Arrival in Seattle

We docked at Shilshole Marina on Thursday afternoon, May 31. It was 61 days since we left La Paz, Mexico .

I was anxious about the last section of the coast from San Francisco to Seattle and was thinking that we'd have the worst sea conditions of the trip in this last 870 miles but that turned out not to be the case. For the first time during the trip north we had fair weather forecast out for many days and the forecast held true, seas were calm, winds were below 15 knots and blew from the west and southwest at least half the time. Sometimes the winds were so light that we didn't get any benefit from having the sails up except to slow down the rolling from side-to-side.

After leaving SF Bay we motor sailed the 40 miles to Bodega Bay. The National Weather Service forecasts predicted west and southwest winds 5-15 mph for the next 5-days past Cape Mendocino and the long-term forecast called for those conditions to extend farther up the coast in subsequent days, so we headed out the next morning for Eureka. The weather remained good so we passed Eureka and headed on to Coos Bay (360 nm away, 3 days and 2 nights offshore). We rested up in Coos Bay for 2 days letting rain squalls pass over us while we were docked at the Charleston Marina. Charleston Marina is a fishing boat marina with old boats that belched diesel soot everywhere. It was in Coos Bay that we discovered that our SPOT GPS messenger wasn’t working. It began to send help messages to Vessel Assist one morning and Vessel Assist called to find out what help we needed. I told them that nobody on our boat sent a help message and we quickly figured out that the device wasn’t working correctly.  We left Coos Bay intending to stop at Newport or Tillamook Bay but the weather held so we motor-sailed all the way to Port Townsend, Washington  (470 nm away). In just seven days of sailing we covered  830 nautical miles!

We stayed two nights at Point Hundson Marina in Port Townsend to rest, celebrate our accomplishment and clean the boat so Cindy wouldn't be too shocked to see how 3 guys kept house at sea.

When we arrived at Shilshole Bay marina we were able to get a permanent slip assignment on D-dock (D-75). Cindy was waiting for us at the dock, Alex arrived a few minutes later in his new car (VW RABBIT 2009) as did TJ's kids. A few additional friends at showed up and we had an impromptu party and dinner later at Anthony's Home Port restaurant.

Now that I'm home I'm trying to get my land legs back and recover from the trip. Yesterday, I did 8 loads of wash, brushed the dog and clipped her nails. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday cleaning the boat and took all the cushions home to clean and dry. I started going through my log book to create a table listing the ports we stopped at, the distances between stops, fuel consumption and noteworthy events. I hope to update the blog soon with all our pictures and add a narrative of the trip. We had virtually no internet connectivity in Mexico and little or no internet connectivity after we left southern California, that's why I hadn't updated the blog. I promise I'll have that done in the next 10 days.

My friend TJ sailed the entire trip with me from La Paz, Mexico to Seattle. Mike, a guy that I recruited from a sail net who lives in Calgary, Canada, joined the voyage from La Paz to Marina Del Rey. A second recruit was a guy from Seattle named “CB” who we met in La Paz. He sailed with us from San Francisco to Seattle. Both of the recruits were good sailors and got along well with TJ and I. Mike was a diesel mechanic and taught me how to adjust the valves on the boat’s Yanmar diesel. Mike was also a great cook. CB didn’t cook much but he was always quick to clean up the galley when someone else did the cooking. He also ate my cooking without any complaints. All in all is was a wonderful trip and I can’t believe it’s over.

Arrived at our home port in Shilshole Bay Marina, on May 31st after 61 days of travel from La Paz, Mexico

 We arrived safely in Seattle, Washington on Thursday, May 31st after 61 days from La Paz, Mexico.




"CB" from Shilshole Bay Marina sailed with us from San Francisco to Seattle, and currenlty lives aboard s/v Palarran



TJ Stetz from Seattle, Washington sailed the entire trip from La Paz, Mexico to Seattle Washington.

Three amigos at dock in Shilshole Bay Marina, May 31, 2012. We arrived at 2:00PM under a cloudy sky.  

