Bienvenidos A Mexico!

The Cabo San Lucas Arch

We are now tied up at Puerto Vallarta, having gently wandered through our first month of cruising in Mexico. We began with a week at Cabo San Lucas, its mellower neighbor San Jose Del Cabo, and a very user-friendly anchorage at Las Friales (“the Friars”). We stayed several days right in the heart of Cabo San Lucas, with all the buzz of their crazy tourist activity swirling around us. Then we moved on to San Jose where we began to meld into the slow lane of Mexican life. But our favorite for the bottom of the Baja Peninsula came at Las Friales. A great beach, doable beach landings, a perfect spot for Salty to play ball, 80-degree water for swimming—what could be better?

One of the recommended activities at Las Friales is to head on up to Cabo Pulmo for snorkeling. About twenty years ago, the local fishermen at Pulmo saw their fish catches declining and banded

Las Frailes

together to make a change. They restricted fish catches (their own as well as any others) to allow the natural coral reef in front of their village to rebound and become the leading spot around for diving and snorkeling. The Government assisted by declaring the reef a protected national underwater park. But the only issue is making the 9-km trek on the rough, rutted dirt road out there and back. We managed to hitch a ride out with a couple Gringo Girls and that gave us time for lunch before the snorkel tour. On the return, things were not looking so good at first, as there were NO vehicles heading our way. Then along came Jose in his ancient Toyota pickup. For twenty minutes, Roger and Jose (sort of) carried on a fast-moving conversation, finding all about ranching in that dry countryside, Jose’s family, local fishing and all sorts of things. At one point, Jose’s beer

When it's Your Birthday, you get to do it your way!

caught up with him and he needed to stop and take advantage of the facilities. In the end we made it back to the boat just in time to walk Salty before dark, we took in a colorful piece of Mexican life, we saw some awesome snorkeling, and we supported the Pulmo fishermen who are trying to do the right thing.  Todo Bien!

The sign says no swimming--
No Joke!

From Las Friales we crossed over to Mazatlán and then sailed down to Puerto Vallarta. There we took moorage at the same dock as our friends, Steve and Peggy Leonard, who have been cruising Mexico for three years. We needed to stay in PV for there or four weeks in order to allow time for our permanent residency permits to be processed. We also will be here for a joint visit with both Kevin and Andy, (and Christian, Loraine and Clark) who are due in this coming week before Christmas and will be the topic of our next posting. Meanwhile we sailed in the Banderas Bay Blast (a three-day PV version of a Snooze and Cruise), celebrated Peggy’s birthday along with four of their friends visiting from Seattle, attended church at the Cathedral, and did touristy things around town. Of course, we

Sunset at San Blas

also did a number of boat maintenance projects, since as we all know, sailboat cruising is nothing more than doing boat maintenance in exotic locations!

That is about it for our first month in Mexico. From our boat in Puerto Vallarta, we pause and wish all of you a Feliz Navidad, where ever you may be this Holiday Season,

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

You can reach us at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com

The Baja Slide

Bahia  Santa Maria--You're not in
the Northwest any more, Toto

Two months, ten days and 2,300 miles has taken us from Elliott Bay Marina to Cabo San Lucas. But it was the last 776 miles from San Diego to Cabo that were the most challenging for us. Back home in northwest cruising, we considered 40 miles to be a good day with many marinas and anchorages to choose between upon arrival. Cruising down the US West Coast, 100 miles became the norm, with one trek of 180 miles, and every night we could tie up at a marina rather than anchoring out. Cruising the west side of the Baja peninsula has been a wholly different experience--stretching it out more—with only one marina and several 175-mile overnight passages.

On top of this you have the ever present Northwest swell. For southbound cruisers, this usually just means a gentle lifting of the boat and a little help on down the course. However, this is where our

Panga and Passenger

little buddy Salty comes into the picture. Being part schnauzer, his Germanic stubbornness refuses to let him piddle on the boat. Instead he insists on getting to the beach 2-3 timers a day, in between 20-30 hour passages, requiring us to do beach landings with our dinghy. We have had considerable difficulty mastering a dinghy landing with the ocean swell, even in a semi-protected anchorage. Even a tiny swell approaching the beach becomes a two-foot breaker as it drives on to the beach, getting us soaked and, on one particularly ill-timed launch, flipped us entirely over. At least the water is warm! We eventually learned the virtue of patience and waiting for a mellower set of waves, but leaving the beach seems to always come with a bit of terror.

Also, due to having Salty aboard, we stopped more often than most Baja cruisers. This was one of the

Sunset at Sea

reasons that we chose to not join in the annual Baja Ha Ha, a flotilla cruise to Cabo in which a few hundred boats make the jump together. The social side of meeting other boaters would have been nice, but the Ha Ha only stops twice, once at Turtle Bay and once at Bahia Santa Maria, with legs up to 330 miles long. We needed more stops, more time, and we wanted to do it our way.

