Hard At Work in the Sea of Cortez

Josh and I have been busy at work on the M/V Ursa Major for the past month and have been cruising around the Sea of Cortez between La Paz and Loreto. Josh has been behind the camera lens taking beautiful photographs and as seen in the following photos, the wildlife viewing has been spectacular.

Remains of a conch shell on a beach in Bahia San Gabriel, Isla Espiritu Sanctu.

Josh enjoying a skiff ride early in the morning in Bahia San Gabriel, Isla Espiritu Sanctu.

Emily kayaking on Isla San Jose.

Sperm whales, (mother and calf), cruising in San Jose Channel on a calm morning.

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 1).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 2).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 3).

Sperm whale breaching in San Jose Channel (part 4).

More sperm whale activity in San Jose Channel.

Common bottlenose dolphin playing in San Jose Channel.

Honeymoon Cove, Isla Danzante.

Pilot whales south of San Jose Channel.

Baja geology in action.

Josh's foot amidst the mangroves of Isla San Jose.

Brown pelican mid-flight in Bahia Aqua Verde.

Giant manta ray in flight near Isla Carmen. Actual color does not reflect reality.

More giant manta rays in flight near Isla Carmen. Note wingtips on giant mantas.

Josh's birdseye view of the giant manta rays near Isla Carmen. Photograph taken from ratlines.

Viva Loreto!

We are leaving La Paz today for a charter on the M/V Ursa Major and will be in Loreto by the end of the week. The weather looks great for work!!


Our friends Heather and Shawn on the S/V Om Shanti, and authors of Sea of Cortez - A Cruiser's Guidebook, gave us a picture of our beloved S/V Estrella under sail. We passed them on our first cruise just outside La Paz and were cruising in 15 kts of wind with all sails flying. Thanks Heather and Shawn!

La Paz from an Ultralight Aeroplane

For Josh's Feliz Navidad present this year, I gave him a half-hour ultralight plane ride over La Paz. At the time, the ultralight plane was flying over La Paz on a daily basis giving rides to tourists. Then it vanished from the skies for four weeks. Nearly on the verge of finding a replacement gift, the plane reappeared on a nearby beach yesterday. Josh and I rushed over with his camera to find the pilot and his assistant working on the engine. The plane was back in business (and in working order) so we made an appointment for Josh to take a ride an hour later.


After verifying with her lawyer that she did have rights to survivorship over the boat should I not make it back, Emily took a parting photo and waved goodbye...



I did have a little trepidation at first. To any whom have taken a ride in a mexican taxi can attest maintenance is a activity best suited for tomorrow. The ultralight had seen many an enjoyable flight leading up to my adventure. Buoyed by that fact, and that a 85 year old man whom was the previous adventurer survived I set off.





I tapped the pilot on the shoulder very gently so as not to spook him, and indicated I would like to fly over Marina Palmira. He generously obliged with a steep turn to port that brought us over Estrella. The perspective 500 ft. above the water is breathtaking. It is easy to think of La Paz as a big city. From above however she looks like a somewhat sprawling small town. No big skyscrapers here, just a rugged desert punctuated with small ranches and a blanket of modest homes that is La Paz.


I have always felt that the best photos are the ones accompanied by a long story. This flight will be remembered in the future when people ask me how my foot came to be in this shot. Composition is essential to photography, this photo may never sell but will serve to remind me of a great adventure! Thanks Emily!

Bienvenidos S/V Estrella!!!

Yesterday, we held the official "denaming" and "renaming" ceremonies for our sailboat, now S/V Estrella. We decided Valentine's Day was a better day for such events than Friday the 13th.


It should be noted that Josh and I are each holding a bottle of champagne. The first bottle, from California, was utilized in the denaming of S/V Wind Spirit as she was a California vessel when we purchased her. The second bottle, from Mexico, was for the renaming to S/V Estrella as she is currently residing in Mexico with us. Each bottle was used in the "libation" portion of each ceremony.


