Ketch 22 in the Sea Of Cortez, 2008

Photos and text of the sailing voyages of Ketch 22

After having spent nearly a year in Marina Costa Baja in La Paz, Ketch 22 and crew headed north, up into the Southern end of the Sea of Cortez and ultimately south, to Barillas El Salvador.   But first the Sea Of Cortez.   What a delight!!   To my knowledge, there is nothing else like it in the known world.   A brief description would be replete with superlatives, and a complete description would overwhelm the senses and your gringo schedule.   It's difficult to do it justice with mere words, thus the pictures.   The scenery was stunning and pristine.   Sweeping landscapes in all directions, all which including desert vegetation majestically rising from the seashore to the mountain bluffs overlooking the improbably deepest blue by day and bioluminescent by night, waters imaginable.   I'll first describe the Sea of Cortez and end in Mazatlan, where Naty was my crew.   Navigation was a relatively simple affair, using GPS and Charlie's Charts .  

In the first leg, Naty and I left La Paz and ventured north as far as Loreta.   The second leg started in Mazatlan, and ended in Zihuatenejo, with Rick Canter and Tom Charon as crew. The Third leg picks up in Zihuatenejo, and ends in Barillas El Salvador.   Rick Canter and John Thompson were crew on that leg.   After tucking Ketch 22 away for the season, Rick and I continued on to Costa Rica by bus , and got as far south as Golfito, about 60 miles from Panama.   John left us in Liberia Costa Rica and went on another small yacht cruise with his aunt and uncle.   But enough of that.   Let's get started on the Sea of Cortez with Naty and I.

Isla San Francisco is a charming little island a little north of La Paz. On a really calm day you could spend a night at anchor, but it was largely unprotected.   We had a swim and a BBQ there before moving on north.

Evaristo is a small town on a very protected and secluded bay.   While being tourists, our dinghy escaped after being helped off the beach by the wind and a rising tide.   We saw it as it was making way to the south end of the bay, only to be intercepted by a pair of local fishermen.   What better way to reward them than to offer cash, I thought.   Such was not the case as they turned down my pesos and asked instead for some cigars which they had seen me smoking one day prior.   Fine with me.

Los Gatos was made all the more remarkable by the deep red rocks all around, giving it a look much like what I imagine a Mars landscape to be.   Naty and I spent several secluded days here,   buying shimp   (camerones)  and fish   (pescado) from a local fisherman who would run his panga up to Ketch 22 and ask if we wanted anything. If in the affirmative, he would go dive on a local reef and bring back   fresh (very fresh) seafood.

Agua Verde was a little north of Los Gatos and aptly named after it's agua verde (green water).   It was a lovely spot and we ran into Tequila Rose there, not having seen them since Marina Costa Baja the year prior.

Puerto Escondido had many excellent (and vacant) facilities.   Needing only fuel, we spent the night at the fuel dock and tanked up the next morning.   Gorgeous views all around.

Loreta is famous in some circles for hosting an annual ham radio operator's convention.   A great little town to relax in.   So calm that day that we were able to anchor just offshore from the beach.   A gringo sport fisherman gave us a   dorado he had caught  that day.   It became many   great fish taco  dinners.

Another Balandra.   There seems to be a naming convention problem in Mexico, as there is a large number of Balandras, Roca Blancos and Escondidos.   There are others as well that you can easily verify by looking at a map or charts of Baja California.

Loreta was as far north as we got, before beginning the start of the voyage south.   We wanted to stay longer, but schedule is always an issue when you have a start and an end point a month apart, and lots of places to see.   The thinking was we should leave so as to see more of Mazatlan.

The whale encounter

After the rather surreal encounter with the whale, we continued South to La Paz to reprovision in preparation for the crossing to Mazatlan. After making the crossing, we spent about 10 days in Mazatlan and enjoyed it so much, that it deserves a special section in this travelogue, all it's own.   Thus,

Click on Mazatlan   to continue the voyage.