We used the guide books to get us down the Baja coast, but none of them talk about cruising with a pet. Indeed, we saw few other boats with a pooch aboard. We found that this was also true of cruising the East Coast and the Caribbean, in that the guide books made scant or no mention of the extra steps needed when cruising with Fido. However, for us, traveling with Salty does make it interesting and we would have it no other way.

We are now rounding the corner into Cabo San Lucas and are eagerly looking forward to savoring civilized Mexico. The stark passage sliding down the Baja coast is astern, complete with its six overnight passages, and we can now settle into the Mexican life that has been our objective.

Hasta al Proximo Tiempo!

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

You can reach us at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com

Golden State Cruising

Monterey by Moon Light

Cruising from Seattle to Mexico seems to consist of a series of varied stages. First is the journey down the inhospitable coast lines of Washington, Oregon and Northern California—a passage often fraught with gales, huge seas, and long gaps between tiny fishing ports. Then comes the Bay Area, with its glittering urbanity. Next comes Southern California, with an array of pleasant yachting communities and welcoming reciprocal yacht clubs. And our next passage appears to be the desolate Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula, a description of which will come with our next posting. The variety has been stimulating and has helped to add interest to passages that otherwise might be rather monotonous.

Lynne and Salty at Morro Beach

It has been a month since we last sent out our last posting from Monterey Bay, as we began a longish 100-mile passage along Big Sur. We ended that passage at Morro Bay, one of our favorite stops. After tying up at the Morro Bay Yacht Club, we found a perfect playground for Salty on the sand spit across the channel. We also hooked up with a like-minded cruising couple, Robert and Sheila aboard their sail boat The Good Rain, from Nanaimo, also headed to Mexico. This also gave us a good spot to plan our way around the last of the four challenging West Coast Capes (the first three being Cape Flattery, Cape Blanco, and Cape Mendocino). Once again, the

Roger's Halloween Costume

weather was benign and we motored past an often tumultuous Cape Conception. Our only excitement came when we split between two on- coming freighters, about one mile to either side of us. Thank goodness for AIS, our collision avoidance electronics!

We spent the next two weeks with our son’s family—Andy, Lorraine, and Clark—in Oxnard. As a Harbor Patrol Officer, Andy was able to get us great moorage very near their home. While there, we had a very hospitable stay with the Pacific Corinthian yacht Club, took a jaunt out to Anacapa Island, and hiked up in the hills behind Ventura. All in all, it was a relaxing vacation within a vacation. From Oxnard, we went the “26 Miles to Santa Catalina” where we found a few secluded anchorages and

Goat Harbor, Catalina Island

 did a town stop at Avalon. In Avalon we did a night out at the Casino, seeing a Tom Cruz movie (2 stars) and taking in the 1929 organ recital (4 stars).  Then it was off to San Diego, stopping in at several lovely beach side towns—Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point and Oceanside. As we write this, we are at Silver Gate Yacht Club in San Diego—perhaps the friendliest yacht club we have been to yet! It is time for a bit of last minute chores and then on Thursday it is time to head south across the border and on to Baja California.

Hasta Luego!

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

Give us a call at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com

Under the Golden Gate

Mark's shot of our arrival

And here it is—one of the West Coast Sailor’s signature moments. Everyone remembers and cherishes their passage under the Golden Gate Bridge. It is in many respects similar to passing under other great bridges, such as the Brooklyn and Verrazano in New York or the Mackinac in Michigan, but coming from the ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge is in a class by itself. And it helped that we had our very own photo team on shore. Mark and Mary Haesloop and Joyce McCarthy filmed our approach from 5 miles out, getting this very special shot that you see here.

Spinnaker under the Gate!

The grin says it all.

We spent a week in the Bay Area, resting up and spending time with Roger’s brother and sister in law, Neil and Marianne. This included touring wineries, lunching at San Francisco YC, and just unwinding. We also did a fun lunch at the Yank Sing restaurant in San Francisco with Greg and Ann von Gair, whom Roger had recently sponsored into Seattle YC.

Leaving the Bay, the view of the Golden Gate is nearly as spectacular as the arrival. Did you know

that the currents under the gate regularly exceed 3 knots and are often more? From the Gate it is a left turn for a short hop on down to Half Moon Bay, where we had another gorgeous sunset and another lovely dinner with Joyce, Mark, Mary, and joined this time by time Patty. I write this as we are motor sailing on to Santa Cruz, 6 knots of breeze coming from astern in a slowly building northerly, with the picturesque California coastline just a couple miles off to port. California cruising at its finest!

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

Give us a call at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com

California, Here We Come!

Crossing the bar at Eureka

The journey down the Washington, Oregon, and Northern California coastlines is often a harrowing tale, complete with gales, enormous seas, broken equipment, and frazzled sailors. Our trip has been exactly the opposite, thanks to a huge high-pressure cell. In fact, our annoyance has been the lack of wind. In 12 days and 900 miles from Seattle to Bodega Bay, we have powered all but six hours (predictably off of Cape Mendocino). Oh, well-you take what you are given!

