The Ha-Ha Forecast

It seems that the weather gods just won’t give up on what’s been the worst summer weather along the coast of California since . . . well, probably the beginning of time. Yeah, it’s been great the last couple of days in the Bay Area and today isn’t too bad, but as it’s high time for Baja Ha-Ha folks to head south, the weather is heading south, too. Passage Weather is forecasting light to very light weather heading south, but there are showers and lower temps forecast for Sunday. As for San Diego, it’s raining today, and the long-range forecast is for 40% chance of rain for the Ha-Ha Kick-Off Party a week from Sunday. Thank God weather forecasting is so bad more than four days out.

What’s it like in Mexico? John and Gilly Foy, who have a beautiful condo on the water in Punta Mita, and their Alameda-based Catalina 42 Destiny in the Nayarit Riviera Marina on Banderas Bay, say the weather there is great. "We’ve heard the summer along the California coast was dismal, but don’t fret, it’s spectacular down here, with fabulous sunny weather. It’s still a bit muggy, as is common for October, but we can feel the change toward the dryer winter weather. We went sailing last week, and conditions couldn’t have been better."

As for Cabo, the forecast for the next 10 days — and the rest of the winter — is air temps in the mid-80s with no chance of rain. The water temps on the Pacific side are 80 to 81 degrees, and in the Sea of Cortez from the mid-80s to low 90s. As great as this sounds, the water temp is just a shade lower than normal on the Pacific side. In fact, if you look at an ocean temperature chart for the Pacific Coast of Baja, it’s noticeably lower than most years. In past Ha-Ha’s, we’ve seen weather temperatures at Turtle Bay, halfway down Baja, at everything between 71 to 79 degrees. We figure it will be on the low end of that scale this year. Still, considering the frigid water temps on the California coast, that’s not bad. The water temps at Turtle Bay and Cabo will be wonderful.

For those of you who will be heading south, and are still trying to get a feel for what you should and shouldn’t bring with you, Dennis and Susan Ross, who did the ’02 Ha-Ha aboard their Portland-based Endeavor 43 Two Can Play, and are now La Paz Cruising Station hosts (out of Marina Palmira) for the Seven Seas Cruising Association, offer the following perspective:

"Having been in Mexico for eight years, we find that things are rapidly changing with respect to the availability of U.S. products — and their Mexican equivalents. As Wayne Hendryx of the Hughes 45 cat Capricorn Cat mentioned, pickle relish is sometimes difficult to find, but in La Paz we were recently able to find sweet relish, dill relish, and even mustard-based hot dog relish — all on one shelf.  The local Walmart had six different styles of Dijon and Inglehoffer mustard at last glance. The mainland will not have as much in variety, but they are also increasing their selection of ‘gringo’ products.

"La Paz is unique in that many of the items in the markets come down Mexico’s Highway 1 from the U.S., so we see many American brands on the store shelves. With the introduction of Walmart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Sears, and other U.S.-branded outlets, it’s often hard to go more than a few feet in a store without seeing a familiar brand-name product. We understand that this is also happening on the mainland.

"When we first came down in the ’02 Ha-Ha, it was difficult to find wines anywhere except in expensive import stores. Now we can find many California, French, Chilean, Argentinian, South African, and Australian wines at the local markets. The imported wines are often $12-25 per bottle or more, but they are available. But we recently purchased a great Argentinian Malbec for 68 pesos — about $5 U.S. — so it’s possible to get great wine deals. There are also very good Mexican wines, especially from the Guadalupe Valley near Ensenada.

"That said, there are items that first time cruisers should bring along: We recommend spares for Yanmar and Volvo engines. Total Yacht Works in Mazatlan is a Yanmar dealer, but elsewhere in Mexico it’s very hard to find many spares. Also bring outboard engine repair kits. Engine mechanics can be found up and down the coast of Mexico, but few places have parts for outboards smaller than 40 hp. Bring a carburetor rebuild kit, and maybe a spare control module with you. If you’ve got the spare parts, it’s easy to get your outboard repaired in Mexico. Bring an abundance of filter elements for your diesel. They are available in Mexico, but they are pricey! Unless your fuel tank has been recently cleaned or your boat has been in the ocean a lot recently, you will need extra filters to combat the sludge and stuff that gets shaken loose on the 750-mile trip down Baja. And it’s worse banging back home on the Bash. Last May, one boat used an entire case of filters between Cabo and Ensenada. You should also bring propeller zincs for high-tech props such as Max-Prop, Auto Prop, Gori, and Luke to name a few. It is getting better in the major markets of La Paz and Puerto Vallarta, but elsewhere it can be slim pickings. Metric shaft zincs are also very difficult to find in many areas.

"Also make sure you have plenty of your medications. Many name brand medications are either hard to find or very expensive in Mexico. ‘Generics’ are available for many of the medications, but some are simply "similar", not exact generics. Be careful. We suggest a three- to six-month supply for critical medications. By the way, you now need a prescription to purchase antibiotics in Mexico. This was an outgrowth of the self-prescribing that was going on during the swine flu scare. Prescriptions are easy to obtain because many pharmacies have a physician in residence, so for as low as 20 pesos you can have a ‘consultation’ and receive your prescription. School supplies, elementary school text books in English, and soccer balls for the schools in the outlying coastal communities are always big hits.

"Other items to put on the potential stores list are: Canned chicken, non-alcoholic beer, Adolph’s meat tenderizer (for steaks and stingray stings), chili powder, corn starch, cocktail onions, premium liquors, tartar sauce, BBQ spices (other than major brands like Kraft), 0.5 micron water filters (will filter cryptosporidium and giardia) for using dock water, and watermaker and raw water pump rebuild kits (stainless or ceramic seals suitable for sea water are not readily available).

"The best advice is that if there is a product that you buy regularly and would not think of using the generic or store brand of that item, you should bring it with you. We also have a saying in Mexico: ‘See it — buy it.’  We have learned that just because the item is on the shelf today doesn’t mean it’s going to be there tomorrow, so stock up anytime you find a product that you can’t live without."

We agree with everything that Dennis and Susan say. On the other hand, we’ve also done short cruises in Mexico with a Cal 25 and twice with an Olson 30, and didn’t bring anything with us. We still had a great time. So if you can’t find something, don’t worry, there are always alternatives and solutions.