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It all starts with a disturbance that shows up on the weather report.  So far, the disturbances that became named storms have headed west and spared the Sea of Cortez.  This was not the case for Hurricane Hilary.  In the early stages of a storm, the prediction models can vary by a large degree which leaves room for uncertainty and a lot of guessing.  Things will begin to align a few days out from the storm which allows for last minute decision making and planning.  You may be wondering, what things we need to decide on?  First and foremost is where do we go?  Secondly, what do we need to do to prepare the boat for the storm?  Should things change, what are the backup plans?  Then we spring to action.

When we first started cruising and spending the summers in the northern sea, there was only one place to consider to ride out a storm, Puerto Don Juan.  Don Juan provides nearly 360 degrees of coverage but does have its own set of undesired worries. Overcrowding, funneling winds, swell rolling into the anchorage, areas of bad holding or being anchored in deeper water which offers less scope.  Now that technology has improved and Starlink is available, we have access to more current and frequent information.  While choosing a place to hunker down, we take into consideration the direction of the predominant winds and their expected intensity.   Hilary was expected to show up with a strong E and SE wind direction which left us feeling really confident about choosing a place outside of Don Juan. Coincidentally it was the same wind direction that we had for Hurricane Kay, once again we chose the La Mona anchorage to hunker down.

Now that we had chosen a spot to go, we went into full preparation mode.  This meant last minute shopping trips for groceries.  It is common for roads and access to the town to be hindered after a storm so stocking up is the prudent thing to do.  Brad lugged our jerry cans of gas to the station in the sweltering heat so we could run our auxiliary generator if necessary.  Then began the prep of Perspective.  One of the main things we try to do when expecting high winds is reduce all unnecessary windage.  Down came our headsail which can be an easy job but due to a little breeze, it became a literal wrestling match as we dropped the sail and then folded it up on deck.  Having that task done, we motored to our intended hunkering spot.  It was a quick 6nm hop taking just over an hour to complete.  Upon arrival we made sure to give the anchor a really good set! This is when things begin to feel real. This was no longer an imaginary, what if situation. There is a storm coming.   Including us, there were 5 boats that chose to anchor in La Mona.  There is plenty of space for the boats to line up and be out of each others way.  3 of us coordinated and we were able to gather coordinates of where the anchors were dropped.  This is important because we could plot where each boat was during the storm, and see if they were dragging or staying put.

With our anchor set and with a little bit of time on our hands we continued preparing the boat for weather.  We took down our bimini canvas, flexible solar panels, stowed the dinghy on deck, lashed down the mainsail and strapped down our paddle boards.  Brad made sure to tie down anything and everything!

At this time Hilary was ramping up and became a Cat 4 Hurricane on the outside of Baja.  Remember I mentioned that having Starlink is really nice?  Well sometimes it is not healthy.  This is when the emotional side of the hurricane begins messing with my mind.  I had access to all types of weather, Facebook groups, opinions and doom scrolling.  Opinions were posted that we should be expecting the absolute worst case scenario and the northern sea was not going to be a safe place to be.  At this point it was too late to safely go anywhere else! These posts led me down various rabbit holes of “where the heck are they seeing this info?!”  Our phones were blowing up with other cruisers asking “What are your plans and where are you going?”  There was no mental escape!  We had friends stripping their boats entirely while others chose not to do much at all.  Of course I worried for those that chose to take the “eh it is fine” approach.  It is fine until it isn’t.  And that is when injuries can occur, handling the things that start misbehaving in the high winds.    You are probably thinking, sheesh Sarah, you’re so dramatic.  And yes, yes I am!

We were expecting the storm to show up the evening of August 19th.  We began getting reports from our cruiser friends that were down south in the Loreto area.  Reports varied from a high gust of 37kts to 71kts.  They were dealing with a higher strength storm, but the eye was further west than it would be when it arrived to our area.  We would be seeing tropical storm conditions with the eye closer to our area.  The closer the eye, means the wind can get a little stronger as it whips around.  The day was super calm and then finally we begin to see a little wind and a lot of rain.  Boy did it rain!  We ran around the boat checking port lights and hatches for leaks.  Our bunk ended up getting soaked with fresh water as the hatch above it leaked something fierce.  Out came the trash bags and dive weights to cover the hatch.  We are a class act, don’t ya know?!

