s/v SEEKER

Ensen-Adios back to the USA

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The four days in Ensenada passed quicky with chores and such. I got a diver to clean the bottom of the various flora and fauna that hitched a ride with me from Puerto Los Cabos to Loreto and back to Ensenada. I think some of the stuff may have been evolving it was so overgrown.

I also got the oil (or at least some of it) changed before the last push up from Ensenada to San Diego. I have several other short trips to get back to Catalina and then a few back and forth runs planned before I will be able to get a good full engine service done. So the oil, filter, fuel filter, and topping off the coolant level gave me some extra peace of mind.

This morning I was ready to go about 0505, but got delayed when I had to troubleshoot the running lights again. I never found the trouble but it apparently got shot because they worked when I headed out around 0520.

The morning winds and seas were light and calm. The swells were 5-6 feet, but they were just the rolling ocean swells. As it got to be midday the winds picked up and stacked some wind waves on top of that and I got the nice even salt coating on the boat again. Makes me glad I didn't spend my day washing it yesterday!

I went out to get fish tacos on Sunday at a roadside stand recommended by the guy in the marina office. They were amazing. Tacos Fenix in Ensenada were great and cheap! 28 pesos for fish, 32 pesos for shrimp. Ok, so I went there monday too.... but they were that good!

The two taco stands below are directly across the street from one another. The one with the crowd is Taco Fenix. The difference in population was a good hint that I was given a good recommendation!

I also experienced another small world moment at the Cruise Port Village Marina. A guy on the dock was admiring my boat (he's only human after all) and said "Are you Steve?". As I started to wonder how my reputation could have preceeded me this far, he said that Jim from Dana Point said he knew a guy named Steve that had a boat like that. So I walked over and caught up with Jim. He was my neighbor on M Dock in Dana Point for about 7 years. He was still there when I moved the boat up to Long Beach so it was fun to run into him out and about in the world.

The US Customs and Boarder Protection has an APP now, who doesn't apparently, that allows you to check in with a virtual contact. It was super easy and convenient. I submitted my arrival notice from my phone about 2.5 miles outside San Diego harbor and they called me within 10 minuts or so to clear me in and tell me I did not need to stop at the dock at all. I was able to go straight to Southwestern Yacht Club and tie up.

I haven't explored much yet but it is beautiful and is across from the Kona Kai on Shelter Island where I had my boat when I first bought it. I am here for 2 nights and then I plan to head up to Oceanside for 1 night on 4/18.

So the return to US waters marks the end of 5 months, covering over 2,000 nautical miles from Long Beach, around the tip of Baja and up to Loreto on the Sea of Cortez. I've got plans to spend a lot of time at Catalina in the coming summer months and will have to figure out what is next!

Bahia De Todos Santos

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As the time underway clock ticks past 52 hours, I'm just outside Bahia De Todos Santos, the home of the Port of Ensenada. In about 15 minutes I'll hang a right and be headed right at the port entrance to go to the Cruise Port Village Marina for a few days of paperwork, laundry, and maybe pizza and beer. In that order of importance.

I think I got to experience the entire continuum of "the Bash". From a lovely sunny, warm, calm day on Wednesday that transitioned to a windy, swelly, gray Thursday. Then Thursday continued to get more windy and more swelly and I altered course to head for one of my bail out options to anchor Thursday night because I'd had enough of 25+ kts of wind, and 6-8+ swells smashing over the boat. But the forecast for Thursday was that the winds would start to abate just before I got to Bahia Santa Maria (the bail out spot).

Ultimately, though it was a slow process, the winds and swells mellowed on Thursday night and allowed me to continue on through the second night. By this morning the winds were only 5-10 kts and virtually no swell (1-2'). Other than being gray and overcast it was great motoring conditions.

This morning somehow the entire ocean was put on rewind. I'm headed the same direction I was pouding into swells but now have a following sea. I had wind on the nose all through the rest of the trip, and this morning it has clocked around to be from the stern or beam. It amazes me that so much weather can change to it's opposite so quickly. But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and I'll just cruise on into the harbor and get tied up.

