Author Archives : Chris French

A work day in beautiful Chacala


Shockingly everyone was awake at my normal time (pre 6:00am), but we didn’t get moving that fast. Around 8:30 we dropped off our laundry and headed for more coffee and Wifi. I had a lot of work to catch up on so it was head down and plow through. Eventually Jean and Vicki were done with the Wifi while and…

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Settling in to Chacala


Not one to overbook, we didn’t have massive plans for our first full day in Chacala. Vicki and I did some britework polishing to remove rust from the crossing while Jean went for a kayak. The heat and sun kicked our butts so we only got about 25% of the boat knocked off before we called it a day. The…

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Exploring Isla Isabel


A bit of breakfast and then it was time to visit the blue footed boobies. Walking from the beach we could hear some talking near the research center. Coming through the trees we stumbled on a group of high school students who were camping and learning about ecology. Jean showed us the path, for a little bit… The mass of…

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Time to cross to the mainland


Crossing time. Oddly the wind was calm from 11:00pm until about 6:00am, we would get some gusts but nothing sustained. The plan was to depart at 8:00am after a big breakfast and that is exactly what we did. Getting out of the protection of the anchorage we were greeted with some 4-6 foot white capped waves just forward of our…

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Packing on the exercise before our crossing


Today’s scheduled hike for 8:00am was postponed due to cooler weather and the desire for a mellow start to the day. After breakfast I took on the preparations for our crossing, topping off the diesel tanks – which was made difficult due to the wind, checking the engines, and reviewing the latest weather forecast. Before heading to shore I started…

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Busting out of La Paz before the next northerly


Pretty good winds (15-25 knots) were forecast for Sunday and Monday with a possible crossing window Tuesday. Wanting to get a good spot to hop off to the Mainland the plan was to head for Punta Bonanza where Jean and I crossed from last year. We wanted as early a start as possible since the winds would be on our…

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22 hours in La Paz


In the black of night up came the anchor and we were headed for La Paz for a bunch of work and most important to pick up Jean. It was the mellowest day I can remember with the exception of some tide working against us part of the trip. Reaching La Paz we followed the long entrance to Marina Cortez.…

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Time for a quick visit to Isla San Francisco


Wow Nelly, up and moving by 6:30am we made our way down into the mouth of Bahia de La Paz. Winds started calm by within an hour were building as was the wind wave chop. We put up with it for awhile before the loud bangs got on my nerves and we fell off 10 degrees to attempt a better…

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Waiting out more weather in Puerto Escondido


Well it was an interesting day. A strong late season storm was coming our way with winds forecast to be 40+ knots and heavy rain. The sole reason we took a mooring ball in Puerto Escondido was this event. In the morning we had some light rain but not much wind and around 11:30am there was a break in the…

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