Gato Loco North Bound with new Crew

---

By Lowell McCulley | May 18, 2024 | Category Baja 2024

 

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 the views of Gato Loco or Lowell  …he is not legally responsible for any of this content .

All aboard with the homebound crew: Kate, Paul and Doug .  This will be my first big cruise on Gato and while Paul has done this cruise before, this will be his first as an owner so we are very excited to get underway. We arrived this morning around 1100, easy taxi ride to Puerto Escondido.  After divesting ourselves of our travel gear, we headed to the very nice and well appointed marina for lunch at La Brisa, enjoying ceviche and pepperoni pizza.  A good start to any voyage!  We promptly headed up to Loreto for provisioning and overnight harbor stay.  Smooth seas, only raised the jib but it got us in the sailing groove and helped us shake off our rusty sailing skills. Beautiful day with sea lion sightings. Easy anchorage just outside the marina.  Quick trip into town for provisioning, which is always fun, though despite my best attempts is never as organized as I mean to be.  Always an adventure too trying to find the items on your list you thought would be simple (e.g. “lunchmeat”…I swear all they had were many questionable ham products).  But, you adjust and if you end up with mystery meat, so be it. It’s great being the last crew though, because you have items left over from previous crews so it’s fun to be creative with what you have left over.

After unloading our provisions and retrieving Doug from the boat, we headed into Loreto for a nice dinner just about at sunset.  I haven’t ever been to any other cities in Mexico aside from Puerto Penasco so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It has a more “old world” feel, with a beautiful Mission.  The Malecon had very nice restaurants, and all the shops were very well maintained.  We settled on Mita Cafe Gourmet and were very impressed with the service, the quality of the food and the chef, who came out to take our orders personally.  I had very chocolatey and spicy pollo en mole, Paul had spicy mango grilled shrimp, and both Lowell and Doug enjoyed a hearty seafood soup with a richly spiced broth.   We took our time heading back to the boat on a perfect Mexican night with clear skies and light breezes. Paul brought his guitar, so now we have 3 on board total as Roger left his Enya on board. Paul tried it out and enjoyed it, played well.

 

May 17th (Day 2)

 

Up early with quick breakfasts left to our individual devices, enjoying morning caffeine (tea for me, coffee for the fellas).  Heading to Isla Coronados today.  Light wind, great for easy sailing, got the main and jib up and learning the ins/outs and idiosyncrasies  of Gato Loco.  Smooth sailing arrived at the beach on the west side of the island along with many other day charters.  The beach is fairly packed, so we set up shop on the boat for a lazy day. Feel slightly guilty/slightly superior as we sail by the monohulls anchored aways out in the cove, but being a  more shallow drafting vessel, we could go further in to the turquoise water and anchored in 7-8 feet. Took the first plunge in the sea water, chilly but acclimated quickly.  Got the paddleboard down and the pool noodles (??sea noodles??) out.  Had my first margarita for the trip and it tastes even better with the view of the beach and the clear water.   This whole boat-life thing is pretty damn amazing so far.  There is always something to do on the boat too, which I enjoy. I don’t know if I’d enjoy a cruise where I just sat back and let everything happened nearly as much as being a crew and being a part of it all.  Got out the snorkel and fins and did some algae/barnacle removal off the hulls. Good exercise and very satisfying work. After 4pm,most of the traffic had left the beach so we headed in for sunset. We went on short hike, very well marked trails with some interesting foliage.  Boardwalks that were well maintained eased the travel over the sand.  However, another party boat came in and the two groups seems to have a “battle of the bands” with very loud party music, so we headed back to the boat for a more mellow sunset.  Lots of stingray in the bay along with some needlefish. Cooked aboard with a nicely spiced pollo and grilled Mexican squash/onions.   A number of boats anchored in the cove for the night.

May 18th (Day 3):

 

Up and going by 630.  Had scrambled eggs a la Doug (bell peppers, onions, cheese) and bacon. Lowell is coaching me on the art of the anchor. No wind to speak of so motoring up to San Juanico today.  Lots of fish around the boat, more needlefish, small skate, and puffer fish.  Underway we see a humpback whale!  He is feeding in a general area off of Isla Coronados and we have a light sailing day so we spend some time hanging in area.  He gives us a good show with his multiple surfacing and great shots of his tail. Absolutely amazing. Multiple sea lions sunning themselves on the passage.  We have our lines out. Doug is an avid fisherman so we have hope he’ll bring the good luck so maybe we can have fresh fish tonight.  When we get to San Juanico, we will definitely be hitting the Cruiser Shrine there…have to think about our offering to the cruising gods and leave behind some adornment of our presence.

Arrived at San Juanico without any drama minus a temperamental water pump.  Thank goodness for Lowell and his apprenticeship with MacGyver.  It would be a very long voyage indeed without a functioning pump.  We celebrated the success with a round of margaritas for all.  Lowell guided us to a great little portion of the cove with very impressive rock formations on either side with the Cruiser’s Shrine at our bow.  Paul and I explored the rock formations via paddleboard and snorkeling.   We had hopes (not high ones) of finding a lobster or a grouper for dinner there, but no luck.  Quite a bit of sea life though to enjoy and the water temperature was a bit cool, but easily manageable.   Lowell and Doug came and gave us a tow back on the paddleboard with the dinghy. We headed in to the beach and caught up with some of the other visitors in the cove. We also had a moment in remembrance of Brian Heffernan with some fond memories at his tribute on the tree. It was very special indeed to see all that has been left behind over the years.  I think the oldest dated one I saw was 1984. We took a walk down the beach, found some very cool bits of coral/shells and one petrified puffer fish (I exaggerate, but you get the picture), then made our way back to the boat for a dinner of salad, hot dogs, and Tate cookies (thank you, Frankie!).  Big day of sailing ahead of us tomorrow, so hitting the hay for now.

Until the Next Update

Check out the InstaGram feed videos