May 27, 2024 (Day 11) (Continued) Up a few hours before sunrise, no issues getting up and out of the bay. We had a full moon which really helped. The seas while initially calm, become choppy quickly but still no consistent wind to take advantage of our sails. Lowell and Paul take turns manually steering […]
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May 23, 2024 (Day 8) Entering the home stretch, heading to Bay of LA today. Started off with some rolling waves but then smoothed out. Intersected with a very large dolphin pod and they broke off to run with us for about 10-15 minutes. It was incredible. They are so fast, and you can […]
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May 21, 2024 (Day 6) Well, I guess it’s too much to ask for that we have a completely mishap free trip. Today we had rough seas coupled by strong winds later on that made for a rollicking ride. If you like roller coaster rides, you would have enjoyed this day. If not, well, too […]
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Saturday May 19th (Day 4) Underway early this morning as we have a long haul sail today to Concepcion Bay. Doug and Lowell took point early allowing Paul and I to sleep in a bit, which was nice. The winds aren’t cooperating today so we are leaning heavily on the motors. Some early excitement as […]
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May 16th Hello all, this is Kate taking over for Lowell as official blogger of the last leg of the 2024 Gato Loco Sea of Cortez cruise. He’s been at it for 3 weeks, so I’ve decided to give him a break. **Disclaimer** All views and comments are personal opinions and do not reflect […]
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May 13th Today the story is of the Big One that got away. Our overnight in the Ballandra anchorage was cool and calm. Lots of yuck yucks, music on the bow and big juicy hamburgers for dinner. Supplies are running low for Ice and booze so we’re heading to Loreto for a quick stop to […]
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Friday May 10th Yesterday afternoon is a bit of a blur. Chis hit the hardware store for a propane hose, Scott arranged for 40 gallons of drinking water to be delivered to the slip and Alisa, Jamie and I went for provisions. Scott’s water delivery was the most colorful. Picture this… 3 little dock carts […]
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Monday May 6th Moonday May 6th You got to love a parade. Today the Rally fleet heads out to our first anchorage. We all gather near the harbor exit and raise our main sails and then motor sail out of the harbor with a drone capturing the parade streaming out of the Harbor. Our […]
Read MoreFriday May 3rd Up at sunrise to get an early start for passage Mulege to San Jaunico 65 miles south. Local fishing boats are heading out as we pull both anchors and clear the entry shoal at 7’ at high tide. Winds are the typical morning breeze coming from Conception. After clearing Punta Conception, […]
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Thursday May 2nd (Santispac beach Conception Bay) Loving this cool weather and light breezes at night. We’ve caught up on our sleep from the anchor watch. Scallops with garlic sauce was excellent last night at Armando’s. Had dinner the BC Canadians working their way north to haul at Cabrales. There was 4 other boats with […]
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Tuesday April 30th As we depart the norther Sea I think it was a little fickle this year, delaying our departure and then shutting down it’s wind for our passage south. This was the first year we’ve experience a delay. The weather system was quite extensive and then the doldrums. Passages after Bay of LA […]
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Sunday April 28th We’re glad to have the Whale Channel passage behind us. No drama this time only currents pushing against us slowing progress. Even with the tide not helping we made it in and anchor down at 2. The plan is grab 15 gallons of fuel to give us margin to get to Santa […]
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The weather window we hoped for, opened early and we were able to push off from the Penasco dock at 5:30, earlier than we planed. Winds were light at 8 to 10 knots out of the north west a good direction to sail through 8’ slow easy wave at 10 seconds. Temps overnight were cool […]
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As you might expect we’re watching weather very closely. The first Baja weather photo above shows our morning departure with wind on our steer and as the day goes on dissipates and seas flatten (photo below). This is a much better scenario than last Wednesday. We won’t arrive in our Puerto Refugio anchorage until well […]
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Sailing out of the Penasco harbor at 5:30 yesterday morning we experienced strong winds and high seas. After 2 hour and deteriorating conditions we aborted and returned to Penasco. We’ll wait for a better weather window Friday or Saturday. Watch the video Until the next update Send article as PDF
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The April 24th departure date is coming up fast. Frankie and I were in Penasco working the final details for readying Gato Loco for the cruise. The checklist grew to over 15 items but over the week we managed to get things done. I have to thank Frankie, Ed and Marcia for their help. Gato […]
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This will be the 13th annual Baja Rally bring sailors together cruising the Loreto Bay National Park of Islands. Follow this link to read more about the pristine area of the Sea of Cortez Loreto Bay Park. Our good friends at WestCoastMutihulls have been organizing and sponsoring the annual reunion of friends and new sailors […]
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The Gato Loco crew is sailing back to Loreto for the 2024 Baja Rally after missing last year’s season. We missed the Rally due to the Gato Loco recovered from the mast rig failure we experience in 2022. Gato Loco is fully recovered and ready for the cruise after many shake down cruises in the […]
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