Finally able to unfurl some sail

.. wind has been on the nose until now.

Starting down Canal Cerralvo now under bright but hazy sky.

LeftBalandra midmorning after a bad night's sleep with strong (20-25kt) S-SSE winds. Anchor was well-set but, with a building wind, I had to be sure of that before I could settle down in my bunk around 2 am.

On to San Lorenzo Channel, past Cerralvo to Bahia La Ventana for a secure overnight anchorage .. protected from S winds!

Chatted on 'Baja Bash Net' (4149 @ 1500Z) to 3 other boats but a few others were unreadable - just too light to copy.

Anchored in Pto. Balandra tonight - great to untie the lines and feel the boat moving. Mobelo rays were jumping high as we got close -always an amazing sight.
Was great to catch up finally, just before leaving, with an old friend, Phil on 'Sail a Vie', from 2006 when we both did the Single-Handed Transpac race to Kauai from San Francisco.
Have been sorting the boat out since arrival here, ready for passage-making - always so much to do to make sure the boat is properly ready for sailing after being at the dock for a time - need to be ready for unexpected big seas plus there's the usual job of fenders & lines to stow away.
But time to relax in the shade with a cold drink now with - shrimp & garlic tacos soon... and there'll be the sunset to enjoy soon.
Later -midnight and beyond.....
Wind went light soon after sunset and then came up from S (had been from N) . By 11pm, was nearing 20kt and by midnight, well over 20kt, often 24-25kt from SSE -so no fetch here. We were swinging around a lot. Hopefully, it will start to ease soon.

21st May 2017 Happy long holiday weekend to my Canadian friends! Busy time here in La Paz - have had storm screen adjusted so more easily removed, settee cushion was also cut down to fit better, checked water-maker - works & makes water but only on one pump - second pump badly corroded so need to replace with motor & pump which I have in my spares. With settee cushion taken away, realised a major spring clean of entire saloon area was needed - so total clearing out & cleaning now taking place - gives a chance also to do some re-organising of stowage. Want to clean gunged-up speed impellor also - will be nice to have boatspeed readout (and correct true wind display) as I sail north shortly. Gave a talk here last week and have also been helping some other boaters nearby. Keep meeting up with cruisers I know - enjoyable to relax in between the work! Testing sending a photo with this posting - of Isla San Francisco from high up on the hill above the anchorage... I'm an ant walking the beach near to the borrowed kayak that my friends and I used to get to shore. 'Nereida' is seen at anchor. Strong N winds have been preventing any thought of heading up the outside of the Baja until now - but it looks as though they might be abating so I'm hoping to finish the boat work and get underway on Tuesday or Wednesday.... to Los Muertos initially, to try out bottom cleaning with 'hookah' hose attachment to dive tank. More news next week...

A lovely view of Isla San Francisco taken a week ago from high on the rugged hillside above the south end of the beach.

'Nereida' is anchored in the distance.

Isla San Francisco. Mon 8th May. Tom& Maggie paddled the kayak to shore with me as passenger. Good snorkelling today -plenty of different fish and lovely shells on beach. Pairs of oystercatchers and pelicans, a small grebe, three vultures, lots of gulls and sandpipers. Lovely fish dinner tonight , thanks to close neighbour Roger, on Jasmin, who caught (& cleaned) some trigger fish for us. Tomorrow, we'll sail to San Evaristo & then find a new overnight anchorage somewhere.
Wed 10th May A lovely week in the Sea of Cortez not far from La Paz. Several days anchored off Isla San Francisco followed by a trip to explore Baja's Cabeza de Machudo and San Evaristo, passing two huge rafts of grebes on the way North to Nopolo, before returning S to the NE bay off Isla S.F. for protection from a strong overnight West wind. Beautiful rock colours and formations everywhere, complemented by pale sandy beaches and clear blue sky.
Presently en joying Bahia Balandra before returning to La Paz for my friends' flight back to Vancouver tomorrow. It has been great to have good company on Nereida!

