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While it has been a few moons since we sold our Mac 26M and moved on now to two larger boats (first a Pearson 365 Ketch and now a Hudson Force 50), the bottom line is that my son and I still talk about buying a Mac and heading for the Northern Sea of Cortez for summer vacation. In fact, the longer we cruised in Mexico and now live aboard full time in Morro Bay, I keep coming back to two types of boats as being what i call the "perfect Sea of Cortez boat": The Mac or a Trimaran.

We did see a few Macs down in the Sea of Cortez.
To go cruising in the Sea of Cortez all you really need in my opinion is:
Engle refrigerator
Honda 2000 generator
and no more excuses!

Hello to all my old Mac Friends and I promise not to be a stranger.

Merry Christmas

Rich
SV THIRD DAY

Every port ive been in around the circumference of SoC I've seen mac's. I launch from San Carlos on the east coast and see 5-6 everytime I go.I have to disagree with you on your priorities, I've never used a refrig or lugged a gen around.I vote ice cold beer, plenty of tortilla's and a frisky women preferably whose shedding her bikini as soon as we're motoring out of the marina.

When I was a kid of 14 years old I would spend 3 weeks at a time on the sea of Cortez with my dad on our small family sailboat. It was an Aquarius 23 and on-board was Dad, me, Mom, and my sister and brother. We had overnight guests come aboard on those Mexico trips too. One night in Bahia De Los Angeles after dining with the Clam Man we had 7 aboard over night. In San Felipe I would row my mom and sister ashore in a Sears and Roebuck inflatable during high tide, and at low tide I would walk to the boat.

With tides like that what you really need is a flat bottomed boat with a retractable keel or dagger-board - like he said - a Mac or a Cat. (As Roger pointed out a long time ago you can't buy an A23 anymore).

If Tattoo ever gets a 22 foot boat produced that would be a perfect Mexico boat too. Trailer it down to La Paz and live the good life. We used to do that so much with the A23 that the guys that built the boat that used to travel with us created their own motor sailboat just for cruising the Sea of Cortez - they called that boat the "La Paz". A fitting name. I think they only made about 25 of them.

If I told you what Cabo looked like back then you would never believe me.

I'm looking for a "sea of Cortez" Mac sailor group right now.

(P.S.We only used an ice chest back in those days.)

Why La Paz and not San Felipe? Its much closer...

La Paz is a very nice place. It has not changed into a shopping mall in 40 years. It still pretty nice quiet upscale town with great marinas and lots of services for sailors. It's the best of all worlds. San Felipe is very nice too, La Paz just has more stuff but is still Mexican. Not like Cabo which is just like being in Orange County. Both places are great. My favorites are La Paz, Guaymas, (on the other side), San Felipe, Muelle is a real good one on the other side too. - and my favorite as a kid, Cabo San Lucas is now my least favorite.

On the mainland I like Puerto Vallarta but it's not the best place for boating our way. In that place the way to do it is get a little apartment right down town and just walk.

I gotta get back to the Sea of Cortez in a small sailboat (like boat) - I must I must -

We have spent cumulatively a year in La Paz during our 4yrs in Mexico, and If it isn’t paradise, well then I don’t know what is! You can anchor for free in the Bay or take a marina slip and we just can’t wait to get back down there. There are several Mac’s that I saw down in La Paz (mostly X’s) and I think the Mac would just be a perfect boat for the Sea.

I've been thinking about doing the Sea of Cortez since we first got Luna Sea. Need to start planning it.

Oh yeah, richandlori is right, the place (La Paz) has these great little marinas with slips and docks and boat services, and there are lots of launch ramps and unlike San Felipe and other places the launch ramps at La Paz are not made of sand or mud. La Paz is great for the ladies too - the little town has upscale little shops that sell really nice stuff. Artsy stuff and private galleries, La Paz is sort of like a Mexican version of Laguna.

It's really nice. Well worth the drive and that's why you need a MAC. The best way to get there is to tow the boat down highway 1 - it takes two days. Usually we spent the night in Santa Rosalia in a motel parking lot. They would let us camp there overnight for free.

We would often cross over in the middle of the desert at highway 12 and go to Bahia De Los Angeles too. Nothing special, but they had good food there.

The MAC is perfect for the sea of cortez because you can get to more places by using the trailer. Also, the water is very shallow when the tide goes down, It happens twice a day and it's a HUGE tide, like 38 feet sometimes. You anchor in swells and open oceans and 4 hours later your hull is bumping the bottom and your walking to the yacht club in ankle deep water... . .

It's really cool - but the wind can get crazy really crazy.

How safe do you guys feel being down there?

I would like to spend time on the water/boat in that area, but I can't get over the fear factor of running into the wrong crowd.

Appreciate any info on the safety issues of Sea of Cortez please.

