Author Archives: svsolitude

There are several anchorages south of Barra that are a quick day sail, as well as the port in Manzanillo. We headed for Carrizal, Santiago Bay and Manzanillo Bay; all approximately 20-25 nautical miles from Barra.

Barra de Navidad and the hotel property tiered above the marina, the Grand Isla Navidad Resort, is a special slice of paradise – for cruisers in particular. A slip at the marina includes use of the hotel pools complete with two water slides and lazy river, daily yoga classes on the beach, and folio numbersContinue reading “Blissful Barra”

The anchorage at Tenacatita was full with about 50 boats. We planned to meet up with friends from Tahoe here and found them almost immediately, setting anchor nearby. Big hugs all around and a champagne celebration, we are stoked to be with Brian and Joanna who have been down here since November on their beautiful Beneteau,Continue reading “Solitude and Sail Fish meet in Tenacatita!”

When we left La Cruz for Chamela Bay the weather looked perfect for going around Cabo Corrientes, the point on the south end of Banderas Bay where the cooler waters of Baja mix with the warmer waters of Costalegre. Cabo Corrientes means “cape currents” and appropriately so. Many sailors time this passage for when theContinue reading “Costalegre”

We are excited to be in Banderas Bay, the “hub” of Pacific Mexico sailing. We anchored off Punta de Mita behind a line up of surf breaks in an area referred to as El Anclote.  We were hoping to walk the peninsula but Punta Mita is gated and private, a reservation at one of theContinue reading “Bahia de Banderas”

Adios, Esperanza! The new autopilot has been installed, a full day project of equipment installation and wiring by Jim and the marine electrician. We are ready to head out for mainland Mexico. We did a final provision of fresh produce and said farewell to the driver we met when we first arrived in San Jose delContinue reading “A Salty Passage”

We put Solitude back in the water on January 4. The shadow from the old name and home port (Marie, San Diego) has been almost entirely removed from the wet sanding work – cheers to all the wonderful memories and adventures on Marie!

We made it to Cabo! We had light winds on the last stretch of our trip down Baja from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas, so we motor sailed most of the way. We saw tons of turtles and several sail fish and manta rays jumping out of the water. More awesome ocean lifeContinue reading “Where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez”

We checked in at Ensenada, refueled, got our tourist visas and had our first fish tacos in Mexico – Baja style. We spent two days at the marina, walked into town and enjoyed showers and welcome cocktails at the marina hotel. We were impressed by the ease and efficiency of the check in service throughContinue reading “Ensenada, Cedros, Bahia Tortuga, Bahia Asuncion, Bahia Santa Maria”

Leaving LA we had heavy fog with little visibility. Once we were through the fog our first day out was easy breezy, with light westerly winds and clear skies. We set our watch schedule for nighttime and had dinner just after dark. We were able to average around 4 knots sailing all night in fairlyContinue reading “Crossing into Mexican waters”