By Lowell | June 2, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Arriving home in Puerto Penasco on Saturday evening on Memorial weekend is very interesting. Sunset cruise boats are everywhere including the pirate ship Rey De Mar. The beaches behind the pirate ship are packed. The channel into the harbor is full of pangas pulling tourists inflatables and finally we back into our slip where there […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 28, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Thursday afternoon May 26th Time for Big Blue…. Typical run from Puerto Refugio to Gonzaga Bay. Winds faded away as we sailed away from the Whale channel and moved to our stern mid afternoon. We haven’t flown the spinnaker yet this season and today we have the perfect conditions. In fact it’s been 2 years […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 27, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Wednesday May 25th Cool night with light breeze. Actually temps are getting cooler as we head north into the Bay of LA area. We’re up and heading in the the village 9ish with plans to provision get a little internet and lunch before heading north. Light winds as we motor in and anchor in front […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 27, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Tuesday May 22nd Heading north to the Bay of LA area. Terrapin a family of 4 is here in San Francisquito with us and we make plans to anchor in a small anchorage “Animas Slot”. Heading out of our sheltered anchorage we find 4’ swells coming from the north and a 10kt NE wind. Winds […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 27, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Monday May 23rd (2nd update) We sent out a quick update early this morning as we departed Santa Rosalia since it’s the last internet until Bay of LA a couple days up the Sea. West winds are blowing 15-20 as forecasted giving us a hot ride for the first 30 miles north. The surprise was […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 23, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Monday May 23rd 4:30 and the wind is toughing on the dock lines waking us up. We’re out of the Santa Rosalia harbor by 5 with 15 -20kt winds from the west. We are heading north to San Francisquito 73 miles north. Winds should be favorable but light and variable as the day goes on. […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 22, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Thursday May 19th Looks like most of the boat that left San Juanico are anchored here in Santispac. Winds heading south were perfect. Engines off as we leave Mulege and we sail almost to our Santispac anchor location before give up sailing. Water is clear and warmer. One of our goals is to clean the […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 20, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Wednesday May 18th Great winds as we arrive in Mulege. Long day beating to north winds and 3’ swells but as turn the corner and head into Mulege life if good. We’re going to make it in time to get safely anchored in the river and head to El Patron on the north shore for […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 19, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Our San Juanico anchorage is full of boats as we arrive (15) Tuesday May 17th We’re heading to San Juanico today but first we troll the north east end of Isla Carmen with 2 poles out hoping to catch lunch. No luck on the fish but I did get a photo of the sea lions […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 18, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Monday May 16th Windy MUCH cooler night overnight in Loreto. Today we’re heading to Vee Cove on the north shore of Isla Carmen. Heading out we have 20kts wind at our back forcing us to steer to prevent an accidental jib. Vee Cove is only 15 miles NE so it’s going to be a short […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 16, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Saturday May 14th Bees ran us out of the Marquer anchorage early. Flat calm water so we just motored out a mile so the bees would leave and enjoyed a quiet morning. Frankie has made a friend “Fredrick” in the anchorage and he joins us as we drift asking her for more tortillas please. We […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 14, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Friday May 13th (Yikes) It’s Friday the 13th and we hear on the radio there’s a big party in San Jaunico in honor the this occasion. We hanging here in Marquer and it’s the day for Ralph & Helen’s french toast breakfast. It’s always a treat we look forward to. Lots of accessories make it […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 13, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Wednesday (afternoon) May 11 Arriving at Isla Coronados we pretty much motored the 17 miles from San Juanico. The Coronados anchorage has been one of my favorites anchorages but it now has a bee problem making it a challenge unless you have a screened in area (so sad). The plan was to have happy hour […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 12, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Tuesday May 10th <<Flying rays rock.. Today the Rally boats are headed to San Juanico 30 miles north after a cool restful night last night. Passing Loreto heading north Terry and I jump in the dinghy to fetch more ice (got to keep the crew cool). Near San Juanico the rays are very […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 12, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Tuesday May 10th <<Flying rays rock.. Today the Rally boats are headed to San Juanico 30 miles north after a cool restful