Boobies at the Bow - Crossing the Sea of Cortez from San Blas to Ensenada de Los Muertos, Mexico

Boobies at the Bow - Crossing the Sea of Cortez from San Blas to Ensenada de Los Muertos, Mexico

- April 22, 2022

Brown Boobies spent the night resting at Brightnest's bow on our second night of a three night passage across the Sea of Cortez. It was great to have their company. But man, did they leave a mess!

This stuff dried and was really caked on by morning. About the only down side of having Boobies at the bow.

We took sort of a wonky way across, clawing for northing in the first day to try to catch better wind and wind angle (that's why it took three nights, instead of the normal two nights for us to shoot directly across).

Our route from San Blas on the Mexican mainland to Ensenada de Los Muertos in Baja. You can see how we were fighting for northing on the first third of the passage.

Just before we started our passage, we had noticed water entering the v-berth around the trim on long the starboard side. A leak on the boat! Not a huge one - small enough for paper towels every hour to take care of, but disturbing nonetheless.

Here, after I removed the teak wood trim, you can see the discoloration where sea water was entering through bolt holes.

We kept an eye on the leak the entire passage. We quickly realized that pounding into seas on a port tack is what really made the leak show up, which made sense. While underway, I removed the teak wood trim to get a better look at what was going on, and resolved to fix it once we got to a place were I could work on the outside of the boat.

Finally, after crossing the Sea, we came in to one of our favorite spots, Ensenada de los Muertos. We didn't stay long, as we were excited to begin our month sailing the Sea of Cortez. We'd sailed back here precisely because we'd loved our short time here last December. Spring is one of the ideal times to be in this part of the Sea. Our loose itinerary would include (in whatever order we chose) Isla Espiritu Santo, Isla Partida, Isla San Francisco, Puerto Los Gatos, Agua Verde, and San Evaristo. This promised to be our best cruising yet!

View from the palapa at Ensenada de Los Muertos, with Brightnest anchored at center.

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Birdlist

Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, American Crow, Northwestern Crow, American Robin, Bald Eagle, Red-winged Blackbird, Spotted Towhee, House Finch, Steller’s Jay, Common Raven, Rock Pigeon/Rock Dove, Canada Goose, Mallard, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Osprey, White-crowned Sparrow, Pelagic Cormorant, Wood Duck, Pileated Woodpecker, Surf Scoter, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Double-crested Cormorant, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Barrow’s Goldeneye, American Kestrel, Common Merganser, Blue-winged Teal, Greater Yellowlegs, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Trumpeter Swan, Hooded Merganser, Northern Shoveler, Horned Grebe, Cedar Waxwing, Varied Thrush, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, Pied-billed Grebe, Western Grebe, Killdeer, Pearly-eyed Thrasher, Zanaida Dove, Magnificent Frigatebird, Bananaquit, Great Kiskadee, Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, Black Oystercatcher, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Whimbrel, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Snowy Egret, Brewer’s Blackbird, Brandt’s Cormorant, Willet, Western Scrub-Jay (California Scrub-Jay), Acorn Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Wild Turkey, Greater Roadrunner, Eastern Towhee, Northern Mockingbird, American Goldfinch, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Boat-billed Heron, Tricolored Heron, Rufous-bellied Chachalaca, Roseate Spoonbill, Blue-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Red-billed Tropicbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Anhinga, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, Yellow-winged Cacique, Common Black Hawk, Neotropic Cormorant, Heerman’s Gull, Crested Caracara, Lineated Woodpecker, American Oystercatcher, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow,
Green Kingfisher, Yellow Grosbeak, Cinnamon Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Boat-billed Flycatcher, Rufous-backed Robin, Long-billed Mexican Hermit, Guineafowl, Smooth-billed Ani, Hooded Oriole, Mangrove Swallow, White-throated Magpie-Jay, Inca dove, White-bellied Chachalaca, Social Flycatcher, White-winged Dove,
Black-throated Magpie-jay, Muscovy Duck, Purple Gallinule, Barred Antshrike, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-Tailed Oriole, Orange-chinned Parakeet, Green Heron, Rufescent Tiger Heron, Common Tody-Flycatcher, Wattled Jacamar, Shiny Cowbird, Panama Flycatcher, Lesser Kiskadee, Isthmian Wren, Keel-billed Toucan, Greater Ani, Tropical Kingbird, Crimson-backed Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, White-necked Jacobin, Yellow-throated Toucan, House Wren, Black-breasted Puffbird, White-necked Puffbird, Pied Puffbird, White-whiskered Puffbird, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Dusky Antbird, Black-bellied Wren, Cinnamon Woodpecker, Great Tinamou, Dot-winged Antwren, Southern Bentbill, Rufous-tailed Flycatcher, Rufous mourner, Yellow-rumped Cacique, Scarlet-rumped Cacique, Song Wren, Grey-chested Dove, Tawny-faced Gnatwren, Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Masked Tityra, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Velvety Manakin, Red-capped Manakin, Blue-chested Hummingbird, Red Lored Parrot, Blue-headed Parrot, White-shouldered Tanager, Plain Brown Woodcreeper, Cocoa Woodcreeper, Crane Hawk, Blue-black Grosbeak, Collared Aracari, Fiery-billed Aracari, Chestnut-headed Oropendola, White-tailed Trogon, American Flamingo