Mazatlán to Barra part 5, Manzanilla, Custecomate & Barra de Navidad
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2 Days in Barra de Navidad
Thursday Afternoon — February 12th Having Barra as our last stop on this three week cruise is the perfect finale to a very special introduction for Paul and me to the sailing destinations along the Mexico coast. The town’s name translates to “Christmas Sandbar,” and sure enough, it still has a sandbar that shapes a […]
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Tenacatita to Barra de Navidad
Farewell Tenacatita Wednesday, February 11thIt was an easy morning—coffee in hand, anchor up, and off we went toward Manzanilla (with an A), the smaller of the two towns This one is just across the Tenacatita Bay. Just six miles away, yet a world of difference. The Manzanilla shoreline opens to the west, making dinghy landings […]
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Mazatlán to Barra part 4, Perula & Tenacatita
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Perula and on to Tenacatita
Friday, February 6 Our 17-hour night passage was a pleasant, easy cruise with light winds and slow, rolling seas around Cabo Corrientes—quite different from the harrowing stories we’ve heard from other sailors. Changing our plans to depart a day earlier paid off, and my 6 a.m. watch meant I slept through the roughest part of […]
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Mazatlan to Barra part 3 – La Cruz & Yelapa
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La Cruz and Yelapa
Wednesday February 4th We’re up and out of Chacala around 6ish as planned. The morning air is cool, and whales are still cruising the bay as we wave goodbye to this beautiful anchorage. Light winds again today, so we’re motor-sailing with the jib only. After a heavy dew overnight, Chris mops the deck, turning it […]
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Mazatlán to Barra part 2 – San Blas & Chacala
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Chacala, a seaside gem
Chacala Here’s a Chacala description straight from Shawn and Heather’s cruising guide, and it’s too perfect not to share: “Chacala is the quintessential anchorage most people dream about when setting sail for the warm, tropical anchorages of Pacific Mexico. Its clear blue waters lapping at a white sand beach, surrounded by lush vegetation and coconut […]
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Mazatlan to Barra part 1
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San Blas, Ensenada de Matanchen
Enhance by AI for your reading pleasure SaturdayWe slipped out of the Isabel anchorage early, bound for Matanchen. The winds were light, and the seas rolled lazily at eight feet—slow, steady swells that meant we’d likely be motoring unless conditions changed. Chris set two hand lines, and before long we had our first “fish on”—a […]
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Isla Isabel
Friday, January 30 We arrived around 9 a.m after an overnight sail from Dog Island. We’re heading for the south side of Isla Isabel. The anchorage here is small, with scattered patches of sand that offer good holding. Two boats were already anchored in the prime spots, but after a quick hail we learned one […]
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Adios Mazatlán
Wednesday, January 28th Chris was happy with the new canvas work. With the addition of covers for the outside windows, Strikhedonia is now set up for a much easier summer haul-out. We started the morning with a leisurely breakfast at a café near Marina Mazatlán, a perfect way to ease into the day. By midday, […]
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Mazatlán boat prep
The trip began with a massive storm sweeping through the Midwest, and—of course—Chris’s flight out of Minneapolis was canceled. He scrambled to find another flight and managed to join us in Phoenix just in time for our flight to Mazatlán. The flight from Phoenix was uneventful, and by mid-afternoon, we were aboard Strikhedonia. Let me […]
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Launching the 2026 Sailing Season: Southbound on Strikhedonia
It’s that time again—time to kick off the 2026 sailing season. This year begins with a special opportunity: crewing alongside fellow skipper and good friend Chris French aboard his Seawind 1160, Strikhedonia. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be sailing the stunning Pacific coast of Mexico, from Mazatlán down to Barra de Navidad. Chris […]
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Gato Loco’s back on the Sea of Cortez
What a joyful day in Pueto Penasco! We’re sailing out of the harbor with Gato Loco fully recovered from the storm incident last spring. She’s polished up like new, and with new bottom paint, she’s cruising with the light breeze. Reflecting on the incident and how close we came to losing her to a rocky […]
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Baja 2025 Gonzaga Bay wind storm disaster Recovery
Monday, May 5th San Felipe, Baja (after the rescue) A big thank you to Jeffrey for meeting the rescued crew and arranging accommodations for the night. He took most of the crew first to Cholla and then on to Phoenix. Ed, Murril, and I arranged a taxi ride with Mario back to Gonzaga. After having […]
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Paul’s Tiller Time accounting of our Gonzaga disaster
Tiller Time report Sat 5/3 Departed Isla Polmo 11:30am to Bahía Gonzaga. Local wind projected to shift west and build to 30kt range late afternoon so we opted to anchor in the sand close to shore in Gonzaga. Began with east wind 4-8 kts, port tack reach with main, jib and screacher, Stephanie on helm. […]
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A beautiful sail to Gonzaga turns to disaster
Sorry I took very few photos as I was very busy. May 4th 5:45 pm the Mexican Marine rescue finally arrived to off load us off Gato Loco and abandon ship. Gato Loco will have to survive on her own through another night with winds gusting in the 60 kts range after 96 mph winds […]
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Big winds to Isla Pulmo (2nd Leg)
You may heard we had a high wind incident in Gonzaga Bay. I’ll write a full blog on the crazy night with wind gusts clocked at 94 mph by local residents. But first I want to publish our fun days before. May 3rd Wow, Puertecitos was lots of fun this visit. We meet a fun […]
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Northern Sea of Cortez Anchorage Crawl (Day 1)
What perfect day for a crossing. South winds 14 – 18kts for most of the day. The 14 hour crossing reduced to 12 with boat speeds up to 9 kts and 5 hours sail only. Seas were comfortable at 2 feet making for a happy crew. Hour 3 and Ed reeled in a 24” Yellow […]
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Northern Sea cruise Departed today with favorable winds
April 30th (day 1) Alarms went off at 4:45 Wednesday morning, a day earlier than planned to take advantage for south winds that should hold for most of the day. Pressing crews to head a day early was a challenge but hopefully it will pay off with a full day of sailing and arriving […]
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Baja 2024 in Review
A fun look back to our Baja 2024 cruise as we prepare to sail out again this season. A new AI app allowed us to create a Gato Loco theme song to accompany the photos. Click [ ] to go full screen and turn the volume up. Send article as PDF
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North Bound Crew Home Safe and Sound
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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Part 4: Northbound Crew
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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The Journey North to Puerto Penasco (part 3)
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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The Journey North to Puerto Penasco
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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Gato Loco North Bound with new Crew
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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Los Loco Loiterers – Day 4
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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Los Loco Loiterers Cruise – It Begins
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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Rally Days
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 MoreSan Juanico and Isla Coronados anchorage Fun
Friday 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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Gato Loco in Conception Bay and Mulege
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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Good Bye to the Northern Sea.
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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Gato Loco anchors at Yurts ville south of Bay of LA
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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Gato Loco finally escapes to Baja.
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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Gato Loco on track to depart south Tomorrow Saturday
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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Gato Loco cruise start aborted due to weather
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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Gato Loco Leg 1 south bound to Loreto Baja
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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