The reason for two separate ceremonies (and two separate bottles of champagne) is due to paying respect not only to your sailboat, but the gods of wind and sea. Our friends Heather and Shawn from S/V Om Shanti gave us a copy of How to Rename Your Boat: And 19 Other Useful Ceremonies, Superstitions, Prayers, Rituals, and Curses by John Vigor for Christmas. The first chapter of this wonderful (and very entertaining) book details fully official "denaming" and "renaming" ceremonies. While most of the specifics of each ceremony is up to the owners of the vessel, certain rules must be followed.


For the three part denaming ceremony, first all articles with the previous name on them must be removed from the vessel. This includes paperwork, charts, and logbooks. I also sanded the old name off the stern. Second, a brief speech thanking the sailboat and the gods for good luck thus far is spoken from the bow of the vessel. Third, a libation of champagne is offered and sprayed over the bow. Josh handled the champagne while I gave the speech.


We allowed a two hour break between ceremonies to give our sailboat its necessary period of "namelessness" (per the book's instructions). Not wanting to tempt fate, we spent this time drinking tequila and cold saki with old and new friends (and dog Sophie) who came by to celebrate with us. The "renaming" ceremony was two parts long and consisted of a simple blessing with the new name and a libation with a bottle of champagne on the bow. Somehow, I think Josh and I ended up wearing more champagne than S/V Estrella!

Snorkeling in the Bay of La Paz with Tiburon Ballenas (or Whale Sharks)

Following our most recent charter on the M/V Ursa Major, Josh, myself, and our chef Natalie had the opportunity to snorkel with whale sharks, or Tiburon ballenas (Spanish), or Rhincodon typus, in the Bay of La Paz. Our adventure began with the rumor on the La Paz cruiser's radio net that these creatures had returned to feed nearby. They were last seen briefly in early 2008 within the Bay of La Paz and we hoped to find them before they moved on again.


Needless to say, we found five individuals just around the corner from the marina feeding along the current line. They were following each other back and forth along the current line and were not at all afraid of our presence, (or for that matter, the presence of our outboard motor).


The large mouth, as seen in the two previous photos, takes in a certain amount of seawater at or below the surface. Once full, the whale shark will strain the seawater through its gills in an effort to extract either phytoplankton, squid, or fish for food. This also serves to oxygenate the gills and allows the whale shark to breathe. Adults are known to have over 300 rows of teeth whiles juveniles typically possess at least 100 rows.


The length of whale sharks varies from two to three feet at birth to over seventy feet as adults. The average size is approximately forty feet and thirteen tons. They have two dorsal fins, (as seen in the above photo), and tend to swim in schools in near coastal waters.


Mostly harmless, (except in a few recorded instances of whale sharks ramming fishing boats in the Indian Ocean), whale sharks are typically found in tropical waters but are described as "uncommon" in the Sea of Cortez. And the females lay eggs the size of footballs.


For Natalie and I in the water snorkeling, it was hard to imagine something the size of these whale sharks emerging from an egg the size of a football. The whale sharks we saw ranged from eighteen feet to forty feet and were covered in some variety of large sucker fish. The clarity of the water was poor and we had to swim within two feet of the whale shark to see it. None of the whale sharks we encountered in the water were aggressive and allowed us to get closer than we ever thought possible.

All photos courtesy of Josh Haury.

Sources for whale shark background information:

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald. and H. Hammann. 1983. Pacific Coast Fishes. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York. 336 p.

Gotshall, D.W. 1998. Sea of Cortez Marine Animals: A Guide to Common Fishes and Invertebrates Baja California to Panama. Sea Challengers, Monterey, California. 110 p.

Good Friends and Tacos de Pescado

The story of our third journey on the S/V Estrella began with picking up our good friends Sheila and Teal at the Cabo San Lucas airport. Having spent the winter thus far in Olympia, Washington, they were anxious to work on their tans, swim in water above 55F, and consume many beers and fish tacos. We made sure to find them a quiet beach for swimming in the Sea of Cortez approximately one hour after their plane touched down.


After two days of acclimating to the Mexican winter sunshine and exploring La Paz and it's drivable beaches, we headed to sea with Sheila and Teal on the S/V Estrella. Our three night trip began with a sail in light winds to Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Sanctu. Sheila and Teal are both experienced hands at sailing and were soon right at home tending lines and sails.


