11-10 to 11-16, Trip from San Jose Del Cabo to La Paz

11-10, Thurs. – We left the harbor of San Jose Del Cabo for Los Frailes this morning at about 7:00 a.m. Still quite a North West wind coming at us, it was more than we expected and was forecasted. It was quite the bash up the inside coast of Baja on the Sea of Cortez. It built to at least 22 knots of wind on our bow, 6 foot short period seas as well, so we ended up motoring the entire way. Lots of green water over our bow and a lot of splash into the cockpit as a result.

We made it to Los Frailes at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Los Frailes is an anchorage that is supposed to protect from Northerly and Westerly winds and seas. We had been contemplating snorkeling and left on the dighy to go to shore, but the winds and seas changed to come from the east, with seas building to about 3 to 6 ft. and the swells coming into the bay (bahia). We had to turn back to the boat and wait it out.

We decided to spend the next day here.

11-11, Friday – It didn’t really calm down this day as we had hoped. We stuck it out another day and had to stay on the boat for the whole day as a result. It was forecasted to be calm tomorrow. It was still a beautiful day and we enjoyed the anchorage. I did some drawing and some chores (oooooo).

There were at least 20 or 30 boats anchored there and on the radio, we were all trying to figure out whether to stay or go. It was most unfortunate because there was the Pulmo Reserve there, the ONLY barrier reef in Western Mexico, which would have been great diving/snorkeling! Maybe we will come back here on our way to Mazatlan!

11-12, Saturday – We had decided to leave the night before and left VERY early in the morning (6:00 am) to head for Ensenada de Los Muertos! It was much calmer on the run up there. Winds only 8 to 12 knots coming from the South, South-East. Nice motor-sailing conditions!

We got there by 1:25 p.m. and the conditions were lovely in the anchorage. There were about 30 boats already anchored here. However, shortly after anchoring, the winds started building from the only direction that would be a problem: That being from the south-east! Every boat in here was bobbing like a hobby horse on seas and waves that built to 6 feet!! We weathered this pretty well. Yet all but 7 boats left by the late hours of the night or early morning hours. We seemed to have a very good set on our anchor, so we stuck it out, looking for better weather the next day. Not a very good night sleep for either of us. We both slept in the salon and were up every hour or so, checking our situation.

11-13, Sunday – After dawn, the wind died down and it was great! Worth the wait! Not very many boats left here at this point (7). Dick wanted to check the engine “stuff”, so he checked all the fluids and belts, etc. We tried to start the engine after that and it wouldn’t start (??) After several tries, Tami said it sounded like air in the system. Dick asked her how she came to this conclusion and she said “It sounds like air!!” Dick bled the system for air and…………guess what?.......... It started!! WOW!! Kudos for sound! (Great Luck on the guess – D :--)).

We went ashore for lunch at one of the two spots to eat. This was the only restaurant on the northeast end of the shore, which had been there for quite some time and was founded by the “Giggling Marlin” of Cabo San Lucas. Reasonably priced, excellent service and excellent food. We were able to watch the 49er game, in Spanish :-). What a GAME! We watched it there for the 1st half and then walked a mile down to the other end of the beach to the small exclusive resort hotel to catch the 2nd half of the game!!

On the walk we saw a HUGE gaggle of pelicans patiently waiting to be fed by the local fishermen who were cleaning their recent catch. They were quite gentlemanly waiting for the scraps the fishermen were throwing to them.

YaaaaaaaY for the 2nd half of the game too!! 49ers are now 8&1. Go 49ers! The hotel had an amazing Lionel train collection, set up on tracks circling around the 2nd floor of the restaurant.

We decided we would stay another day here, because it was such a lovely anchorage and the weather was unsettled at this point.

It was getting dark and we headed back to the boat. Another mile walk back to the dingy and a ride out to the boat. The winds were picking up and it was starting to rain. We got back just in time to close the hatches and hunker down. In the middle of the night, it REALLY started pooring! We had to “dog down” everything! Ah but all the salt got washed off the boat.

At 5:00 a.m. Dick got up for an anchor check and discovered we had dragged anchor about 300 feet!! We narrowly missed a boat that had pulled in, in the dark, right next to us (for some reason). Blessedly, we did not collide! Anyway, we let out some more chain and got a bit of distance from them for the rest of the “blow” (which didn’t end until the next day).

11-14, Monday -- We both spent the rest of the morning “watching” to make sure we didn’t collide with the boat that pulled in, in the night. They didn’t seem to really care. OH WELL?

At any rate, the winds blew pretty hard most of the day until the afternoon, about 3:00. Our friends from the boat “Convivia” came by to try to help Dick with the Single Sideband (SSB) radio and our friends from the boat “Nirvana” came by to give us pictures of our boat with the “spinnaker” sail flying during the trip from Tortuga to Santa Maria (Awesome!) (see the pics). We had pictures for them of their beautiful spinnaker on that trip as well! Nice trade, they were thrilled too!

The winds finally died down at around 5:00 and we went to the restaurant for dinner. Had a lovely time and died after NO SLEEP for a couple of days :--). We may stay yet another day here :--)

11-15, Tuesday -- After the weather report that morning, which forecasted strong Northerlies for later today and all day tomorrow, we decided to head up through the San Lorenzo Channel and get to an anchorage closer to La Paz. We finally decided on a lovely small anchorage called Caleta Lobos. We arrived there at 4:30 in the afternoon, having left Los Muertos at 9:00 am. It was a lovely day and nice breezes, but the breezes were off our bow most of the way except for the last hour or so.

We were well protected from the north winds, so we had a very good night sleep! The strong winds forecasted never materialized.

11-16, Wed. – We listened to the weather and the Amigo Net on the SSB radio, which we now do every morning. It is very informative and a great way to check on your cruising buddies. There is a check-in every morning, weather and everyone can request to talk to other boats at that time. Pretty cool!

Following the morning net, and again a forecast of increasing winds, which did materialize. we headed for La Paz at about 9:30 a.m. We got ahold of the Palmira Marina and received the good news that they had a slip available for us! Yay! After being on a hook for a week, it was nice to get a slip! Of course this means internet and cell-phone coverage too.

We arrived at 11:20 am and we LOVE IT! While Dick did the check-in procedures I squared the boat away for dock living. It was warm, so opened up all the hatches and portholes, turned on the fans, did dishes, covered the forward windows against the sun, etc. etc. etc. Feeling good!
We met up with our friends from “Nirvana” for a late lunch at one of the two restaurants in the harbor. Super YUMMY food at a medium price and good company!

We had ourselves a LONG shower at the marina showers and a GOOOOOOOOD night sleep!!
We are looking forward to checking out the town, re-provisioning, going to the “Ha-Ha” Welcome Party tomorrow night, getting our Temporary Import Permit (for the boat) squared away (Spending lots of time with the bureaucracy), etc.

We are also very much looking forward to a visit from Yvonne, Rudy & Sherrie later this month!!
Will catch up with you all later. Stay Tuned!