Cabo San Lucas

01/09/2011 Hard to believe it has been 10 days since I really wrote. It has been a busy time. Hand steering since we lost our autopilot 2 weeks ago, it can be pretty challenging mentally and physically. There have been quiet a few hoops to jump through by several people, but we are meeting Randall and his wife Joanna to pick up our replacement autopilot today. We are fortunate to have friends like Randall, Joanna, and Jeff from CPT Autopilot that volunteer to help. I’m sure we will have a greater appreciation for our autopilot now. Sometimes you have to do without something to fully appreciate it. We have had 2 passages that were 3 nights at sea, and I can tell you even with one night at sea, it is really difficult to stay awake in the wee hours of the morning. Last 4am watch I was on, I kept falling asleep and waking up with a start when a wave caused the boat to lurch. I don’t like to wake Marcus up because he does most of the watches and steering so I power through the best I can. I sleep a lot on long passages, but still am tired and sleepy at the helm. We traveled from Turtle Bay and Bahia de Magdelena with Seamentress. It is nice to know another ship is close by and we keep an eye on each other. We spent 2 relaxing days at Bahia de Magdelena. Weather was nice, and enjoyed a quiet anchorage. This is where whales come to calve, starting in February. This is a huge quiet bay, and would love to spend more time here, but unfortunately, we need to get to Cabo for parts. Gonna slow down after that! We had an impromptu party on the boat in Man-O-War Cove in Magdelena Bay. Henrik and Nina from Bika, Paul and Darla from Seamentress, came by and we all had a great time chatting and sharing experiences. So far we have met quite a few cruisers, trying to remember all, and in rough order of acquaintance.
Lodi and Steve on Wendolyn ~27ft sloop out of Canada
Paul and Darla, and Ben the dog on Seamentress ~ 45 foot Ferro Cement ketch Paul from England and Darla from the bay area
James and crew on Black Wind ~47 ft ketch I believe from the bay area originally England Marni and Mike on Picara ~ 37 ft custom steel sloop from Canada
Randall on Murre, ~ 31 ft Mariner ketch out of San Francisco
JJ on Ocean Echo 1 ~ 36 ft Beneteau not sure where from
Ivan on Vento ~ 38 (?) Beneteau
Paul on Dos Gatos ~ 25 ft O’Day
Nina and Henrik on Bika ~ 26 ft Contessa out of Norway

We will enjoy the variety Cabo San Lucas offers and head to Los Frailes tomorrow, then on to more tropical Mazatlan after that.

Cabo San Lucas at last-anchored at 2am

It has been an interesting journey. I am working on putting a few thoughts in words. We are starting to have more confidence in overnight passages, but they are still difficult.

Our autopilot is not working, and we are hand steering, sometimes very stressfull.

We sailed all day, and all night and finally motorsailed the last few hours to arrive in Cabo at 2am. We were buddy boating with a boat called Seamentress with Paul and Darla. He has kept us supplied with fish, and we followed him into the harbor. He has radar, and that helps when arriving at a port in the dark.

We have met so many nice people in our travels, I am making a list of the boats and friends we have met. Always so many different people and circumstances.

Pushing Past

Yesterday we had lunch with a really nice family in the village. What a great experience to push past the tourist places by the beach and interact with local families. Marcus is getting pretty good at communicating in Spanish, and we talked about fishing, sharks, families and food.

Marcus met Lucio Jr, a cross between a Mario Brothers character and Freddie Mercury. When asked where the best fish tacos in town were to be had, like a good son, he said “Mi Mama!” So we arrived as paying guests, not sure what to expect.

In the kitchen was Maria and her sister, cooking up a storm on a modern 6 burner gas stove. They were frying fish and there were huge bowls of ensalada, and rice. I asked Maria if she were cooking for 20 people, there was so much food, she nodded with a big smile.

There were family members coming and going, and I couldn’t keep track of everyone. Food started appearing on the table, and Lucio Sr., Marcus and I and one of the daughters started eating. The fish kept frying, and Maria would replenish the platters of food. As the meal went on more family members would show up. Someone would come in and someone else would finish and get up to clear a space for them to eat. I’m not sure it was 20 people, but it was a lot!

Lucio Sr. came in and Lucio Jr. showed us a picture of him as an abalone diver in his younger days, and the 3 “guapo” men posed for a picture with sharks jaws.

It was so fun to see the family interaction, it seems the same all over the world. Brothers teasing sisters, daughters fluffing up Mom’s hair for the pictures. Eating, laughing and talking. This is the Mexico we wanted to experience.

PS formatting a memory card apparently erases all photographs. Major bummer

Turtle Bay Welcoming Committee!!

Our friend Randall from Murre, a pretty Mariner Ketch

Catching up from before

Christmas dinner at Cedros

Seaweed at Isla San Martin

12/28/2010

Turtle Bay is not quite as we remembered it. Last time we were here was during the Baha Haha in which 150 or more sailboats descend on this sleepy little fishing village. No paved roads, but here as well, it seems everyone has a car.