The wind began around 8PM and it was coming from an unfavorable direction for our location.  We were experiencing a lumpy/bumpy ride with our stern pointed at shore.  Not ideal!  We knew to expect wind from the North, as the storm was sucking energy towards itself, but when the wind switched to West…well, that was very unexpected!  Our anchor tripped due to the wind shift and intensity but quickly reset and dug in. The anchor alarm was set and did its job letting us know that we had drug slightly and changed position. Brad started the motor and went to the helm while I watched our position on the instruments below. It was also around this time that our bilge pump went off.  I immediately opened up the floorboard to check if water was flowing into the bilge but was happy to confirm it was just the rain water that accumulated from running down our mast.  Whew!!! 

Here is where things got really scary…Our radio picked up a call from our neighbor boat asking what our depth was.  We let them know that we had about 8ft under our keel and they mentioned they had 6ft.  Minutes later we heard another call to the fleet that the boat was now bouncing on the rocks and that their engine was disabled!  Their starter battery had died leaving them dead in the water.  This is every cruisers nightmare!  None of us could do anything to help which was the worst feeling in the world.  The only thing the fleet could do is to talk to them on the radio and make a plan to get them off those rocks.  We all knew the tide would begin rising soon and the wind was due to switch directions at any moment.  After bouncing on the rocks for nearly an hour, they were able to pull themselves forward by hauling in 50-100ft of chain with their windlass.  We all took a deep breath and hoped the damage wasn’t too bad.  At least they were safe!

Sure enough, the wind did switch direction and all was well as our boats swung around into deeper water.  The sea state and lumpiness disappeared and the anchor was once again dug in and doing its job!  We stayed up for awhile and then Brad asked if I wanted to see if I could get some sleep.  Amazingly I was able to!  The stress of the night had exhausted me.  Eventually Brad joined me and we both woke up to the largest gust that we would see that night, only 46kts.  All of the preparation that we did to our boat paid off, especially Brad’s lashing and tying everything down.  Nothing budged!  I never thought I would be able to sleep during a storm but rest was had between gusts.  It was very civilized!  

The next morning was a cloudy day, the rain had stopped and the wind was less gusty and more sustained.  The rain had washed Perspective from the top down and left our decks feeling squeaky clean.  If only it could stay that way forever!  But hey, we are cruising in the desert.  We stayed on board the entire day, enjoying the cooler temperatures, breeze and snuck in a nap.  We caught up with family and friends and were so grateful that Hilary had weakened to a tropical storm before coming our way.  The lead up to the storm was much worse than the storm itself.  I’ll be sure to try and remember that for the next one, but hopefully it won’t be this summer season! ;).

So there you have it. Our personal experience with Hilary was very civilized and left us with a very clean boat and a maybe a couple extra gray hairs. I know we have quite a few friends up in California, so please tell us what your experience was with Hilary.

Hola Amigos!

In previous years, Brad and I have rounded the corner from Banderas Bay and our journey always came to an abrupt halt in Bahia Carrizal. In fact, we’ve nicknamed it Cursed Cove! Our first year visiting Carrizal we had to hightail it out of there due to a family medical event. On our second visit we ended up getting Covid and completed our quarantine inside the cove. To be honest, I was a bit nervous to visit this time. We decided to throw all superstitions aside, dropped our anchor and hoped for the best. The good news is that the curse seems to have broken and we had a great time. We didn’t do the usual snorkeling but we did do a land hike that was fantastic! The walk led us to a beautiful beach which we later found out is a nature preserve where turtles come to lay their eggs. During our walk we saw a variety of birds which made lugging the camera gear worth it.

