May 21, Crossing to San Carlos

I think this post is going to be a little short.  I got up this morning at 2:45am, anchor up at 3am and on the way to San Carlos.  My weather selection for crossing is definitely in need of some help.  This crossing wasn't horrendous but it was a windy romp across the Sea of Cortez in some very confused seas making the ride very uncomfortable.  It was a fast crossing with 15-20+ knots of wind the whole way.  All tallied up I think it cost me and Tallen about $6.00 in diesel for the entire trip as I only ran the motor a little in the dark, wee hours of the morning for about an hour and a half.  The rest of the crossing we averaged over 6 knots and that was with double reefed sails for most of the day.  After about 4 hours or so of sustained winds above 15 knots the seas tend to build and get pretty nasty, especially in the Sea of Cortez. Fortunately the seas were following us which was uncomfortable buy WAY better than beating into them.  About mid way we had a huge pod of dolphins surfing in our bow wave for over a half hour.  The seas were big enough that the dolphins would leave the bow wave, run off and catch a big swell or two, usually 2 or 4 abreast, then swim back over and hang out with us for a while.

The crossing wound up taking 12 hours exactly.  Very fast.  We arrived here in Bahia San Carlos at 3pm and we were happy to pull into the protection of the bay and anchor in smooth water.  We went into town to grab a bite to eat and now we are back at the boat and most likely going to crash early.  I'm totally beat.  Getting up early paired with untold sail changes to adjust for the varying winds and generally taking care of the boat on a rough passage definitely got to me.  I'm out!  

Bret and Tallen
SV Liahona