Our last sunset at sea southwest of Cape Flattery.

News Flash

We made it to Coos Bay Oregon after 4 days and 3 nights of sailing. We had some company along the way...see pics.

Now that I have your attention I'm sad to say our SPOT GPS Messenger has stopped working, so you will not be able to track our progress for the final leg of the voyage. We expect to be in Grays Harbor,  Monday evening.  Hopefully we'll be in Seattle by the following weekend.  When I have reliable internet connectivity again I will add all of the missing updates for the entire voyage. Its been a great frustration to me that I have not been able to connect and update the blog...I'm sure your all disappointed too.

Look forward to seeing you all again very soon!

Craig

Los Frailes to Puerto Los Cabos, April 5-6

We left Los Frailes at 6:30 AM. Two of the three sailboats at anchor last night weighed their anchors before dawn and were already 5 miles offshore by the time we woke up. A power boat and the one sailboat that remained showed no signs of life. The temporary camps along the beach doubled during the night. This weekend is a big holiday in Mexico; tomorrow is Good Friday and this is the first of a 2 week vacation.  

Mike says his cough is improving. He arrived in Mexico with a cold and hasn’t felt 100 pecent since joining our crew. TJ is busy getting familiar with the systems on the boat and learning the knots we use most frequently, he says he’s “knot challenged” so we’ll have to give him some slack when we discover a granny knot when we’re expecting to see a bowline, but he’s eager to lend a hand whenever one is needed. Mike has more experience on sailboats and is helping TJ learn the ropes. The crew gets along very well and it’s harmonious onboard.

This morning I took first watch because we were passing a broad point with extensive shoals, and as captain I like to be at the helm when we’re close to shore or entering a harbor. Mike disappeared below a while ago and is whipping up  ham and cheese omelets for us, using the last of the lunch meat in the refrigerator.

At 9:40 AM we were offshore of Arrojo Del Manto (12 nm from Puerto Los Cabos) when we began to feel the first swells from the Pacifc Ocean. Two whale were spotted off our starboard beam, “thar she blows”, I yelled. Mike spotted another whale off the point ahead.

We arrived in Puerto Los Cabos just before noon, registered at the marina office and headed out by taxi to shop for groceries.

At Puerto Los Cabos TJ saw two frigate birds fighting for a perch on our mast head. I didn’t see which bird won the contest but our wind indicator was the only casualty: one minute it was there and the next it was gone.  That will make nighttime sailing more difficult because at night we can’t see the sails so we rely on the electronic wind indicator to keep us on the correct tack. 

Our plan is to leave early tomorrow (Good Friday) and head for Cabo San Lucas where we’ll fuel up and then go directly out again to begin our beat around Land’s End and Cabo Falso to Maggie Bay. We expect this leg of the trip to take 3 days and 2 nights, with steep short period waves for the first day.    

Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico. April 14th 2012

This is our first opportunity to write since leaving La Paz on April 1^st. We’ve covered more than 600 nautical miles in sea conditions that ranged from flat calm to 10-foot wind waves and swells generated from 25-28 knot winds on the nose.  I will try to bring you up to date as soon as possible. Our internet connectivity is very limited and we must be on shore to connect at all. We are planning to leave tomorrow morning at 5:00AM and after we leave we will have no connectivity until we arrive in Ensenada, about 300 nm away.

Posted from Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico.    April 14^th 2012

Departing La Paz

The sail down the Sea of Cortez from La Paz to Puerto Los Cabos was mostly down wind, which afforded us the opportunity to sail a good part of that distance.  After leaving La Paz we headed for Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida to anchor for the night. The breeze was too light to sail, so we motored this short 20 nm stretch.  As soon as we left the channel “Canal de la Paz” we spotted a whale jumping clear out of the water. Its large pectoral fins with white undersides suggested to us it was a humpback whale. We drifted nearby with the engine turned off to watch the whale as long as possible. Several other boats where nearby including two pangas (native skiffs) that were too close to the whale.  The whale seemed to get agitated whenever the pangas approached, and it began to slap the water violently with its tail seeming to say, “Hey asshole you’re too close for comfort”, but the panga operators apparently didn’t get the message. Finally the whale started moving away quickly to the north and the whale disappeared over the horizon with the two pangas in pursuit.

