Video of the trip with Natalie

 Here's a little video of the trip

A Charter trip in the sea of Cortez

I just finished a cool trip up around the islands of the sea of cortez.  It was 10 days long charter with one guest, Natalie.  She wanted to see some whales, and explore the islands around here, so off we went.  We found some Humpbacks for starters...

And then went to Esperitu Santo island and found a cool hike up a hill to look down on the boat from.  This is a tree along the way.

That night the stars (and planets) were out nicely, so we looked, and found the moon, and a planet, and the moons of that planet!  Its Jupiter.  These are the Galilean moons.  Galileo looked with a 6x telescope and found these circling the big dot in the sky and thought that the earth might not be the center of the universe.  

Also in the sky was the Moon.  Wow.

Then we went to Isla San Francisco, and did the ridge hike.

A view of Aquila from the shore.    

Then we went and did a morning skiff tour at this mangrove spot and then sailed up to Punta Salinas, and did a nice arroyo hike.

The sunsets from here are amazing.  You can see the Uncruise boat in this photo, they were there too.  So I got to say hi to some friends over there.  I'll join the ship in a week.

Then we went to a new cool spot and hiked up this valley up to where it becomes a slot canyon.  There were great birds along the way, including some Cardinals.

And some nice butterflies

At the slot there was some water blocking us, so we didn't go any further.

And we found a vulture skeleton, that hadn't been picked over too much, so the bones were in great shape.  Look at the eye socket bones!

The next day it was supposed to be calm, so we set off for whales.  We found a sperm whale!  We spent a lot of time with it, and then Natalie went for a swim with it, and saw it under water.  It was an amazing moment.

I really like how bumpy they are.

And the blow is diagonal.  We also saw it sitting in the water vertically and the nose was a round bump sticking out.

Then we had some dolphins and Natalie got a great view from the bow.

And just before sunset we found a blue whale.  

We managed to get really close to it in the skiff.

Then the sun set.

And the blue whale blew.

The next morning we set off again, and it was calm again.  I brought Natalie up the mast for a view.

And we found the blue whale again!

This time when we got close, Natalie went swimming with it, and got two good looks as it swam by her.

We then went to Agua Verde and had a great sunrise

And did a cool hike along the shoreline through some caves

We found a pretty tame pelican and got some nice views.

Then we went to Los Gatos and did the hike up the red rocks

Its sandstone and wonderful

And we were heading south at dawn.

This day we had some wind, and did some nice fast sailing.

Natalie did some swinging from the halyards

And we ended up at the sea lion colony and got some looks at baby sea lions

The last day was at Esperitu Santo again, in beautiful weather.

We hiked a new spot and got up pretty high.

Here's a shot of the boat going along with the kite camera.

 

A trip with my big (est) brother!

My eldest brother Jeremy came down for a week, and we sailed around on Aquila.  We had previously thought about going out to a remote island 350 miles west, but the timing would have been tight and the weather was not cooperating.  Yesterday I spoke with a sailor who was further west and he said he had lots of lightning storms with multiple bolts per second intensity, which I would not have wanted to be out in.  Since there was forecast for a lot of rain and thunderstorms, the wind would have been lighter, and we may not have been able to make it to the island and back in time.  So instead we went to a couple other islands.  The first one is a really cool island and we found a surf wave at it.  A different wave than I have found in the past there, but a beautiful sandy beach with a break that is kind of a beach break and reef as well.  I got some surfing in and Jeremy filmed a bit, so here's a video of one of the waves. 

Then we set off for Isla Isabel, and when we first pulled up the anchor, the winds were 30 kts, so I got to fly my new staysail and two reefs, before slowly easing everything out to full sails as the wind came down.  

Isla Isabel is always great, and I saw a few friends from long ago there.  A tour operator, Damien, who is from San Blas, has been taking people out there for at least 10 years, and I met him long ago, so it was good to see him again.  Then one of his guests recognized me as well, from maybe 6 years ago.  That was nice too.  We snorkeled around and found some neat birds.  Here is a frigate bird with the inflated pouch (its a male).

And a Red-Billed Tropic Bird sitting on a nest in a cave.

Jeremy getting close views of a frigate

And of course the Blue-Footed Boobies, dancing their mating dance.  I like to go up to this spot for sunset.

The thunderstorms were to the west, making for a beautiful sunset.

With the dancing all around.

And the frigates gliding in the light breeze.

 

A video tour of the inside of Aquila

 I've been meaning to make this video for a while.  If you have wondered what it is like inside my boat... well, hopefully this explains it.  Maybe I'll make another one in a few years and see the differences.

Bandaras Bay again

 I'm back in Punta Mita, which is near Puerto Vallarta.  

I took some photos of the last trip from La Paz to here, but sadly they are in reverse order.  Oh well.  First off, there is a remote island which will be unnamed, and upon this island there are some cool creatures, here's a green iguana...

and a hare

And there is a surf wave.  I surfed this wave a few times and it was really good.  Its a fast right.

It barrels, and I was able to get into some a little bit.

I managed a nice top turn once

and a great bottom turn.  My friend Teague was taking pictures for me.  

A broader view.

The wind was offshore but also a bit side, so there is a bit of side chop in the lip.

From the side view...

I saw a lizard eat another one.  It ate it whole and the tail was still wiggling as it went down.

poor little thing.

Aquila anchored after the successful crossing of the sea

a sunset at sea.  We had two of these, but made it in about 37 hours.  From noon to 1am.  

When we were leaving La Paz there was a peregrine falcon that landed on the boat to wish me a speedy journey, I am sure.  It was nice.  I had been contemplating naming the boat Peregrine once upon a time.  

So what's next?  Teague flies out in a few days, then I have about a week before my brother Jeremy comes to visit, then we go for a week long trip and then back here for about 5 weeks and then I sail over to La Paz again.