Author Archives: Michael

It is Sunday, June 30th, 2019 and all is well here. As advertised, we moved into the marina early this morning. An early go allowed us to maneuver without the benefit of the strong afternoon winds that we’ve seen each day. We definitely didn’t need that kind of interference when navigating slow speed close quarters and squeezing ourselves stern first alongside a very wide Hylas. And, it all worked out perfectly. At 0735MST Milagro was berthed at 27 56.869’N, 111 03.357’W. It was 89F at the time, pool 84F and a SE breeze ran at 5kts. It was humid with about 80% cloud cover. After a very warm (89-90F)and humid (+/-80%) night at anchor we were more than happy to have shore power for full time A/C – I’m predicting we will sleep much more comfortably tonight. 🙂 We’ve already begun the cleaning, sorting and configuring process that we go through to leave Milagro on her own for several months. As hot as it is here we will start our work day very early and stop well before noon each day. With luck (that means, if there are no surprises and nothing important breaks) we may be on the road as early as Wednesday morning. If things don’t go so well, then, it could take much longer. Next for us is motorhome projects, continuing improvements to our RV parking spot and I have a new motorcycle to put some miles on. Thanks for joining us this sailing season, we’ll be back in the fall.

Today is Saturday, 28 June, 2019 and we’re doing fine here on the Milagro. Yesterday afternoon winds reached 26kts but it was a hot, humid wind and, for our part, very unwelcome. We actually ran the generator and A/C for several hours in order to escape it. This morning we weighed anchor, visited the fuel dock at Marina San Carlos and then settled in the San Carlos Harbor with full tanks. Here we will move the dinghy onto the foredeck, drag out the dock lines, fenders and other accoutrement needed to convert from a sailing boat to a marina condo. Once you get so used to anchoring all the time, the monkey motion needed to tie yourself to a dock sure seems like a lot of work. First thing tomorrow morning we will slide into our slip at Marina San Carlos and get serious about packing things, securing systems, etc. For now we are at 27 56.744’N, 111 03.717’W in 23′ over sand. The OAT is 92F (going up to 102!?), it’s 83F in the pool and the wind is SE at 8 to 10kts.

It is Friday, 28 June, 2019 and everything here is good. And, we are in San Carlos! After reviewing the latest wind/sea forecast Thursday morning it seemed that the best odds for a comfortable passage was likely that day. Overnight winds for that evening and for several days following were going to be WNW to NW to N on the order of 20kts with the most westerly winds that night. Since we’d be going due North, Westerlies would be good. Considering that seas build greater with longer wind exposure, the seas would be a bit more lumpy each of the coming days. So, there it was. Not what we wanted exactly but the smart move was to get going or wait until sometime after the coming weekend, something we did not want to do either. As is often the case on a passage, we saw many different sea/wind combinations and motored, motorsailed, and sailed at one or more times during the 125nm. In general, the seas were mostly flat although a NW swell accompanied by some chop developed after sunrise today. In the end, we managed to complete 42% of the passage under sail alone while the remainder was either motorsailing or simply motoring. Now our anchor is set at the San Carlos waterfront (Caleta La Posada) at 27 56.808’N, 111 02.793’W in 28′ over sand. The OAT is 91F, it’s 83F in the pool and the wind is W 15 gusting to 20. We are in the lee of the town’s shore so our water is flat. We are scheduled into Marina San Carlos on Monday, July 1 but we may see if we can sneak in on the day before. Stay tuned folks as there is at least one more post coming before we bail out for the summer.

It is Monday, 24 June, 2019 and all is well here. We enjoyed a calm, peaceful night at Isla Coronados before moving South this morning back to Point Nopolo. Before heading up to San Carlos we have a need to pay a visit to our friend Pedro here, plus, as you must surely know by now, we really like this place. At 1106hrs MDT our anchor was once again set in front of the Hotel Loreto Bay at 25 55.442’N, 111 20.807’W in 12′ over sand. The OAT is 85F, the pool temp is 81F and there is a SE breeze running 6 to 7 knots. We intend to stay for several days so the sunshades have been put in place to help keep the afternoon temps under control. We will be closely watching the weather forecasts over the next several days but, based on what we see today, we are thinking we will leave here for San Carlos on Thursday. That would give us several days anchored in the San Carlos area before taking our slip at the marina there on July 1. Time we could use as we prepare Milagro to be left alone for several months. But, we will see about the weather as that day draws closer.

It is Sunday, 23 June, 2019 and all is well here on Milagro. At Bahia Cobre yesterday, the afternoon water warmed to 83F. A steady N breeze of 7-9kts added its contribution. With the OAT in the low 90’s the breeze and the pool felt pretty darned good. This morning we made our move toward our next intended anchorage, V-Cove on the N side of Isla Carmen, however nature had other plans for us. Very shortly after we got underway northbound, the N wind increased to 15kts and the seas built to very closely spaced 2′ to 3′ wind swells. Not good conditions for any anchorage open to the North, like, well, V-Cove. We battled our way slowly into the wind then made our turn to go West over the top of Carmen and, as we advanced westward, the wind and seas gradually settled until we were on a nice beam reach in 8-9kts of N wind over mostly flat water. What a difference just a few miles makes. So, after a very nice sail we planted our anchor on the South side of Isla Coronados at 26 06.061’N, 111 17.041’W in 23′ over sand. The OAT is 85F and the pool temp is 81F. Water vis is only about 10′ here and green in color so its not nearly as inviting as at Cobre. We are not certain of the timing of our next move although we have decided to leave the 2 anchorages on the N side of Isla Carmen for next season. It’s time to get serious about the timing of our move to San Carlos so we’ll be reviewing the weather forecasts closely with that in mind. More to follow.