Anchored in Bahia Partida, April 1-2

The anchorage between the two islands (Partida and Espiritu Santo) was very peaceful with only a few other boats to keep us company. That evening Mike volunteered to cook our fist dinner of the cruise. He cut up onions, peppers, celery, cheese and German sausage and sautéed all these ingredients with fresh tomatoes. It was fantastic! Mike had just set the bar very high for the unfortunate crew member that had to cook the next night.  The water was a warm 76 degrees that night and the air temperature remained in the high 70’s. We regretted leaving the next morning but felt that we should take advantage of a fair wind and calm seas, so we recovered our anchor at 8:00 AM and headed for Los Muertos, 60 nautical miles distant.

 

Bahia Los Muertos, April 2-4

We sailed most of the 60 nm from Isla Partida to Los Muertos and arrived at 7:20PM.  The anchorage at Los Muertos reminds me more of the Caribbean than the Sea of Cortez. A restaurant called simply “1535” is situated on the north side of the bay and a small resort is on the south side, in between is a wide white sand beach with high dunes behind that conceal a golf course from view (1535 is the year that Cortez visited this part of Mexico, and the restaurant is named in honor of this). Earlier in the year the beach had numerous sea turtle nests that were roped off to keep 4x4’s from driving over them. The turtles have long since emerged from their nests and headed for the sea and vacationing Mexicans are now camping out on the beach. This is the beginning of their 2-week Easter vacation and we are told by the waiter at “R 1535” that by the end of the week the beach will be full of campers. We drove the dinghy to the dock near the restaurant and spent the day on-shore. We hiked up to a breath taking point above the restaurant to get a closer look at a villa who’s architecture was reminiscent of old Spain.  After taking photos of the villa and sea scape we hiked south, across the beach to the resort. There we nursed a few beers for hours while we soaked in their pool, wandered around the mode rail road museum on the second floor, and played billiards.   Eventually, we felt compelled to either leave or stay and buy more $4 (USD) per beer, and since the latter would have blown my budget for the week we left. We ate that evening at R 1535 where a good dinner with a few beers cost only $10 (USD).  On April 4^th, after two nights at anchor we left Los Muertos at 6:30 AM, headed for Los Frailes; 43 nm away.

Private villa overlooking Bahia De Los Muertos

Thached cabana behind villa

Bahia De Los Muertos looking south, restaurant "1535" in foreground 



Fishing boats on beach



Fishermen and restaurant "R1535"

Cactus in bloom





Bahia Los Frailes, April 4-5

During our sail from Los Muertos to Los Frailes the wind blew 8 knots from the north. We set the genoa and main sail and found we could only make 4 knots of headway so we fired up the diesel and motor sailed at a respectable 7 knots all the way to Los Muertos.  At 10:00AM, while in route to our destination we began to see manta rays jumping out of the water. The manta rays were not the giant rays you see on National Geographic, they looked to be about 4-feet across and jumped a good 2 or 3 feet out of the water. We anchored in Bahia Los Frailes at 2:30PM. By 5:20 PM the manta rays began to leap out of the water all around our boat. They began one-by-one but soon three, four, five and more mantas began jumping out of the water together. This performance continued into the evening and reminded us of the Grand Finale that everyone waits for at the end of a fireworks display.  At one point a school of mantas several hundred feet long and a hundred feet wide swam past our boat. The surface of the water boiled with their wing tips piercing the water surface and as this mass of rays passed out boat, more than 10 mantas leaped out of the water. We all tried to photograph this performance and managed a few good shots, but they don’t convey the scale of this maritime ballet.

Manta ray jumping out of the water

Another ray jumping in Bahia Los Frailes

Alien sighted in Los Frailes, take me to your leader!

