CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb CRUISING NOTES Things to know before you go Tenth Edition Nora and Phil McCaleb Carole and Pat McIntosh CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb About the authors -- Both the McCalebs and the McIntoshes have over 45 years of sailing under their belts. The wisdom the authors have accumulated is gained from having sailed thousands of miles of cruising and some exotic landfalls. Phil and Nora have chartered in New Zealand and the Caribbean; the four of them chartered catamarans in Belize. Carole has crewed from Tahiti to Hawaii, Pat, from Hawaii to San Francisco. Their cruising has taken them from the waters of Canada and Washington south to Panama. They’ve spent memorable times in the Mexican and Central American waters. In addition to that, both couples have made multiple trips up and down the coasts of California and Mexico, including doing Baja Ha Ha’s and Baja Bashes. Desiring to share the experiences and collective knowledge they’ve gained together along with the input from other cruisers, they have conducted cruising seminars together for several years, and have helped prepare thousands of other sailors to go cruising. Their seminar notes, input from question and answer sessions and input from many cruising Pat and Carole McIntosh friends ultimately culminated in the creation of this book, eight editions ago. They now invite you to sit back, relax, peel back the front cover,* and join them as they help you prepare for a “sail of a lifetime” down the west coast of North and Central America, or wherever the wind blows! * ”It’s about time all this stuff is available in one place!” * Strictly Sail Pacific – boat show program 2014 CRUISING NOTES Things to know before you go Tenth Edition Nora and Phil McCaleb and Carole and Pat McIntosh Encore Press, Sacramento, California www.encorepress.com CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb Copyright © 2020 by Nora McCaleb, Phil McCaleb, Carole McIntosh, Pat McIntosh. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrievable system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holders, except for brief quotations used in a review. 2 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb About Our Sponsors Listed here are a number of businesses whose services we, or cruising friends we trust, have used for many years and been extremely happy with. We recommend each of them to you, without reservation. They have assisted us in compiling information for CRUISING NOTES, and have underwritten the cost of providing books for free, and below printing cost to attendees at our cruising seminars and other events, and now when boat show seminars are cancelled. Dr. Kevin McCaleb Cabo San Lucas, MX Cabrales Boat Yard Puerto Peñasco, MX C P T Auto Pilot Aptos, CA Costalegre Tourist Bureau Barra de Navidad, MX El Cid Marina Mazatlán, MX HyperVent Marine Marysville, WA Marina San Carlos San Carlos, MX Marina Puerto de la Navidad Barra de Navidad, MX Mariners General Insurance Newport Beach, CA Paradise Village Marina Puerto Vallarta, MX Zaragoza Marine Puerto Vallarta, MX They were great to us, and will certainly help you enjoy your cruising experience when you are in their area. Please tell them “thanks” for sponsoring CRUISING NOTES – Things to know before you go and CRUISING NOTES – Underway to MEXICO. If you would like information regarding copies of either of these books for organizations or events please contact the authors at: [email protected] 3 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore . Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain -- 4 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb Table of Contents SECTION I getting ready to go ...................................... 7 Introductory Notes .................................................... 7 Things to Consider ................................................. 16 Financing the dream ............................................... 19 Finding and Choosing the Boat .............................. 26 Prepping the Boat Before You Cast Off .................. 40 Selecting The Crew ................................................ 52 Provisioning and Recipes ....................................... 56 Nitty Gritty .............................................................. 74 Anchoring ............................................................... 84 Navigation ............................................................ 100 Communications ................................................... 117 Safety Issues ........................................................ 124 Cruising With Kids ................................................ 130 Cruising With Pets ................................................ 141 Enjoying Mexico While You Cruise pgs….. 153 to 170 getting around by Busses, Ferries, Trains & Planes Web Results & information buses in Mexico | Destinations * Baja Ferries Website Flights to Leon Guanajuato Flights from Los Angeles to Leon-Guanajuato Flights from Leon Guanajuato Facts about Getting to Loreto, Mexico Flights to Guaymas / San Carlos Documents Required to Fly to Mexico and Canada Tips for Driving in Mexico | Esurance Prepping For Heavy Weather .......................................... 170 Laying Up For Hurricanes ........................................ 178 Cruising Styles ………………………………………………193 5 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb SECTION II Under Way ......................................... 201 The Pacific Northwest to San Francisco .................. 202 Distance Planning for Washington and Oregon.... 202 Distance Planning Data for California ................... 214 Baja and the Sea of Cortez .................................. 227 Planning Data for Baja California ......................... 227 Heading south from Mazatlán along The Coast ... 256 Distance Planning Data for Mainland Mexico ....... 257 Mainland Mexico (The Gold Coast) .................. 263 Mainland Mexico, (South of Zihuatanejo) ............. 279 The Tehuantepec Area ......................................... 281 Central America .................................................... 284 Distance and Planning for Central America .......... 285 Guatemala ............................................................ 288 El Salvador ........................................................... 288 Nicaragua ............................................................. 290 Costa Rica ............................................................ 293 Panama ................................................................ 295 About Our Sponsors ............................................. 297 Our Closing Comments ........................................ 313 6 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb SECTION I getting ready to go Introductory Notes The genesis of Cruising Notes, what you can expect from the book, what subjects are covered, and how to use this book. CRUISING NOTES – Things to know before you go began to germinate many years ago, even before we had any idea it was taking shape. We were fortunate to begin boating when we were young. Like all young families raising kids we were trying to figure out what we “shoulda known before we ( fill-in-the-blank )”. And naturally, as with most people, that “figuring-out” continued right into getting ready to go cruising, long after “young” had passed us by. It continued, unseen and unexpectedly growing, and began to sprout between 1993 – 2006 as our preparations to go cruising were underway. Just like with most “seasoned” people when venturing into the details of a more demanding venture or hobby, we felt the need for some tips as to what lies ahead. Fortunately, both families had had a series of boats prior to seriously thinking about going cruising, and we both happened to belong to “trailer- sailing” groups that included pretty knowledgeable sailors who had done some cruising. We began moving into larger sailboats, sailing on San Francisco Bay and chartering in many venues. The good fortune continued as we became the recipients of lots of good advice and help from many people before we actually shoved-off and headed south. Even more fortunately, at the time we happened to be members of the same sailing group on Folsom Lake just east of Sacramento, the Sacramento Catalina 22 Fleet 4. As it turned out, five sailing couples from Fleet 4 had decided to go cruising in 2005. Phil and Nora McCaleb were the only ones who 7 CRUISING NOTES - Things to know before you go McIntosh / McCaleb made it out the Golden Gate that year. The rest of us, Randy and Nancy Roland, Chris and Robyn Parker, Paul and Marilyn Butler, and Carole and Pat McIntosh made it south to Mexico with the Baja Ha Ha in 2006. The “book” surprised us when it actually began to take shape and blossomed out of necessity in 2009, after our return from cruising. We were asked to present a seminar for sailors getting ready to sail south at the “STRICTLY SAIL PACIFIC” Boat Show at Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. That first year we put together and passed out a couple dozen pages of notes stapled together.