Our first stop after Carrizal was Bahia Santiago, a 5nm hop. We pulled into the anchorage and chose a spot to drop the hook that was a comfortable distance from shore. Unfortunately the peaceful anchorage turned into chaos as the jet ski rentals made their appearance. Our boat became a target to zip around as quickly as possible, rinse and repeat! Aside from the jet skis we found the anchorage to be quite pleasant. The shore is peppered with colorful umbrellas, fancy homes and restaurants. The anchorage holds a mostly sunken ship that can be explored if the water is clear. The vessel was built in England in 1892 and spent a long career transporting barrels of oil. Later she transported minerals and ore from Santa Rosalia, Mexico to Tacoma, WA. A fascinating article about the wreck can be found here. https://www.manzanillosun.com/the-san-luciano-shipwreck/

Another happy place in the anchorage is the lagoon. During high tide you can take a dinghy tour through the channels of deep water. We found that even on a high tide it can get very shallow and the exploring was limited. Even so, we had a wonderful time seeing all the birds, fish and general happenings. Next time I’ll be sure to pack the camera to capture the action.

After spending a few days in Santiago we decided to make another short 4nm hop to Las Hadas. The anchorage lies below a cascade of all white buildings which makes you wonder, are we still in Mexico?! We later learned that the buildings are a condominium complex and a resort. From a distance everything looks great but upon closer inspection, the condos are showing some serious wear and tear. Part of the issue is that the area is very seismically active. In 2022 there were 267 recorded earthquakes 4.0 and above within a 300km distance of the city. Another interesting fact about Las Hadas is that the movie “10” was filmed here. Our friend in the anchorage spent plenty of time looking for Bo Derek on shore, with no success.

We spent almost a week anchored in Las Hadas and during that time we made great use of the dinghy dock and taxi services. Taxis were cheap compared to what we had been paying further north. We enjoyed simple tasks such as wandering around a Home Depot and Walmart. Not to mention grabbing Starbucks and a blizzard from Dairy Queen! Sometimes it is nice to visit places that remind us of back home.

A cheap $8 taxi ride brought us to the Manzanillo Malecon. This is where you can see the iconic Pez Vela, aka the gigantic Sailfish, on display. The sculpture stands at 75 meters in height, weighs 70 tons and was installed at the water front in 2002. Apparently Manzanillo is known as a Sailfish Capital of the World and has been hosting fishing tournaments since 1957.

Brad and I continued our waterfront tour and came across several docked military ships. The ships had military personnel on board and I was surprised to see that the entry ramps to the ships were not blocked off or secured. So different than the US military. The gray hulled ship, Blas Godinez, has been servicing the Mexican Navy since 1991 as an Offshore Patrol Vessel. I suspect the ship has a history much longer but I was unable to find info prior to 1991.

In addition to the military presence in the harbor, there are also plenty of cargo ships. Manzanillo is considered to be the busiest container facility in Mexico. It receives ships from more than 40 countries. The main exports are fish, corn, lemons, bananas, canned food, wine, copra, lumber, cement, etc. 

The port is also host to incoming cruise ships. We saw evidence of their developments in town when we came across several casinos, Burger King, Carls Jr, KFC, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and a movie theater all conveniently located next to each other. It makes me sad to think that the cruisers are getting off of the ship and experiencing fast food joints as part of their tour of Mexico.

Speaking of food, Brad and I were starting to get hungry so we left the Malecon and took a tour into the streets. There were tons of shops selling trinkets and souvenirs and a surprising amount of hardware shops. As we casually strolled we were faced with a set of the most colorful steps. There was only one option. We needed to climb the colorful stairs! The stairway provided access to private homes. As we huffed and puffed our way to the top we had a good chuckle as we saw a boy carrying a 40 pound jug of water up the steps to his home.

Our noses guided us to a local cafeteria of sorts where we were met with various choices of seafood, soups and traditional dishes. Both of us enjoyed a lunch and a beverage for about $10US total! Armed with full bellies we began our waddle back to the water front to find ourselves a ride back to Las Hadas. We barely scratched the surface in Manzanillo and we look forward to doing more exploring the next time we visit.

Where are we heading to next? We are going to start our journey north. We aren’t in a real hurry and plan to take our time, enjoying the anchorages as we go. If you want to view more photos from this post, you can find them linked below…

Carrizal https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Carrizal-/

Manzanillo https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Manzanillo/

We hope each of you are doing great and we thank you for the comments and engagement with our last blog post. It is nice to hear from you all! Cheers!

