Author Archives: Michael

It is Tuesday, 12/18/18, and all is just fine here. We moved today into La Paz and took a mooring just at the entrance to Marina de La Paz. This one belongs to a friend but is immediately next door to where ours is supposed to be. What? Yes, we’ve bought a mooring here. However, the fellow who placed it and manages it for us has been unable to secure the ground tackle to it because of the recent winds and sea state. Once he gets that done we will shift over a few feet to our new home in La Paz. At 1340MST Milagro was secured to the mooring at 24 09.339’N, 110 19.730’W in 17′ of water (and is low tide almost to the minute. The OAT is 79F, it’s 69F in the pool and there is a N breeze blowing 11 to 15kts right now. Forecast calls for 20-25 tonight and tomorrow before starting to settle on Thursday then become mostly calm for a few days starting Friday. The dinghy is launched, we have a dinner invite ashore for tonight and Judy has already been scheduled for a card game tomorrow. I guess we are home! For a while, until well into January I reckon.

It is Sunday, 12/16/18 and all is good here. As advertised, we moved closer to La Paz today. Conditions early were pretty rowdy with N winds to 27kts (27.7!) and following seas 3′-4′, occasionally 4′-6′. Slowly through the day the conditions gradually improved to eventually become mostly flat seas and 10kts of NE wind by the second half of the day. Again we went through many sail configurations with the changing conditions but the good news is that we were able to sail almost the entire way. The skies remained overcast today and even spit a little rain at us. We kept being reminded of sailing on SF Bay or maybe the PacWest! We are now anchored just outside of La Paz at Bahia Falsa at 24 15.470N, 110 19.145’W in 30′ over sand/gravel. The OAT is 75F, the pool is 74F and the wind is 5-10kts from the N. At this location we have cell coverage which even gets us a little internet. Tomorrow or Tuesday we will move into La Paz and our new mooring (more on that later) where we will hang out until sometime after the New Year. More to follow.

It is Saturday, 12/15/18 and all is good on the Milagro. Today we continued our march towards La Paz and are anchored now at San Evaristo. This is a tiny fishing village just N of the NE corner of the Bay of La Paz with a 2 lobed bay well protected from all directions except E and SE. We have boating friends who recently swallowed the hook, adopted this village and settled here so hope to connect with them tonight. Seas today still had not settled so that 3′ to 4′ close space NW swell from yesterday was with us all day before finally smoothing some as we approached the anchorage. We are hopeful tomorrow could see a much better sea state. Solid overcast all day so it feels chilly here on the water despite temps in the mid-70s. Or, our blood’s just too dang thin already! At 1420MST we were set at 24 54.501’N, 110 42.350’W in 15′ over sand. OAT is 74F, pool is 73F and the N wind is running 10-15kts right at the moment.

It is Friday, 12/14/18 and all is well here on Milagro. After waiting out the worst of the North wind event we got ourselves moving South today. On the heels of the winds the seas were still quite stirred up with a 3′-4′ N swell running under a confused surface as well as wind waves generated by winds that ranged from 7 to 27 kts. The conditions drove us to cycle through a wide range of sail and motor configurations including a wing on wing downwind romp at 7.5 kts at one point to motorsailing under main alone. Aside from the extra workout and rolly conditions caused by the following/quartering seas, it was a pleasant day. At 1420 MST we set the anchor in the North lobe at Bahia Agua Verde at 25 31.296’N, 111 04.401’W in 37′ over gravel. It’s a bit crowded as 8 other boats were already here likely hiding from the N winds like we did at Coronados. The OAT is 78F, the pool is 74F and there is 6-8kts of N breeze. Conditions are forecast to contiue moderating so we will move further South tomorrow with our sights set on San Evaristo. Hasta manana.

