Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

December 18, 2024     While at Isla Isabel we were lucky enough to meet a biologist who had been studying there since doing his thesis about Isla Isabel 39 years ago.   We talked to him about the changes and about the animals that live there.   He told us that it is estimated that there are 50,000 resident Magnificent Frigate birds, 10,000 Blue-Footed Booby birds, Brown-Footed Booby birds, and several other species of migratory bird, as well as Iguanas and smaller lizards.   Magnificent Frigate birds are very large birds with a wing span between 7-8 feet and it is crazy to think of 50,000 of them living on the island all year round. After arriving and having breakfast we were eager to get to shore and explore this magical place.   We launched our tender and rowed into the beach.   Constant swells breaking on shore meant timing a surf landing, and we chose to leave our outboard motor off for ease of carrying the tender up on shore after our landing. ...

December 17, 2024   From Mazatlan we did another overnight passage, this time to Isla Isabel.   We had two whales surface close behind our boat in the evening and then we had dolphins come around our boat overnight.   At around 16:00 on our departure day we caught a fish, then just at sunset both of our lines went off together, a double header.   Since we were sailing we were not able to slow the boat down much, which made the fight to reel a fish in a lot harder and longer.   By the time we got them both on board, cleaned, bagged, and into the freezer it was well after dark and straight to bed for tired Falcon.     While underway we have limited resources for fish identification and from the chart that we have we thought that the three fish were Big Eye Tuna.   We were very excited, as they would have been our first Tuna.   We enjoyed some of the fish fresh for sashimi, and froze the rest, but unfortunately it wasn’t unti...

December 16, 2024     We only spent two days in Mazatlan because there were some large swells forecasted for the coast of Mexico that were coming down from a large storm off of the coast of BC and Alaska.   We made the decision to make our way quicker down the coast than we had originally planned so as to be at a certain anchorage for more protection from the large swells.   We also wanted to get south to warmer water and warmer weather as things were rapidly cooling down and we awoke to thick fog on our first morning in Mazatlan.   That day felt like those cool summer days that we spent anchored on the Central Coast of BC when the fog just wouldn’t lift and we spent the day hoping that the sun would break through to let us have a taste of summer. We did get ashore both days though and spent some time playing in the water, walking the beach, and meeting some the locals.   Falcon found a Mexican boy and dog to play with and had a good time.   The beach ...

December 13, 2024     It is hard to believe that Falcon is already two years old, but December 13th was the two-year anniversary of Falcon’s birth.   We had banana pancakes and bacon for brunch, and then spent the rest of the day ashore exploring the beach, swimming, and of course, having cake.   I think that Falcon had a great day.     That evening was the beginning of our weather window for crossing the Sea of Cortez on a southeast heading for Mazatlan.   We pulled up our anchor and headed out, and after watching the sun set, the almost-full-moon rise, and having dinner, Falcon went to bed for his first night at sea.   Because we know what the sea state in the Sea of Cortez can be like we had chosen a weather window that was when winds were just beginning.   It had been calm in the sea for two days, so it was quite calm when we headed out.   As the wind picked up, so did the sea state, but as far as timing a weather window for crossing...

December 12, 2024    On the morning of December 12, 2024 we said goodbye to the La Paz anchorage and motored out the channel and along the coast to the anchorage of Bahia Bonanza.   We had been to this anchorage in 2022 when Falcon was only one month old and we knew that it was an incredibly beautiful 3km long, sandy beach, as well as a very quiet anchorage.   That evening we went ashore at the north end and explored up a washout channel.   It is always so interesting to see the different types of plants that grow in different areas, and I really liked the dwarfed trees that grew here with large trunks and branches.   We found an area up from the beach that looked like it had had a palapa type structure in the past.   It had a flattened floor area built up around the sides with a small rock wall.   There was evidence of where old wooden posts would have supported the roof and a pile of old palm fronds were still laying beside it.     Tha...

December 11, 2024  Unfortunately, in the couple of weeks prior to our arriving in La Paz we had noticed that our batteries were losing voltage quicker than they had when they were brand new four weeks ago, and it seemed like a much quicker drop than it should have been.   We did some tests of our own and then went to talk to the battery dealership in La Paz.   They were very helpful and said that they would send a technician out to our boat for free to check out our batteries for us.   The next day Jason went into the marina with our tender to pick up the technician and his English-speaking helper.   They came on board and checked out our batteries, and told us that they were all good.   When we explained our concern to them all they really said was that they all tested good.   We were unsure how to proceed, but we asked about the possibility of getting another battery to add to our already new battery bank, which would give us more amp hours and there...

 December 1, 2024 Our solar panels were delayed arriving, but when we did receive them we went straight to work taking down our old ones and setting up the new mounting tracks and panels.      It all went very smoothly and after a day we were charging at 40-50 amps when needed.      Our new solar panels had no problems with getting our batteries up to full charge each day.