Lo siento amigos! We’ve not kept this blog up to date and the last post was quite a dramatic one. So I guess it is time to face the music and get an update posted! Spoiler alert, the Chubasco didn’t break our will to keep cruising and we are still at it! Since the last post we have: planned a wedding, got married, acquired a Starlink, rode out a hurricane, Perspective got a new set of clothes, and we’ve hosted plenty of friends/family on board. Whew there is a lot to unpack and I’ll try to keep it brief.

We were married in Brookings, Oregon on June 25th 2022 in an intimate ceremony surrounded by immediate family. Planning from Mexico held its share of challenges but thanks to family pitching in, everything went off without a hitch. Capella by the Sea was our venue of choice as it included seating and gave us an option in case the weather went awry. Not to mention it sits in a beautiful forest setting with views of the Chetco River and Pacific Ocean. You can view more photos of our special day here… https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/Harley-Wedding-Gallery

People asked us where we would go for our honeymoon and guess what? We went back to the boat to cruise the sea for our honeymoon. It’s a magical place after all! Following protocol for hurricane season we sailed Perspective into the northern sea. It was a special summer as we cruised with some of our favorite cruisers! It felt like a treat to be around boats again after being so isolated last summer. Brad was up to his usual antics of spearfishing and I shot plenty with the cameras. It feels like no summer is complete without some sort of weather drama. This season we were faced with Hurricane Kay. Thanks to Starlink, we were able to keep an eye on multiple weather sources and make real time decisions about where to ride it out. As it turned out, we were in like minded company and decided to hunker down in the La Mona anchorage. Hurricane Kay was a polite weather event making its appearance in the daylight hours. Top wind speed for us was 55kts with plenty of rain to go with it. Aside from my calm being damaged, we had some damage to our already fragile canvas bimini. Brad and I had no choice but to go out during the storm to hold and stitch it together before it completely fell apart. Aside from that hiccup, everything else was completely fine! The storm was a great opportunity to test our Starlink and we are happy to report that it continued to work during the storm. I was grateful because we could communicate to our friends in the anchorage. Plenty of memes and videos were sent back and forth as the day went on.

Brad’s nifty programming allowed us to record storm stats and keep an eye on our friends positions.

And no storm is complete without a subsequent survivor party! Lucky for me, it ended up being on my birthday!

Ok next up…Perspective got some new clothes! Remember how I mentioned that we had to repair our canvas during the storm? We were able to get ourselves an appointment with a local canvas expert in La Paz to replace it. The only bummer was that we had to get to La Paz by October 16th which put us on a schedule. Even more tragic was the fact that we would be missing the best time of the year to cruise the Sea of Cortez! Argh! Brad coordinated with both the welder and canvas guy to come up with a new and improved design for the dodger and bimini. The bimini is now a couple inches taller allowing Brad to comfortably stand at the helm without having to hunch over. An additional 340 watts of solar have been added to the top of the bimini. And perhaps the biggest game changer of all is having a dodger with a zip out panel! This means we can sit in the cockpit with a breeze flowing through. It feels like we added an additional room to our house because the space was stifling and unusable before the upgrade. We are so thrilled!

This winter we have been blessed with lots of visitors! Perspective is a great platform for visitors as she has two cabins and two bathrooms on opposite ends of the ship. This allows for plenty of separation and privacy with a common area between to hang out. The visitors started with Bob and Karen in La Paz. We were able to spend quality time and escape the marina mid canvas project. We snuck out to a nearby anchorage, Caleta Lobos for a few days. We occupied our time together with paddle board lessons, snorkeling at the sea lion colony and plenty of games and relaxation.

Next up we hosted Ashley and Jason. We cruised with Ashley in 2020 and while we were trapped in Penasco, she was our apartment neighbor. She and Jason hopped on board in La Paz and crossed the Sea with us to Isla Isabel and ultimately ended their cruise in La Cruz. They were on board a total of 11 days and time flew! We had our best passage yet to Isla Isabel and once we got there we spent our time hiking, snorkeling, whale watching and diving. We spent Christmas Eve at sea and Christmas day in our favorite place along with great company, Silver Wings!

