Sea of Cortez

In the company of fellow Island Packet owners Bill and Cynthia on Crème Brulee, we set out to cruise the Sea of Cortez before heading back to the Pacific NW.
Crème Brulee and Charm got under way at first light on April 8, 2010. We left the security of Marina Mazatlan to do the Southern Crossing—from Maz to the Baja. Our route was 191 nautical miles to Ensenada de los Muertos or Cove of the Dead Ones. Muertos is South of LaPaz. The crossing was pretty lumpy and rolly although we did not get a lot of wind. What wind we had allowed us to motor sail most of the way and to pretty much stay on course.
It is a 34 hour crossing and while we took naps, Marcy and I are generally both awake. It turns out two other sailboats are also making the crossing the same time as we are. Mentor and Naida. We all make it to Muertos safely and after anchoring, I go directly to sleep for a few hours.
Naida was a familiar boat name, but I couldn’t place it until the next day, a fellow named John came by on his dinghy to say hello. We had dinner together along with other friends in LaCruz, Banderas Bay, about a month ago. They are from Vancouver BC. Cynthia, Bill, Marcy and I decide to hang around Muertos for 3 days. There is a nice open air restaurant ashore called“1535”. Why? We asked the waiter and learned that 1535 was the year Hernan Cortez first explored the area. The restaurant has been known to us as the Giggling Marlin and most recently El Cardon.
Bill and I got to see most of the final round of the Masters Golf tourney on TV while sipping Pacificos.
Over the next couple days we took walks on the beach, listened in to the Single Side Band (SSB) weather forecasts on the Amigo Net, the Sonrisa Net and the Southbound Net. These are very informative broadcasts done by amateur weather people. Though amateur, they probably understand Sea of Cortez weather better than anyone else in the world.
And we plan for our next stop. I was pushing for Caleta de Partida, an anchorage on one of the two islands directly North of LaPaz. Marcy is remembering a bad overnight anchoring on Partida when friends Jan and Mike were with us a couple years back. On that night, we had Coromuel winds all night long that were pretty strong and the boat bucked and groaned and we got very little sleep. She wants us to go an extra 20 miles to Bahia San Evaristo. Who gets their way? Is there any doubt? See the next installment for the answer.