Drifter

Giganta range from anchorage at San Gabriel., just outside of La Paz.

WE ESCAPED THE VORTEX OF LA PAZ in late March and immediately downshifted gears, altering the pace of day-to-day life to a glacial, metabolic rate. Partially, because it felt right, intuitively, and partially, it was our intention to cover a great distance in small increments over a time frame of four months - before hurricane season arrived in the Sea of Cortez

Coral beach at Ensenada Gallina, on Isla Espiritu Santo.

We provisioned Anna with both fresh and dried food to comfortably remain anchored out for at least a month until we reached a town where we could re-provision once again. We make our own fresh water (reverse osmosis) and carry enough supplies to last us much longer, if need be, but there are a couple of small towns along the way where supplies are available

Loreto.

Our sole provisioning stop was Loreto, a couple hundred nautical miles north of La Paz and 14 miles north of Puerto Escondido - where we anchored and then hitched a ride into town. We met a fellow cruiser who lived in Puerto Escondido, at the anchorage. He had a truck and offered to drive us to Loreto to pick up supplies, wait for us and give us a ride back to the anchorage. We brought back pickup truck full of supplies (two dingy loads) of staples after all was said and done. And after stowing it all away, Don came over in his his dinghy, from the other end of the anchorage, and split an 8-pack of ice cold Modelo with us. 

Fishing village on Isla Coyote rock, north of Isla San Francisco.

We made the decision early on to forego refrigeration, and when the temperature rose to 94 degrees yesterday, under a blazing sun, as the wind took a day off, an 8-pack of frigid Modelo was just the thing we needed. We got talking and it turned out Don was from Eureka, California, knew cousin Ellie and Scott and we all had a good time under the shade of our cockpit awning, reminiscing, as the beers quickly vanished just before the sun disappeared behind the tall, rugged Giganta mountain range, which surrounded us.

The striated Giganta range.

After escaping the grip of La Paz we decided to move north through the Sea of Cortez, anchored out at sandy-bottom anchorages with mint-colored waters and clear snorkeling reefs, while the last of the moderately heavy northers blew through the region. 

Aquamarine anchorage at Mezteno.

Panga fishing by net alongside anchorage at Mezteno.

We moved north under the power of our light-air drifter when sea and wind had a light, southerly component. Our pace was slow in the light southerlies. We have no planned itinerary to follow - the wind and seas decide both when we move and the direction we travel. 

Yellowstone bluffs at Isla Monserrate.

Anna's alternate energy paradigm shifted, radically. Our solar panels and wind generator now provided one hundred percent of our energy requirements. Zero, fossil-fuel consumption. And our light-air drifter filled, in as little as two knots of breeze, carrying Anna's 30,000 pounds at an average of two to four knots through the Sea in but a whisper of air. If our next anchorage was 10 to 20 nautical miles away we could be there in eight hours or so, under a controlled drift, and still have plenty of time to settle in, even take a swim in temperate shallow water before sunset. 

Beach coming at Isla San Francisco.

And so it went for the entire first month after putting some nautical miles between us and La Paz. For the first time on Anna, our alternate energy source became our venerable Perkins 4-108 diesel and Honda 1000 EU-i generator-converter, both of which we've managed to use either not at all, or very little in lieu of our solar and wind energy installation, and of course, our light-air drifter.

Isla San Francisco's sweeping panorama and salt flat.

Internet connectivity and phone reception have virtually been non existent since leaving La Paz. We download weather guidance to our laptop by HAM/SSB radio and Pactor modem. We have found that the available forecasts are typically rough approximations of actual conditions experienced. It's tough to forecast localized conditions in the Sea because the terrain is extremely complex and often creates it's own weather system. The short-term trends can be predicted with some confidence but that's as far as it goes. Local weather could, in fact, be different on the east side of the island, from that on the west side, or north side, or south side. 

Rock, near Agua Verde with Giganta range behind.

And each island is somewhat different in topography and relative location to the more dominant, nearby mountain ranges. The great swell of the open Pacific is a minor part of the calculus as one sails further north into the Sea. But the tides and the currents and the downslope winds, and a different subset of hazards to navigation pick up the slack. The relative simplicity of the open ocean, just across Baja's narrow, yet lofty Giganta mountain range and interlaced open desert, is nearby, but a world away.

Anna, at anchor off Isla Espiritu Santo.

Month 1 Log, Sea of Cortez: islands and anchorages we've visited, on Anna, since departing La Paz on March 26, 2012: Cabo Falso; Espiritu Santo - San Gabriel, Ensenada Gallina (south lobe), El Mezteno; Isla San Francisco (west and east side anchorages); Isla San Jose - Amortajada (north) at Pt. Salinas; Baja coast - San Telmo (south), Agua Verde (south); Isla Monserrate (north); Puerto Escondido's hurricane hole, and overland to Loreto to re-provision.

We depart Port Escondido on Wednesday, April 24 to continue further north and expect, once again to be out of Internet range until we reach Santa Rosalia. We update our position reports at each new anchorage by HAM-SSB radio. Everything is AOK on  Anna.