Northernmost Destination This Summer

We spent the last two weeks traveling north to the northern tip of the large island, Isla Angel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel Island). The anchorages known as Puerto Refugio(N29*32, W113*33) are beautiful, and there is a lot to do up there, but conditions don't always permit us to stay long. Look up the coordinates on Google Earth. Fishing is wonderful, as is the snorkeling, and swimming with the sea lions is a real treat. We caught and shared several good sized yellowtail, and the trigger fish and calico bass were plentiful as well. We never needed to dip into our freezer for something for dinner. It sure helps our provisions last longer when we can supplement our diet with fresh fish.

The snorkeling is diverse and the water clarity quite good. The Sea of Cortez is home to many species of filter feeders (baleen whales and whale sharks, for example) and the organisms that attract these animals are so thick in the water that the visibility is often quite poor. The good news is that there are many places to snorkel that are shallow and very accessible. The down side is that sometimes you come across a whale shark quite by accident, and that can be a shock. The whale sharks in this area are 12-20 feet long, and though that is not large by whale shark standards, it is unnerving to meet up with one unexpectedly.



One afternoon we went out to the sea lion rookery and swam with the sea lions . We just dropped off the dinghy and waited until the curious sea lions came close to take a look at us. They are so beautiful and graceful in the water. There were some very young pups, and the bull sea lion was very protective of his harem as well as the newborns. When we came too close to the colony, the bull warned us very loudly, and then entered the water, swimming between us and the females and pups. It was frightening since he was huge and annoyed, but we were able to get back to the dinghies without incident.



The scenery is very dramatic and diverse, and there are many small bays to explore. However, the anchorages are not protected from north winds, and the tides are extreme this far north in the Sea of Cortez, so when strong winds are forecast, we usually head for another anchorage.



We are now back at the small village at Bahia de los Angeles(28*57, W113*33), where we will catch up on e-mails and gather the few provisions that we need. We will spend the next few weeks at some anchorages on our way south towards the town of Santa Rosalia. This is the time of year that we would like to move south quickly, but are always mindful of the possibility of a late season hurricane. The later storms are more prone to curving back towards Baja and the Sea of Cortez. We will stay within 30-40 miles of a good hurricane hole(N28*56, W113*27) or(N28*26, W112*52) and listen faithfully to the weather forecasts.


We look forward to posting another update on our travels when we once again have Internet access. We hope that you are all well and happy and enjoying the early fall weather. Hopefully the dreadful heat in the Southwest has diminished by now -- 113 degrees in Los Angeles - YIKES!!


Love to All,


Sue & Jim


NOTE: I have included GPS coordinates for some of the anchorages and hope that you will enjoy using Google Earth or another mapping program to view the places that we have stayed.

NOTE: Sorry folks, but the Internet connection here is pretty poor today. I was unable to attach any more photos. I'll add more when I get a better connection.

Summer Cruising in the Sea of Cortez

Greetings from Bahia de Los Angeles,



We have finally arrived at Bahia de Los Angeles, the northernmost point of our summer cruise. This is where we will stay until the danger of hurricanes is over, possibly in only 6 weeks or so. It has been a light year for Pacific hurricanes, and for that we are thankful. This is a really wonderful area to cruise. The water is cleaner and clearer than other places, there is much more wildlife (whales, sea lions, whale sharks, etc.) and the fishing is great! It is never boring, as there are easily two dozen anchorages to explore, each with different qualities. We listen faithfully to the weather forecasts on our single-sideband radio, and depending upon the predicted wind direction, we usually have several anchorages that will offer us protection from the prevailing winds. We are comfortable at anchor with fairly brisk winds, as long as we have no wave action.


To get a feel for where we are, look up the Bay of Los Angeles on Google Earth. Approximate coordinates are N28*57, W113*33. You will see that there are plenty of islands and interesting bays to explore. We will stay within 40 miles of our hurricane hole so we can run there if we need to. Knock on wood that we won’t have to. Three days ago the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Right now it is in the high 80s with a nice breeze out of the north. This is the most comfortable weather we have ever had during the summer in the Sea. Usually it is so blessed hot that you can hardly think. And talk about sweating! Ick! Suffice it to say that this is a special treat.

An afternoon thunderstorm in the Bay of LA. Impressive and intimidating.

Whale sharks are pretty common in the BLA area. What a treat to get in the water with them!

 In the last blog, I mentioned briefly that we had replaced the refrigeration unit. It is still working fine and we are enjoying ice cubes every day. What a luxury! We were so very lucky that friends were willing to store our frozen food for several weeks. Otherwise we would have lost all of the food we had stocked up for the summer. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you realize that you can’t get some things this far north. (like decent steaks, italian sausage, thick cut pork chops, etc.)


