This blog, while much delayed in getting published, starts the series of blogs of our adventures on our sailboat Escape to explore the islands and coastlines of the Sea of Cortez. We arrived in La Paz last July after a long voyage from Valdivia, Chile to the Galapagos Islands and then on to La Paz. You can read all about those adventures in the previous posts. After spending over three months at home getting caught up on all the things that needed to be done, my son Jay and I set off for La Paz to do some upgrades to Escape and to do some routine maintenance and to explore the nearest island Espíritu Santo. We had a lot of equipment we wanted to put on the boat and we wanted to bring our dog Séamus with us for this adventure so we decided to drive down to La Paz from our home in Thousand Oaks, California. The trip is exactly 947 miles from our front door to Marina Cortez in La Paz. During the days before our departure, I got insurance for our 1996 Dodge Ram diesel truck and maps from the local AAA club. With Jay and I both driving, we figured we could get to La Paz in two days.
We left early in the morning of 27 October and got to San Diego around mid morning. We stopped at Shelter Bay Harbor where Jay and I had gone to sailing school, to buy some supplies we needed for the boat, such things as the chemicals we need to store the water maker if we're not using it for extended periods. By the time we left San Diego, it was early afternoon and it took a little over an hour to get through customs at the border because we had to get visas. Once we got through customs and headed south we were making really good progress on the four-lane tollway and we started thinking maybe all the stories we had heard about the roads being terrible in Baja were wrong. About twenty miles north of Ensenada we came across this giant statue of Jesus so we started thinking maybe that was a good sign and that our journey was going to be blessed.
That thought stayed with us until about midnight when we were a couple hundred miles farther south and started to hear slight grinding noises coming from the front left tire area. I stopped at one of the pull outs, which are few and far between once you get to Ensenada where the four-lane tollway ends and the road becomes a pothole filled two lane road with no shoulders and often no centerline either. I couldn't see anything wrong so I hopped back in the truck and headed off again. About 2 AM, I heard it again just after going through a small town named Cataviña when we were going through a particularly rough ford in a creek there. I found another pull out about five miles down the road and pulled over to check it again and this time the wheel bearing was really hot and sizzled when I poured a little water on it. I told Jay we would have to stay there and try to get some help because I knew that wheel bearing wasn't going to make it much farther. We tried flagging down some of the 18 wheelers going in both directions, but at that time of night, no one was stopping so we just slept in the truck that night. At daylight, I went back out on the road and finally flagged down three Mexicans going to work. They agreed to give me a ride back into Cataviña since they were going that way anyway. 
There were only about twenty huts in Cataviña so I had them let me off at the hotel I saw there thinking I might get access to a phone or internet there to call for help. It turns out, the guy behind the counter did speak English and said that his uncle Poncho was the town mechanic so he took me over to meet his uncle. Poncho and I hopped in his pickup truck and drove back to where Jay and Séamus were guarding our stuff and Poncho quickly agreed that the wheel bearing had welded itself to the axel so the wheel could no longer turn. Poncho said there was no source for repair parts within a hundred miles, but he knew of a junk yard that had a Dodge Ram of the same year that might have the parts we would need to get us to La Paz. Here's a picture of Poncho and his helper trying to get the parts off so he could take them with him to the junk yard to make sure the parts would fit. We couldn't get the nut to come off so we could remove the wheel bearing even with this eight-foot long breaker bar extension (see below) with two of us pushing down on it. Eventually the nut turned, but just stripped the threads on the axel. The last resort was to cut the
to El Rosario and are heading south through the center of Baja. Well, I knew that Poncho wouldn't be back that day so Séamus and I hunkered down beside the truck to be in as much shade as we could and I took out my National Geographic magazine and took Séamus for frequent walks up on the hill or down in the ravine next to the road to practice my photography skills. Here's Séamus and I guarding our truck and all the stuff we were hauling to the boat. I'm including a couple pictures of two of the cacti that we found within a hundred meters of
