3rd Sea of Cortez XCing and Soulstice De-Commission

Third Crossing of Sea of Cortez and Soulstice De-Commissioning

May 30, 2019 - June 13, 2019

On May 30, 2019 Stephen and I left Isla San Francisco for a third journey across the Sea of Cortez. We made the decision this would be a decent launch point back to Mazatlan. We left Mazatlan and met SV Arctos on Isla San Francisco when we did our 2nd crossing on our way to explore the Sea of Cortez so we had made this passage before. It ended up being a full 3 days with some our biggest winds and decent size swell and wind waves. Our 1st day was more mellow and we finally pulled out our spinnaker. This a very large sail we had for primarily broad-reach/downwind sails under 10 knots. We really did not use this sail this year because we were afraid of it. That is the truth! She is a HUGE sail and if she were to get wrapped around the forestay, the front pole/standing rigging on the sailboat, or fall into the water and get gift wrapped around the prop, or more bad things, well those events are enough to frighten you not to use her. 

Our fear of using this sail stemmed from taking her out in Seattle with a friend to help us get learned on how to launch her and douse her and to get the rigging set up properly. We had her out only a short time when the wind piped up.  She definitely showed she could over power the boat and it was a scurry to get her down. It was important to see the power of the sail and it also gave us some fear about using her. Stephen and I never crewed on racing sailboats and I wish we had to be more familiar with all the different sails and gain some expertise at trimming them.  Anyway, after our Seattle experience we put our beautiful spinnaker back in the bag and she stayed there quietly.

Finally, one day in Banderas Bay we had another friend go out with us and help us set her up again but the conditions were ideal. We sailed beautifully and finally got to experience the grace of using a spinnaker. They are delicate sails and often given more attention to a collage of colors when being sewn. They remind me of butterflies for some reason. It would be a one winged butterfly with enhancing colors that are translucent in the sun. Ours is orange, red and yellow. She radiates a marvelous sunset display. It was a successful spinnaker flying day that fueled the much needed encouragement to use this sail and become more comfortable with the rigging process. 

When we left Isla San Francisco, we were on a  broad reach and wind under 10 knots. We thought to ourselves what a great way to end the sail season with us rigging the spinnaker and allowing this billowy, colorful wing to guide us on our journey across the Sea.  We launched and she was a beauty! We felt so gratified with this accomplishment and really look forward to using her more next year. 

Our 2nd day of sailing was with crazy wind, big wind waves and a few splashes in the cockpit and that HAS NOT Happened ever. The conditions got choppy and chunky and were not forecasted to be so with our satellite Predict Wind weather. Unfortunately, this has happened to other friends where  where the wind is forecasted to be 10 or 12 knots but now is 18-25 - Big difference. We hand steered all day, reefed our jib and mainsail and started making 7-9 knots consistently. Soulstice was handling the conditions fine and we were making progress.  We hand steered because our autopilot was grumbling aka making noises in the gearing that this was too much for her to handle. We took turns steering an hour on and an hour off for the both of us. 

Conditions on our 3rd day remained somewhat similar but we started to get a better direction of sail with a beam reach and not so much a close haul/close reach. This is a more comfortable point of sail. When we got to Mazatlan it was too late to enter the narrow channel to the marina that requires high slack tide to enter, so we decided to anchor in the Municipal harbor which has more forgiving channel entrance that the cruise ships use. 

We stayed overnight and got a good nights sleep. So much so that missed the 5:30 am high slack and now needed to wait until 5:30 pm that day to enter. There had been big swell these last few days that cause breaking waves in the very shallow channel and a sailboat does not have the power of a power boat to out run a breaking wave. We chose to  anchor off a tiny island called Isla Paraja which is just right outside the channel. 

We kept saying on our sail over this was our last sunset or sunrise at sea with Soulstice or the “last time” we would put out the anchor…. I started to secretly feel that Soulstice was avoiding being put away for the Summer and was trying to extend our time with her. We did some re-con while anchored out on the island and watched some boats enter the channel and when the ideal time arrived we too made the passage through the channel without any issues. 

Arriving at Marina Mazatlan, we pulled into our slip where Soulstice would be docked until at least December. It was a single slip that we had arranged previously with the marina feeling this would be safer during hurricane season not to have another boat next to us. We scouted out the slip the last time we were in Mazatlan. They were kind enough to accommodate us. Quickly, we met most of the dock neighbors and were pleased with our new neighborhood. 

