via satellite
We're anchored off the main beach of Cabo San Lucas along with a few dozen other boats from the Baja Ha-Ha rally in beautiful blue-green water. The trip from Bahia Santa Maria was uneventful, with good wind and big following swell most of the way. The wind died at the end and it was a long three hours of motoring with the cape in sight. Passing by the famous arches into the anchorage amongst all the tour boats and jet skis was quite an experience.
We dropped of our paperwork to officially check us and Intermezzo into Mexico with an agent at the dock. Soon we won't be illegal undocumented aliens anymore! Jeanne found a great restaurant through one of her friends with local knowledge called "Mi Casa" on the main square of the town. It is an expansive place, with a couple of large courtyards for dining al fresco, beautiful murals on the walls and numerous little alcoves with Mexican folk art. The food was fantastic. After dinner we went to the Baja Ha-Ha party at the Squid Roe bar, where I enjoyed dancing with my beautiful crew, watched by the numerous envious eyes of the mostly male rally participants.
We have gravitated towards partying with the boats with crews that are either truly young (under 40) or young at heart (like us!). However, this apparently requires me to be more fashion conscious as I have been advised, "Who dresses you? Your shirt's and short's colors clash?", "Lose the hat, the sun has gone down." and had the top buttons of my shirt undone on the dance floor as I apparently looked too dignified for the setting.
The all-male crew of Vitesse has taken a liking to Jeanne. The last night in Bahia Santa Maria, they came by to visit in the middle of the night, fairly lit up after losing and then recovering their dinghy. I feigned being asleep so as not to encourage a long visit. I could here Jeanne shushing them, saying, "Be quiet. You'll wake Steve!" It was like guys visiting you high school aged daughter and any moment "Dad" would get up to yell at them to get lost! I resisted doing so and Jeanne handled them with grace and style. They are a great bunch of guys who we have really enjoyed buddying with on this trip. I'm glad they got their dinghy back and admire that they sailed hard to Cabo with big hangovers, blowing out a spinnaker and jib along the way to get here quickly.
Today I'm going to get my computer sorted out and then there is the final beach party of the Ha-Ha, which we will attend mostly to get contact info from the boats we like that will be heading in our direction to La Paz in a few days.
Jeanne flies out tomorrow. Boo-hoo. We will miss her. She has been a great sailor and Renee and I have really enjoyed her companionship and the good vibe she brings to the boat.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Oops. Don't text and sail.
Looked up after sending last post raving about speed. Barreling towards two fishing pangas less than quarter mile ahead. Fisherman wondering if they needed to dodge crazy gringo in catamaran. Lo siento, pangueros.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Now We're Sailing!
We left Bahia Santa Maria this morning just before 5 am. The winds have shifted to the northeast so now Intermezzo is reaching in 15 knot winds, our sweet spot. Under single reefed main and full jib we're doing a steady 7.5 knots. Top speed so far 10.2!
Bahia Santa Maria
(via satellite)
We enjoyed a day of doing whatever we wanted in Bahia Santa Maria yesterday. Quite a bit of that was doing nothing, just enjoying the sun, breeze and warm water.
I swam about a quarter mile to a small nearby beach, dragging a dry bag containing my hiking gear; an amphibious hiker. My landing was a bit rough through the surf over a reef of shallow rocks. I was wearing a mask and snorkel, keeping a careful look out and fortunately there were no sea urchins, barnacles or other sharp bits that might have made it a more painful experience.
The beach is the outlet for a deep arroyo with abundant patches of wildflowers. I hiked up the arroyo a little way then started climbing up the steep hills to the northwest of the anchorage and was treated to amazing vistas of the bahia, across the barrier beach into Magdalena Bay and up the Pacific coast that we had just sailed down. It was good hiking, mostly picking my own path on the sparsely vegetated hills, avoiding the cholla cactus and other thorny plants with a strong, cooling breeze. I have some good pictures to post when I get to Cabo.
In the evening, everyone got in their dinghies an rafted up at the stern of Profligate, the Ha-Ha mother ship, to meet up and listen to a little music, including two guys who brought their trumpets on their boats. They were pretty good and it was quite fun to see all the dinghies floating together like a big air mat.
