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Writer's picture: John FosterJohn Foster

Oh my gosh!  We have had quite the adventure so far in Mexico and we have completely forgotten to post anything about it other than picture posts to Facebook.  The last time you heard from us was as we were preparing to leave Cabo San Lucas and head to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle on Banderas Bay.  I’ll let you all in on a secret, we arrived at La Cruz safely after the 300-mile passage through open water, with no land in sight.  It was a great sail to La Cruz, actually it was the first time we sailed a whole passage, all 300-miles were under sail.  We had 16-22 knots of wind from the NE and some one to two-meter wind waves from the same direction and some swell from the Pacific Ocean SW-NW of us.  We even sailed through the night.  The only time we started the engine was to recharge batteries and head in to anchor.


La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is a quaint town on the northern shore of Banderas Bay.  The town consists of maybe 4000 people and still has its original cobblestone streets.  All towns in Mexico have an “El Centro” which consists of a park and welcoming gathering place.  There are several low-key restaurants in town that we found to be quite good and friendly.  Our favorites are Ballena Blanco, El Ring, Octavas, and Masala.  We anchored out in front of the town for about two weeks, until Rochelle decided she was going to fly home for a couple weeks for Christmas. At that time, we needed to put Karma into the marina for safe keeping as single handing her is not something I have experience doing.  Karma was in the marina until April 23rd, when we finally decided to leave and begin our journey north out of the Hurricane Zone.



During that time, both of us traveled back to Washington state for some important medical appointments, by land.  What an adventure that was!  First, we had our friend Carlos drive us two hours to Tepic, the capital city of the state of Nayarit.  That was a two-hour drive through mountains, jungle, and farmland.  Next, we stepped aboard a Tufesa International Bus for a 22-hour drive to Tucson in Arizona.  Along the way we were stopped at least five times to be searched by the federales (Mexican Government), Guardia (State Police), and the Ejercito (Army) and their dogs, searching for drugs and contraband.  Of course, this all happened at night when we were trying to sleep.  Once we arrived in Tucson, we were able to stay with our friends John & Mardie for a couple days before we jumped aboard an Amtrak train to Los Angeles.  This was my first time on a train and over the next 2 months I would travel by train over 10,000 miles.  The train is awesome, but not always on time.  You pay for a seat ticket, which is very nominal and then you can choose to get a room, which is a premium, but actually a good deal.  With the room you get three meals a day, one cocktail, two desserts, unlimited non-alcoholic drinks, per person in your room.  So, Rochelle and I chose a “Roomette”, which seats two and converts into two 7-foot long beds, for an additional cost of about $450.  For what the train charges for meals to non-room tickets, you actually profit by going with a room.  The seats in the coach are very roomy, this is not an airline.  These seats are actually roomier than airline first-class seats.  But, it is still a seat and on a 35-hour train ride, having a bed sure is nice.  So, if you ever travel by train, I highly recommend getting a Roomette.  Our train trip was 10-hours to Los Angeles and then we transferred to a train (Coast Starlight) headed north to Seattle (we departed in Olympia), another 35-hours.  This would conclude the first half of our overland trip to Washington.  A total of 69 hours!  I enjoyed the train so much, I decided to jump on the Empire Builder and travel to Toledo, Ohio to see my mom for a week or so.  Then I returned to Seattle, picked up Rochelle and did our whole overland journey back to Karma still in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (I know… it’s a mouthful).


We arrived back at the boat on April 20th and planned to depart for La Paz in the next few days.  We have two close friends that were coming to join us on this 10-day passage.  La Cruz is in the hurricane zone and our insurance doesn’t appreciate boaters taking risks like that.  The hurricane zone is approximately between latitudes 13 degrees N and 23 degrees N.  La Paz is at 24 degrees N.  La Paz would become the start of our summer trip up into the Sea of Cortez.


Our friends, John Roberts & Adrian Wisernig, arrived by plane into Puerta Vallarta on April 23rd.  We planned to spend the next day or two preparing for our passage north and going over all the procedures on how to handle the boat, including emergency procedures.  We took them to our favorite restaurants and showed them the wonderful service of Mexican Lavanderias (Laundromat), where they wash, dry, press, and fold your clothes for a mere $3 USD.





On April 25th, we began our journey north.  The trip would consist of two parts, first we would spend three days sailing to Mazatlán.  Every night we would spend time at anchor except the night before we arrived.  Our first challenge would test Adrian’s resolve the most.  To get out of Banderas Bay, we went through a pretty large, shallow cut, between Punta Mita and Islas Marietas.  It is about 4 miles wide, but shallow at 30-60 feet deep.  Now this might not sound shallow, but on either side of it, it is thousands of feet deep.  When waves and swell hit shallow areas, they increase substantially, and this was the case on that day.  We had 2-meter swell coming from the Pacific Ocean to the west and similar wave action from the Sea of Cortez to our north, in addition to some chop created by the nearby land masses.  Adrian was not having a good day, seasickness kicked in as soon as we got into the cut and lasted throughout the day until we reached our destination of San Blas for the night.  One of Adrian’s best quotes from this period of time was… “Well, if this is what is to be expected for the next ten days, at least I’ll know I’ve had a thorough cleanse.”  That night we anchored at a well protected anchorage south of San Blas.  This place is well-known for its mosquitos and No-See-Ums, they were not out this night. Whew!


