We left Puerta Vallarta in February and headed north to Mazatlan and then crossed to La Paz on the Baja side. After frustrations with a faulty Milltec AIS, they sent us a new one (re-conditioned. Why send a reconditioned replacement for a faulty new unit?) and it works great! The integration with Coastal Explorer is wonderful and it is so nice to click on the ship icon and see who, what and where they are going.

A cruiser buddy, Scott on Twins gave me a great pointer. He suggested to set up the perimeters for the boat settings and the AIS vessel setting such that the predictor lines are set at 1 day. That puts a laser beam on the chart for our vessel icon and the surrounding vessel icons, so that one knows where our paths will cross. Man, I wish our Milltech would have been working when we crossed the Gulf of Panama! After 6 times crossing the Gulf of Panama, I feel like a deer crossing the freeway!

The Sea of Cortez is a wonderful cruising ground and we have met many cruisers here and made many friends. We will leave Otter for the summer in a marina, and return for more cruising in January.

Last tip. There is a new book out: Sea of Cortez, A Cruiser's Guidebook. It is written by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. It is probably the finest cruising guide I have seen for any area. It has become the cruiser's favorite for the Sea of Cortez.

Fair Winds, Randy and Gayle SV Otter