(posted 04/30/24)
Up at, underway by 6:45. Breakfast and morning routines underway.
We saw about a dozen boats, only a few of them had AIS, and had it broadcasting.
AIS, is an Automatic Identification System, it uses a VHF radio (on a different frequency) to broadcast information about your boat.
For much more information about it, check out this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_identification_system
In the various sailing and boating groups that I am a member of (both on Facebook had other websites) there is a semi frequent discussion about which is better RADAR or AIS, and if one is on a limited budget, and you can only afford one which should you choose. We have both, and as we saw today, probably 10 – 15% of the boats we saw were using their AIS (if they had it) all were visible on the RADAR. A frequent argument is that RADAR is too difficult to use, depending on what you are trying to use it for it can be difficult to use it well. But as with any tool, practice and it gets easier.
For example, I was able to identify boats on the water about 5 miles away from us that required binoculars to clearly see that it was a boat and not just haze. In this case, they were not using AIS.
Reasons to have it off include concerns about pirates (not a huge concern here in the Sea of Cortez), and not wanting to broadcast your location worldwide. I am not in that group.
Bottom line, we have both AIS & RADAR, and use both most of the time. AIS virtually always.
We arrived at Balandra (this is on Isla Carmen, off the coast near Loreto) at about 11:30. We were able to sail for about 30 minutes, there wasn’t much wind today.
After lunch and a nap we went for a swim.
The water is warmer than it has been, about 74 degrees. Certainly clearer than anything I have swam in here this year. I was able to see the bottom of the boat and that is time to get it cleaned.
Now that we are out, Reneé is going to fish for dinner and see if she can catch anything she saw while we were snorkeling.