night last night. Passing Loreto heading north Terry and I jump in the dinghy to fetch more ice (got to keep the crew cool). Near San Juanico the rays are very […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 12, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Monday May 9th Our first day on the water with our Rally boats we head just a few miles north to the nearby anchorage in front of the Juncalito beach where Coni and Elvin hosts us for happy hour. Rally boats Grand Poobah Ralph & Helen on Moon Drifter Guy & Carol on […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 9, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Sunday April 8th It feels good to be back in Baja. After attending the Kenny Chesney concert last night with 50,000+ fans, we made our way back to Puerto Escondido today by flying to San Diego where our friend Kurt picked us up and drove us to the Tijuana “Express Border Crossing” and joined […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 2, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Friday April 29th The San Juanico anchorage has all the boats facing north as we finish our shore duties at the cruiser tree. North winds are back up as we raise the main and shut motors down for another day of downwind sailing. Juanico is only 17 miles north of Loreto making another […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 30, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Thursday April 28th Punta Palpito >>> Awesome, the northeast winds we’ve had the past 2 days return on our way south from Mulege. Our first thoughts was to head for San Sebastian but by 10 AM we have engines off and sailing downwind at 7kts. Time to set our sites on an anchorage further […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 30, 2016 | Category Baja 07, Baja2016
Wednesday April 27th The photo left sets the stage for our day in Mulege. Perfect night in Chivato last night and we made the 7 mile leg into Mulege arriving mid morning with plenty on time to “Blame if on Mulege”. Hurricane Odile has been through Mulege since our last visit. The channel entrance […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 28, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Thursday April 28th Just a quick update to let everybody know we’ve got the frig running consistently. We seem to have the Danfoss compressor control board in a happy position after pulling it out for a detail inspection. Hopefully it holds for the remainder of this leg and we will bring a new one when […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 27, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Sunday April 24th – arriving Santa Rosalia Our last visit to Santa Rosalia was with Craig and Linda Lyons 2 years ago limping Gato Loco north with motor problems. We were able get a motor lower unit repaired with a little networking in the cruiser community. Today we’re coming in with our food frig […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 24, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Saturday April 23 It’s funning how you notice things for the first time somewhere you’ve been many times. It always amazes me when we spotted this window rock (below right side of photo, click to enlarge) in the southern anchorage of Dog Bay. Last night after the bee incident we moved to the south side […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 22, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Thursday April 21st We’ll open with a fishing report and you can see fishing is good as Lynnie last touched the pole cleaning the seaweed and BAM a 30” Yellowtail sushi monster. Jeffrey landed him and I let him do the gaffing honors. Darren will understand why when I let his dorado get free […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 21, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Desemboque as we sail south Wednesday evening April 20th We’re still reeling from Bill’s quick departure this morning. We know it’s the best for him but he will be missed. We’re hopping to hear good news about his mother.. With his absence we’ve got plenty of provisions so we will eat hardy. Before he […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 20, 2016 | Category Baja2016
The Gato Loco cruise begins today. Weather looks good for our departure except for the wind. We’re heading for Puerto Lobos on our first day out and it looks like the winds will be light and may be on our nose. Weather forecasts haven’t’ been correct all week and we hope we get SW […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 10, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Our Home Port First, a view of Gato Loco’s home port of Puerto Penasco. Penasco sets 60 miles south of the border in the northeast corner of the Sea of Cortez and is about 4 hours from Phoenix. Google Earth gives a good view of our Puerto Penasco port area. The natural Penasco harbor is […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | February 21, 2016 | Category Baja2016
We’ve been hanging in Penasco over the past weeks with family while we prepare for the up coming sailing season. Penasco’s waters are frequented by both Fin and Humpback whales this time of year. Two years ago our good friend Gill captured the photo right of a beautiful breach while whale watching on Gato Loco. […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | January 29, 2016 | Category Baja2016
Setting on our Cholla Bay patio watching the sunset only makes the urge to go sailing south even stronger. It’s been a dry spell for sailing with many things going on in our lives. Plans for the 2016 sailing season are beginning to come together. Last year we re-powered Gato Loco and only mustered a […]
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