The mantas "Grande Finale"

The beaches along Bahia Los Frailes were crowded with vacationing Mexican families, with Good Friday one of their biggest holidays of the year just two days away. I was beginning to think that our plan to check out of Mexico in Los Cabos this weekend was a mistake.  It will be impossible to find all of the officials that need to sign our forms (Port Captain, immigration, health, etc.) on Easter Weekend in Los Cabos, so we’re probably going to check out in Ensenada.

Sailboats at anchor in Bahia Del Los Frailes (Bay of the Friers)

Beach awnings and lifeguard chair

We began to follow the watch schedule that we’d keep for the rest of the voyage. During the day each crewman took the helm for 4 hours and rested for 8 hours.  On long passages when we begin to sail through the night we will modify the watch to 3 hours on and 6 hours off during the hours between 6:00PM and 6:00AM.  The shorter watches at night help to keep the crew fresh at night when it’s difficult to stay awake.

The crew has melded together as a cohesive team: cooperation, respect and good spirits describe the atmosphere on board. When something needs to be done everyone is eager to offer their help. The crew rotates chores like cooking and dishwashing without debate or hesitation. In this regard the skipper is no different from the crew and must take his turn at washing dishes, cooking and cleaning the head. My judgment about using the internet to find willing and able crew has been justified by my experience so far. I couldn’t have found a better crewman that Mike if I had personally interviewed a dozen prospective candidates, and my friend TJ has also proven himself an able seaman.   

More to come …

·         Los Frailes to Puerto Los Cabos, April 5-6

·         Puerto Los Cabos to Bahia Magdelana, April 6-8  

·         Bahia Magdelana to Turtle Bay, April 9 – 11

·         Planning to leave Turtle Bay, April 15

 We have been waiting in Turtle Bay for the weather to improve. We plan to leave at 5:00AM April 15.


We are in Morro Bay today May 6th, and I am working on the blog...hope to have new content by this evening. Tomorrow we sail for San Simeon Bay to anchor and the next day we begin a 2 day sail to Monterey Harbor.

La Paz, Mexico....Crew arrives from El Norte....minus one bag

Yesterday afternoon the shuttle crew arrived from the north... now the skipper doesn't have to carry on both sides of a conversation by himself.

For my readers that haven’t been introduced to the crew I’ll attempt to remedy that oversight right now…

TJ Stets is a long-time friend from Seattle who’s been bracing for a cruise in the tropics from years. He recently took an early retirement from the FAA where he worked as a wetlands ecologist. Now in his free time he guides white water rafting trips in the Pacific North West. TJ visited the Baja several times before, and recently drove down the Baja with another friend. Anyone who has seen the roads down here knows that it takes a brave soul to navigate the highways of the Baja. That’s just the kind of grit I’m looking for in a crewmember. As I edit this posting at 10:45PM,  TJ is fast asleep, snooring loud enough to raise the dead. I'm tempted to put him into the dingy, so he can drift off a ways while he slumbers, but alas I don't think I could lift him up through the companion way without waking him, so I'll just dig out my ear plugs so I can rest in peace.

Mike Gregory is a sailor from Calgary, Alberta who now keeps his 44-foot Hunter in Blain, Washington. He told me it was getting difficult finding a big enough slip in Calgary,but I think he might have been pulling my leg. I recruited Mike from one of the many sail forums on the internet that sailors use to find crew or boats looking for crew. I was leery about sailing with someone I never met before but with Mike my concerns were not warranted. As I discovered, Mike is easy to get along with, pitches in to help on the boat without being asked and is a real gentleman. Mike is retired from Ryder Truck Company where he worked as a service manager. I learned that Mike is a mechanic by trade, and having that skill set on the boat makes me very happy. Hopefully his skills will not be needed but it’s nice to know that he can help if some mechanical problem arises.