Next up we hosted Chris and Beth! We cruised the Barra and Tenacatita area together. What makes it super fun is that Chris told us about Barra before we took off in 2017. He had many fond memories of cruising this area on his own boat and now he could share this special place with Beth! We had a boisterous sail together to Tenacatita and acquainted ourselves with the local restaurants and palapas. We stretched our legs at the beach while Sydney dug for crabs as we went. We took the plunge at the aquarium anchorage and saw plenty of fish and coral Before we knew it, we had to return to Barra so Chris and Beth could hop a bus and head back to Puerto Vallarta for their flight. Their adventurous spirits helped us see and experience a new side of this place!

Last but not least, we hosted Jim and Jill! They flew in from Lawrence Kansas to Manzanillo Mexico. They were on board for a week and this was all new territory for them. We spent a couple of nights in Barra and then moved over to Tenacatita to explore the estuary and beaches together. We kept ourselves busy by exploring Melaque, La Manzanilla and Barra. It was fun to watch Jim reacquaint himself with cruisers that he met back in 2017-18. Speaking of fun, Jim whipped up some crepes for the crew! It’s tradition and we weren’t going to let him get away with depriving us. The days flew by and the nights were spent playing Mexican Train. It was an action packed week and now our boat is oddly quiet and lonely after their departure.

So what is next for this crew? We plan to turn our bow south and head to Carrizal, Santiago and possibly Zihuatanejo! Time will tell and for now we are going to revel in not having any specific schedules or plans. It’s been a wonderful season with lasting memories made along the way. We are grateful for it all! Cheers!

Buckle up Amigos! You’re in for a wild ride, minus the wind, waves, rain and lightning. But I’ll leave you with the drama. Without further ado, here starts Chubasco 201!

Brad and I had our ideal “cruisers” kind of day. We first went for a morning snorkel with our pals at the nearby sea lion colony. We enjoyed their playful company and were happy to see the males weren’t territorial or aggressive. Later we departed for a spearfishing excursion. Brad managed to spear a 7 pound cabrilla along with a triggerfish for ceviche. He is so good with that gun. 2 shots, 2 fish! Brad filleted both fish and gave half to our neighbor boat (it’s his way of guaranteeing a spearing session the next day). We had delicious BBQ’d fish and salad for dinner. We cleaned up and tuned in to the SSB Chubasco report as we usually do. Despite only being 8pm it was a stretch to stay awake as we were feeling exhausted from our time in the sun and water. The report mentioned some convection but nothing in our area. It would be a quiet night in Baja. Brad and I bid each other a good night and crawled in to our cabins. Yes, cabins. The temperatures here in the Sea of Cortez are stifling and the humidity is high. The only way to get a night of rest and keep general harmony is to split up and sprawl out with multiple fans directed at our bodies.

I was fast asleep in the forward cabin when suddenly I felt a gust of wind come down the hatch. Feeling a bit traumatized from the Chubasco we received a couple nights prior, I shot out of bed yelling “Chubasco!” I ran on deck to 20kts of wind and wrestled our wind scoop down. Lightning was flashing, lighting the sky up in all directions. This was the real deal! Brad was still asleep so I ran to the aft cabin hatch and shouted “Chubasco, wake up now!”. Startled but comprehending, Brad got out of bed and came on deck. We worked together to secure all remaining loose items and started the motor. The wind was increasing in to the 30’s and the sea state was picking up. Feeling satisfied with our work we hunkered down in the cockpit and watched our boat position on the chartplotter.

The boat was holding position as the winds increased in to the 40’s. Brad went to the stern to check on the dinghy which we had bobbing behind the boat. He decided to pull it closer to the stern to protect it from the larger swells. While he was back there he witnessed Sydney’s beloved shore car flip over, tossing all loose contents into the ocean. The good news is that we could see the motor was still attached along with the gas can. There was nothing we could do about it at that moment so we went back to the cockpit to check on our position. The intensity of the storm increased as the winds howled to the 50’s with a high gust of 64kts (73mph). The anchor was holding.

