Depart San Evaristo headed for Puerto Escondido, Dec. 3rd, 2011.

Winter brings frequent wind storms to the Sea of Cortez. Locally called “northers”, these events can turn the sea into a dangerous place with wind gusting to 45 or 50 knots and seas building to 10 and 15 feet. Unlike sea conditions in the open ocean, storm waves in the Sea of Cortez are steeper and have a shorter wavelength. A yacht doesn’t ride slowly up and down these seas but rather bashes from one to the next. It can be a punishing ride especially if you have a long way to go. Turning around in such seas and exposing your beam to these short, steep waves can slap your yacht down on its beam ends before you realize what’s happened.

Mountains emerge from the sea

Landscape unchanged from Cortez's time

While at anchored at San Evaristo we learned that such a wind was forecast to arrive in 24 hours and it was expected to blow above 30 knots for the next 5 days. San Evaristo offered good protection from northerly winds but there wasn’t much to keep us busy in the surrounding area. We decided to make a dash up the coast to Puerto Escondido where we could tie up to a mooring buoy in a protected harbor that offered showers, toilet, laundry, market and restaurant. If we got bored while we waited out the storm, we could take a taxi from the harbor to Loreto.

Sailboat motoring south

On Dec 2^nd we cleared the decks after dinner and prepared the boat to get underway. When preparations were complete we took a short nap and awoke at midnight. At 1AM we started the motor, weighed anchor and were on our way. The cruise to Puerto Escondido took 11 hours. The wind had already shifted to the north, so we motored all the way to Escondido rather than short tack all the way up the coast.



The coastline from San Evaristo to Puerto Escondido is largely unpopulated and incredibly rough, with 3,000 foot mountains that rise directly from the sea. Little surprise that this coast is undeveloped, there’s scarcely enough level ground to put a phone boot.  A cruising sailor is struck by the fact that the landscape has changed little since Cortez saw it more than 500 years ago. As you gaze at the mountains you can imagine seeing the Guaycura Indians travelling over the rocky landscape or fishing near the shore in their canoes.

Puerto Escondido (Hidden Port)

When we arrived at Escondido we tied up to the dock and Cindy and Alex went for a walk while I took a nap. On the way back Cindy and Alex stopped at the restaurant and ordered a pizza from the restaurant to be delivered to the boat. The smell of fresh baked pizza on the boat levitated me out of my bunk quicker than the sound of running water below the cabin sole. We watched a movie on the laptop while enjoying our first pizza since leaving home.  

Puerto Escondido, view north through Los Ventanas (the windows)