Today is Saturday, 22 June, 2019 and all is well here. Our afternoon at Pta. Perico was actually 1 degree warmer than the day before at Blanco but there was a nice breeze running that made it much more bearable. The water did warm up to 80F so a little swimming helped cool us off, too. Around midnight a South swell of 2′ developed setting up some pitching movement. Not too bad but enough to keep it from being an entirely peaceful night. This morning we weighed anchor and moved counterclockwise around Point Perico and into Bahia Cobre. A total distance of 3nm. Here we are protected from that South swell and surrounded by more amazing geography. Oh, to be a geologist and understand all these different layers, colors and shapes. We are set at 25 58.954’N, 111 04.121’W in 23′ over sand. OAT is 86F and the pool is 80F with visibility close to 25′. There’s a SW breeze of 6kts. Our plan is to move again tomorrow as we still have 2 more anchorages on Carmen we wish to see and by the end of next week we need to be making our move up to San Carlos. Hasta manana, y’all.

It is Friday, 21 June 2019 and all is well here. Our stay at Arroyo Blanco was nice but yesterday afternoon was stifling hot. 94F and ZERO wind. Zip. Nada. Much swimming occurred in an effort to cope but we eventually caved, drug out the generator and ran the A/C for several hours. Ahhhhh, so nice. Kayaking the shore and sea caves this morning we saw some pretty impressive scenery. We tried to capture some of that beauty in photos which I intend to post to the blog one day. After breakfast we moved to our next stop, Punta Perico South. Only 7.8nm NE of Arroyo Blanco we are now settled at 25 58.238’N, 111 04.500’W in 25′ over sand. OAT here is 88F but the pool is only 78F. As we are right at the end of a point of land there is a bit of breeze running NE at 7kts. Of course, we hope that breeze holds and that the thermometer doesn’t try to return to yesterdays numbers. That same SE swell continues to stay with us and, while it was not uncomfortable at Arroyo Blanco, we’re hopeful the breeze and currents keep us from sitting abeam of the swell here. Next stop is literally just around the corner. More tomorrow. Hasta entonces.

It is Thursday, 20 June, 2019 and everything is good here on the Milagro. The sea swell that I mentioned yesterday did smooth out and we enjoyed a comfortable night under an intense canopy of stars. It wasn’t long however, before they were upstaged when the nearly full moon presented itself around 2200. Muy hermosa. So, today, we moved about 2nm North to a spot that does not appear on any of the charts or guides that we’ve found. It’s at the mouth of a normally dry wash aptly named Arroyo Blanco as the wash cuts through low, white colored bluffs. There are small sea caves cut into these white bluffs and a small, sandy beach at the mouth. Nice as well as pretty. Friends of ours stumbled onto this place a couple of months ago and suggested we might like it. We do. We’re here for tonight and will decide in the morning whether to stay put or move on to the next stop. For now we are at 25 52.916’N, 111 10.951’W in 23′ over sand. OAT is 86F, the pool is 80F (it warmed to 83F yesterday afternoon at Colorada!) and wind is light and variable. 2kts from NE at this moment. More on our progress tomorrow or Saturday.

It is Wednesday, 19 June, 2019 and all is well on the Milagro. I can report that Judy’s pulled muscle is about 90% healed so that is no longer an issue for us. We spent 5 days at Marquer healing and visiting with friends on M/V Mystic Eyes and M/V Ansedonia including a day trip for provision shopping at Loreto where we also connected with our friends on the SV Voyager. The water temp has made it to 80F so I was able (willing) to do a little bottom cleaning. Today we moved around to the East side of Isla Carmen to the anchorage at Punta Colorada, nearly directly across the island from where we were. No useful wind this morning so we had a flat water motorboat ride and are now anchored at 25 51.322’N, 111 11.654’W in 23′ over sand/gravel. The OAT here now is 88F and this pool is showing 80F. There is a ESE breeze at 2kts and a SE swell about 1’/5 seconds which is causing continious mild rolling. It is our aim to circumnavigate Isla Carmen via anchorages that we have not visited before, this being one of them. If conditions are agreeable (sea state, bugs, etc.) this could take a week or more. Should conditions turn out to be something less than agreeable we will not tarry nor stop at them all. In that case we’ll be around and done much sooner. No cell or internet on this side of Isla Carmen. Our next move will either be tomorrow or Friday but we’ll let you know when it happens. Hasta pronto, y’all.

It is Thursday, June 13, 2019 and all is mostly well here on the Milagro. Since the last post on June 3rd we completed our family visit and stay at the Villa Del Palmar resort on June 8 and have resumed our “normal” life. We moved Milagro out of the mooring field at Puerto Escondido on the 9th in favor of returning to Point Nopolo. Pto. Nopolo for all of the reasons I’ve ‘splained here before. Now there are several days of fairly strong SE winds forecast so we moved today to the protection of Bahia Marquer on the SW side of Isla Carmen. We are now set at 25 52.148’N, 111 13.070’W in 23′ over sand. The OAT is currently 87F, the pool is 80F with about 20’ visibility and the wind is SE at 10 to 12 kts. The island is upwind so we’re sitting on flat water pretty much no matter how hard it may blow. Considering the Wx forecast, we will likely stay here until Monday at least. I’ll explain the “mostly well” from line 1. Several days ago Judy tweaked a muscle or combination of them, across her shoulders at the base of her neck. She has been in great pain and barely able to move. We found our TENS unit no longer working so have borrowed one from nearby friends and THAT seems to be helping a lot. Today she is much improved giving us hope that she can put this behind her soon.