Ted & his wife MaryJo live in Fagstaff and use the airplane to make Mexico much more accessible. They’ve meet many American pilots with the same passion during their travels. In fact, they found their Guaymas house through networking with pilot friends.

Today we took off heading south flying towards Guaymas over Miramar Bay where Ted’s recently purchased home is and then west over both major marinas in the the area. Below the left two photos show Ted’s home setting right on the water. The two right photos are of their friend Kay’s house that has just finished a beautiful remodel with a great beach setting.

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Pictured at the top is Marina Real which is a bit smaller than Marina San Carlos in the photo below. We normally try to keep Gato Loco at Marina San Carlos but it’s been difficult to find any space recently. This time Gato Loco is setting at the top finger fat dock finger just to the left of the main channel of Marina Real. I like the marina and the staff is great.

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< Marina San Carlos with the large outer bay..

The Beachcraft >> instrument panel looks impressive.

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During our flight we all wore noise reduction head phones allowing the have conversation through out the entire flight and forcing me to listen to a few bad jokes..

The first 40 miles of coast line above San Carlos is rugged with lots of anchorage spots. After that the desert takes over and the shrimp farms begin. The farms are relatively new and cover the desert north to Kino Bay.

North of Kino the narrow channel between Isla Tiburon and mainland Sonora begins. This is a very shallow channel that all the cruising guides say is not navigable by sailboats due the shallow depths which create strong currents that could exceed our boat speed. I guess if you timed passage correctly with the current you could make it quickly.

Shallow waters of the channel makes for some interesting images.

<Mid channel

North end of the>> channel looking SW towards Tiburon.

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<Bill must be reacting to another bad joke.

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Puerto Lobos sets>>> out on a rocky point. This is where the red/white stripped lighthouse on our home page sets. This is one of the anchorages reachable from Puerto Penasco on the Sonoran coast.

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<Our home port of Puerto Penasco. There are now 4 marinas sharing the harbor with the local shrimping fleet.

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We made a pass off our local community, Cholla Bay, to get photos of our beach front.

Our homes set on the shore in the center of the slight bay.

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<<The Cholla Bay peninsula as we round back towards the Penasco airport. No wind when departing Guaymas but wind is blowing 18kts as we ready to land. The approach is over desert and the combination for wind and desert heat give Ted lots to focus on as he lands. After lots of dancing as we approach we gently set down on the runway to complete the first leg of Baja08. What a good way to complete the leg. Thank you very much Ted (& MaryJo)..

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It’s now time to focus on a wedding before we start leg two. Next Update the wedding.

Until the next update… The Gato Loco Crew

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Leg 1 April 11-19, Crew: Lowell, Bill, Dave – Puerto Penasco to San Carlos
Leg 2 April 29-4, Crew: Bill, Clyde, Bruce & Cynthia – San Carlos to Puerto Escondido
Leg 3 May 4-11, Lowell, Frankie, Bill, Richard & Kerry (from Australia) in the Loreto area..
Leg 4 May 11-17, Crew: Frankie ,Lowell , Bob & Chris Sanders & Kerry (sailing with us for extra week) (to La Paz)
Leg 5 May 17-24, Crew: Bill & Carlton
Leg 6 – May 24-31, Rick and family in the Loreto area.
Leg 7 – May 31-7, Crew: Bill, Brian, Heather, Roger, Alisa & Carl. Puerto Escondido to San Carlos
Leg 8 – June 13-22, Crew: Lowell -San Carlos to Puerto Penasco

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