In the morning, we departed and headed north to Isle San Isabel, a tiny little island in the middle of nowhere, famous for its abundance of Frigate birds and Blue-Footed Boobies.  We wanted to get there early because the anchorage is very small.  The island has two anchorages surrounded by rocky reefs.  We went straight for the SE anchorage and when we arrived, we found four other sailboats already anchored as well as five fishing boats (they leave at night).  We slowly weaved our way into the anchorage, left, and then entered again to drop the anchor.  We attached a float to the head of the anchor, as this location is famous for stuck anchors.  Four more sailboats arrived later but had to move to the less-safe anchorage to the south, due to the lack of space.  The shelf we anchored on is literally five hundred feet wide at the most, then the depth drops off to depths way too deep to anchor in.  Our next day we would depart in the afternoon which would allow us to arrive in Mazatlan in the morning.  Our crew spent the morning on the island climbing to the rim of an extinct volcano and trying to catch the perfect photograph of a Blue Footed Boobie.


Anchoring off Isla Isabella
Anchoring off Isla Isabella


That afternoon, we departed Isle San Isabel with moderate wind on our nose as well as 1-meter swell on our port.  The wind was not very strong at about 16 knots, but we were overpowered as we were close hauled.  Karma reached her steepest heel ever at 28 degrees.  Water was coming over the gunwale and surprisingly she was not going very fast, staying rather steady at 5.5 knots.  John Roberts suggested dropping off the wind a bit and letting the mainsail out a bit.  That improvement, while taking us off course, improved our speed by at least a knot and lessened the heel considerably, putting us back into the teens.  The ride was much more comfortable but added many miles to the passage.  Still, comfortable is way better than having to be constantly on alert.  Great Idea John Roberts!


This was going to be our first overnight with the new crew.  Two-person watches are not very fun, you never really get any good sleep and the last hour of every watch, no matter how long the watch is, is always very hard to stay alert for.  With four people this was going to be much better.  I put together a watch system that would ensure that everyone's last hour was shared with someone else.  I started the night watch at 6 pm and would go until 10 pm, but at 9 pm Adrian would come up and join me.  Adrian was on until 1 am and Rochelle would join him at midnight.  Rochelle would stay on until 4 am and John R. would join her at 3 am and then finish out the night watch at 7 am.  We would then begin the day watch schedule in which Rochelle was exempt from as she wanted to handle the food prep.  I think this watch worked extremely well with the added bonus that everyone got one straight stretch of eight hours of sleep.


When I relieved John R. in the morning, Mazatlán was in sight.  The sun was rising right over our destination, and we had to await a large tanker wanting to scoot in before us.  


Mazatlán is a beautiful and historic city.  We anchored in the main anchorage within the port area, it is a large anchorage, but there are a lot of boats here, so it did seem a tad close quarters.  This was kind of the old town, no real docks here, just cruisers and tour boats and ships.  One of the things we are supposed to do is check in to the major ports we go to.  This was one of those places.  Usually, the Capitanio de Puerto is located somewhat nearby to the port, not so in Mazatlán.  We walked in the heat and soon found it to be real beat down at what seemed to be miles.  When we arrived, they were closed, but luckily an assistant was just leaving and showed us what we needed to bring the next day.  Suffice to say, we didn’t return and just put off the check in until we arrived in La Paz.  Checking in is supposed to be there so that the Mexican Navy can save you if there is an issue on the high seas, but honestly, I think you have a better chance of being saved by the US Coast Guard in Mexico than the Mexican Navy.  



We only spent one night in Mazatlán but planned for a late 4pm departure the following day.  This allowed us to go explore the historical El Centro, where everything from centuries ago still stands and is maintained.  We also went to a very fancy restaurant for dinner, which was a restored courtyard.  It was called El Presidio Cocina de Mexico, and it was an experience to be had.  We also refueled Karma via jerrycan - not the best experience.  We also visited the municipal market which is much like our farmer markets in America but with 1000x the people and 100x the shops… and it never closes.


At 4pm we weighed anchor and took off on our multiday crossing of the Sea of Cortez.  Our plan was to go from Mazatlán to Bahia de Los Muertos, yes that means the Beach of the Dead.  I’ll tell you; historical Mexico was never good at naming their beautiful places.  The people that reside at Bahia de Los Muertos are actively trying to change the name to something related to peaceful sleep.  Los Muertos actually refers to some very old concrete anchors underwater where ships would tie up to to load minerals from the nearby mines, so it isn’t as morbid as we all think.  This is the first place where we saw clear blue water.