Jay got a ride back to camp later in the day and reported that the internet at the hotel wasn't working anyway so we pitched his tent beside the truck and settled in for the night. In retrospect, maybe we should have pitched the tent up on the hill because we were at the bottom of a long steep incline so the trucks made a lot of noise with their "Jake Brakes" as they came down the hill and
their headlights shined right in our tent. Each one gave Séamus the willies so he hopped up as each one approached thinking it was going to come right in the tent with us. It was cold that night so Séamus developed the creep and roll technique of getting as close to my sleeping bag and air mattress as he could and then if I gave just an inch he moved in and wouldn't give up any lost territory without a lot of effort. Besides he was pretty warm and it felt good to have him next to me in
the tent. The next morning around 8 AM, Poncho showed up with the parts salvaged from the junk yard and after about an hour and a half, we had the used parts installed on my truck. The parts weren't an exact match for mine so the anti-lock brakes mechanism didn't work, but the normal brakes did. After we got it all put together, I followed Poncho back into Cataviña to Poncho's garage as you can see here so he could bleed the brakes and do a few other checks. Notice the saddles and other paraphernalia in front of Poncho's garage. It's not a real garage in any sense of the word, but hey, I have a lot of respect for Poncho because he got me back on the road and even after two pretty full days of work it only cost me around $400 including the parts and him traveling over 60 miles each way to get the parts. Jay and I were happy to be back on the road again heading south towards La Paz. We arrived in La Paz without any further issues at about 3 AM on the morning of 30 October 2013. We got a good start on the maintenance later that morning and we met a woman named April Weldon who lived on a boat named Timeout just a few slips down from us. She had a female labrador puppy named Ollie who became good friends with Séamus and they became constant playmates. April had considerable animal care training from working at the San Diego Zoo and her experience came in really handy when Séamus got severe diarrhea after drinking too much saltwater while swimming. Here's a picture of April giving Séamus medicine while Jay holds him.
I started working on replacing the flappers that Roni sent me to keep water from entering the engine room vent fan lines when we have big following waves and installed the rubber boot around the rudder shaft, also to avoid water splashing in from following waves. These upgrades are being installed on boats 2, 3, and 4 at the factory, but since Escape is boat #1 in the Atlantic 47 line, we didn't know we needed these mods until we sailed north from Chile with 20 foot waves from behind. Later that night some kids and people dressed in costumes for Halloween came on the dock. Séamus was terrified of those with pointy hats or skeleton faces, but other than that he liked it. Jay, April, Ollie, and Séamus all went to the celebration of the "Night of the Dead" down town, but I elected to stay on the boat and get some sleep. Over the next couple of days we finished our maintenance including turning the refrigerator and freezer compressors 90˚ so they didn't blow hot air on the back of the freezer. Here they are in their rotated position and they work great. We haven't had any problems with them in the few weeks we've been sailing with them since rotating the compressors and it has been really hot some days.
It wasn't all work over the next couple of days while we were finishing up the maintenance tasks. We found plenty of time to check out La Paz and to have some fun as well. Here is a shot of me and Séamus relaxing on the trampoline, Ollie and me preparing the dinghy for action, Jay and April calming their respective pooches as we give the dinghy a test drive near the marina, Jay hugging Séamus, me putting up a new Mexican flag (I want all my SAR teammates to see that I'm still getting good use out of my climbing harness), and finally a picture a everyone playing around on the trampoline.
While working on the boat, we also met a very nice man named Mark Megonigal. Mark has a boat in Marina Cortez, is a current pilot for American Airlines, and is affiliated with Mark Thomas Productions which makes commercial films for companies.
Mark and his wife Lori have a house in La Paz out on the peninsula across the bay from Marina Cortez. Mark said one of his fellow airline pilots was also a search and rescue guy, from Colorado, so he invited me and Jay out to his house for dinner so we could tell tales of rescues to each other. To get out to his house, you have to take the free water taxi shown below from Marina Cortez to the dock on the peninsula (at right below going up the ramp to the thatched roof hut). At the top of the ramp we met Mark's son Ryan who is in the 4th grade in La Paz. Ryan drove us to Mark's apartment in the golf cart.
He was a very good driver too. Mark is in the picture below right hoisting a beer and showing us the view across the bay to Marina Cortez from his apartment. A picture of his wife Lori, along with Jay and his other guests is shown below.
