WHEN A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK OF LA PAZ AND
THE SEA OF CORTEZ THESE DAYS, THEY THINK OF WRECKED BOATS
Not me. I've been sailing to and around La Paz and the Sea since 1977, and have a lifetime of fabulous memories.
I got off a bus at Loreto at midnight way back when and spent the night at the Mission Inn. The next day I made my way to Puerto Escondido, where Don Polo had his all-purpose store.
I joined Max Zenobi's Bounty II. A local mechanic was rebuilding his Atomic 4 for $25 — and that included lunch every day made by the mechanic's wife.
When we took off we had to confiscate my wife's fishing rod. She landed big mahi after big mahi after big mahi. It was ridiculous. It's not like that now.
The Sea of Cortez Sailing Weeks I founded in the early '80s were epic. More than 100 boats would show up, the Mexican Navy ship providing a starting line for fun races, and West Marine donating a pig to cook in the sand. We were so naughty we had wet t-shirt contests — it was like a group hug — and the men in hot bun contests.
It was out at the islands that I met my second wife, the Wanderette, for the first time. As well as Jimmy Drake, who would later take Big O to Turkey and back. And helped finish Profligate.
Just last night my 42-year-old daughter told me she recalls our days fooling around in Caleta Partida, when she was six, as among the most fun of her life.
Of course not all memories are so good. One Sea of Cortez Sailing Week year I was on my Olson 30 and destroyed my back setting an anchor. After a week of agony, I got shot up with pain killers by the Navy, who took my credit card to buy me six seats on an Aero Mexico flight to LA. They removed the seats and carried me aboard in a stretcher they somehow secured.
Long after the Sea of Cortez Sailing Week had been run to the ground, I started the Revived Sea of Cortez Sailing Week for a couple of years. What great times they were, although with smaller fleets.
My best sailing in the Sea was during the spinnaker run from Isla San Francisco to Caleta Partida. There were just four of us aboard Profligate. Two males and two females, average age well over 60. Nonetheless, we managed to gybe the Santa Cruz 70 chute while doing 17 knots.
Later we were attacked by a huge swarm of bees. I fought them off with fire extinguishers.
Another year we dragged the dinghy into and through the mangroves at San Jose. It was like Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen.
I haven't spent as much time in the Sea as I should have recently. I want to get back because it's spectacular and unique. Before all the big megayachts take over. And with Starlink, living off the grid is completely viable in the Sea, even for those still working.
Here are a few shots I managed to quickly dig up of the La Paz area and Sea of Cortez that I know and love. If you're headed that way, you're in for a special treat.
And many of the cruisers you'll meet will be every bit as terrific as the Sea.
 Puerto Escondido — at least in the 'old days'. But the sunrises and mountains are still there.
 Somewhere near La Paz with one of its trademark sunsets.
Anyone for Agua Verde?
 Isla Espiritu Santo.
Isla San Francisco from an Alaska Airlines flight to Vallarta.
 In-the-water volleyball during the Revived Sea of Cortez Sailing Week.
 Isla San Francisco. I suppose all the puka shells were taken long ago.
Nothing like a warm place to sit and relieve yourself of life's tensions.
One of our favorite Isla Partida shots ever.
 Getting high on nature.
 Caleta Partida. Back in the day this was the site of Sea of Cortez Sailing Week founded by the Poobah. Some years there as many as 100 boats would attend.
Heather about to go to Profligate's masthead in her Sperry High Heel Deck Boots.
|