For now, the frozen food will be a back-up for the fish we will catch. This is where we have the most luck fishing all year. Much of mainland Mexico’s waters have been all but fished out. The Sea of Cortez has been overfished as well, but it has rich ocean currents feeding it, and hopefully it will rebound. There are bait fish everywhere, and that is a good sign. We trail a line from the boat, and when at anchor, we get out almost every morning in the dinghy and troll for sierra mackeral, yellowtail, barracuda, triggerfish, and cabrilla bass. Dorado (Mahi Mahi) are a special treat, and usually caught off the big boat (though we did catch one off the dinghy last year – now that was exciting!!)


There are quite a few boats up here this year, many more than in the last two years. We had a party on shore for the people who run the daily radio “nets”, broadcasts on the single sideband radio that provide us with weather and anchorage information, as well as loosely keeping track of the boats cruising in Mexico. It was a fun party, with lots of great food and a lively dart tournament, complete with prizes. The next party will be on the day of the next full moon. We will gather at an anchorage where there is a lagoon that fills up when the tides are high. Just after high tide, we will go into the lagoon with floatation devices (cushions, floaty noodles, air mattresses, and anything else that floats) and ride the outgoing tide into the bay. Sounds corny, but it’s a lot of fun. And of course we’ll finish out the day with a potluck on the beach.

Potlucks are quite common when cruising. You always have to be ready to make something up for a crowd. Sometimes it’s just an afternoon get-together on someone’s boat, so it’s appetizers or chips and salsa, or dinner where we provide one or two dishes, and the host provides the other dishes. Then there are the big shindigs on the beach. The food is usually fantastic, and no one goes away hungry. To all of these events we bring our own plates, silverware, and beverages. It works out really well, since the effort is shared, and hosting duties are rotated. This is especially helpful since we are all moving around to different anchorages, and every boat moves at a different pace.


Well, that’s about it for our update. We should be back at BLA village in about two weeks, and will work on another update then. Just know that we are well and happy and enjoying this life. It would be wonderful to share it with you in person, so if you’d like to come visit, please contact us and we’ll figure out a way to make it work.


Much love,


Sue and Jim

Wedding Photos and Travel Plans

Hello to all,

Susan arrived back in Santa Rosalia, and we spent the week installing and testing our new refrigeration unit. We are now making ice cubes and are pretty proud of ourselves for intalling the refrigeration ourselves.

Today we will leave the marina and head out to the island nearby. Friends on Distant Shores have been storing our frozen food for a couple of week, so we'll meet up with them and put it back in our brand new freezer. Yeah!

After that, we will move north towards Bahia de los Angeles and spend the rest of the hurricane season there. We will have limited access to Internet, so I wanted to post some wedding photos before we leave.

Kelsey and Trent were married on her parents' farm. This is a 'before' look at the space we'll transform for the ceremony and reception.

We erected a 20' x 40' tent, with lots of help, especially since the wind decided to pick up just at that moment.

A little adjustment on the guy ropes, and we'll see if the tent will stand up to the wind...

Now it's starting to look like a party!

All of the flowers for the wedding came from Jim & Pam's garden. It was a beautiful variety and added lots of color, but were so special because they had grown them all themselves.

Again, there were many people who pitched in to help.

Like the flowers, much of the fresh food for the reception dinner was grown on the Dyer's Wool farm. It was hard to resist eating all of the beans right off the vine! And the cherry tomatoes were incredibly sweet.

The wedding day arrived, and we're all ready for the ceremony to begin.

Cue the bride and groom...

Kelsey, the bride's sister, makes her way to the arbor for the ceremony.

Kelsey is a beautiful bride, clearly happy that this day has arrived.

The father of the bride says a few words to begin the ceremony. Kelsey and Trent recited their own vows. The ceremony concluded with a reading from Dr. Seuss - "Oh, The Places You'll Go".

The bride and groom enjoy their first dance as husband and wife.

Kelsey with Jim & Pam. Proud parents.

The Dyer family. All in all, a great day!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, I hope this gives you a taste for all the preparation and fun of Kelsey and Trent's wedding on the Dyer's Wool farm. It was truly a community effort, and the results were wonderful. I was very happy to be a part of it.

Best wishes to all.

Love,
Sue & Jim

Heading Back to Baja

Well, the wedding was wonderful, and we have the components for our refrigeration, so today I'll be taking the bus back to Santa Rosalia on the Baja. I will have some photos of Kelsey and Trent's wedding when I get back to the boat, and will post them this week.

Wish us luck on the install of the new refrigerations. It's supposed to be simple, but we'll see.

Hope you are all well and happy and enjoying the late summer weather.

More later.
Love,
Sue

Windward Bound - Underway