Playa De La Bonanza
Playa De La Bonanza

We arrived in this most beautiful place and for the first time in Mexico, we swam in super clear warm blue water right off the boat.  That night we took our dinghy into a rather large palapa on the beach for a celebratory cash-only dinner.  Which is to say we all had the one dish this place is known for, their Tortilla Soup.  It was perhaps the best Tortilla Soup I’ve ever had, and we would have had more if not for the fact they were one of the many “cash-only” businesses in Mexico.  Mexicans think they are getting away with not paying taxes when they take cash only, but really, they just hurt themselves.  We didn’t have a lot of pesos on us, so it was no margaritas, no beer, no appetizers, no real meals… just tortilla soup.  In my mind that is a lot of lost revenue, but at least they didn’t need to pay taxes, I guess.  See, no matter where you go, people don’t like to pay taxes.


In the morning, we headed off for Playa de La Bonanza on the nation park island of Isla Espiritu Santo.  Another absolutely beautiful blue water paradise with white sandy beaches.  It was a trick getting here due to the currents that rush between Baja and Isla Ceralvo.  It is a trip that can take 6 hours or 24 hours.  We did it in about eight hours I believe and arrived mid-afternoon.  This gave us a bit of time to explore, and swim before heading into La Paz the following day.


Isla San Francisco (Southeast Beach)
Isla San Francisco (Southeast Beach)

La Paz is a wonderful medium-sized town, a considerable number of expats live here year-round.  The weather stays wonderful, never too cold and well, yea, it gets hot.  But that is what air conditioning is for.   La Paz is also considered pretty safe from hurricanes, until it isn’t, like in 2023 when it took a direct hit.  In order to get to La Paz by boat, one must travel many miles down a channel that at times is only 200 feet wide.  On either side, very shallow shoals await you.  It was a bit hair-raising our first time to say the least, but we got there eventually.  Dozens of wrecked boats still strewn the shoreline, remnants of the hurricane.  Anchoring in the channel is a mess because of heavy currents and a shallow shoal right in the middle of it, so we opted to stay in a marina.  Luckily, we scored a spot in this very busy marina.  We spent several days in La Paz hanging out in the city, refueling, and reprovisioning for our coming 3-month sail north up the Baja coast.  We also said goodbye to our trusty crew, John R. & Adrian as they headed home after this ten-day adventure of a lifetime!





From this point, Rochelle and I journeyed on from La Paz in early May to Puerto Penasco by the end of July (yes, it is hot).  We visited the following locations.


Playa de La Bonanza (again)

Isle de San Francisco (SE beach)

Isle de San Francisco (NE beach)

San Evaristo (Fishing Town)

Agua Verde (Spent two weeks here)

Puerto Escondido

Loreto

Isla Coronado

Caleta Ramada

Bahia Santo Domingo

Bahía Concepción / Playa Burro (Water was 104 degrees)

Bahia Santo Domingo (again)

Ensenada de Los Muertos (Anchored in 35 knots of wind, and the was “protected”)

Santa Rosalia (Real Mexican City)

Isla San Marcos

Puerto San Francisquito (Lots of Bees!)

Ensenada Quemado

Puerto Don Juan

La Mona (Whale Shark alongside our dinghy)

Bahía De Los Ángeles

Puerto Don Juan

Ensenada Quemado

Puerto Refugio (Spent one week here)

Puerto Penasco




I feel like we let people down on our blog, something I was sure we would keep up to date as we journeyed on turned out to be more Facebook post snippets with pictures.  It is a lot easier, but you don’t get the content that you do in an official blog.  We are back in Puerto Penasco to work on Karma, we found a few things we needed to upgrade on her, mainly in power production.  We had 640 watts of solar, 400 watts of wind gen and of course our diesel engine.  More than enough in the PNW, but in a hot climate, we were having to top off with the diesel engine every couple of days and we don’t want to do that.  So, we are adding 400 more watts of solar which hopefully will provide plenty of juice.  Rochelle is doing a fancy bottom job consisting of fixing a bunch of gelcoat blisters at the waterline, a barrier coat, and then putting on CopperCoat. It is supposed to last 10+ years.  We hope so!  Our plan is to launch in early March for a short season in the Sea of Cortez.  We will be heading back south to Puerto Escondido where we will haul out for the summer.



I have added a photos section to our main page (https://www.bluewaterkarma.com/sights) and it is loaded full of pictures and videos of our trip so far.  I will try to continue to load it full of photos as our trip progresses.  And, I hope to continue adding to our blog and sharing our journey with you.  I'll try to even get Rochelle to post a couple of her wonderful blog stories that make us all laugh, cry, and shudder to imagine!



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