First Impressions

On our arrival at Puerto Escondido we found the boat to be in very good order. Of all the boats cruising boats we have owned, Seabird, Oraka, Tystie, and even the tried and true Renahara, Taiko is in the best take over condition of them all. Her interior is almost like new, there are few blemishes, she is clean, tidy and odor free. Similarly, the exterior is very sound with good paint work on the top sides and deck; deck gear and running rigging are also of high quality and in good order. The Monitor wind vane self steering, while an essential item of cruising equipment, is a very nice piece of shiny boat jewelry. Outwardly Taiko's only flaws are her green colour, poor anti-fouling ( though a sound hull below water line ) and aged green sail covers.

Our first night aboard on the hard was not comfortable. I was very hot and we were plagued by mosquitoes; dawn was a welcome relief. The following day was spent shopping for victuals in the town of Loreto where we also enjoyed a late breakfast, with Mexican craft beer, in a very pleasant restaurant that had good food and excellent service. Beer for breakfast? Why not? A cold beer in the shade with delicious Mexican food is hard to beat. The remainder of the day was spent stowing away our purchases and personal effects and discovering exactly what equipment remained on board.

The next few days were spent assessing our options and meeting the local marina community who where, almost without exception, American. It was quickly discovered that any thoughts of an anti foul job and a leisurely time at Marina Puerto Escondido were to be eye watering in expense. So it was decided, after a road trip by rental car to La Paz, to launch the boat as she was and seek our fortune elsewhere. This was a little disappointing because we enjoyed good company at music evenings at the bar. It was very pleasant to meet another mandolin player along with other musicians who were less interested in playing old American pop tunes. The trip to La paz was interesting but regrettably short. It was principally intended as shopping trip to stock up on supplies and to catch up with Eberhard, an old friend of Renate.

Renate and Eberhard

The remaining time at the Marina was spent stowing victuals away, filling water tanks, checking systems and hauling up sails.

As can be seen from above photograph the sails needed a bit of tweaking. The first batten after the yard had slipped forward creating the crease at the top of mainsail, this was easily remedied. Later we put upper and lower sheeting on the fore sail, to better control twist, and would like to have done the same with the main sail but lacked the resources to easily do so. Meanwhile Renate, while sick with airline acquired influenza, cleaned out out the lazerette of spilled engine oil from cracked containers and re-stowed everything in the cockpit lockers. My size and claustrophobia make it difficult for me to undertake such tasks.  Our last morning was spent walking up what is known as Canyon Tabor. Spectacular scenery, which due to high day time temperatures is best viewed as early as possible after dawn.

 Canyon Tabor

Having no dinghy we were obliged to remain in the Marina for longer than we would have liked. So on the 3rd of October we happily motored out of Puerto Escondido to cross the Sea of Cortez bound for San Carlos/Guaymas. Light contrary winds predominated on our slow trip to the NE which made necessary about ten hours of engine running for the 150 mile trip. Sailing to windward in light NE we arrived at 1800hrs at Puerto Ballandra, a beautiful horse shoe bay, we thought this something really special, until the mosquitos and no see'ems arrived. It ended up being a very hot itchy uncomfortable night. The following day we looked as though we were suffering from measels.

Happy to be underway again.

The next stop was another lovely bay named Caleta de San Juanico. This time we took care not anchor too close to the shore so as to avoid being plagued by by insects. a cool swim around the boat soothed our hot itching skins and we enjoyed a hot but relative comfortable night. The following day was more of the same, beating to weather in light winds until we reached our last anchorage before crossing the Sea of Cortez bound for Guaymas/San Carlos. This anchorage, Bahia Coyote in Bahia Concepcion, was beautiful and were acutely aware of our lack of a dinghy to row ashore. The weather forecast for the following day was for strong north westerly winds of up to 35 knots. Being unfamiliar with the boat we decided that discretion was the better part of valor and that waiting for the weather to ease was a good idea. On the 7th of October we set sail for San Carlos, 100 miles away to the NE, expecting a nice beam reach in 15 to 20 knots of NW wind. Ha! What we got was 5 to 10 knots form the North. With a lot of coaxing the boat jogged along through the night close hauled at about 3knots. At 1100 hrs on the 8th of  October we motored in to San Carlos marina and took a berth for a couple of nights while contemplated our options. Lamenting our lack of dinghy we set about investigating ways of remedying the problem in a country where material resources can be difficult to obtain. Just how difficult we were about to find out.