Wed 3rd May - underway from a rolly overnight anchorage off Playa Bonanza, on W side of Isla Espiritu Santo, towards Isla San Francisco. A great stop to see the sea lions but we didn't swim with them as many do. Nice to see them playfully leaping out of the water close to the dramatic rocky stacks where they breed on the shallow ledges. Noisy with their barking.

One of two Orcas circling a small shoal of Mobelo rays seen when leaving Bahia Frailes for Los Muertos on Tuesday. .. An amazing sight!

Tuesday - Thursday 25th-27th April 2017 Los Muertos

A very pleasant but productive couple of days at anchor here - Robert ('Tillicum’) gave me a lot of help looking at the generator problem - removed the seawater pump and looked at the impellor - it appeared fine but on more careful checking, it became clear that the central metal part was often turning without moving the impellor flanges with it - so the impellor was damaged and not working correctly… Replaced it with a new one - need to buy a spare now. Robert also fixed back in place a switch he had given me in B.C. last year that occasionally helps when starting the generator. That had been disconnected when the motor had been rebuilt in San Diego and, inexplicably, not replaced…. Similarly, he made a hole in the new lining of the lower generator casing and poked the oil drain pipe through so I could drain the motor oil, ready for oil changes - another small job that clearly should have been done, but infuriatingly had not, in San Diego. At last, the generator is working fine - but the cooling water pump circuit had to be primed to expel an airlock before that happened. At least, now, I know how to do that.

Rose helped us inflate the double kayak Jeff had lent me in San Diego and I paddled it to shore with Robert & Rose following behind watchfully in the dinghy - it felt very stable and I didn’t have too much problem paddling it, despite quite a strong wind blowing. We enjoyed a meal and some cold drinks on shore with a wonderful view over this large bay with its vivid turquoise blue water and long golden curving beach backed by low mountains.

Thursday morning, we hoisted the kayak onto the stern deck and tied it down and, by 10 a.m. I was heading out of the bay towards La Paz - 55 miles away. 'Tillicum' will be headed towards Sitka, Alaska, via Hawaii very soon, so the next time I'll see my friends will be when they reach Sidney, B.C.

The wind was very light initially so I was motoring in a calm sea - and later, although it increased, it also backed from NE to NW, soon becoming on the nose as we headed up the Canal Cerralvo, so was of no use for sailing. We passed by arid rugged landscape and long sandy beaches - this is the S end of the Sea of Cortez.

Sunday 23rd April 2017

Made landfall 1 p.m. in Bahia Frailes, at SE tip of Baja, after mostly motoring from Isla Isabela in light to non-existent winds - just two hours of sailing without the motor running in just over two days of passage..

Found deep water until very close to beach but finally anchored OK although closer in than I was happy with. Left track showing on plotter and woke up frequently overnight to check our position.

Late afternoon yesterday, dolphins had come by and one leaped really high out of the water close by - the second time, it looked me right in the eye as I applauded! Lovely!

Just before first light this morning, I came up to admire the crescent moon astern and a bright planet (Venus?) not far to its left - and got a nasty shock. I seemed to be seeing two steep-sided small islands not far astern, slightly off to starboard.. "Just not possible!" I thought, after a time - so what were they.? Ships? - but not showing lights. Navy? "We must have got quite close," I thought, puzzled . I was quite worried but then the light slowly increased - and I realised that these 'objects' were lumpy low clouds on the far horizon - what a relief!

On chatting to radio friends, I discovered that I'd acquired a new amateur radio callsign - to celebrate Canadian 125th Anniversary of 'unification' they've issued special callsigns - so my 'special' maritime callsign is now CG0JSJ, rather than the VE0JSJ I've been using up to now. Feels odd to be using a different one on the radio.

The weather has been very pleasantly sunny and warm here on the Baja.

During the late afternoon and evening, several groups of Mobelo rays (far smaller than the enormous Manta ray which is also occasionally seen hereabouts) were swimming in the bay. They gave a superb display - the small groups were slowly circling around, leaping simultaneously out of the water, bodies horizontal, falling 'splat' - mostly on their bellies - with a big splash. A spectacular display that kept me busy with my camera - not easy to catch them at the right moment!

