10-24-2011, Monday - Here we go…. Wheee, another foggy day!! However, this is the day we leave with the “Barely Legal” 18th Baha-Ha-Ha fleet for Mexico. We left the dock at 9:45 am with the back end of the fleet (not a bad place to be). Got through the start at 11:10 am and headed for the outside of the Coronado Islands because there were commercial tuna fishing pens on the inside of the islands.
We had a “rolling start”, which means there was no wind and everyone (almost) had to motor until the wind came up. We saw many dolphins (I mean hundreds) jumping and playing around us as we passed around the Coronado’s.
There was no wind (which was the mantra of most of the trip) . However, we had our brand new light wind sail!! We got to put up our snazzy new light wind sail (MPS – asymmetrical spinnaker) for the first time, at about 1:15 pm (13:15). We had never hoisted it before! It is beautiful!!! Cannot believe how beautiful it is. We managed to sail it for quite some time. See all the fabulous pics of our new sail!! We are so pleased with it and will certainly need it here in Mexico!! We still had to motor sail with it all day though, due to the lack of wind.
We have to give GREAT kudos to our friend Charlie Quest! We had our first dinner at sea with his FABULOUS bean soup, which he gave us in HMB (frozen) to take with us. Our entire crew enjoyed it, as it is still cold sailing in these waters.
The sunset was beautiful and this was Charles’ & Alex’s first overnight sail and “watches” (how exciting). The sky cleared during this first night, the stars came out, but there was no moon.
Our “watches” consisted of 3-hour shifts: 6:00 pm -9:00 pm, Charles, 9:00 pm – midnight, Tami, midnight – 3:00 am, Dick and 3:00 am – 6:00 am, Patrick. Then we continued the day-time shifts the same as well.
10-25, Tues. -- Let’s see... the second day at sea… Sunrise was spectacular!!…and at the 7:00 am “roll call” for the fleet, the “rolling start” ended…which means the engines got turned off and we sailed for the next 14 hours.
Charlie started fishing!!!!!!!!!!! Had no luck.
The wind really came up around 5:00 pm (17:00) at which time we raised the MPS again and were getting up to 8+ knots of boat speed through the night.
The sunset was fantastic, of course, and we had an uneventful overnight sail.
10-26, Weds. We awoke at sea to ……….a sunrise that was again spectacular. The seas were relatively calm and we were still sailing. Charles (boo hoo) didn’t catch anything, yet again, although he is going to try again today!
We had MANY dolphins playing around our bow today for probably a half an hour. Got a lot of great pictures of them this time. We ran the engine for charging only. The wind died down in the afternoon though, and we had to start the engine.
Cedros Island came into view! Beautiful, which means we are almost to Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortuga). We arrived at Bahia Tortuga at 7:30 pm (dark), our first anchoring in the dark.
After three days at sea, we were all ready to eat and get some sleep.
10-27, Thur., Bahia Tortuga is lovely! Cute little town! The boys went ashore early and Sandy and I took a panga to the pier. It was a very rickety dock and stairs up to the pier. Dirt roads were throughout the town. The folks in town were very excited to have the fleet there. It is the one time of year they get to make a pile of money all at once. They had prepared well for our arrival and consequential invading of their town. They go to great trouble to accommodate this event. They have to bring in all kinds of provisions in order to feed everyone in their restaurants.
The “Ha-Ha” organized a very informal softball game at the local baseball field. Everybody had a lot of fun doing this. Charlie & Tami got up to bat and both got a hit. Tami made it in for a run too. The local kids got in on the fun too.
After the game we went up to the Vera Cruz restaurant for dinner, which sits at the top of the hill in town. Nice breezes and a good view from there. It took us about four hours to get our food though. It was pretty good once we got it :--)
All the kids in town were asking for candy or $$ as we headed back to the pier to go back to the boat. Great day!
10-28, Fri. This was the pot luck beach party day. It was very hot! Lots of fun was had and lots of great food! The locals brought the water, beers and a DJ to play music for us. There was volley ball and a tug of war contest between the men and women. Dick played volley ball and Alex & I got in on the Women vs Men tug of war. Dick was on Men’s side, the women won (It was rigged the men were limited to 25 with no limit on the women’s side. – D)
The water is still a little cool at this latitude, but it was pleasant. One of the Catamarans, “Younger Girl” anchored too close to the beach and ended up stuck on the beach until the tide came in. It was quite entertaining watching everyone try to get this thing off the sand bar. They ended up having to wait for the tide to come in to get off the bar. (Which everybody knew in the first place – but they had great fun trying – D)
Time to get ready to leave tomorrow and get some sleep.
10-29, Sat. We set sail for Bahia Santa Maria at 8:00 am. This will be an all day, overnight and all day sail to arrive there just before sunset. The wind was such that we had to motorsail in order to keep a boat speed between 6 and 7 knots. We are now experiencing warm sailing at sea. It was even warm at night. Beautiful! Charlie is still fishing. The fish are biting for the Canadians, but not for us.
We watched a movie this evening. Great overnight sailing and uneventful (just the way we like it).
10-30, Sun. Another beautiful sunrise and it is getting to be HOT! We’re still fishing and catching nothing, while the Canadians continue to bring in the fish :--) We aren't the ONLY ones not catching fish!
Lots of reading, napping and enjoying the weather. We had to motorsail again all day and were getting up to 8 knots of boat speed! (The spinny really helps the boat speed – D)
We arrived in Bahia Santa Maria just before sunset, so we were able to see what we were doing and get a nice anchorage spot. Time for sleep.