It is Wednesday, 12 December, 2018 and we are back. I should say, we are FINALLY back! As crazy as it seems, we’ve been absent from the Water World for 6 whole months – a first for us. We dashed off almost a month earlier than normal (the exact reason for which I can no longer remember) then our return was delayed a full month first by Judy’s travels then by me causing some damage to our motorhome. This world seems quite strange for the moment as we reprogram ourselves from living in one “tiny home” to another, each very different from the other. We rushed through recommisioning tasks because forecast wind and sea conditions told us to go quickly or face waiting 4 days, or more, for conditions to return to favorable. So we made ready in record time and have now made our passage from San Carlos, Sonora (mainland MX) to the Loreto, BCS area on the Baja. We left the SC marina at 1100 MST, Tuesday and planted the anchor at Isla Coronados this morning at 0425 MST. (Apparently we DO remember how to anchor!) It was an unremarkable passage. We are set now at 26 06.048’N, 111 17.038’W on the south side of Isla Coronados in 22′ of clear water over sand. As I write this (1030MST) the pool is 72 and the OAT is 76 under mostly overcast but improving skies. The wind is NNW 10-13kts and expected to reach the mid 20’s this afternoon, tomorrow and maybe Friday. We are staying put until this wind event passes. As a “welcome back” the Amigo Net has already learned of our return and immediatley drafted me for Net Controller duties. I guess that certifies that we ARE back but, if so, we’re glad of it. Welcome back everyone!

It is Thursday, 31 May, 2018 and all is well here. After arriving at Bahia Algodones yesterday we contacted the San Carlos marina to confirm our reservation for June 7 only to learn that the previous tenants had vacated the slip earlier than scheduled. Slip B23 was sitting empty just waiting on us. With that sort of serendipity what else could we do but agree to come in early ourselves. We enjoyed a fun evening ashore at the Soggy Peso visiting with friends on the SV Kismet (Rick, Wendy and boat dog Reah) as well as meeting the crew of SV Pincoya (Gene and Gloria). This morning we bid adios to the folks on both the Sonrisa and the Amigo nets and headed for the barn. At 0810MST Milagro was secured in slip B23 at 27 56.871’N, 111 03.365’W. The OAT is 83F, it’s 76F in the pool and there is a NW breeze at 8-10 kts. We will spend the next several days stripping Milagro of her sails and canvas, giving her a good bath, removing perishable foods and carefully storing what we think will survive and then packing up those goodies we won’t leave home without. So I’m sorry to say that this is it for this cruising season. I’m not sure about chronicling our motorhome travels and adventures this summer. I may (MAY) try to keep the blog updated or perhaps I’ll just keep posting to Farkwar, we’ll see. If you’re interested, the blog URL is http://www.milagro42.com. In the meantime, thank you all for putting up with our lame attempt to share some of this cruising world.

It is Wednesday, 30 May, 2018 and the crew of Milagro are grinning large. We left Los Coronados yesterday morning about 1100 with breezes light and variable and <3kts. As we needed to run the engine for a bit to fill our nearly empty water tanks, that was OK. Then, shortly after that exercise was completed, the wind filled in and settled at +/-8kts from the SE and it pretty much stayed that way all the way to San Carlos. We enjoyed flat water broad reaching under a full moon. All. Night. Long. There was a period of about 4 hours when the wind lay down a bit which caused us to slow considerably but we were still making comfortable progress and had planned the passage to allow for this very thing. But then it came back steady at 8 with occasional periods of 10 and once again we were speeding along. Even with this lull, we averaged right at 5kts p/hr overall. I don’t suppose we should be surprised, though, we have sailed this passage between San Carlos and the Baja 9 times now and have sailed virtually the entire way for 8 of them. We particularly appreciated this sail, however, as so far this season we have only seen “noserlies” or winds too light to sail given the sea state. Now we are anchored in Bahia Algodones, near San Carlos, Sonora at 27 57.876’N, 111 06.693’W in 16′ over sand and right in front of the Soggy Peso palapa bar. The OAT is 79F, the pool is murky green and 72F, and there is a SE wind running at 9kts. We will remain here for a couple of days while we decide if there are any other anchorages in the area we wish to check out between now and June 7 when we put Milagro away for the summer in the San Carlos Marina. We will keep you posted.