We relaxed our first night at sea in Bahia San Gabriel as Sheila and Teal cooked homemade soft pretzels and hot buttered rum for dinner. Sheila went for a night swim around the boat and with the phosphorescence in the water and lack of moon, she looked like an aquatic angel of sorts.

The following morning we embarked on a four mile hike across Isla Espiritu Sanctu to Playa Bonanza. This was a new hike for everyone and we were looking forward to the adventure of making our own trail across the island. Part of an established trail existed but the pieces we found were not interconnected in any fashion.


As we headed across the island, the S/V Estrella grew further and further away amongst the cacti.


Facing away from Bahia San Gabriel, one would think we were heading into the Arizona desert as Playa Bonanza was not visible for another three miles into the hike.


We found many living cacti intertwined with dead cactus wood.


The terrain elevated slightly during the hike and the flora changed toward underbrush and agave-dominate. The seed pods in the photo above are from an agave plant with a ten foot tall seed stalk. The plant put out the stalk and seed pods before dying.


We reached Playa Bonanza at last after a mild hike through the underbrush and cacti of Isla Espiritu Sanctu. The most rewarding aspect was the swim at the end at Playa Bonanza!

After our hike and swim, we turned around and headed back to Bahia San Gabriel for lunch and beers on S/V Estrella. We pulled up the anchor after lunch and headed north along Islas Espiritu Sanctu and Partida. There was no wind to speak of and we motored up to our next anchorage, Ensenada Grande. The anchorage was virtually empty except for a few sailboats and we spent the remainder of the day relaxing and playing endless cribbage.

From Ensenada Grande, we were perfectly staged to visit the California sea lion colony at Los Islotes. This rookery is an old stomping ground for Josh and I but for Sheila and Teal, it was a brand new experience. The wind was blowing hard from the south (strange for winter in the Sea of Cortez) so we dropped Sheila and Teal on the north side of the island for their snorkel with the sea lions. They were two of many snorkelers in the water but enjoyed their time with the sea lions and the abundant fish and coral on the north side of Los Islotes.

We next sailed down the east side of the islands to our last anchorage, Playa Bonanza. The wind switched around briefly to allow us to put up all our sails. The marine life was spectacular from the sailboat as bottlenose dolphins followed us for almost two hours. We also saw manta rays jumping and a green sea turtle just outside Playa Bonanza. Sheila caught a Pacific bonita on our brand new fishing rod just before we dropped the anchor.


We were concerned that her fish wouldn't be enough to feed the four of us sufficiently. So following an afternoon at snorkeling at Playa Bonanza, we cooked up her fish in conjunction with a giant bowl of garlic mashed potatoes. The fish was surprisingly tasty and each of us were able to enjoy a minor fillet with our potato dinner.

Note: Sheila is approximately six feet in height so the fish is larger than in appears.

The wind kicked at sunset from the north so our sail in the following day was a downwind leg in modest swells. We made marvelous time as we headed back into La Paz and didn't turn the motor on until we were physically inside the marina. We had good reason to celebrate our fabulous trip with a delicious lunch of tacos de pescado, buckets of beer, and mariachi music.

What a way to end our third trip!

Anchor Chain, Gale Warnings, and Winter Shorts

Since our last posting, Josh and I have made three trips to the islands north of La Paz in our sailboat. (On a side note, she was purchased as "S/V Wind Spirit" but will soon be renamed in a proper fashion to "S/V Estrella"). The first trip was three days long and our anchorages included Bahia San Gabriel and Partida Cove in the Espiritu Sanctu islands. She sailed well and very comfortably and achieved speeds of over 5 kts. This was our first experience with a cutter rig sloop and it proved to be relatively easy to handle once we figured out the tricks of the trade.

The only notable deficiency in our first trip was an insufficient quantity of anchor chain. The initial amount of onboard at time of purchase was 30 ft of anchor chain and 250 ft of anchor rode (line). We decided we would feel more comfortable with at least 150 ft of anchor chain and no rode. The anchor itself worked beautifully and we decided to keep the 30 lb Delta as our bow anchor.


