Perhaps the Sea of Cortez knew that I was saying goodbye and was sorry to be leaving.
On Monday evening, I took the paddle board to shore and went for a long run along the curved beach of Bahía Los Frailes. I am fond of mobula rays and had been seeing them skimming the surface frequently while sailing, but none doing the aerial acrobatics that I enjoy watching. But as I ran along the beach, the mobula were leaping out of the water, twisting, somersaulting, showing their bright white bellies, flapping their wings, and landing with a big, slapping splash, as if they were waving a exuberant farewells and trying to buoy my spirits. They succeeded. Goodbye mobula, thank you.
Yesterday, the Sea gave me the gift of a nice northeasterly breeze so that I was able to sail most of the way to Cabo de San Jose. The interaction of the boat with the wind and the waves, the absence of engine noise, the simple pleasure of keeping the sails trimmed reminded me of why I love sailing. I didn’t do enough sailing on this trip, haven’t done enough for a long time, won’t be doing much on the next two legs. Goodbye Sea of Cortez, thank you.
We pulled into Puerto San Jose de Cabo in the afternoon where Jimmy was waiting at the slip and joined on as crew. He and I hit it off well from the start; good conversations, shared sense of humor and the right level of seriousness around the boat, sailing and our upcoming passage.
Now we prepare the boat and wait for Arnstein to arrive to begin the Baja Bash. The weather is looking favorable (in a relative sense) for a Saturday night departure. Wind and waves against us, but of manageable magnitude.
