Author Archive
Friday, June 16th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 24’33 N 110’24 W
65 Miles West of Point Conception, CA Days run: 90 miles (24.5 hours)
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 22kts out of 350’T
News:
Timoneer departed from San Diego at 1130 Thursday morning for the 2250 mile
journey to Homer, Alaska. Exiting San Diego harbor we turned North around
Point Loma heading along the coast in 8-10 knots of Southwesterly breeze
towards Los Angeles and the San Pedro Channel. Just before sunset we
landed a 15lb Eastern Pacific Bonito (Tuna) on a dark red and black lure our
first fish of the trip. A few miles North West of Los Angeles we joined
the Northbound coastwise traffic lane for the 100 mile trip to Point
Conception and the open ocean. We were abeam of Point Conception at 0700
this morning as the breeze steadily built to 25-27kts compounding the rough
sea created by the ebbing tidal current. The weather routing plan is to
head West towards the high in the middle of the Pacific and lighter wind,
unfortunately to get there we have to deal with 20-25kts for a couple of
days. Currently we are motor sailing close hauled maintaining 11-12kts on
a course of 275′ T, all on board are well.
John
Comments Closed
Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Noon Position : 23 29 N 115 55 W
Course: 340 degrees Speed now: 9.8 knots Days Run : 272 miles
Weather : Overcast/ partly cloudy, very light westerly wind
Today’s News: Sailing up this coast is a bit like playing Russian roulette,
except you have 5 chambers full and only one empty instead of the reverse.
We have been incredibly lucky to have got the empty chamber and had great
weather all the way. We are doing so well that we have now backed off on the
power so that we do not arrive too early tomorrow morning. We are keeping
the speed just less than 10 knots so that we can arrive about 7 am on
Thursday. When we arrive into the USA at our first port we have to go to the
customs dock for inspection by all he various authorities before we can
proceed to our dock in Kona Kai marina.
The sea is pretty grey and lumpy at the moment with a fairly big swell from
the north west, probably from some storm way up north. We have the lines out
but not a sign of any fish around. We have seen a few porpoise but little
other marina life, not even many birds.
We are all looking forward to arriving in America.
PW
Comments Closed
Tuesday, 06 June 2006
Noon Position : 25 26N 113 42 W
Course: 322 degrees Speed: 11.5 knots Run since leaving – 23
hours: 258 miles
Weather : Overcast and much cooler Wind : Light westerly
News: We all had a really nice time up in the Sea of Cortez. The place is
quite amazing with such an abundance of sea life. We came around from La Paz
to Cabo San Lucas and arrived on Saturday, the guests left on Sunday and we
cleared out with immigration and port captain and were underway shortly
before 1300 on Monday. Cabo is really booming and swarming with tourists,
very expensive and we could not wait to get out of there.
As we came out we went straight into 20 to 22 knots of wind right on the
nose but fortunately I had been talking to a boat that had left ahead of us
so we knew it was going to lay down a bit. Sure enough as we got around Cabo
Falso the wind decrease and has been going down ever since. This coast is
notoriously bad so we consider ourselves very lucky.
We put out the fishing lines late yesterday but as yet have not had a
strike. On the way down from La Paz we caught and release a stiped Marlin so
everyone is very keen on the fishing at the moment. We have however changed
back to our smaller lures which are suited for catching fish for the freezer
– tuna, dorado etc. After the Sea of Cortez we are not in short supply but
up this coast we can expec to catch albacore tuna which will be a nice
change (if we catch them!)
All is well on board and everyone is happy and healthy.
PW
Comments Closed
Friday, May 12th Time: 1600 local
Position: 24’33 N 110’24 W
Anchored Ensenada Grande Isla Partida, Mexico Days run: 90 miles (8.5
hours)
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 9kts out of 197’T
News:
Timoneer picked up anchor at 0800 Friday morning for the 90 mile trip up to
Isla Partida and our next anchorage on the way to La Paz. Thirty five
minutes into the journey we crossed the Tropic of Cancer (23 degrees, 27
minutes North latitude) officially leaving the worlds tropical zone. Upon
reaching the anchorage Ensenada Grande we are at the equivalent North
latitude of Key West, Florida. For the duration of the trip Timoneer
motored in a light following breeze and slight chop. The watch spotted a
pod of dolphins who played in the bow wave and the occasional ray flapping
its wings as we headed toward the North end of Isla Partida. Off the Isla
Partida are two small islands, Los Islotes also known as Sea Lion rocks.
We brought the boat in close to see and hear the Sea Lion colony that lives
on the rocks as we turned the corner heading South for a short distance to
the anchorage. We will stay anchored here until Monday morning when we
head to CostaBaja Marina, La Paz where we pick up our next group of guests.
John
Comments Closed
Wednesday, May 10th Time: 1500 local
Position: 23’25 N 109’25 W
Anchored Bahia Los Frailes, Mexico Days run: 45 miles (4-3/4 hours)
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 6kts out of 280’T
News:
Timoneer departed Marina Cabo San Lucas at 1000 Wednesday setting course for
the anchorage of Los Frailes 45 miles up the East coast of the Baja
Peninsula. The 20+ knots of wind we have had in Cabo San Lucas over the
last two days has laid down and we motored in 5-7 knots for the short trip.