When Mike arrived we learned that some luggage doesn't fly as fast as others, or maybe its just that some luggage gets side tracked talking to other luggage when it should be running across the tarmac to catch the connecting flight. Whatever the reason, Mike's luggage never made it to La Paz. Hopefully Air Canada and Alaska Air can find this missing bag and return it to its owner before we have to leave La Paz. Mike's trying not to worry too much about it, but he's beginning to run out of clean cloths and may be forced to wear some of his boat mates hand-me-downs. So if you notice in future photos that Mike is wearing a pair of baggy shorts or an old Hawaiian shirt with salsa stains you'll know why. We suggested that if his new waredrobe looks shabby enough he may be able to build his cruising kitty by standing on the corner with a cardboard sign that reads something like, "Sailor stranded in La Paz, need money for fast passage to Tahiti and beer". All kidding aside, we're optimistic that Mike will be  reacquainted with his baggage when the next Alaska Airplane lands in La Paz on Saturday.


For our first evening together, I planned nothing but leisure time to get acquainted and for the crew to get the kinks out of their legs after their long flight. After showing them the boat and stowing their gear aboard, we walked about a mile and one half to the Tailhunter Restaurant and Bar for dinner and beer.
We sat on the second floor balcony at the row of tales that faces the street, so we could get a good view of the parade of people walking the Malecon. An ex-pat American was sitting a few chairs from Mike and began to tell us everthing he knew about La Paz. Soon the conversation between the three of us stopped as we couldn't get a word in edgewize. We hope that as soon as he asked for his check he would say good night and disappear into the night. Instead, he slid over to the seat next to Mike so he could more formally join our group. At that point I lost my patience and explained to the fellow that this was our first night together and that we wanted a chnce to talk among ourselves to get to know eachother. Then I wished the stranger a good night and invited him to leave. I was sorry to be so blunt, but I knew if I wasn't he'd dominate our conversation until it was time for us to walk back to the boat.
After the ex-pat left we enjoyed our tacos and beer while we got to know eachother. It was an early night as the crew was tired from travelling, so we returned to the boat and called it a night.

Today, we took another walk to town to exchange US dollars to Pesos and shop for groceries. Like other similar excursions, this took most of the day and we probably walked 4 miles or more. Along the way TJ and Mike took photos of many of the sculptures, we even found one that was perfect for a beginning of the trip photo. I hope you enjoy it and the few other we threw in for good measure…

The Crew of S/V Cool Breez'n posing infront of the sculpture of the "Old Man of the Sea in a Paper Boat", on the Malacon in downtown La Paz.

Horse sculpture made from palm fronds in front of the "Arte Hotel", this is the same horel that has the dead monkey sitting in the from seat of a junked Model T automobile in its out door lobby. Only the very daring would stay at this inn.

   

Dancing hamerhead sharks. There is a seamount near La Paz that is famous for its schools of hammerhead sharks. In the 1970's Capitan Cousteau visited the Sea of Cortez thrilled nature lovers when he filmed the schooliing hammerheads.

Mermaid and dolphin sculpture on the Malecon.



See our geographic location .... new feature on blog... March 23, 2012

I've added a new feature to my blog that I’m really excited about.

You can now see my geographic position, just click on the second link in the sidebar to the right, entitled: "SPOT GPS Location".  That will take you to my SPOT Shared Page, which displays my current and past locations for the last week.

When I leave La Paz (March 31), I will send a new SPOT position at least once a day. Within 15 minutes my position will be displayed on my SPOT Shared Page. These positions are labeled "OK" to show that the crew and boat are "OK". If we run into trouble on the high seas I can send a "HELP" message or an "SOS". This alert will be secondary to our EPIRBs (satellite rescue beacons), VHF radio, and Short Wave radio, and hopefully it will never be activated.

After seeing where I am you can return to my blog by clicking on the BACK arrow in the upper left of the page.


If you have any questions you can post it as a comment in my blog and I will try to answer.  However, once we leave land’s end at Cabo San Lucas we will have no internet connectivity until Turtle Bay (450 nm away). Similarly, when we leave Turtle Bay that will be the last you hear from us until we reach San Diego. However, our geographic position will continue to be updated every day since that service uses direct satellite communication and does not rely on cell phone towers or WIFI.