On the morning of 7 November, we sailed from Marina Cortez to Isla Espiritu Santo—Spirit Island (exploring at last). Espíritu Santo is an Island about ten miles long if you count the northern small island, Isla Partida, as part of it and the southern tip of Espíritu Santo is about ten miles north of the exit from the channel to La Paz. The motors ran fine, but acceleration was sluggish
because we had so much growth on the propellers and hull. We motored out of the channel and then sailed out into the Sea of Cortez. The winds were blowing directly from the direction we wanted to go so we sailed about 4 miles out into the Sea of Cortez and planned to tack back toward the southern tip of Espíritu Santo. About the time we got to our tack point the wind changed so it was coming directly from the direction we wanted to tack to. We tacked several times and creeped a bit closer to Espíritu Santo, but in the end we rolled up the sails and motored the last two miles into the Bahia San Gabriel on the SW tip of Espíritu Santo so we could anchor before dark. It's a fantastic bay with good protection from the north and south and a sandy beach over a mile long. We anchored about sun down (See picture on left below) and Séamus was anxious to go ashore to explore his first island. We were able to check out the beach a little while before heading back to
the boat for a very beautiful sunset and peaceful night at anchor. A big relief from the loud music back at Marina cortez. I managed to climb to the top of one of the ridges before heading back to the boat and snapped the picture (below right) of the boat sitting at anchor.
The next morning (8 Nov) I hopped up early and took Séamus ashore in the dinghy. I had to watch him like a hawk because, although he can swim pretty good, he has no fat and when he can't swim any more, he sinks. The next time we bring him on the boat we will have a life preserver for him so he floats better. We took some time to walk along the long white sandy beach (below left) and climbed up the ridge again to get a better perspective. From the picture (below right) you can get an appreciation of the vegetation that is present on all of the islands. Baja has cacti and other plants that can survive with almost no water, but that's it. No trees, no grass except in some of the marshy areas where mangroves are growing. I also saw this strange looking bug that looked like he was from
the time of the dinosaurs. He had about ten million brothers and sisters in the area too. The ground was just crawling with them. After checking the area out, Séamus and I hopped back in the dinghy and headed back to the boat.
After getting back on board we hauled anchor and headed out into the Sea of Cortez leaving Bahia San Gabriel behind. We headed North along the west coast of Isla Espíritu Santo. We passed just to the west of two small islands, Isla Gallina (the hen) and Isla Gallo (the rooster) and three small inlets named Ensenada la Galina, Ensenada el Gallo, and Ensenada de la Raza from south to north. Hopefully you can see those from the picture of the island above if you blow it up. We were going about 8 to 10 knots most of the way with good winds from 13 to 18 knots on a starboard broad reach. We soon came to a third island called Isla Ballena. It's larger than the other two and sloped uphill from sea level on the West to around 230 feet on the East. After passing Isla Ballena along the north shore we headed south again past the Ensenada de La Ballena and went back down to Ensenada de la Raza to anchor. Ensenada de la Raza is a delightful long cove with high rocky ridges all around except to the West where we came in. We anchored in about 10 to 15' of water over a sandy bottom that seemed to hold very well. You can see a movie of our anchorage at Ensenada de la Raza on YouTube at http://youtu.be/xdLly1smraM. When we went ashore in the dinghy, we discovered that the whole eastern end of the lagoon was slimey mud on the bottom with slimey moss everywhere. There were thousands of small crabs approximatley 1" across scurrying everywhere in the brakish backwater (see picture at right). During our sail to Ensenada de la Raza, our autopilot stopped working
again so we fixed it while we were anchored. It was the same problem we had at sea where the wires in the starboard aft hull were corroded. I cleaned them and and this time I coated the connections with liquid tape. That seems to have fixed the problem because the autopilot seems to work very reliably now.
Early on the morning of the 9th of November, while it was still cool we took Séamus in the dinghy out to Isla Gallo to potty, but there was no good place to go ashore—it was too rocky (see below)—so we went back into Ensenada de la Raza and found a good spot. We then motored out of Ensenada de la Raza as there was no wind and we wanted to explore some of the bays to the north as suitable anchor spots. Just to the north of Ensenada de la Raza is Isla Ballena and Ensenada de La Ballena. This bay was great with a fantastic beach. It looked like a much beter anchor spot than Ensenada de la Raza, but maybe not so much protection from the wind. North of Ensenada de La Ballena is Ensenada del Candelero which is a nice big bay with a huge rock named Roca Monumento (Monument Rock) in the middle of it (see picture below). This bay looked like a good bay to anchor in, but it had lots of tents and kayak vendors there. We cruised in and out of Ensenada del Candelero and El Meztiño just to the north. This fishing cottage was just on the north shore of Ensenada del Candelero. Both were good anchor spots, but we went one more bay north to Coleta Partida. It is a nice broad bay with a sandy beach at the far end and a sand bar that goes across the island to the other side. This beach was a lot less poluted than Ensenada de la Raza and had a good beach to walk or swim on. We
dropped the anchor about 10 AM so we had time to go ashore and check things out. I took advantage of the crystal clear water to do a bit of snorkeling and to scrape the remaining barnacles off the bottom of the boat. The next morning (10 Nov 2013) we took Séamus ashore again so he could practice his
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swimming. It's nice in these bays because they are shallow out pretty far from the beach so Séamus can run or walk out gradually until he has to start to swim and if he gets tired he just turns toward shore until he can put his feet on the bottom. In this movie on YouTube we're practicing getting Séamus on the dinghy from shore when it's too shallow to drive the dinghy all the way in so he has to come out to us. (http://youtu.be/6MsW81R8l7o).