We spent the next 12 days working 12-14 hours de-commissioning the boat. This included washing all the sails and taking them down, taking down all the running rigging and sending up messenger lines for the halyards and covering all the plastic with aluminum foil after a healthy dose of 303 aerospace protectant. All the canvas was removed and the solar panels as well as they are considered “windage” during a named storm and insurance requires this. Each space inside the boat was cleaned with white vinegar and 3M Mildew Block applied. All food was removed and soft goods vacuumed packed. We cleaned up the dinghy and put her inside. 

The inside was getting very crowded!!! Our 40ft boat space was getting even smaller and the humidity and heat were rising in Mazatlan although we kept our cool - ha! 

We pickled the water maker and disconnected our electronics for protection against possible lightening. Water and fuel tanks were filled to avoid condensation build up. The outboard was serviced and the diesel engine had a new coolant flush and impeller change thanks to Stephen. The oil change was only 70 hours old so we will wait until we return. Toilet tanks flushed with fresh water and cleaned with vinegar and sealed. Through hulls exercised and closed except our sink which has a dehumidifier hose draining into it. 

It was a three page list front and back that we slowly started to cross off each chore. Many of our friends shared haul out lists for wet or dry docking and I reviewed them all composing a list specifically for Soulstice. It was an exhausting time but one of the reasons we picked Mazatlan was the convenience of surrounding stores, all walkable and an airport only 30 minutes away for a quick return. 

During our time there we did enjoy time our new neighbors going out for late dinners and sharing many dock talks. We made new friends again and look forward to seeing them in the winter. Some of our dock friends stay all summer but most leave and were doing preparations like we were to leave their home in the safest possible way to endure a hot, humid summer and to hopefully withstand a gale. We realized if a true hurricane hit it would be hard to avoid any damage but you do the best you can to try to minimize the potential damage. 

We left Mazatlan on 6/13 and arrived to Reno at 10:30pm. It was a very familiar feeling arriving at the airport. Fortunately all FIVE of our bags arrived - uggh - yep we will NOT bring that much stuff back to the boat! We Ubered to our friend’s house where we will stay for the working season and begin the “re-entry” process as we call it. My friends and I a long time ago when taking bigger holidays would call the return “re-entry” and it stuck. The process of going back to work and being back on the hamster wheel. 

We do love Nevada and our friends here. We are grateful to have such a beautiful landscape to return to, there is still lots of snow on the peaks right now. Gorgeous here as always. I will return to Carson Tahoe Hospital as a Nurse Practitioner in the Hospitalist setting and Stephen is working on a critical care transport opportunity. 

Our adventure continues but in a different format. We will embrace this change of pace just as much as our sailing adventure and that way you can truly incorporate being mindful wherever you are. 

Our track from leaving Seattle to arriving in Cabo, crossing to Puerto Vallarta and down to Zihuatanejo, back up to Mazatlan, across to Sea of Cortez and back across Sea to Mazatlan

Our home made sunshade! Kept boat 20 degrees cooler -Wow! would be removed by our boat watcher if a storm rolled through

Stephen at Reno airport! We will NOT bring this much luggage back to the boat. How did we fit it? We did somehow- all the nooks and crannies of a boat. We realized we brought too many clothes, camping gear we did not use and also Stephen's bow. We will downsize to 2 bags each for the return. 

Sea of Cortez/ San Evaristo up to San Juanico

5/8/2019-5/29/2019

After we left La Paz we traveled to San Evaristo, Agua Verde, Puerto Escondido, Isla Danzante, and San Juanico. San Juanico was as far north as time would allow for this cruising season. We then returned back south re-visiting Agua Verde, San Evaristo, and Isla San Francisco. This was our first stop into the Sea of Cortez and we thought a good jumping off point to return back across the Sea of Cortez for distance and it was one our favorites. Truly a majestic view when hiking there, it provides a great view of the marvelous aquarium of the Sea of Cortez.  This would be our THIRD Sea of Cortez crossing.

During our travels to each coastal Baja town, which all are very small with tiny local communities, we admired the simple life that can be had still in 2019. We also had spectacular dolphin, whale and ray sightings. We are always amused and impressed by the Bat rays doing their huge belly flops. The height they attain and the resultant splash force your attention, it is mesmerizing. Interestingly, marine biologists still do not know why they have this behavior. Additionally, we saw one of our biggest pods of whales and best breach show since outside of San Francisco US. Large sperm whales getting great heights as well out of the water and fluke slapping which I assume is to stun some fish for good eats! And hundreds of bottlenose dolphins traveling together and making huge distances quickly across the Sea. 

It is Blue Planet LIVE and it is FUN! 