Next steps, paperwork, warm shower, hot dinner, cold beer. I can do this!

Home Stretch

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I'm back out and on the path to Ensenada after a full week of cowering at Bahia Tortuga waiting for the strong winds to slack off a bit. While anchored there I was seeing 15-25 pretty constantly with gusts up over 33 kts at time. The anchor held well and I didn't have any problems other than the constant howling of the wind (think stormy night in a haunted house) and being essentially trapped on the boat. I didn't really want to try to paddleboard against 15-20 kts of wind to the beach to go ashore.

I was able to go in yesterday to get rid of a bag of trash and take a bit of a walk before my departure. The winds were nice and calm in the morning and didn't get much over 15 kts in the afternoon.

I'm currently passing by Punta Eugenia and going west of Isla Cedros. I was going to tuck in behind Cedros and go up the inside but I actually think the wind/swells outside will be less hassle. I've been wrong before, so we'll see what happens. Right now there is a gap between the island and the mainland so the swells are very much like a washing machine. Very confused, but not too big at the moment. The forecast for later tonight has the winds up to 20 kts with gusts in the high 20's. I can hope that doesn't come to pass, but I think no matter what it turns out to be I'm going to just have to ride it out.

The total passage time is going to be about 48 hours to Ensenada. I'll have full overnight crossing tonight and tomorrow night (though tomorrows forecast gets much better) before arriving mid-late morning on Friday. Luckily, I was able to check my non-functional running lights while here and found that the problem was simply a broken bulb. I have 2 spares and installed 1 and the lights worked. Hopefully those 2 spares will be adequate to get me back home. I already ordered a fully sealed LED replacement bow light to install so that isn't a concern in the future. If it has the standard 65,000 hour life expectancy I won't have to worry about replacing it again in my lifetime!

I've got a reservation at Cruise Port Village Marina util 4/16 when I plan to depart at 0'dark 30 and head up to San Diego to clear in with customs etc. I have arranged a reciprocal stay at Southwestern Yacht Club in San Diego (Shelter Island) for 4/16-17.

Assuming plans continue on track, from there I'll move up to Oceanside Yacht Club for 4/18, then on to Dana Point for the weekend at anchor there in the harbor. The future portions of the plan are all sort of fuzzy but I have a reservation at Shoreline in Long Beach for 4/24-4/28 so that I can run out to the desert and pick up mail and Amazon care packages.

Then I'll be back at Catalina and can start to think about what the summer looks like. I think that is about all for now. Next stop - Ensenada!

Made it

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I arrived at Asuncion late last night and got anchored around 2345. As is always my luck it seems, it was DARK. I was hoping the incredibly bright moon would be helpful after sunset, but of course moonrise wasn't until 2330 last night. So just DARK. I had good coordinates for an anchorage spot, and got in OK with the radar and chart plotter running to find the spot. There was one other sailboat anchored when I arrived and I set up about 700' away to make sure w had plenty of room. This morning when I looked out there are pangas, floats, fish pens, and all kinds of stuff floating around that same 700' feet away that were invisible as I came in.

I made contact with the fuel guy here to get topped off. I am at about 3/8 of a tank. I could probably squeak by with what I have and get to Ensenada, but again with my luck, I am not gonna risk it. He got back to me this morning and if the motor vessel he is expecting isn't here by 1 he'll get my fuel today. That may allow me to jump up to Turtle Bay tomorrow to wait for a good window to head up to Ensenada.

Although it hasn't, yet, been as bad as I feared, the bash is definitely well named. The wind has been pretty consistently 15-20 and somewhat regularly increasing to 20-25. The swells haven't been too bad, I've been trying to only start a crossing when the swell forecast is 1-2M and nothing larger. Even with that there has been a constant spray, splash, bashing of salt water over the bow covering the boat and exposing every microscopic opening that would allow water to come in. Keeping up with sopping that up and trying to keep it from soaking more inside than absolutely necessary has been a constant chore. I can imagine doing this in a normal sailboat rathern than my enclosed wheelhouse would be a real drag.