We sailed out of Coleta Partida around 9 AM and continued almost due West for 4.4 nm on winds 18-22 knots at about 8.3 knots. Then tacked back on an angle of about 79˚M directly to Ensenada el Cardonal and anchored in about 12 feet of water. Seamus did not like it with the 3-5' waves from the side. He seemed comforted when he could lean up against me or Jay (see picture left). He was more content and calm when we approached land and the seas calmed. This bay had a nice little trail along the mangroves to the eastern edge of the island. The beaches were among the best and easiest to get to for landing with the dinghy.
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It was well protected from the winds and waves from all directions except directly from the west. As soon as the anchor was down we were all ready to get in the dinghy and head for shore. The beach was fantastic and in this bay we could drive the dinghy right up to the shore. You can see a good picture of the beach in Ensenada el Cardonal and Séamus retrieving a piece of drift wood that Jay threw out in the water for him on YouTube at (http://youtu.be/z1xTkuZBkZk).
The next morning 11 Nov 2013) we had to head back to Marina Cortez and get the boat ready for storage so we could get back home. Fortunately for us we did not have any additional problems with the truck on the way back to California, but I did stop by Poncho's garage and thank him once again for helping us. The next blog will cover the next island to the north, Isla José.
He was a very good driver too. Mark is in the picture below right hoisting a beer and showing us the view across the bay to Marina Cortez from his apartment. A picture of his wife Lori, along with Jay and his other guests is shown below.
On the morning of 7 November, we sailed from Marina Cortez to Isla Espiritu Santo—Spirit Island (exploring at last). Espíritu Santo is an Island about ten miles long if you count the northern small island, Isla Partida, as part of it and the southern tip of Espíritu Santo is about ten miles north of the exit from the channel to La Paz. The motors ran fine, but acceleration was sluggish because we had so much growth on the propellers and hull. We motored out of the channel and then sailed out into the Sea of Cortez. The winds were blowing directly from the direction we wanted to go so we sailed about 4 miles out into the Sea of Cortez and planned to tack back toward the southern tip of Espíritu Santo. About the time we got to our tack point the wind changed so it was coming directly from the direction we wanted to tack to. We tacked several times and creeped a bit closer to Espíritu Santo, but in the end we rolled up the sails and motored the last two miles into the Bahia San Gabriel on the SW tip of Espíritu Santo so we could anchor before dark. It's a fantastic bay with good protection from the north and south and a sandy beach over a mile long. We anchored about sun down (See picture on left below) and Séamus was anxious to go ashore to explore his first island. We were able to check out the beach a little while before heading back to the boat for a very beautiful sunset and peaceful night at anchor. A big relief from the loud music back at Marina cortez. I managed to climb to the top of one of the ridges before heading back to the boat and snapped the picture (below right) of the boat sitting at anchor. The next morning (8 Nov) I hopped up early and took Séamus ashore in the dinghy. I had to watch him like a hawk because, although he can swim pretty good, he has no fat and when he can't swim any more, he sinks. The next time we bring him on the boat we will have a life preserver for him so he floats better. We took some time to walk along the long white sandy beach (below left) and climbed up the ridge again to get a better perspective. From the picture (below right) you can get an appreciation of the vegetation that is present on all of the islands. Baja has cacti and other plants that can survive with almost no water, but that's it. No trees, no grass except in some of the marshy areas where mangroves are growing. I also saw this strange looking bug that looked like he was fromthe time of the dinosaurs. He had about ten million brothers and sisters in the area too. The ground was just crawling with them. After checking the area out, Séamus and I hopped back in the dinghy and headed back to the boat.After getting back on board we hauled anchor and headed out into the Sea of Cortez leaving Bahia San Gabriel behind. We headed North along the west coast of Isla Espíritu Santo. We passed just to the west of two small islands, Isla Gallina (the hen) and Isla Gallo (the rooster) and three small inlets named Ensenada la Galina, Ensenada el Gallo, and Ensenada de la Raza from south to north. Hopefully you can see those