Monday 24th April 2017

Another amazing sight as I was leaving Bahia Frailes this morning ! A pair of Orcas was seen vigorously circling close and 'herding' a small shoal of about two dozen Mobelo rays - I saw them again a short while after the Orcas had moved away so they seemed to have mostly, at least, survived the incident. Maybe the Orcas found they were not good eating? They do have a long tail with a sting, like their bigger relatives - maybe that saved them?

After several hours of motoring north in a flat calm, with a futile attempt to use the genoa at one point, we arrived in Los Muertos - a lovely, big, shallow, sandy bay with good holding and clear water but absolutely no hint of a telephone signal - so no calls or SMS possible from my Mexican mobile. My friends on 'Tillicum' had arrived from La Paz shortly before and we spent an enjoyable evening together catching up on news. Worrying on the N.Korea/USA front - I just hope that commonsense prevails and the situation dies down without a totally disastrous outcome.

Will stay here another day at least, before moving on towards La Paz. I'm looking forward to a nice swim - which will undoubtedly end up as a boat-cleaning operation, as usual! Nice to relax.

Saturday 22rd April 2017 Heading from Isabela to Los Frailes on the Baja peninsula - over halfway.

Still motoring in very little wind - none overnight and probably light for the rest of this trip.

Midday Suddenly spotted a green turtle passing by, heading the opposite way. Haven't seen one of those since I crossed the Tehuantepec in 2008 - exciting! I was just finishing a late breakfast after the usual disturbed night's sleep on passage, additionally broken just before midnight by the enormous cargo-vessel 'Prime Ace' passing very close ahead after I'd made brief VHF contact.

1 p.m. Apparent wind backed enough to unfurl the genoa to add it usefully to the mainsail - we're motor-sailing close-hauled at 4.6 knots with not too much engine power needed (1400 r.p.m.). Without the engine helping, we'd be drifting along at about half a knot in SSE wind of about 2 knots, sails flapping - I just tried it! Wind might increase over the afternoon - but it might also then veer enough to make sailing (rather than motoring) on this course impossible . I don't want to head more north, off our rhumb-line course, since that would add in to the journey time and I don't want a night-time landfall as a result of the increased distance. Cruising often involves using the motor to make safe daytime landfalls in unfamiliar places.

I've been spending more time figuring out how to get and display different weather downloads, learning how to use the onboard software. It is taking a lot of time but I'm slowly getting more useful knowledge of the Predictwind/XGate software I now have use of in addition to the excellent Winlink/Saildocs systems I've used so extensively in the past and which are so simple to use and display.

I've a small radio receiver for getting realtime photos from the weather satellites passing overhead. Would be great to get that working so I'm also trying to remind myself how to get that system going with its associated software & data requirements, using a simple dipole antenna I have onboard. I spent quite some time in La Cruz downloading the software and data I needed from the Internet.

7 p.m.

Having a computer problem after a re-start (software for writing/reading satphone emails not functioning now). that adds to iPad now broken and smartphone refusing to show downloaded satphone emails, although happy to send photos and comments. Life was so much simpler before all this high-tech stuff .!! Radio works fine, as usual!!!

Tried to send this update via satphone to website blog - failed, so will do so now via good, reliable HF radio and Winlink.! See www.svnereida.com for daily updates .

Sun just about to set over glassy-surfaced sea - not much wind around to sail by this afternoon. but a lively dolphin was clearly trying to set a high-jump record!

Up on deck now to enjoy the end-of-day spectacular.

Friday 21st April 2017 Up frequently overnight to check that we were OK. At sunrise, the fishermen were busy retrieving their pots - they called to me as they disentangled one of the lines from under 'Nereida' - a friendly, smiling trio. We chatted as they got their line free - no problema! Took photos of the sunrise and their boat as they were busy a little later... I'd had a good meal last night - steak and onions with Greek-style green beans (cooked with tomato and a touch of onion) and potatoes. Earlier, I'd finished up some delicious guacamole I'd made the day before - avocado, chopped tomato and onion. The only missing ingredient was cilantro but with a big squeeze of lime, it tasted fine. IRadio propagation last night was good - I talked to a boat on passage to the Marquesas and helped relay on the Pacific Seafarers Net - good to hear Glenn on Westwind Ii making good speed towards B.C. Had a chat with another radio ham from Rhode Island - amazingly clear to the NE of the USA! I'm enjoying the luxury of fresh berries with my morning cereal - normally I add dried fruit, so to have fresh is a real treat. I've cleared up in the galley and winds look light but favourable so I'll raise the main shortly and get underway towards Los Frailes -an anchorage on the Baja peninsula.

