A crew change took place last Thursday and with Marathon newly provisioned and newly crewed, we set sail from La Paz (more about land fall in this port later)to Puerto Ballandra. The latter is exceptionally scenic, cozy and not heavily used by other boats. However, Peter and I experienced a rough night and day in there prior to our arrival in La Paz and two nights ago we experienced an even rougher night. Winds of 15+ kts came through for the entire evening creating seas of two to three feet. If we had been sailing it would have been great. However, these conditions are completely unacceptable, at least to me, in an anchorage! The crew could not agree more. Fortunately for them, the ship’s clinic is well equipped with anti-seasickness remedies and they were eventually able to get some sleep.

We departed the next day for Caleta Partida, located between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo. We had great sailing with 10 to 15 kts of wind and arrived here about 5 hours after our departure. What a great place!

Here we are in Puerto Balandra after 8 hours of motoring and 1 hour of sailing. A pretty spot and there are at least 6 other sail boats here including “Om Shanti” which belongs to the people that wrote the “Sea of Cortez” guidebook that we are using. Heather Bansmer was clearing sitting in the cockpit.

We plan to spend tomorrow at anchor as it will only be a short run (12nm) to La Paz, which we will make on Wednesday so that Peter can catch his flight home on Thursday. While we could have made this trip from Cabo san Lucas in a couple of days by sailing around the clock, the harbour hopping route has had its advantages. We were able to stop in some very pretty places and as importantly, we were not exhausted from long watches and short sleeps.

The Sea of Cortez has its own stark, arid beauty with a jagged mountainous skyline, the red and orange hues of serious desert and deep green water chock full of interesting creatures. Today we watched a very large swordfish leap from the water, 3 to 4 feet into the air, over and over again. A whale surfaced several times near the boat and at one point we were surrounded by dolphins. We expect to see more of this in the near future.

Leaving Cabo san Lucas behind and arriving in Bahia Las Frailes was a real treat. We arrived, after an amazing upwind beat in 15 to 20 kts of wind, just as the sun was setting. The anchor was down in the twilight that follows sunset and we enjoyed the remarkably different landscape and QUIET of this new location. We agreed that an early start the next day would be essential to ensure that we arrived in Ensenada Los Muertos before dark given that it was just over 45 miles away, so planned to be up at 5 AM, the time during our trip down Baja that the sky was bright enough that we could easily find our way out of the anchorage. However, 5 AM on 21 November was particularly dark. Further, though we had grib files from the previous night we thought, given the strong winds of the previous day, that it would be prudent to tune in to Sonrisa net for a weather forecast. Strangely, from 6:30 until nearly 7 AM all we could hear was some old boys in Texas or somewhere chatting about their bad health. By this time it was quite light out and the scenery so striking that we decided to take a “lay” day and stay in the anchorage. After a second cup of coffee it became apparent that we had forgotten that the time changed in Cabo san Lucas and that in fact light should not arrive until about 6 AM and Sonrisa net would not be on until 7:45. It was a great day at anchor.

This morning we were up at 6 and on the water just before 7. We motor sailed for 9 of the 10 hours that it took to get to Ensenada Los Muertos, sailing on the last hour into yet another quiet, pleasant and visually spectacular anchorage.

We are continuing to sail 24 hours a day, mostly making at least 5 knots of boat speed. We sped by Turtle Bay yesterday and we are about 140 miles from Mag Bay. If we continue to sail we do not need to stop in Mag Bay, but if the timing is right, we might stop just to have a look.

Weather has been cloudy and last night was definitely cool – in the 20 C range, and requiring a layer or two of fleece. However, today is mostly sunny and when the sun is shining, it is very warm. We continue to believe what the books say – we can throw away our fleece in Cabo san Lucas.

Yesterday, I had to replace a retaining pin on the windvane rudder and was amazed at the warmth of the water. It was 22 C and compared to an air temp of 20 it seemed warm.

It is often said that sailing plans are written in sand. This must be because the wind, with great perversity, erases them. Sometimes there is too much wind, sometimes there is too little wind and sometimes the wind is just right. At around 4 PM on Thursday the wind started to blow, we shut off the engine and we have been sailing in wind that is just right ever since (time of writing: noon on Friday, 13 November 2009).

So, plans to stop in Turtle Bay to take on fuel have been erased by the wind and our new plan is to sail to Bahia Magdalena (“Mag Bay”), about 240 nm from where we are now. If the wind persists, we should be there in about 48 hours. If the wind persists, we won’t need to stop there either because we have enough fuel, water and food to make it all the way to Cabo san Lucas from that point. So the best plan we can articulate now is we might stop in Mag Bay and we might not. It all depends on the wind.

We left San Diego Sunday morning at 4:30 PM and motored to Ensenada in order to be sure that we would arrive before dark. The entrance to the Coral Marina is somewhat hairy – big rollers breaking just off the starboard side and a very narrow entrance through a stone breakwater. However, the place was terrific.

We cleared customs on Monday morning – a relatively painless process though it did take some time. We also bought fishing licenses, but more about that later!

Around noonish Tuesday, after boat cleanup, filling the tanks with water and fuel, we set off for points south. The sailing was quite good after about an hour of sailing and we sailed through the night. Tuesday morning we took down the main and put up the “drifter” as the wind was rather light and this sail alone kept us going at 3 to 5 knots until about 3 AM when the wind completely died. We have been motoring ever since (now noon on Thursday).

We anticipate having to pull into Turtle Bay to replenish fuel and water as this will now take longer than hoped for, as a result of the very light winds. Its still another 120 miles or so and that will take us at least 24 hours or more to get there. Weather reports indicate that we should see improved wind strength (anything is better than zero which is the current condition) later today but to be safe, Turtle Bay will very likely be our next stop.

This message is being sent by our on board HAM radio but as soon as we have a more robust internet connection, full pictures of today’s headline story “LOU CATCHES VERY LARGE TUNA” will be posted. By that time we will also be able to provide some commentary on the culinary experience associated with this significant event.

We now have California off the beam and continue to sail non-stop in 15 to 25 kt winds with occasional, and always at night, blips up to 30 kts for several hours. For much of the past two days we have been sailing with just the main, either double or triple reefed on a very broad reach making 5 to 7 kts overground. We gybe once in the morning and once in the afternoon, all under bright sunshine or a very bright full moon. What could be better?

On Saturday night we found the ocean cluttered with fish boats but since then, we have seen two tankers and that’s it? The ocean is empty out here at around 150 miles offshore.

We are now angling into Long 125W south of Cape Mendocino (the Cape Horn of the North Pacific – kind of) and hope to avoid untoward events so common in that part of the ocean. All going well we will be San Francisco sometime on Thursday.

We left Neah Bay under bright sun on Friday and motored past Tatoosh Island. The sails went up at around 2 PM and have been up ever since. We are now experiencing the lowest wind speeds since Friday but we are still making nearly five knots. We have had up to 30 kt winds and with a triple reefed main and no jib still made 7 knots through the water.

Sunny skies, wind and a downwind sail – what could be better?

We are roughly following the 126 longitude but adjusting to keep roughly 80 miles offshore, in order to dodge fish boats and fog. So far it is working though last night there were a lot of boats and 30 knot winds. It was entertaining and made the evening watches anything but tedious.

All going well we will arrive in San Francisco on Wednesday or Thursday.