from the picture of the island above if you blow it up. We were going about 8 to 10 knots most of the way with good winds from 13 to 18 knots on a starboard broad reach. We soon came to a third island called Isla Ballena. It's larger than the other two and sloped uphill from sea level on the West to around 230 feet on the East. After passing Isla Ballena along the north shore we headed south again past the Ensenada de La Ballena and went back down to Ensenada de la Raza to anchor. Ensenada de la Raza is a delightful long cove with high rocky ridges all around except to the West where we came in. We anchored in about 10 to 15' of water over a sandy bottom that seemed to hold very well. You can see a movie of our anchorage at Ensenada de la Raza on YouTube at http://youtu.be/xdLly1smraM. When we went ashore in the dinghy, we discovered that the whole eastern end of the lagoon was slimey mud on the bottom with slimey moss everywhere. There were thousands of small crabs approximatley 1" across scurrying everywhere in the brakish backwater (see picture at right). During our sail to Ensenada de la Raza, our autopilot stopped working again so we fixed it while we were anchored. It was the same problem we had at sea where the wires in the starboard aft hull were corroded. I cleaned them and and this time I coated the connections with liquid tape. That seems to have fixed the problem because the autopilot seems to work very reliably now.Early on the morning of the 9th of November, while it was still cool we took Séamus in the dinghy out to Isla Gallo to potty, but there was no good place to go ashore—it was too rocky (see below)—so we went back into Ensenada de la Raza and found a good spot. We then motored out of Ensenada de la Raza as there was no wind and we wanted to explore some of the bays to the north as suitable anchor spots. Just to the north of Ensenada de la Raza is Isla Ballena and Ensenada de La Ballena. This bay was great with a fantastic beach. It looked like a much beter anchor spot than Ensenada de la Raza, but maybe not so much protection from the wind. North of Ensenada de La Ballena is Ensenada del Candelero which is a nice big bay with a huge rock named Roca Monumento (Monument Rock) in the middle of it (see picture below). This bay looked like a good bay to anchor in, but it had lots of tents and kayak vendors there. We cruised in and out of Ensenada del Candelero and El Meztiño just to the north. This fishing cottage was just on the north shore of Ensenada del Candelero. Both were good anchor spots, but we went one more bay north to Coleta Partida. It is a nice broad bay with a sandy beach at the far end and a sand bar that goes across the island to the other side. This beach was a lot less poluted than Ensenada de la Raza and had a good beach to walk or swim on. Wedropped the anchor about 10 AM so we had time to go ashore and check things out. I took advantage of the crystal clear water to do a bit of snorkeling and to scrape the remaining barnacles off the bottom of the boat. The next morning (10 Nov 2013) we took Séamus ashore again so he could practice his swimming. It's nice in these bays because they are shallow out pretty far from the beach so Séamus can run or walk out gradually until he has to start to swim and if he gets tired he just turns toward shore until he can put his feet on the bottom. In this movie on YouTube we're practicing getting Séamus on the dinghy from shore when it's too shallow to drive the dinghy all the way in so he has to come out to us. (http://youtu.be/6MsW81R8l7o). We sailed out of Coleta Partida around 9 AM and continued almost due West for 4.4 nm on winds 18-22 knots at about 8.3 knots. Then tacked back on an angle of about 79˚M directly to Ensenada el Cardonal and anchored in about 12 feet of water. Seamus did not like it with the 3-5' waves from the side. He seemed comforted when he could lean up against me or Jay (see picture left). He was more content and calm when we approached land and the seas calmed. This bay had a nice little trail along the mangroves to the eastern edge of the island. The beaches were among the best and easiest to get to for landing with the dinghy. It was well protected from the winds and waves from all directions except directly from the west. As soon as the anchor was down we were all ready to get in the dinghy and head for shore. The beach was fantastic and in this bay we could drive the dinghy right up to the shore. You can see a good picture of the beach in Ensenada el Cardonal and Séamus retrieving a piece of drift wood that Jay threw out in the water for him on YouTube at (http://youtu.be/z1xTkuZBkZk).
Enjoyed your new blog and that your dog has joined the adventure. I was not able to load the YouTube videos.
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