It seems like weeks ago we were heading to Bahia Santa Maria... so much has happened I shall try to provide you with a 'shorter' version of events... We are well.. very well.. and as I sit here at the nav station, in the Marina at Puerto Los Cabos (an almost new marina taking up the whole harbour at San Jose Del Cabo) writing to you.. I feel like we've 'made it'.. and I guess we have. We're at the bottom of the Baja, at the doorway to the Sea of Cortez. Phew...
Kathy last wrote when we were heading to Bahia Santa Maria so let me backtrack to there. We arrived at the 29th of November and had our hook down by 1800 hrs. It was an amazing place, our first experience with the 'Baja' style of anchorage... very low land surrounding a large body of water with a small range of tall hills protecting the anchorage from the northwest winds. We finally picked our place to anchor (based on info from the guide books and our own observations) and even with all that help, it was quite unnerving to feel the swells rolling under our keel as they swept towards the shore, only to crash against the beach. No safe dinghy landings here... (thank goodness for Princess Sophie's willingness to use the mat). We spent the night safely enough and went to bed expecting an early leaving the next morning.. NOT. We woke up to thick fog and so had a leisurely morning until it lifted. About 1110 hrs. we headed out of Bahia Santa Maria, bound for Magdalena Bay (just around the corner we thought). Also NOT. What looked like an easy 3 hour tour... turned into a longish day (not without its excitement tho') and we didn't arrive in Mag Bay until 1800 hrs. That was ok because we were still on a high from the trip. As we left Santa Maria the boat ahead of us (SV Lorelie) caught a fish.. not just any old fish.. but a yellow-tail.. and a small enough yellow-tail it motivated me to drag out my rod and dangle it off the side and drag a good old BC lure.. something with some chrome on it. And guess what? I CAUGHT A FISH !!!! not just one, but TWO... It was very exciting. Both about 3-4 pounds. They grabbed the lure and ran with it, a very exciting sound, even on my old rod and reel. Then I'd get to play it a bit.. and then we'd net it and flip it into the cockpit. Now that's where the 'fun' got trickier. They have very hard heads... and Sophie wasn't too impressed watching me trying to bash their little brains in with a fish club. And the fish weren't responding to that knocking on their heads either... so then I had to find a more refined method of dispatching them.. which I did... and I won't go into details but suffice to say a little vodka and a sharp point did the trick.. a much more peaceful way to 'go'. Also... just to paint the picture accurately, as I was playing fish #2, a large humpback whale began to breach just off our beam. He lept out of the water and crashed down on his side about four times while we were playing this fish, sailing, steering and enjoying a brilliantly sunny day. Very much like paradise, I'd say. We had sashimi for dinner that night; it was delicious. We had BBQ fish the next; it was good too. We gave away some to another boat and we still have some in the freezer. Fish tacos??
Man of War Cove, Magdalena Bay was our destination and we got there. It wasn't at all what we'd come to expect, having spoken at length with other cruisers over the years. We didn't see any whales after entering the Bay and the small village was a ghost town as the vast majority of inhabitants were away at another village for some sort of celebration. They weren't returning until Sunday or Monday so we had short visits with the few residents who remained. There was one little store open, with not too much food and there were lobster fishermen in abundance, but they weren't allowed to sell us any lobster... So, we made a visit to the local teacher (school wasn't in as there were no kids and she was sick anyway) and gave her some school supplies we had brought and then we began the process of watching the weather forecasts to determine when it was safe to leave. We weighed anchor on Saturday, Dec. 3rd. It was time to go. Our delays earlier in the trip had eaten up the time we might have spent dallying in Mag. Bay so we decided to make the best of it and keep heading south.
The trip from Mag. Bay to Cabo San Lucas is a long one and there is no where to get out of the weather if it kicks up. So, when you leave... you leave.... and you're on your own to deal with whatever the weather gods throw at you. This part of the trip has been described by others as the 'best downwind sailing' you'll ever do. What they don't tell you tho' is that the average auto-pilot (ours included) doesn't handle large following seas very well... and neither do many of the wind-vanes (ours included). So, you guessed it, hand-steering yet again !! We had a 'vigorous' downwind sailing experience, with a double and triple reefed mainsail and the 110 genoa furled in to hankie size. We had winds averaging between 15-25 knots and, just to make things perfect, at one point we heard a beeping going on and finally discovered our Wheems and Plath tracking/recording barometer alarm beeping away.. to tell us of a Gale Warning !! What else we said... bring it on. It's interesting how your mind can deal with pretty much anything once you tell it, it must. And so we continued all day and all night and all day again. We were tired, very tired, and even running out of quick to prepare food (how many times can you eat peanut butter in a row???) so decided to pull into Cabo San Lucas for a rest before continuing around to San Jose Del Cabo (our original, intended destination).
We were last in Cabo in 2003 and at that time there were dozens of available mooring buoys and so that's what we were looking for. Unfortunately it was 2330 hrs (very dark) when we arrived and, in our fatigue, we couldn't find a single mooring buoy and failed to recognize the proper anchoring location. In desperation we finally dropped the hook just outside the entrance to the inner harbour, in about 70' of water, and fell asleep. We woke 4 hours later, hoisted anchor, and continued on our way... arriving at San Jose Del Cabo at 1100 hrs. on the morning of Monday, Dec. 5th. Our friends on SV Lorelie and SV Desolina were here already and took our lines as we arrived. This is a great place, brand new and still under construction. It's quite beautiful and the price is right ($40/night without power). We'll stay here until the winds abate some (there's been a "Norther" blowing for several days). Last night we met and had dinner with Francine a friend from our yacht club who has a condo in Cabo. It was great to spend some time with someone from 'home'. Tonight all us 'yachties' are heading into town for dinner together... I expect tomorrow some may head out (we may too, but it depends on the wind and the sea conditions)... Some may wait until Friday.
The long legs are over... yippee !! Our next hop will take us to Punta Los Frailles a meer 30 NMs away. The next hop will be to Ensenada de los Muertos (48 NMs), and from there we'll aim for La Paz... (60NMs). We've friends waiting to see us in La Paz and we're looking forward to spending Christmas and New Years with them. We have reservations from mid-December to the end of January at the Marina Palmira in La Paz... can't wait to 'park it' for a while.
This amazing journey continues. We're happy and proud to have made it this far.. and looking forward to warmer weather and waters as we travel.
Take good care friends... Enjoy your family and friends over the Christmas season. 'till later.... Carolyn