Well, I'm not feeling too comfortable here at anchor off Isla Isabela....

The passage here from Ensenada Matenchen, San Blas was notable only for consistent headwinds - light for the first few hours, with a calm sea, but then up to 12 knots on the nose. So that gave another day of motoring on a rhumb line course to make sure of arriving here in daylight.... no sailing at all was possible, given the need for good light for anchoring in an unfamiliar spot.

My plan was to anchor in the small S. bay on the island. Knowing where exactly to avoid - a big rock near the middle of the bay! - was helpful, but the prevailing SW swell got into the bay and the waves were crashing onto rocks all around its edges.... Passing fishermen in a panga indicated to move further away from the rocks to the east - sure enough, they looked rather close and the swell rather large after I'd set the anchor in about 7-9 m depth... This felt decidedly dangerous...! I felt obliged to raise the anchor and move away from there, heart pounding. I managed it without mishap.

My choices were to leave the island completely and motor on in the light winds overnight, to start my next two-day passage to the Baja, or to try to anchor in the lee of the island in another anchorage to the S of two spectacular rocky stacks on the island's east side (photo posted at sunset - dramatic!). There was another boat anchored south of there already but in deeper water than I was looking for. To add to the scenario, the local fishermen were laying crabpots all around and, as I came close to where I hoped to anchor, they indicated I was about to motor over their boat's flimsy, thin anchor line... As I suddenly realised what they were trying to tell me, I hurriedly shifted into neutral and steered away, passing over the line safely - the worry was getting it caught in my prop - we would all have been very unhappy, if that had happened, but for different reasons...! (In fact, the Ropestripper rope-cutter on the propshaft just ahead of my prop is very efficient and would doubtless have cut their line with ease, before it could foul my prop.)

I felt much better about anchoring in the calmer, open water here and dropped the hook in 14m depth... only to find we were in much deeper water once I had spent some time making sure it was well set... The wind dies away completely overnight and there was 25m/80ft of chain down with at least 55m/180ft of rope attached - sounds a lot, but in stronger conditions, it would have been too little. The problem with rope is also that the boat tends to wander a lot more than on all chain.

I left my plotter on and zoomed right in so I could see our track as we moved around. All looked fine in the WSW wind. A few hours later, the wind had backed to SSE - and so we had moved NW of our first position - to be expected, I told myself. The good news was the depths there being more in line with the anchor rode I'd deployed and we were still not far from the point I'd originally been aiming for - known to be a safe anchoring spot.

11 p.m. We seem to have settled into moving around in a small area with about 15m/49ft depth with no hint of any dragging of the anchor, which is always the worry - the wind is now only 2 knots and likely to stay calm overnight, which is a comfort! I've set an anchor watch on the plotter but will still have to wake up at regular intervals overnight, to check we're safe.

We'll definitely move on in the morning!

4 p.m. Wed Finally, the wind kicked in soon after 2 p.m. Lovely to get rid of the sound of the motor and sail for a while. Not far to go - San Blas is in sight ahead.... About one hour more and we'll be at anchor... Sunset... Clear sky still... Wind died but kept sailing - even down to 2.5kt as we approached the anchorage. About to have a nice deck shower - plenty of hot water! Eventually anchored 3miles off from all land around.... but in under 12m/ 40ft depth! Hoping not to be bothered by no-seeums. A few fishing pangas in the bay now... One just laid a crab pot nearby - a black flag on a pole above, showing where it is - at least it's visible. Buenas noches!

Calm... Hazy.... Warm... Motoring to Matanchen Bay, hoping for wind.... Testing sending photo from iPad