10-31, Mon. Halloween! Nice day of R&R and catching up on sleep. This is a beautiful Bay. There isn’t really anything here but a tiny fishing community (and she means REALLY SMALL – half a dozen shacks. -D) No stores, not really houses, no nothing, but a few buildings. The families live in tiny little one-room boxes. It looks like they have a community kitchen (sort of) and a community toilet in a small closet of a building. At least it is actually a toilet.
I caught a cold and don’t feel that great and Alex is really tired. Dick, Charlie & Patrick went to a Halloween party on the boat “Go for Broke”. They are a big steel-hulled ketch, about 55’ long. It is really a rust-bucket looking vessel, crewed by three guys. (A definite work-in-progress – D) There were a lot of folks there, some in costume. (It was a great party – great fun was had by all – many staggering people left in their dingys on a pitch black moonless night - trying to find their boat amongst 140 others – they all look the same in the dark until your right up next to them – D)
Alex and I watched a movie and baked muffins. We enjoyed our quiet time together.
11-01, Tues, Beautiful Day!!!!! I’m feeling much better today, just coughing and sniffling. Great weather for a beach party :--) which is exactly what we had. Once again, the locals in this area truck in supplies and they cook a fabulous meal for 600. It was up on the bluff overlooking the beautiful Bay. You could walk the beach and collect sand dollars (which were plentiful) , swim in the water, dance to the live band they trucked in from Cabo, climb the bluffs or just sit and relax looking at the beautiful views.
We have gotten to know quite a few folks now and are having fun exchanging stories. Lots of nice and interesting people. We helped a set of folks out along the way down the Calif. Coast and they gave us some fresh fish to eat! Yummy Yellow Tail, Dorado and something we’re not quite sure what it is. We had sashimi for lunch with the Yellow Tail and I pan-seared the Dorado in a teriyaki sesame sauce. We helped another fellow out whose boat water was accidently emptied by a faucet left on by one of the crew. We gave him 12 gallons of water. We had another boat come by for 3 gallons later. It is great to see how people are helping each other out with all kinds of things, engine, electrical, electronics, fuel - anything from just words of advice to parts and/or labor or supplies.
We are getting ready for the last leg of our trip to Cabo tomorrow.
11-02, Wed. We started our trip at 7:00 am – No Wind. Probably the least wind we’ve had yet. We were able to motor-sail though, but couldn’t always keep a head sail up. This trip we saw lots of flying fish, schools of them, dolphins of course, we saw schools of flying stingrays (a really cool thing to see) and Charlie & I even saw a sea turtle float right by the boat. I could swear he looked up at me as we passed by him! He was a big fella.
It is definitely Mexico weather now. It was a warm sail through the night, in shorts and barefoot. Really really nice! Charlie is still fishing and still catching nothing.
The night sail was beautiful and uneventful again. The sunset & sunrise were beautiful as well.
11-03, Thurs. Cabo is coming into view. We sailed around the beautiful rocky cape and saw the town and all its resorts and beaches come into view. We came in at the same time as a Disney Cruise liner. We had to wait for him to anchor before we could pull into the anchorage area off the beach. We did not have a slip assignment yet, so we dropped anchor out in front of all the beach-front resorts. There were already a few of the “fleet” anchored there. NICE!! We all jumped in the water to cool off. It is definitely HOT. We enjoyed relaxing this afternoon and then were told we had a spot on the fuel dock in the marina. So, we motored over to the marina and took our spot right in with all the mega plastic party yachts ( and the REALLY BIG private yachts – for example, behind us was “Kiss the Sky” at 170ft – crew of 12). We got off and walked over to the Marina Office to check in and then sent Charlie & Alex off to their resort hotel.
Tonight is the party at “Squid Roe”, themed “I cheated death again and survived”, Charlie & Alex met us at the Cabo Cantina, we ate dinner at the restaurant next door and we all went to the party together. It was a huge turn-out by the “fleet”. Lots of story sharing and lots of margaritas. It was like a mini-Mardi Gras! Lots of picture taking, dancing and merriment. (The pictures will tell all if I can get the Admiral to post them – D) It was a late night for us (10:30 pm) (I can’t believe the Admiral pooped out before me – D) except for Patrick. He stayed nearly until closing.
11-04, Friday Everyone was moving a little slow this morning. Charlie & Alex came down to the boat and all 5 of us went to immigration to check into Mexico. This took about 3 hours!! Yikes! We all got a cold cervezas after that and walked down to the beach party at the Cabo Cantina Resort on the beach. They had a great buffet of food for us and music. The water is 80 degrees, blue and beautiful. They had a fun kissing contest in the surf, like the movie “From Here to Eternity”. One of the couples we have gotten to know, who came with their 3 kids and a cat, won the contest. Very cute!
We took a panga back to the marina and went to dinner at the Cantina. Got some cute pictures of the Pelicans and a sea lion fishing in the blue light from the bit yacht next to us.
Tomorrow is the awards ceremony, the final "Ha-Ha Event". Sleeeeeeeeeeep!
TODAY is Monday, 11-07 -- All our crew are now gone and we are leaving the marina to stay "on the hook" in the bay here in Cabo. We will be leaving for San Jose Del Cabo tomorrow and then on to a couple of lovely bays on the way to La Paz. Will try to finish updating the Cabo Experience before we leave tomorrow. Will update you all as we can for the trip up the Sea of Cortez to Lapaz.
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