The rugged coastline is very picturesque with the mountains in the
background and the sand dunes along the shoreline. This area is well
known for sea life and we sighted two pairs of rays playing on the surface
waving their wings into the air just as we entered the anchorage at 1445.
John
Comments Closed
Monday, May 8th Time: 1200 local
Position: 22’53 N 109’55 W
Docked Marina Cabo San Lucas Days run: 240 miles (23 hours)
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 14kts out of 250T
News:
Timoneer picked up anchor at 0845 Sunday morning for the trip across the
Gulf of California to Cabo San Lucas where we will bunker the boat with
fuel. The trip started out in flat calm seas as we motored for the first
12 hours with less than 7 knots of breeze. Everyone off watch was in
cleaning mode inside and out, Bevan and I scrubbed the guest tender and put
on a coat of tender sunblock UV protector. We also had 8 red snapper to
clean and scale, traded to us for fresh water by the local fisherman. By
midnight the wind and waves had built a bit making it the worst sea we have
experienced in the 2000 miles of traveling since we departed Panama.
Gradually the waves tapered off as we approached the lee of Cabo San Lucas
and the shelter of the harbor, docking at 0755 Monday morning.
John
Comments Closed
Saturday, May 6th Time: 1200 local
Position: 21’50 N 105’52 W
Anchored at Isla Isabela, Mexico Days run: 75 miles (7 hours)
Weather: Sunny with haze Wind: 5kts out of 090T
News:
Timoneer departed the anchorage at La Cruz at 0910 Friday morning for the 75
mile Journey up the coast to Isla Isabela. After untangling our anchors
we exited Banderas bay crossing the shallow spot between Punta de Mita and
the Islas Marietas at 1100. The journey was uneventful as we motored NNW
directly into 6-9 knots of wind which eventually backed turning Westerly at
12kts. Isla Isabella is a convenient stop over between mainland Mexico
and the Baja peninsula. The island is uninhabited except for a warden that
overseas this magnificent albeit smelly bird sanctuary. There are also
temporary camps for the local fisherman and a Norwegian marine research
group. When we arrived there were a few fishing boats anchored off and
Kent, Bevan and Dylan went over to barter with them and try and gain some
local knowledge on fishing and diving. At the end of the day they came
away with 5 Mahi Mahi in the 12-14lb range two of which were already
filleted for a 12 pack of beer. We will remain anchored here until Sunday
morning when Timoneer will depart for the 240 mile trip to Cabo San Lucas.
John
Comments Closed
Saturday, April 29 Time: 1200 local
Position: 20’44 N 105’22 W
Anchored in La Cruz, Mexico Days run: 140 miles (14 hours)
Weather: Sunny with haze
News:
Timoneer departed Bahia Tenacatita at 1815 Friday evening bound for La Cruz
in the North East corner of Banderas Bay. We hope to enter near by Puerto
Vallarta sometime in the next few days as we would like to bunker fuel and
provision. Unfortunately the marina doesn’t have the draft for Timoneer
so we will have to work something out with the port captain for a deep water
berth. The trip was 140 miles long we motored at a conservative 10 knots
to arrive just after sunrise. At 0815 we anchored just South East of the
small break wall which is home to the local fishing fleet where we joined 8
other boats moored out.
John
Comments Closed
Thursday, April 27 Time: 1400 local
Position: 19’17 N 104’50 W
Anchored in Tenacatita, Mexico Days run: 224 miles (20 hours)
Weather: Overcast and hazy
News:
Wednesday morning I checked in with the harbormaster and customs in
Zihuantanejo as some of the crew took a look around town, which appeared to
be very geared up for shopping. At 1730 Timoneer departed Zihuatanejo for
the overnight journey to Bahia Tenacatita further up the Mexican coast
towards our ultimate destination of the Baja Peninsula. The anchor chains
had twisted over the night in the light air so once they were unraveled we
motored out of the harbor directly into the sunset on our course of 280 T.
Though the night we altered course occasionally for some of the busy
shipping traffic along the coast while motoring in the long swell and light
air. Bevan and I tried everything on the fishing front including multiple
lure changes without luck; blaming the rapid drop in water temp to 72
degrees as the problem? We dropped anchor at 1345 Thursday afternoon
joining three other cruising boats in the anchorage.
John
Comments Closed
Wednesday, April 26 Time: 1000 local
Position: 17’38 N 101’33 W
Anchored in Zihuatanejo, Mexico Days run: 104 miles (10 hours)
Weather: sunny and warm
News:
Timoneer departed Club de Yates Acapulco at 0700 Tuesday morning for a small
anchorage and town of Zihuatanejo, 100 miles up the Mexican coast.
Unfortunately while picking up our port anchor we fouled one of the ground
line chains for the marina. After working on the anchor for a couple of
minutes the boys had pulled a five foot long, three foot wide and two foot
thick block of concrete to the surface. Over the next hour and a half we
managed to unwrap our chain and stretch out the mooring blocks chain and
drop it back in the water right where it came from. Once we had that
sorted we headed out to sea motoring in the glassy calm with winds less than
8 knots for the trip. The most notable thing on this section of the voyage
were the sea turtles, hundreds of them floating on the surface sunning
themselves. At one time we saw 5 out the port side windows and 3 out the
starboard side, quite often they are easily spotted as birds stand on their
backs to take a rest. We arrived at the Zihuatanejo anchorage at 1830
Tuesday evening dropping two anchors for the night.
John
Comments Closed