May 29, 2019

Last day of full cruising on Isla San Francisco

Started off with Stephen fishing and losing his fishing lure. It smacked a piece of hardware on the boat and then was flung off somewhere in the anchorage. He decided to pursue finding his lure and when he was diving under the boat he noted our max prop zinc was MISSING!!!

He changed our zincs more than a month ago in Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida. With this memory also came to his memory that possibly, just maybe, perhaps… he did not put lock tite fastener glue on the bolts………….hmmmm…… is it true, did this happen? we think so otherwise why did our max prop zinc disappear? 

Then an emotion of panic followed that we don’t want to replace our max prop, which is $5,000 at least. We started to create horrific thoughts in our minds that the max prop would dissolve in the salt water before our very eyes, erode and wither away into the Sea of Cortez. Sounds dramatic and it is/was and prompted a satellite call to Max Prop to get screws ordered and sent to Marina Mazatlan as we have NO max prop screws on board. 

The good news is that Steve so happened to have 4 bolts that matched the exact thread count and bolt size so we could fasten a new zinc onto the prop. We just so happened to purchase 4 new max prop zincs in the US when we went home to visit and brought them back to Mexico but had no bolts. Aaah, the joys of sailing! One minute you are in awe of your gorgeous surroundings and feel privileged for the moment and the next your cursing about spare parts….

The rest of the day continued on pleasantly as the “emergency” was taken care of. We then had our LAST day of spearfishing for the year most likely. It ended with success! Stephen got the biggest Trigger of our season measuring 18.5 inches. I was runner up with my biggest Trigger measuring 16 inches. These guys seem cartoon-like almost underwater, but not as cartoon-like as the puffer fish. I love the puffer fish and plan to write a Children’s book one day with Puffy as the lead character -ssshhhh!! don’t tell anyone, I don’t want them to steal my idea. They have big bright eyes and a little cute smile, definitely Children’s book material. Ok tangential thought, the usual for me. But back to the Trigger, have you seen their teeth??? Look at those choppers below- YIKES and YIKES! A large angry toddler can’t compare. 

Well, triggerfish ceviche again folks! No Yellow Tail at all this season for us. We did enjoy Dave’s from SV Arctos but no such luck for us.. We are more conservative in our new sport though. We got lazy or not lazy, not sure how you interpret this, but we have not commissioned our dinghy since leaving Zihuatanejo. Yep, that was a LONG time ago. We just use our paddle boards to go everywhere. This is including spearfishing. We put all our gear on the paddle boards. So… this does make it complicated getting a larger fish since you cannot have the more secure dinghy floor to put the fish into. We considered a mesh bag which some folks use but we don’t want to attract unwanted followers. Stephen was stalked by a moray eel one day!   Also, we don’t dive too deep since it just the two of us with paddle boards and so we don’t pursue deeper depths or go too far from the sailboat. If you are wondering what we do with the paddle boards, we carry them along with a long leash of 20-30ft to allow us the ability to dive down and they provide a float which aids other boaters/swimmers to know where we are. Good for safety really.  

The dinghy? why not use? We don’t really need to use it we found. It does make it nicer when we are carrying in the trash when not on the dock or bringing back groceries but I can paddle back an 18 count of huevos with all with shells intact:) Our boards and big and stable so we can pile up gear. We do then forgo late night dinghy missions and bigger travel around some of the shorelines but obviously not really missed. We are not lazy since we have to paddle everywhere and I like that but we are lazy because we hate pumping up the dinghy and getting her attached to a halyard to put in the water, locking up her everywhere and then having to haul her back up onto boat when we put her away. You decide…. I do think the desire to not have a big fish you just speared flop out of the bucket, slide off your paddle board and escape into the water again will get the dinghy out more next season- Nuff said!

I have been pretty successful with the Hawaiin Sling after a tip given to me by the owner of Neptonics, a spearfishing company. We met Josh in Agua Verde, he was in his jeep with his girlfriend Molly and we were hiking. Anyway, we met them both for a beer when we returned and he told me to put a piece of tape where I hold tension to “cock” the sling. This helped tremendously for me with arm fatigue. I may need to YouTube some folks using the sling to get other tips when I get internet but that tape trick was the bomb! I went from not getting any fish to getting usually 2 a day. You pick your menu, so you are not looking to get all the fish you can. The nice thing about spearfishing is that you are fishing sustainably. I actually like snorkeling more now too. Sometimes I hate to admit it but I would get bored snorkeling but now on the hunt, I am very interested in everything and I am more aware. 