It was a busy place and we scoured every little market for fresh vegetables or “greenies” as our friend Joanne called them. Businesses were booming and the 3 (that I know of) restaurants are hopping. I believe the fish tacos were $2.50 with a plate of beans.

This time it is a sleepy little town again, and there is only one restaurant open. I ask for a menu, and the least expensive thing on it is 65 pesos, which is almost $6.50 YIKES This is Mexico? Where are the $2.50 fish tacos? Apparently gone with the Haha.

I was also under the impression that showers could be had for $2. I was really needing a shower by now and the quoted price of $3.50 felt high, but oh well. Then we realized we had forgotten our towels, oh, “no problema”. So our total shower cost was $8. , because towels are extra. Well, lessons learned, but it was really nice to be clean.

We have been using a lot of water and I have been puzzled because I thought I was conserving. We have a foot pump in the galley and in the head (bathroom) and we THOUGHT they were plumbed to bring water from outside the boat (sea water) for our first wash/rinse of dishes and such. I started making sure I used the foot pump a lot, to save water. Finally realized that the foot pumps actually pump water from the tank. It helps to know why I keep running so low on water, but now we have to buy jugs of water and dinghy them to our boat before we head out again.

Good news! We are making new cruiser friends all over the place, and the dinghy and outboard work great. Remind me to tell you the story of the outboard purchase from Joe soon!

The learning curve is steep, but we ARE learning!



12/27/2010
It has been a rough few days. Drug anchor twice in San Martin, big winds, high tide and a grass bottom when we thought it was sand. It was scary, but we were awake both times, and never were in any real danger, just stressful to pull up and reset our Bruce anchor in high winds. Our friend Randall had a CQR and it never moved an inch. Different bottoms require different anchoring techniques.


We both left around 8am to head for an overnighter to Cedros, hoping to arrive around 11am or so. Even though Randall’s boat is a 31 foot Mariner ketch, we should be faster than him, but he has a bigger engine, and since we are motoring much more than sailing, he quickly moves ahead of us.

We had a few challenges we had to deal with underway that put us off course, and behind our original schedule, so we did not arrive at Cedros until after dark. Not advisable to enter the anchorages, or town on Cedros in the dark, so when we arrived around 2 or 3 am the second night at sea, we “hove too” off shore. Kind of like putting the boat in idle. It just kind of drifts. I stayed up to be certain we didn’t drift too close to shore or some other hazard. That consisted of standing and sleeping occasionally waking up with a surge of water to check our surroundings. That was my Christmas eve.

The next day we motored in, set an anchor off the beach, and slept until about 11am. We were exhausted.
We are now in Cedros a very tiny pueblo, and it is Christmas Day. We are in need of fuel to continue on to Turtle Bay where we can easily fuel, and get groceries if needed. Diesel fuel is not readily available on Cedros, and it is Christmas Day. Prospects are not looking good, and tomorrow is Sunday, yikes!

Everyone says no, no Diesel, so we head over to the internet café to at least email our family. We meet Juan, who is about to close the café and reopen later, but we must look pitiful cause he allows us to go online. He and Marcus have a nice conversation between Juan’s limited English, and Marcus’s growing Spanish abilities. We explain we need fuel, and he says he will check for us, come back at 6pm. It gets dark here at 5ish, and we are not comfortable using the dinghy after dark quite yet. So starts working on it for us. He has a 125 motorcycle and he takes off, and comes back, checking out options. We are about to give up Juan’s brother Arturo and his wife show up in a car. Out comes the cell phone, here in Cedros, cell phones, and everyone has satellite TV too, and cars, seems everyone has cars and drives everywhere.
SUCCESS!!! A lady has some and Arturo will take our jerry can and go and get it. Arturo and his wife return, and we are thrilled at our Christmas miracle!

If you are ever in Cedros, make sure you go to Juan’s store/internet café. He is a wonderful guy!

Turtle Bay

Here we are in Turtle Bay. Have had a pretty interesting trip so far, will try to put my thoughts down and share them with you tomorrow.

Resting, and enjoying a quiet anchorage.

WAGONS HO!!

A little tension is in the air as we prepare for departure. There is a little weather headed this way, and if we don't leave today, we will be sitting here for another 4-5 days. Looks good weatherwise and our friend Randall on a Mariner 31 named Murr will be buddy boating with us.

Sandwiches are made, hot water is in the hot pot, and we have a couple of alternative meals and snacks depending on the weather and sea conditions. We also have to stow everything so it will not bounce around the cabin, and double check dinghy, fuel cans, etc to be certain all is well secured.

Warm weather clothes are at the ready, and electronics are prepared. Lot of work goes into a passage. It does get easier as you get used to the drill.

The plan is to sail for about 24 hours and arrive tomorrow at San Quintin, then be in Turtle Bay by Christmas.

No communication will be available until Turtle Bay except through "SPOT"

Hasta Luego!