One thing definitely surprised me on this leg. The amount of time I spent staring at a brown booby. I mean I'm generally a fan of all boobies, but this one particular brown booby spent more than 3 hours ballancing on the jib boom and hitchhiking for probably 20 miles. I guess I was registered in the avian uber app and didn't even know it.

Currently, if I get fuel today, it looks like I may be able to run up to Turtle Bay tomorrow. If not, then I'll probably be here until April 2nd before I move up. Asuncion looks bigger than most of the other towns I have anchored off of so I hope to see a little bit on the fuel mission. I mean, it looks like there is a paved road visible from the water here! And apparently some cell service. It's a virtual metropolis!

Off to Asuncion!

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This morning dawned sunny, clear, and virtually windless for the first time in many days. I was vascillating between leaving today and tomorrow for the last couple days and had settled on tomorrow. But this morning looked so nice, with a reasonable forecast, I couldn't bring myself to burn another day at anchor. Hopefully that impatience does not come to beat me over the head with the stupid stick.

I got underway at 11:00 for about a 48 hour run up to Bahia Asuncion before some more forecast wind arrives on Sunday/Monday maybe. I also reached out to a guy to get my fuel topped off while I'm there. I believe I could make it to Ensenada without any problem, but since there is an option for some extra fuel there I am going to exercise the option unless something drastic changes before I get there.

I met a lovely couple from Canada with their dog on their boat sv/Passages while anchored here at Mag Bay. We traded some baking ingredients for some baked goods. Truth be told I am pretty sure I made out on the better end of the deal there! The brownies and upside down pineapple cake were great treats. I also met a guy named Akira from Japan who had singlehanded his 30' sailboat from Japan. He was in Catalina last month and was headed off to La Paz as his goal. My Japanese was not up to the task, but his english was pretty good. He and another guy, John, were buddy boating south and left the day before yesterday. I was hoping to get some more conversation practice with Akira, but the wind was more than I wanted to battle on my paddle board to go visiting.

Although tempted by a beachfront restaurant, I did not set foot ashore here at Mag Bay in spite of being here about a week. I didn't want to anchor my dinghy off the shore, or inflate my beachable dingy, or fight the wind on my paddle board to go exploring. Essentially I am lazy. No shock to anyone who has met me I'm sure.

The wildlife cooperated this morning to give me a postive send off. There was a whale slowly swimming just past my boat as I was wiping off the dew/washing the boat. Then a little while later, some dolphins swam lazily around about 70 yards off. There were also some sea lions sunning and frolicking as I was headed for the mouth of the bay to exit back into the pacific.

Note to self. Never zoom out too far on the chart plotter or you'll see that you're only about 75 miles away from where you were a month ago. That doesn't feel like a lot of progress when viewed that way.... Oh well.

Weather Waiting

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The first jaunt up to Mag Bay went well enough. I have been anchored at Man O War cove inside Mag Bay for a couple days now sitting out some strong winds. The forecast for the immediate area has been 15 kts or so pretty constantly with gusts as high as 30 kts. So far I've been seeing the constant 15 and gusts up to 21. Though there have been some short periods that sounded stronger when I couldn't see the wind instrument.

I'm sort of on the fence for what the next step is. It looks like there may be a little bit of a gap starting Thursday to let me get up to the next stop. I was going to shoot for San Juanico (115 miles or so), then on to Asuncion (another 115 ish) but I think I'm going to go straight through from Mag Bay to Asuncion. I kind of want to get some fuel just as a safety buffer while I can and there is a guy that delivers clean fuel by panga at Asuncion. Supposedly the guy that used to do it in Turtle Bay was killed by a cartel for not paying up his percentage. Not sure if that is truth or rumor, but everyone agrees the fuel guy from turtle bay is "not around" any longer.

The forecast is quite a ways out still, but it looks like after the window to jump up to Asuncion closes I'll have a few more days to wait it out. If the conditions are favorable I'll do a short day hop to Turtle Bay which is a good all weather anchorage to wait things out as needed.