I kept thinking to myself how much worse is this going to get? Kind of similar to the thoughts I had during earthquakes while living in California. As a child growing up in the Pacific Northwest the schools were constantly doing earthquake drills in case “the big one” finally reared it’s ugly head. Around this time I resorted to staring at the cockpit floor. Why? Because everywhere I looked was downright scary. Seeing the high numbers on the instruments was scary. Seeing the waves pass the boat was scary. Watching our solar panels was scary as I could visualize them ripping off at any moment. Knowing that one of the other boats in the anchorage was dragging towards another boat was scary. The floor was quite boring indeed and it helped calm me down. In retrospect I could have stared at Brad’s face as he was quite calm and stoic through it all. His mind was already in problem solving mode.

Pretty soon we started to hear louder booms of thunder and decided it was a good time to hide down below. Inside the noise was much quieter which helped me relax even further. Sitting at the table near the mast I could feel noticeable vibration from the rigging. I could see water dripping on our chart table from an unidentified leak. I could see Sydney glaring at me as she did not understand why she could not go outside. We could hear the water in our tanks sloshing and churning. Bottles in cabinets were banging and glasses clinking as the boat jostled in the wind and waves. Then we heard a new sound. We looked outside to find our bimini flapping in the wind as its old stitching could no longer hold up to the high winds. The stainless that once held the bimini up had collapsed in defeat. Again, there was nothing we could do and if we did, there was a possibility of injury from the flapping material. We waited for things to calm down before going back out for further inspections.

After an hour and a half of feeling as if we were in a nonstop earthquake/tornado, things started to mellow out. When the wind was blowing in the 30’s it felt calm. It’s amazing how the mind adjusts as wind in the 30’s is typically quite a bit for us. The wind mellowed even further and we took the opportunity to flip our dinghy right side up. Brad volunteered to crawl on top of the dinghy to secure a line to be used for the flipping. We pulled the dinghy along side the boat and tried to muscle it up to flip it over but that did not work. Brad the problem solver came up with a better idea. We attached our main halyard and used the winch. While I ground the winch Brad guided the dinghy and flipped it over. With the dinghy right side up we could finally think about going back to bed.

While my feelings and story may be dramatic…I think it is important to mention that we were in no real danger when all of this was happening. It was purely uncomfortable. It’s hard to see our home get beat up. At the end of the day things are repairable and replaceable. It really puts it in perspective. I am grateful that we kept our minds clear and made safe decisions so no one got injured. On the bright side we got a free boat wash out of the deal!

The next morning we commiserated with the 5 other boats in the anchorage. We shared stories about what got lost or damaged and a scavenger hunt ensued. Some items were retrieved but our dinghy wheels are still missing in action. Offers for tools and help were communicated across the fleet despite everyone having their own problems to fix. Amongst the fleet there was one broken hatch that came unhinged and flew off, a broken chain plate, 2 flipped dinghies, 2 unhappy dinghy motors from being submerged, 2 torn biminis, 1 bent bimini frame, and Sydney lost her favorite beach stick!!!

Having learned our lesson we vow to remove the motor from the dinghy every night and hoist up the dinghy on the davits- at least during Chubasco season. We will keep our fingers crossed as these Chubasco storms are difficult to predict. At least we now know the majority of our gear can stand up to winds as high as 64kts!

P.S. As an aside and lesson on wind, every time the wind speed doubles, the force of that wind quadruples. So, going from 30 knots of wind to 60 knots of wind is 4x the air pressure pushing on you… 40kts to 60kts is twice the wind force…

There is a weather event that happens in the Sea of Cortez known as a Chubasco. As the mainland side (Normally from around San Carlos which is about the middle of the Sea on the mainland side) starts to cool after sunset, the warm and humid air starts to move West towards the sea. This generates thunderstorms and as they continue moving West they normally dissipate over the sea. Normally being the key word here, sometimes the warmth of the sea and local conditions add energy to the system and the storm increases in intensity and velocity and races across the sea to crash into the Baja coast, delivering rain, lightning and lots of wind. They are hard to predict with any accuracy and can be a rude surprise to mariners.

Why am I sharing this and more importantly why do we care?