It is Tuesday, 29 May, 2018 and it is moving day for the Milagros. We are still anchored at Isla Coronado but will begin our voyage towards San Carlos in a few hours. It is 113nm away and should take us around 20 or 21 hrs to get there, depending on wind conditions. The forecase call for light and variable winds but it includes some possibility of light air sailing over some portions of the passage. Like always, we will see. In any case, we should check in with you again sometime tomorrow from an anchorage on the mainland somewhere in the area of San Carlos/Guaymas. Hasta manana, y’all.

It is Saturday, 26 May, 2018 and all is well here. A little windblown but well. Plus, now we have a better idea of which weather forecast model was closest to being correct regarding today’s wind forecast. It was the ECMWF this time, one of the models forecasting more wind from the NW than we wanted given our choice of anchorages. And we got blown out. We had a great time with friends yesterday, our excuse being the birthday of our good friend Rick (SV Hotel California) and today we started all over again with birthday cake for breakfast (Joanne from MV Mystic Eyes made a world class carrot cake) followed by card games. This kept us distracted sufficiently and long enough for the wind to build from nothing early in the morning to 15 gusting to 25 from the north, right into the open end of our anchorage. With miles of fetch from that direction the wind built waves of 3′ to 4′ running about 3 seconds apart. Very sporty conditions for recovering dinghies and getting underway. In fact, we abandoned efforts to recover the MV Mystic Eye’s dinghy altogether on account of conditions making it just too dangerous for people or equipment. Reluctantly, Sam was obligated to rig a long bridle and tow it. To get around to the other side of Coronados we were forced to run broadside to the swells about half of the way, encountering several 6 footers in the process. Rock and Roll, indeed!! The tilt-0-meter showed 45 degrees a couple of times as we were rolled from starboard to port and back. Still, the passage was completed with nothing worse to show for it other than the cabin sole littered with everything loose or not tied down inside. At 1645 our anchor was reset at 26 06.066’N, 111 17.053’W in 22′ over sand. The OAT is 83F, the pool is 77F and the wind here is from the N 15G20. The sea is flat except for some small wind waves as where we are now, the island provides good N wind protection. We’ll move along further North to San Juanico either tomorrow or Monday with Wednesday or Thursday our current aim for crossing over to the mainland. Hasta pronto.

It is Friday, 5/25/2018 and all is well here. We’ve done a lot since the last update and I just wasn’t able to keep this updated. Sorry. We moved on Wednesday from Nopolo to Puerto Escondido where we joined friends and rented a car for some shoreside sightseeing, laundry, provisioning (can we ever have enough food?) and, of course, shoreside dining. Yesterday we journeyed about 40km outside Loreto to the Mission San Xavier. Very cool little village, very rugged, scenic drive and, of course, the mission itself. Built apx 250 years ago, it was the first Catholic mission in the California’s to sport glass windows. We got Milagro’s bottom cleaned while in PE and in the process learned that the growth was much worse than we’d realized and was really creating a lot of drag. So, on to today. We left PE at first light this morning to make our way North to Isla Los Coronados where we joined other friends, one of which is celebrating a birthday today. At 1035MDT our anchor is set in the NW bay at Coronados at 26 06.673’N, 111 17.043’W in 16′ over sand. The OAT is 86F, the humidity 53%, there is now a N breeze running 10kts and the sea is 78F and flat but with wind ripples. The water visibility is about 15′ which is a bit of an improvement. The WX forecast models cannot agree and, depending on which models are closer to being correct, we may (may) see NW winds increase this afternoon enough to drive us around to the protection of the South side of the island. We will see what develops. We are starting to focus on the best day(s) to make our crossing to San Carlos and think the coming Wednesday or Thursday may serve. We will continue watching closely in the meantime and will either hang here until time to cross or move North a little bit first.