10/2/2010 - Oh yeah... we are a sailboat.

There are three kinds of sailors here in the Sea of Cortez.  Those that motor everywhere they go regardless of the weather, those that sail everywhere they go (usually at the mercy of their diesel capacity), meaning, they wait on the weather no matter the time, and finally, those that try to sail as much as they can but motor when necessary to meet their needs (we like to sail, but we like to get where we’re going) 

We fall into the last category.  What that means is that due to the “flat calm” conditions in the Sea of Cortez during the summer, we have spent a lot of it motoring, not sailing.  But that all changed yesterday. 

We left Isla Tiburon motoring as usual, hoping for wind.  I spent almost an hour listening to the various weather nets on the SSB trying to find any kind of weather that may be in our favor. About 1:00 yesterday afternoon, we finally got wind.  We sailed for the remainder of the afternoon into a little cove called Las Cocinas.  After a rolly night, we woke up this morning and sailed THE ENTIRE DAY to Las Algodones…about 4-6 miles out from San Carlos.  To sail all day is pretty cool for us.  We have been trying to do this since we got up here in the Sea…so needless to say we had a great day (well, no motors running means no power which means no movies for Jake, so the coolness of it is all relative.). A nice lazy sail at 4-6 knots….

About 2:30 today we pulled into a little cove covered with hotels and a promising bar called Soggy Pesos (for whatever reason, I can’t help but call it Soggy Paws?).  We have arrived on the mainland. There are trees.  There are tourists.  There are palapas, and fancy hotels.  As we beached our dinghy and found our seat at the crowded restaurant, we were pleasantly surprised as our waiter not only introduced himself but asked our names as well.  We have arrived. J

 Tomorrow we will head the 6 miles south to San Carlos.  Our new friends from Bahia LA have offered the use of their mooring until they arrive around the 15^th so we will take advantage of that before checking out the marina and other amenities.  We are looking forward to giving the boat a good wash down (it’s filthy) and I for one am excited about eating at the local McDonalds (It’s a rumor but I’m thinking positively) and shopping at the large grocery stores here.  We’ve heard the criticisms of eating at the local McDonalds….”that’s not Mexican!”  But we hold to the philosophy I read on someone else’s blog describing the clientele in the South Pacific.  “If all the locals are eating there…its local food.”

We should have Internet for at least a week or two so I’ll try to keep the posts coming.  Any comments or questions are always welcome.  For our immediate families…the first thing I’m shopping for is a phone cardanswer all calls from funky numbers J.