We departed Bahia de Los Angeles to visit the Northern anchorage on Isla la Guardia aptly named Refugio. Isla la Guardia is an island that shelters the BLA area from storms and is therefore named the guardian angel island. One of our favorite places in the Northern sea is the Refugio area (Refuge in English) as it has much less traffic and fishing pressure that more populated parts of the Sea of Cortez. Fishing, snorkeling, diving, hiking etc. are all relatively pristine and it’s great to get out and live with nature.

We arrived, spent some quality time with Sydney on the beach, had a celebratory cocktail We checked the weather and there was a possibility of a Chubasco, but it looked remote, so we settled in for an early night.

At approximately 9pm(yes, we were in bed by 9pm), the wind started building. We got up, took down our shade cloth and various laundry still hanging on the rails and watched the wind build. We started the motor to enable us to control the boat should the anchor start to drag. We hunkered down and watched the wind build to a peak gust of 44 knots. For non-mariners, this is 50mph, and a gale is 34kts. The wind was rapidly changing direction, causing the boat to dramatically heel over as it was broadsided by the wind, incredibly loud and the boat was pitching in the waves. We prepared all we could and it was time to hunker down and weather the storm.

After abut an hour, the wind subsided and all was well and other than some frayed nerves, Perspective and Crew were fine through the wind, waves and rain. It was the highest wind we had experienced since leaving San Diego 4 years ago and it was a nice milestone. Chubasco=”no big deal”

We are glad to be safe and sound. Thanks for following!

We arrived in the area a few days ago and have enjoyed the cooler weather, water and a bit of fishing. After hearing of whale sharks outside “town”, we sailed into small bay in front of Bahia de Los Ángeles and dropped anchor. We were greeted by three young whale sharks that repeatedly came within 50 feet of the boat. We are looking forward to swimming with the beautiful giants over the next few days. Below is one I caught this morning in calm wind with the drone about a half mile east of where we are anchored. Apologies for the photo quality as it’s coming over our very slow satellite connection. Wishing everyone well!

Guest Log SVPERSPECTIVE by Bob Harley and edited by Karen Treat

I will start this log with a little background. While I have been a stinkpot boater on a houseboat in the San Francisco Delta for 40 years, I was amazed when my son, Brad, said that he was buying a cruising sailboat and taking off with Sarah. But, after over three years, I wanted to join the two of them along with Karen. She was the gutsy one, having never really “roughed it” on the water, and had to avoid golf for the time period, most of the time with no internet! But, in addition to the swimming and snorkeling, she found the Kindle along with Danielle Steele, and now we can’t get her away from that reading!

But I digress. The beauty of the Sea of Cortez is amazing. We moved several times into different bays and they all had special things to offer. But Sarah and Brad talk about that in their blog, so I am not going to repeat it.

What I saw was a full life on a sailboat, and the significant skills and teamwork that it takes to live and breathe in this gorgeous environment. I always thought that the real experience was in being able to “sail”. But I quickly learned from Brad and Sarah that it takes navigation expertise, electrical engineering, software and hardware capability, seamstress effort, teamwork, and constant chores in fixing and cleaning the boat. But most importantly, the choreography that Brad and Sarah have in all aspects of the voyage. It looks like a dance as they haul the dingy on board, raise and lower the anchor, and tend to the sails. And, of course, the boat is completely self-sufficient with salt to fresh water making, pumps, and what seemed like an endless supply of food!

We saw the generosity of the sailing community. Brad provided fresh water to another boat whose water maker malfunctioned, and even loaned a tank of air so they could dive. And when a small Bayliner was having difficulty anchoring in one of the bays, he even loaned the Fortress anchor to them for the day. They not only returned it, but invited us all to dinner in Loreto!