A Fishing Couple at Brookings

We last wrote to you as we were leaving Westport. From there we did day hops to Garibaldi (near Tillamook), Newport, Charleston (near Coos Bay), Bandon, Brookings, Eureka and Bodega Bay, before heading on into San Francisco. A few highlights included the gobs of fishermen leaving Garibaldi at daybreak, finding the Charleston breakwater in the fog, talking with the firefighters and fishermen at Brookings and seeing the old Victorian charm of Eureka. Another thrill was a spirited crossing of the Eureka bar. We surfed and slewed our way in, pushed along by 8’ rollers against an ebb current. It makes be shudder to think what it is like when the seas are big! Now after a bunch of miles (way, way too much motoring) and even a few over nighters, we are ready for the bright lights of San Francisco.

Fanciness in Eureka

Having spent some time now on both the Eastern and Western US coasts, it is interesting to compare the two. The West Coast is certainly more challenging, due in large part to the absence of anything like the East Coast Intra-coastal waterway. The West Coast sailor is at the mercy of the elements, with 50-150 miles between ports or anchorages, a predominate north west swell and much colder waters. Both coasts have a struggling fishing industry, although the sea life is more evident on the West Coast. The West Coast has the scenery, the east Coast has the history. But on both coasts the local down-home people, ready to help out however they can.

Another observation is regarding absence—the absence of boats on the West Coast. Here is the listing of fellow boaters that we saw from Port Townsend to Bodega Bay, over a 12-day passage:

***1 submarine off Port Angeles

Sunset at Crescent City

***A dozen or so fish boats, mostly off Oregon

***Three cargo ships, seen on AIS

*** ONE recreational boat, a 70’ powerboat, north bound off of Cape Mendocino

That’s it—it’s a really lonesome ocean out there!

As we head into the Golden Gate, we send you our best, as we are now relieved to have the perilous Northwest Coast in our rear-view mirror.

Roger, Lynne, and Salty (who is really relieved to put four feet on the ground for a while)

206-755-4193 or rdwerner47@gmail.com

Mexico Beckons

Lynne, Andy, Lorraine & Clark

When we returned from our East Coast cruise in October, 1016, all of you and certainly us, were certain that we would swallow the anchor for a while. And we did. Along with catching up on the neighborhood, yacht club, church, and family (including a jaunt to the Space Needle) goings on we made a few land journeys. After replacing vehicles, making a couple grandson trips, and doing some boat maintenance, we wondered what came next. Then came the LONG, dreary 2017 Northwest winter…and Mexico came calling!

But first Schatzi needed some attention after sixteen years of ownership and the recent two and one-half year cruise. We had invaluable counsel and expertise from numerous friends and vendors in re-freshening Schatzi and let me mention them and also give you a sense of what we have been doing in the past eleven months:

Mile 1--Leaving Seattle

***Steve Leonard coached us on Mexico cruising and our equipment needs.

***Bill and Kathi Cuffel offered a deep lore of cruising advise, and especially all things electronic,

***Howard and Lynn Bradbrook offered us experiences from their five-year odyssey.

 ***Bill at Sure Marine and Larry at Elliott Harbor Marine guided Roger in installing the new refrigeration and diesel heater.

***Alex and Joe at Ballard Sails made a new main sail and replaced life lines.

*** Mark at Ocens set us up with a satellite phone for communications and weather.

Tatoosh Is from the North Pacific

***Shawn at Marine Safety Service set us up with an emergency life raft.

***Mark and Howard at Auxillary Marine Engine overhauled our trusty Volvo engine (much needed but this was our most expensive repair—read many boat units!).

***Kathy at CSR oversaw the haul out and bottom touch ups.

Thank you everyone and many more!

We are writing this to you at sea, off the Columbia River entrance as we motor sail south bound to Garibaldi, Oregon. We cast off from Seattle on Sunday, September 10, since, as superstitious sailors, we were careful not to leave on a Friday, nor to have bananas aboard. For our first night, we made it clear to Sequim, where we had a rather elegant meal at the Dockside Café. From there it was on to Neah Bay, where the highlight was the Makah Museum. (Are you aware that one member of a Makah whaling crew had the assignment to jump into the really cold

One of the few vessels we saw cruising

water and sew up the mouth of the deceased whale so that it would not sink? Volunteers, anyone?). Then it was time to take a deep breath and push on out into the Pacific Ocean. We rounded Tatoosh Island at 1600, on our first (and hopefully only one of a few?) overnight passage to Westport. Once again, we sought out a locally recommended restaurant, this time Bennett’s Seafood, from which we emerged feeling stuffed and fully recovered from our walk to the beach.

That about catches us up. We will periodically send out more blogs as we have something to report. In our next blog, we will compare cruising on the West Coast to that on the East Coast, but meanwhile we look forward to hearing back from you any time you want to email or phone us.

Roger, Lynne, and I (of course) Salty

206-755-4193 or rdwerner47@gmail.com