I’ve completely blown off this blog. That’s because I’m not cruising right now, and haven’t been for months. Currently, Grace is safely moored in Bahia Chahue, Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico. Courtney and I are working in LA in our respective professions, Courtney, a contract ICU nurse, and I, a freelance advertising copywriter. We’re accumulating much needed dough to support Season 2’s adventures.
I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on my first season out there. I’ve gone back and forth on next season’s itinerary and have made a decision. Grace will head back up North to the Sea of Cortez. I realized that I’m not quite done with Mexico yet.
I love cruising because I love anchoring in empty coves, meeting new people on the way, free diving, fishing, seeing the sun rise and set, getting rocked to sleep at anchor, and continually having a front-row-seat to nature. I don’t have to leave Mexico to keep enjoying these things. I also feel like I didn’t get my fill of the Sea of Cortez. We left that area when the air was chilly and the water was green. We missed out on cruising in the sea during late Spring and early Summer, when the water gets clearer and warmer, and the northerly winds abate, giving way to warm winds from the south.
I also dig the feeling of relative safety that Mexico provides. For many, the words “Mexico” and “Safety” don’t mix, but any cruiser understands what I mean. Mexico definitely has its share of crime issues, but it’s mostly cartel-related crime that happens in the interior and larger cities. In Grace’s 7 months of cruising in Mexico, not a single item was stolen, and the people were friendly and honest almost universally. We never felt threatened, and almost never felt unsafe. I doubt you could feel the same way after cruising a boat along the east coast of the USA. Of course, traveling through Mexico by car is a different story.
My partner in this journey would probably rather continue south, but is fine with the decision. Courtney really wanted to see Costa Rica and Panama, as do I, but I had to take executive “skipper” privilege on this one.
Continuing south to central America would be nice, but for now that’s on the back burner. I’ve come to realize that becoming a seasonal cruiser is totally doable, as long as I can find freelance work. As an ICU nurse, Courtney has no issues there either. She can find work anywhere, any time. So why rush? We’ve met cruising couples along that way that have cruised up and down the coast of Mexico, multiple times, for decades. Cruising can be a way of life, rather than one big journey that ends with swift boat sale in a far off land followed by a permanent return to ordinary life. Fuck ordinary life.
So there it is. Mexico, 2018 is our plan. We’ll probably start our slow crawl up North In early January. When we leave Huatulco, our first major stop will be Zihuatenejo, then Barra Navidad, followed by all the great little anchorages in between our midpoint—Banderas Bay. There, Grace will get a bottom paint job, and some other yard work, while Courtney and I might do some inland traveling or go home briefly for visa renewals or short-term jobs. After that, maybe in March April, Grace will continue North to Mazatlan, then La Paz. It will be like last year, in reverse, only this time Grace will go North to Loreto and beyond to hit all those amazing cruising destinations we missed out on last season. Eventually, Grace will find her way to a yard to be dry-docked. Where that happens, undecided yet. Maybe Guyamas. Perhaps Puerto Escondido. I’m open to suggestions.
The fact is, the Sea of Cortez is a cruiser’s paradise. There are miles and miles of sparsely occupied coves with near perfect anchor-holding. The diving and fishing can be unreal. The desert scenery and serene peace and quiet are addictive. And there are acres and acres of prime beach real-estate for Brody’s favorite pastime—fetch.