The life and love Brad and Sarah share on the boat will always be wonderful memories. And the time with Karen amazing. She took to the water like a fish and we both wanted to be part of the crew. It was the best Father’s Day vacation and present that I can imagine. BOB

I echo all that Bob has shared. I want to thank Brad and Sarah for hosting us and flat out spoiling us with love and homecooked meals. Brad speared us fresh fish almost daily and prepared it so many ways on the grill. We met some of their friends and went to dinner at a beautiful hotel and also had them for dinner too on the boat. We all slept a lot too with naps here and there. We all loved the water daily many times in and out. With water temp over 80 degrees it was easy. I would be remiss not to give honorable mention to Sarah and Brad’s brown labradoodle, Sydney. She is a love and a great boat mate too. The beauty of this region was a surprise and living the life of a boat cruiser was definitely a top 10 of all my trips. We would do it again. Loreto Bay and the surrounding areas that we experienced were unforgettable. The water and scenery is very healing. Our time together was special to say the very least. I am grateful. KAREN

Hola amigo’s! I thought we would quickly check in. We spent just finished spending a little over a week in La Paz which was primarily focused on work. Our batteries were getting tired, so we swapped out our AGM batteries for Lithium Ion Phosphate (LifePo4) batteries on the boat. What a huge difference this makes!!

From my perspective, the primary problem any lead acid battery has for a cruising boat is that they want to be fully charged and the battery charging slows WAY down when they are over 85% full. No problem in a car where you run the alternator for hours. On a boat, where we run things like refrigeration all day and night and sometimes have cloudy days. This means the batteries don’t always get charged which shortens their life. The beauty of lithium batteries is that they don’t care, and as a matter of fact prefer not to be fully charged. This means we can basically live off solar except while on anchor and not have to worry about power. We even have enough to run the watermaker (36 gal/hr) off solar as long as we plan it appropriately. It’s a big difference! If you’re worrying about safety, there are multiple lithium technologies, and LifePo4 is safe. I could actually put a bullet through the pack and it wouldn’t catch fire.

We are currently making our way north. As always, the Sea of Cortez is known for motoring from windy anchorage to windy anchorage…

Hola Amigos!

In case we aren’t connected on Instagram or Facebook, I wanted to let you know that we’ve created an online photo gallery to share with all of you! I am able to upload full resolution photos and you’re able to download your favorites in full resolution- for free. How cool is that?! If you’ve been following this blog you know I’m a photo geek and this gallery allows me to display the photos in an easy to share/beautiful way.

https://sarahbowlin.smugmug.com/

There are printing options if you find something you can’t live without. The cost of printing is set by the photo labs so if it’s not in your ball park you can always download the image and print where it suits you best. Downloading the image is simple- just look to the left of your screen and click the icon.

If you’re looking to print on Canvas I’d recommend getting yourself a deal on https://www.canvasondemand.com/products/canvas-prints/ and printing through their website. I’ve used them a couple of times and have been very happy with their finished product.

If you’re a photography geek like me, you’ll be excited to see that theres an option to view the camera settings I used to get the shot.

I’ll be adding photos to the gallery as we have access to the internet, so be sure to stay tuned! If you do end up printing any of the photos I’d love to hear about it and see the finished product. Take a look around and let me know which is your favorite gallery.

In other news, Perspective is about to set sail from La Paz and head north to Loreto. Brad has been busy adding a life changing/powerful upgrade to our boat and with any luck he will be sharing with you soon. Until then…Stay safe out there and be kind to one another! Cheers!

Hola Amigos! Perspective is on her way back to the Sea of Cortez for the summer and we are about 1/2 of the way across the sea, coming from Puerto Vallarta and inbound to La Paz.

We left on Weds, 5/13 at about 10 am knowing that the forecast for wind was low and was forecast to continue being low for at least a week. While we would normally wait this out, we are subject to the bane of every sailor… A SCHEDULE! I know, that sounds terrible but I’m sure we will suffer through and survive… We have just been motoring all but 45 minutes across the sea and expect that to continue. At least motoring makes for good fishing…

We are super excited to be on the move again as we have lots of fun plans for the summer with family, friends, wildlife and nature. Speaking of wildlife, we just caught this little beauty. He’s a juvenile yellow fin tuna which will provide 4-5 meals for Sarah and I (maybe some for Sydney too). It’s only the second yellow fin we’ve caught during our cruising time down in Mexico, the last in October of 2017. Can’t wait to sear a bit on the BBQ tonight!

Best wishes to all, hug your loved ones tightly, and be kind to each other.