Planning the Great Pacific Adventure

T-1 month for the Pacific Puddle Jump!

This is my first Substack post, so let me start with my background. I retired early (in my 50s) to pursue a decades-long dream of sailing to the South Pacific. We cut the lines from our slip and left our marina, where we had stayed for 5 years, in November 2024. Since then, we've sailed from San Pedro, California to Catalina Island, then to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

We sailed another 1,000 nautical miles with stops in Isla Cedros, Bahia Santa Maria, Cabo San Lucas, and San Jose del Cabo, before taking a five-week break at the anchorage of La Cruz De Huanacaxtle on Banderas Bay, near Puerto Vallarta. While we love La Cruz and its amazing cruiser community, we wanted to do some additional exploring before casting off for the South Pacific. We sailed from La Cruz to Punta de Mita, past Isla Isabel, to Mazatlan. After a short stay in Mazatlan, we crossed again to Los Muertos and La Paz.

La Paz was the culmination of a five-year goal to return to the location where we purchased Keeldragger, our beloved 1989 Valiant 40. La Paz has become our base for about a month. We've enjoyed the anchorage and the La Paz Waltz, made a trip to Isla Espiritu Santo, and stayed a couple of weeks at Marina Costa Baja for some rigging tune-ups and miscellaneous other projects.

Today is Saturday, February 15. It's exactly one month from my target kickoff of the long passage to the Marquesas. This will be a solo mission, and I have been contemplating all of the planning, logistics, and routing necessary to pull off over 8,000 nautical miles of sailing within about six months. We expect our total adventure to exceed 10,000 nautical miles when you include our mileage from cruising Mexico.

Top of mind is boat readiness, including making sure that the boat, its rigging, and all of its systems are prepared for an epic bluewater voyage. Route planning is paramount because we want to avoid cyclones in the South Pacific, hurricanes in the North Pacific, squalls near the equator, and choose routes with favorable winds. I have an overall high-level plan and am now starting to sweat the finer details: What documentation do I need for French Polynesia? How will I manage electric power consumption with my limited solar array? What spare parts do I still need to acquire in Mexico?

We have one more decent-sized passage to sail from La Paz, BCS, Mexico in the Sea of Cortez to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle on the Mexican mainland, about 400 nautical miles. From there, we will make final preparations with a target to depart for the Marquesas at the first good weather window starting around March 15. That passage is about 2,800 nautical miles. Our plan is to average about 100 nautical miles per day. Keeldragger can certainly go faster than that, but we expect some periods of light wind. Additionally, we will be prioritizing safety and comfort over speed.

Our course will take us mostly west from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle past Islas Marietas and eventually past the Mexican archipelago of Isla Socorro, Isla San Benedicto, and Isla Roca Partida. Isla Clarion is the last Mexican island with a possible bailout point before we make our turn deeper south towards 10°N 120°W. From that waypoint, we'll look at the most current weather model forecasts to see where the optimal spot is to cross the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), affectionately referred to as the doldrums. It's quite possible that we'll encounter some squalls here, and we will likely find ourselves motoring for a day or two to get back into the Southern trade winds.

We will set our final course to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas for check-in. I am arranging with an agent, Tahiti Crew, to help with the documentation and formalities. The Marquesas is the first island chain of French Polynesia. After some rest and recovery in the Marquesas, we will make our way to the Tuamotus and finally the Society island groups. Most likely stops in the Tuamotus will include the Fakarava and Rangiroa atolls. These atolls are low-lying extinct volcano reefs with lagoons in the middle that present interesting challenges for anchoring and entering and exiting the passes.

I have not yet decided on Bora Bora, but Tahiti and Moorea are quite likely the last stops we will make in French Polynesia. I am hoping to check out of French Polynesia at the end of June to start the next big passage to Hawaii. The passage from Tahiti to Honolulu is about 2,400 nautical miles. Much of this passage will be a reach instead of sailing at deep downwind angles that we expect with the trades coming into the Marquesas. Hawaii is to the north, but we'll have to make our way east a bit to accommodate for currents.

Hawaii is not a friendly place for extended cruising, but we are very excited about a brief rest, recovery, and provisioning stop here before our last and final big passage home to Southern California. This last leg from Hawaii is the most complex of the three big passages in terms of weather routing. There is a big high-pressure zone which we need to either sail around (usually very far to the north) or motor through. Our final strategy for this passage may include a mix of sailing and motoring. Our fuel supplies are finite: we carry about 90 gallons of diesel in the main tank and about 20 gallons on deck in jerry cans (unless we pick up more). This final leg is about 2,200 nautical miles.

If you're keeping up, that's 2,800 nautical miles from Mexico to the Marquesas, another 700 from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus to the Societies, 2,400 nautical miles from Societies to Hawaii, and 2,200 nautical miles from Hawaii to Southern California. That's 8,100 nautical miles beyond the over 2,000 nautical miles that we will have sailed since departing for Mexico!

I've been fortunate to have crew for most of the cruising in Mexico. I thought much of this would be solo, but I've had several friends come down and crew: Andy, Chris, Bill, Scott, and David. The admiral has also joined me for local cruising. I currently do not have crew lined up for the rest of the adventure. While I'm not opposed to taking on crew, it's quite a commitment for friends who have work and family responsibilities at home.

I've been blessed with an amazing wife who has been super supportive of my shenanigans. This cruising adventure has, at times, been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The highs of seeing all of the natural beauty and meeting amazing people in amazing places are incredible. But dealing with the stress of sleep deprivation, equipment failures, seasickness, and loneliness takes its toll on you. I am less concerned about returning to the comforts of a land-based home than I am about returning home to be with my wife and family.

My favorite routine while cruising Mexico is commuting with Debbie to work. She drives about an hour each way to work, and we talk on the phone via Starlink during those times. The cost of data on Starlink goes up significantly when offshore, so I'm dreading having to be frugal with our conversations. Starlink is also an energy hog, so I'll only have it turned on momentarily when underway. Iridium Go will be my primary method for texting and getting updated weather GRIBs while underway. It uses less power, so I can keep it on all of the time.

Keeldragger in a slip at Marina Costabaja, La Paz, BCS, Mexico