So between our first and second trips to the islands, Josh and I investigated the ins and outs of purchasing a large quantity of brand new anchor chain. We purchased a foot of the proper size anchor chain from three marine stores in La Paz for a test fitting in our anchor windlass, (including Triple B, proof coil, and high test varieties). It turned out the high test anchor chain was the best quality for the dollar so we bit the bullet and bought all 187 ft the store had.

And it was worth every penny (or peso). We took off on our second trip three days before a northerly that called for gale warnings and ended up closing the Port of La Paz for two days. Our first night out we sailed upwind to Puerto Ballena on Isla Espiritu Sanctu. A precursor to the upcoming northerly was blowing already at 15 kts and we pointed to weather at 45 degrees. We sailed fairly well in the slowly growing swell and made our anchorage by landfall.

After two nights in Puerto Ballena, we motorsailed upwind in 20 kts to Isla San Francisco a distance of 20 miles. We sailed well over the six hour trip but the building head sea (at 5-6 ft) was difficult to overcome without the aid of the motor. As we turned the corner into the anchorage, we saw other sailboats had the same idea as us. Isla San Francisco offers decent protection in a northerly and we joined the flotilla of boats for what turned out to be five nights of gale winds.


We dropped the anchor in 15 ft of water on almost 150 ft of anchor chain. And we didn't move an inch the entire storm! The maximum gust in the gale was 48 kts and we anchored in the corner of the anchorage near the beach, which offered protection from the extent of the sea swell and chop.


Among the highlights of our stay at Isla San Francisco was visiting with our friends on the S/V Om Shanti, eating homemade ice cream with new friends on S/V Scream on Josh's birthday, and hiking all over Isla San Francisco. We managed to climb to the top of one of the ridges overlooking the anchorage while nearly getting blown down the other side. It was comparable to getting sand blasted by a hair dryer while clinging to a cactus. Needless to say, it was well worth the effort to get a bird's eye view of the giant swells ripping around Isla San Francisco.


Following five nights at Isla San Francisco, we hauled up our new anchor chain and set sail downwind in 25 kts back to Isla Espiritu Sanctu. The genoa was flown and we debated whether or not to raise the mainsail. We already had a reef in the mainsail from our upwind leg to Isla San Francisco and were sailing with the original (30 year old) mainsail. But the wind proved to be too much for the old mainsail and it ripped right above the first reef point a few minutes after it was raised. The genoa alone proved to be a great sail in higher winds and we flew back to Isla Espiritu Sanctu in five hours. We anchored at Puerto Ballena again for the night and headed back to La Paz the following day on the genoa alone.

Josh had the foresight to have the other mainsail onboard recut for a better sail shape and with new reef points before we left. It was in La Paz being repaired during our second trip but we were able to utilize it on our third trip.

The story of our third trip will soon be told.....

P.S. On a side note, as for the debate between winter and summer shorts, something changes in short selection at approximately 85 F. For air temperatures greater than 85 F, the preferred material is synthetic with a significant reduction in both pocketage and length. For cooler air temperatures, pocket quantity increases and the material is of heavier consistency, such as cotton. But then again, we are lucky enough to work in a place where one can wear shorts in the dead of winter....

Nuevo Barco!

Meet our new boat purchase!!!




Just kidding....

We actually purchased the mothership to this little rowing skiff, a 32 foot Down East sailboat!!


She was built in 1978 in Santa Ana, California by Down East Yachts, Inc. and is a cutter-rigged sloop. Her hull, deck, and superstructure are fiberglass and the draft is only 5 ft, (a change from a 65 ft wooden boat with a 10 ft draft). The mast is deck-stepped and she has a full keel. The displacement is 17,000 lbs and the 24 hp Universal engine is the original with 3 cylinders. The fuel tank capacity is 72 gallons and the duel water tanks hold a combined 95 gallons. A world cruiser for sure.....

We spent last week testing the boat's systems, raising all three sails, and cleaning every nook and cranny. Downsizing to a smaller vessel after working and living on the Ursa Major makes small work of any sailboat task. Engine maintenance this morning took only 22 minutes....

We were very lucky to find a sailboat in such great cruising condition and hope to leave this week for our first cruise around the islands north of La Paz.