Sailing, in general, has made me more aware and living in the moment. Such the trendy new phrase of be Mindful but this activity does make you mindful. Because you are on disconnect from the other world really, no internet or phone most of the time you are in tune with your environment so much more. Just like most outdoor activities. It makes you think about your water resources, food, conservation with energy. This is the most environmental I have ever been to. I am using solar, water filtration, carpooling ( give lots of boobies rides on the bowsprit), and procuring my own food ( we ate fish every day for the last 3 weeks - we had one day with no success spearfishing).  

I have to say I ended up liking cruising much more than I thought I would.  After our dog Petra died, I just wanted an adventure. Well, I am always looking for fun outdoorsy holidays but something of an extended period of time. Many know this story but it was originally going to be to travel through S. America for a year. It was going to be in a van but I realized how expensive sports mobiles are and other vans outfitted for offroad and adventure, many are upwards $150,000. Then I decided that motorcycles would be cool. We were paragliding in Colombia when we met folks touring on bikes. First, we needed to buy bikes and then learn how to ride them. Stephen did excellently. I did not have enough time with my crazy work schedule and I was finishing a post master’s certification full time as well,  so it was hard to get enough ride time in. Also, I did fall and break my finger. This translated to me into a bigger accident, in S. America in one of their ERs. And after being an ER nurse for over 20 years I know most motorcycle accidents, unfortunately, are not without complex trauma. You are not in a metal box like a car. You are EXPOSED on your bike and usually the associated injuries of pelvic fractures, femur fractures, spinal cord injuries, head trauma, etc… reflect this exposure. I decided I liked the motorcycle riding but I did not have the confidence nor the skill to do a trip like that. Now we are back to the boat. It is like glamping! And I love moving to a new waterfront home whenever we feel like it but keeping our same bed and food in the fridge.  I still get to hike, run, fish, paddle board, etc… 

It has been a terrific 1st cruising season with many new places explored, friends made and sailing skills enhanced. We bought Soulstice in January 2017 and are finishing our 1st cruising season in Mexico in June 2019. Not too bad considering we wanted and did pay her off and paid off all the wonderful additions to make her cruise ready before we left the dock in Seattle. Thank you Nursing careers and the ability to get OT! We even got to explore the Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island and Princess Louisa on the Sunshine Coast of BC, Canada the Summer of 2017. 3 Countries, US, Mexico, and Canada. We are just getting started! 

Yay! Heading north up the Baja Coast

Really cool coastline with big jagged peaks

Sails up!

Beach at Agua Verde - remnants of a sharks head - we have not seen any sharks so we think from a fishing panga...

Burro in Agua Verde

Hike in Agua Verde

Anchorage area Agua Verde - 3 lobes - we are tucked behind north lobe which is on the left and you cannot see

Hiking the road in Agua Verde

Agua Verde town

Trigger Ceviche

Agua Verde 

Hike off road from Agua Verde

Agua Verde hike

Captive birds awaiting fish remains

Isla Danzante

Isla Danzante - great little trails all over the summit

Soulstice

Our friend, Josh, paddleboarding back to Brian's Cat2Fold 

Isla Danzante

Isla Danzante

Isla Danzante - Honeymoon cove

Handlines - very disappointing. We did very well coming down Pacific Coast of Baja but not by the mainland or Sea of Cortez. No Dorado for us this year.  Lots of Tuna and a Bonita 

Fossilized shells in the rock

Little Estuary in San Juanico 

Fossilized shells

San Juanico hike

San Juanico

Steinbeck Canyon in Puerto Escondido

Got on the hook! So that day, May 25, I speared 3 triggers and got one on the hook too! I officially named it Trigger Day now:)

One of my spearfish trigger catches

Triggerfish cakes! Delicious made with panko bread crumbs, one egg, some dijon- pan fried with butter, garlic and lemon! Oh man good stuff! 

Spearfish day's catch:) 

Teeth of a Triggerfish - YIKES

Booby hitching a ride - at times we had upwards of 3. We thought very cute until we pulled into Mazatlan and realized they crapped all over our jib! NO MORE RIDES BOOBIES

One of our last sunsets

stats from our AIS - water temp is wrong but we were cooking at 7-8 knots at times! We had more wind than forcasted

Sail back across Sea of Cortez - was a bit chilly 

San Juanico - volcanic peak climb

View from a peak in San Juanico

8am and on the 2nd cup of coffee catch! 

San Evaristo Cowboy! 

Stephen's great grouper catch

San Evaristo

View from the little restaurant in San Evaristo