If anyone has connections to arrange about 5 days of flat calm seas and light winds that would be great!

The Bash Begins

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I've been sort of dreading this moment. For years and years I have heard others talk about "the bash". The Baja Bash is the nickname for the northbound, uphill, upwind, upwave trip from Mexico back to the US. The direction of travel is against the prevailing wind, wave, and current for the entire trek. With even normal winds of 15 kts or so, and 6 kts of boat speed there is 20+ kts of headwind driving the spray from the many swells you are pounding into as you go north. Everyone has described it in varying levels of dread, discomfort, and a desire to not have to do this part. It might be easier if it was at the beginning and you knew you got to enjoy the beautiful cruising grounds when you finished. As it is, I get to go back to CA where it is colder with colder water. And maybe some repair bills...

But there is no going around it really. I can't affort the $24,000 to ship the boat back up and that would really be chickening out. I've got a great boat for this run with the enclosed pilot house, and the motor sailer configuration rather than a standard sailboat. So maybe just those advantages will be enough to offset my ignorance.

So, after a couple days of last minute shore leave here in Cabo I'm back underway and heading north. I accomplished the couple of things I wanted to do in Cabo over the last 3 days which were great. I went to see Dune Pt 2 (subtitled), picked up a few odds and ends at the grocery store, and visited the Dairy Queen. So with all those major accomplishments, I've put Cabo behind me...

See what I did there?...

It's turning out to be a beautiful morning. The sun just rose behind me as I turned the corner heading out of Cabo San Lucas. I already saw a small pod of whales spouting as I left the harbor. I've got 20 kts of wind just outside the harbor and manageable swells. Lots of fishing vessels out here but as I recall from coming down that will drop off pretty quickly as I get farther north.

This leg from Cabo San Lucas to Bahia Magdalena (Mag Bay) is around 170 miles and I expect to run through tonight and arrive sometime around midday tomorrow. Then I will probably be in Mag Bay for several days to wait out some heavy winds and weather forecast for the weekend. I've got mixed feelings about it at this point. I'm glad to be getting a chance to see Mag Bay since it is really the first/last stop on any journey up/down the peninsula and I missed it on the way down. On the other hand, now that I'm pointed north and committed to heading back I am anxious to get it done and get back to Catalina.

I guess I need to go turn on the windshield wipers, I've got 23 kts on the nose and a bit of spray covering the boat. It is gonna be one giant salt crystal by the time I get to Ensenada.

Last Day

Sat, 16 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While clearly not the "last" last day of my trip, it is the LAST day of what I think of as the cruising portion. After today I'll be at Cabo for a short rest and some shoreside exercise before I head out on the repositioning adventure. I've heard so much about the bash I've been sort of dreading it, but it's the next obstacle so it is gotta be dealt with.

I am about 23 miles north of San Jose Del Cabo after a relatively quite night at Bahia Los Frailles. I had to "encourage" the battery to start this morning even though the last several days have been going smoothly. It's still a nasty mystery and I'm fairly certain it is composed of more than 1 gremlin. On the plus side, as soon as I was getting under way there were a couple of whales surfacing close by to start the morning off with right sense of contended wonder.

I have an appointment to stop in at the Puerto Los Cabos Fuel Dock at 1200 today if I can make it. I won't have any time to lose, but I should make it on time. Then a quick but painful $1,000 fuel bill and I'll finish the last 2.5 hours and get anchored in Cabo San Lucas before dark. I have a special bottled beverage designated to enjoy after arrival tonight. Hiccup. Thankfully it won't be green. Sorry to all my Irish fans.

In yesterday's 7 hours under way I experienced 3 completely different oceans. The morning getting under way was a blustery, gray, white capped menace standing between me and the next stop. Two hours later it was a sunny, windless, rolling calm playground for whales and jumping rays. Then the last hour or so was a deep rolling swell, wind on the beam, when can I get around the point and out of this mess choppy challenge to get into the anchorage. There was no dramatic transition between the conditions and I found myself suprised each time I realized how different it was from the last time I noticed. Hopefully today will continue as it started with a light wind, small, short period wind waved, sunny clear day. Hopefully.