Ron

Boat your memories are becoming hazy, you need to return, the only place its shallow is at the north end near either coast or the Colorado river delta below Yuma, the tide max's out at the north end at about 21' vertical. In the central Midriff islands area there are depths to several thousand feet with nearly 100 volcanic islands rising up from the bottom, that's what makes the fishing so great. Please try and refrain from insulting the Mexicans and comparing them to californios and there little reality series cities. No way is La Paz anything like anything that has existed in cali in the last 75years. And for capnron those of us who enjoy it and don't want it ruined with thousands of turistas would like you to spread the word that it is very dangerous down here. Many Americans are murdered every day or at least kidnapped by the nasty Mexican bandito's and tortured relentlessly because of how we treated general Santa Ana. If the banditos don't get you the drug lords will steal your boat for smuggling weed into Marin Co.. Please warn everybody to stay away and not risk their lives going to mexico. P.S there is an American that rents a 26x in la paz, and several others with large rental fleets of larger mono's and cat's.

That's actually a good point. Some undesirable activities can spread - like the pirate problem off east Africa. It didn't just "appear" one day.

captronr wrote:How safe do you guys feel being down there?

I would like to spend time on the water/boat in that area, but I can't get over the fear factor of running into the wrong crowd.

Appreciate any info on the safety issues of Sea of Cortez please.

Ron

Crime in Mexico....??
We cruised Mexico full time for 4 years, me, wife and two kids from Puerto Penasco to Southern mainland and in all that time the only "crime" we saw was a stolen dingy or motor at night. Sure if your style is buying drugs, getting drunk in bars, and hanging out in border towns I wouldn't recommend Mexico but there are liberally thousands of cruisers down therre every year and the worst thing that happens is the stolen dingy/motor.

I would travel to the US for weeks at a time on business trips leaving my wife and two kids alone on the boat...was I nervous? No. Where they nervous? No. Was my family back in the States nervous...ABSOLUTELY. They though my kids would be sold off to slavery and my wife rapped and killed. Because that is the image the US media and Government wants you to have of Mexico. Be afraid, don't retire in Mexico and take away that retirement spending and taxes! Be happy how good you have it herre....with school shootings, Knockout Games, and Flash Mobs. Be happy we have the NSA, TSA, DEA, and big brother working hard to keep us safe right? BS.

In addition to all the cruising boats, there are thousands of RVs that spend the winter camped along the endless beaches in the Sea of Cortez. Their RV, and trailer boats are not stolen by the drug lords of police, or anyone. Mexico spends lots of money each and every year attracting tourists. And the local bad guys know that if you are going to rob or steal from someone, you had better do it to a local because if you mess with a tourist all hull will fall down on your head to be made an example of...if they lose the tourist they lose Millions of dollars.

There are many spots to launch the Mac up and down the Sea of Cortez. I would recommend staying on the Baja side for two reasons:
1. MANY more anchorages to explore
2. you can drive your car down the entire length of Baja with now special permit of Fee. But on the Mainland side there are importation fees and paperwork to mess with .

Tides, are not as bad to deal with as the rumors.
The only real time we had to watch or worry about them was in the Bay of Los Angeles or north of there. But still only 15ish feet...so not something that was going to cause you a disaster if you pay attention.

Things have not only changed in the last 75yrs, they changed a LOT in the 4yrs we were there!
Costcos, Walmarts, Home depots...all the big box stores are opening up (for the worst I would say) and in terms of marine supplies.
You can not get pretty much anything from one of the 6 Marine stores in La Paz, sure it will cost a bit more, but they have it now.

We plan to retire in Mexico after what we saw and it is only going to get better as Mexico improves.
I would be happy to give anyone more detailed info if they ping me if not...I will see you in Mexico/Baja soon and I might just have a Mac....X or M...

raycarlson wrote:Boat your memories are becoming hazy, you need to return, the only place its shallow is at the north end near either coast or the Colorado river delta below Yuma

My experience with the little bays and inlets around La Paz is exactly that: Walk across at low tide, 20' deep at high tide. And this is right outside of La Paz.

The bottom is sandy and it's really no big deal if the tide goes out and leaves you on the sand. We did it ALL THE TIME. It's no big deal UNLESS YOU HAVE A KEEL BOAT.

That's why the mac is perfect for the Sea Of Cortez, you can anchor in close and enjoy the tides and the shallows. The water is nice too, it's pretty clear. The tides are big in San Felipe. In La Paz the tides are not so bad, but there is a sand spit that appears out in the bay at a really low tide. Again, no big deal. The fish like to jump out of the water too.

I saw crime in Mazatlan has gotten pretty bad, we do not go there anymore. The mainland might have more crime since I was a kid but I don't see a big change in that kind of thing in Baja, but I could be wrong. I was in La Paz two years ago and it seemed fine to me. As for comparing cities, Cabo IS the same as Orange County. I don't like Cabo anymore.

La Paz is not like that at all. (I think I mentioned that).

I guess it's not going to be any fun if you will be scared, so I think the best remedy for that is to travel with other people. We could put together a trip with a group of about 10 boats or so and contact the Governor of Baja for special recommendation. It's always good to travel with letters from political figures down there - that's what we used to do.

No city wants to be compared to Orange County aka, the OC