On Wed, 1 Nov 2006 10:32:40 -0800, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Jack Dale" wrote in message
.. .
It appears that I might be going to the Sea of Cortez later this
month.

Any suggestions
- provisioning
- anchorages
- places to go
- places to avoid
- any other helpful hints

Thanks

Jack

_________________________________________
Jack Dale
ISPA Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor
CYA Advanced Cruising Instructor
http://www.swiftsuresailing.com
_________________________________________

None from me, but I'll be there in January, and I'd appreciate hearing about
your experience.

Here's a great resource:
http://www.svmirador.net/
If I were flush and headed north I would do it the way they did.

Now, I know nothing bad could ever happen to you but I talked to
someone who goes every year and they said they were skipping this
season as people are shooting each other in various parts of the
country, including Baja N.
At first I was inclined to believe the reports of violence were being
exaggerated by the bush admin news corps to hurt the tourist trade as
Pemex had backed out of their price fixing deal with the us not long
ago. But,.. the Baja N. murder was a friend of a friends wife, both
Mex citizens. I know someone who knew these people. The motive was
apparently robbery. Their whole truck was shot up on the highway and
they couldn't get to a hospital in time. I haven't heard anything boat
related.
Provisions: water maker is a BIG plus if you're not into marina life.
Navigation: I used the Jack Williams book, a Mexican chart of the
whole Gulfo and the Cunningham foldout chart. Plenty of head
scratching here for sure as the whole place looks like a moonscape.
We ran aground lightly on hard sand more than 2 miles off the beach at
one point. The water just drained out from under us before our eyes
and in 20 minutes we could have walked to the beach. People rode
their ATV's out to laugh at us. A woman in her 70's came buzzing out
to bring us cupcakes and told the chilling tale of how she and her
husband had sold everything and bought a 40' yacht which was cut in
half by a shrimper while anchored at night. After 20 minutes the
fishermen came back and picked them both out of the water. They never
recovered a dime of insurance or the boat. Read your fine print. 20'+
tides in the N. end of the sea. We saw small sea turtles in this area.
The Cortes side of Baja S. coast was rearranged substantially by a
mighty storm 2 years ago so it doesn't always look like the pictures
now.
Anchorages: I liked the whole Bahia Concepcion Area best. Between
there and Los Cabos was the best for me. Puerto Escondido was
considered the best hurricane hole until the aforementioned storm sank
something like 11 boats. You can still see a small forest of masts
sticking up, at least one carcass on the breakwater and a couple of
barely submerged hulls that make for dreamy afternoon aquarium
watching. It's also like living next to a gocart track due to the
round the clock outboard engine racket but that's the price of
civilization as they do have laundry, food, email, ice cream, Good
Water etc. and plenty of cruisers. (repair advice, book swap,
ride2store, someone to bike with). If you camp ashore in some places
wild donkeys will eat your lunch. There's a bike repair place in
Loretto. Boy, those little thorns will really eat your tires.
Cabo San Lucas had a real gringo supermarket at astronomical prices
miles from the dock, $90 per night tie up, weatherfax and an unlimited
number of throbbing discos.
On the mainland side I stayed in San Carlos, a gringo enclave with
video rental, paved streets, boat haulout and transport, work yard.
Port clearance was easy and was good for a 50 mile radius of small
quiet anchorages, mostly rocky bottom. The man-made marina was a
little quieter at night but had construction noise all day and was a
long ways from town. $150 per month for tie-up with power. The main
harbor had better showers but the nightly disco drove me out pretty
fast. There was a restaurant and bar here or you could walk or ride to
town.
There's cheaper groceries in Guyamas as well as a Mexican boatyard.
Lot's of international boats here for long tern refits. I never got
any further south than this, maybe next time.
Several small boats said they only had their sails up 3 times all
season as there was either no wind at all or 30knts+ in vicious chop.
Our worst weather was on the pacific side of Cabo about 60 miles
offshore in the pitch black of night heading into about 45knts. of
wind with an insanely confused 8' jacuzzi chop riding 20' swells.
Can't wait to go again! That's all for now. Keep up the good work.