Making Progress

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

So far the return route back to Cabo has been going well. The winds for the last 2 days have been gustier than usual in the mornings. Getting the anchor up against 15-25 kts of wind with no one to drive toward the anchor has been a little bit of a challenge. Probably more so for the windlass than me. Today the anchor came up with the swivel fouled. One of the chain links jammed in the swivel mouth. I'll have to do something about that when the wind settles and before I need to anchor next. Sort of narrows down my window of opportunity....

I have essentially re-traced my original northbound route with a few stops eliminated. I went from Puerto Escondito to Agua Verde, then to San Evaristo, Puerto Ballandra outside La Paz, Ensenada De Los Muertos, and this morning I'm heading to Cabo Los Frailles.

Each of the legs has allowed me to leave between 7 and 8 am and arrive between 2 and 3 pm while the light is still good. After arriving at Puerto Ballandra on a sunny and hot afternoon, I got in and scraped about 4 metric tons of growth off the water line of the boat. Unfortunatley the high winds that night blew the mask/snorkel and a swim fin off the boat sometime during the night. I guess that means in Cabo I'll have to break out my scuba gear to finish removing the rest of the forest before I start north. At least that stuff is too heavy to blow away!

As long as there are no unforseen challenges, (insert finger crossed emoji), I should be anchored back at Cabo San Lucas on Saturday afternoon. I will look into getting fuel there or Puerto Los Cabos sometime during the week and then start the slog northbound whenever the weather looks good for the first jump to Mag Bay.

It will be nice to get off the boat and walk around Cabo for a few days before starting the uphil run. There is a nice theater right outside the marina so if they have Dune in english I'll watch that one day this week. Can't skip all the benefits of civilization!

Turning Point

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As Monday's go, it's probably not the worst.... At least I'm not headed into work somewhere. As my time at Puerto Escondito came to a close yesterday I did some chores to get ready to get under way again. I did a couple of the most expensive loads of laundry of my life at the marina. I moved some stuff out of the way of the battery box and connected an external AC battery charger to the engine start battery. You know, just in case. I made sure most stuff was put back in the upright and locked position to minimize the motion generated entropy that comes with being under way. I have accepted that it is not possible to eliminate said entropy, but minimizing it still feels worthwhile.

I did a test start on the engine 3 days ago and it started without a problem or jump start, but it did seem a tiny bit hesitant on the cranking speed. I was, therefore, not suprised this morning when at my initial departer time of 0800 the engine did not start. I implemented the back up plan and ran the generator, which thankfully still starts reliably, and ran it for 2.5 hours with the AC battery charger connected direclty to the start battery. At 1000 I tried again and found that pushing the start button really hard in frustration seemed to help as the engine started.

So, I'm now on the water, with Puerto Escondito to the stern and headed for Agua Verde this afternoon. I'm continuing to run the battery charger (although it says charged at this point) and I sincerely hope to be able to start tomorrow (and maybe a few more days in a row) using the same process to hopefully get me back to CA. My plan was to do short hops going back down to Cabo, but if I have issues with starting I may just break it up into 1-2 overnight chunks and get there. My only other need to start back up is to top off the fuel which I plan to do at San Jose Del Cabo. But it is a relatively short run from Cabo to or from there so I may just go to Cabo and then backrack on whatever day I make an appointment for fuel. I don't think I want to spend a ton of money on any additional time in slips.

The week my friend's visit was great. It got me/us out in the dinghy to snorkel each day around Isla Danzante, and Isla Carmen. Had some really great fish and creature sightings at each spot. Several different and bizarre starfish, snails, slugs, jellyfish, fish of every shape and color, eels, and a spotted eagle ray. The water wasn't quite "bathlike" but it was warmer that Catalina.

This morning is lovely, light wind, sun, glassy calm seas. I've seen two whales already in the first hour of travel. I hope that is a good sign for the rest of the day. Agua Verde should be 25 out of the 260 or so miles back to Cabo. One day (engine start) at a time!