Renee kayaked to the event, Jeanne and I took the dink. Renee returned to Intermezzo promptly. Jeanne and I ended up Vitesse drinking rum. Had it not been for Jeanne's good sense, I would probably still be there. Instead, we made it back in good shape and the three of us enjoyed a nice barbecued chicken dinner.
Today is the "famous" Bahia Santa Maria Beach Party. More importantly, it is Renee's birthday.
Happy Birthday R!!!
We enjoyed a day of doing whatever we wanted in Bahia Santa Maria yesterday. Quite a bit of that was doing nothing, just enjoying the sun, breeze and warm water.
I swam about a quarter mile to a small nearby beach, dragging a dry bag containing my hiking gear; an amphibious hiker. My landing was a bit rough through the surf over a reef of shallow rocks. I was wearing a mask and snorkel, keeping a careful look out and fortunately there were no sea urchins, barnacles or other sharp bits that might have made it a more painful experience.
The beach is the outlet for a deep arroyo with abundant patches of wildflowers. I hiked up the arroyo a little way then started climbing up the steep hills to the northwest of the anchorage and was treated to amazing vistas of the bahia, across the barrier beach into Magdalena Bay and up the Pacific coast that we had just sailed down. It was good hiking, mostly picking my own path on the sparsely vegetated hills, avoiding the cholla cactus and other thorny plants with a strong, cooling breeze. I have some good pictures to post when I get to Cabo.
In the evening, everyone got in their dinghies an rafted up at the stern of Profligate, the Ha-Ha mother ship, to meet up and listen to a little music, including two guys who brought their trumpets on their boats. They were pretty good and it was quite fun to see all the dinghies floating together like a big air mat.
Renee kayaked to the event, Jeanne and I took the dink. Renee returned to Intermezzo promptly. Jeanne and I ended up Vitesse drinking rum. Had it not been for Jeanne's good sense, I would probably still be there. Instead, we made it back in good shape and the three of us enjoyed a nice barbecued chicken dinner.
Today is the "famous" Bahia Santa Maria Beach Party. More importantly, it is Renee's birthday.
Happy Birthday R!!!
Monday, November 2, 2015
Arrived in Bahia Santa Maria
(via satellite)
We made our entrance into Bahia Santa Maria as the sun was rising. I have a great picture that I will post, along with others taken along the way, when we get broadband access in Cabo and I get my computer sorted out.
Bahia Santa Maria is a big, spacious bay. The shoreline is about one-third arid mountain, one-third mangrove and one-third sandy barrier beach. It is a more diverse landscape than what we have seen so far along this coast. The water is warm and it looks like there are a lot of interesting places to explore by dinghy, kayak, swimming and on foot. I think we're going to be pretty active during this rest stop
After the "Baja Bumper Boats" experience two nights ago, we settled into a long period of very peaceful sailing, with occaisional motoring when the wind died down to far. Yesterday afternoon I made special rum punches and the three of us sat down to enjoy them. The wind was blowing 10 knots, the sea amazingly flat, the Code 0 steadily pulling us along on autopilot. We were all sitting around the table outside in the cockpit, talking and laughing like we were on the back deck of our house instead of 50 miles out in the ocean with maybe one or two boats visible on the distant horizon. I think we are all feeling very comfortable and secure in our little nautical space capsule.
The sky was completely clear when the sun went down and with absolutely no light pollution, we were treated to an amazing night sky. You know the sky is clear and it's truly dark when the Milky Way looks like a long, distinct cloud that stretches across the sky. Several shooting stars caught my eye as I mostly watched the boat sail itself during my watches. The sea was so calm that I was able to turn the autopilot to its minimum responsiveness setting, which makes our sailing mechanically silent, save for a few chronic squeeks as the boom sways gently.
A very nice finish to Leg 2 of the Baja Ha-Ha.
We made our entrance into Bahia Santa Maria as the sun was rising. I have a great picture that I will post, along with others taken along the way, when we get broadband access in Cabo and I get my computer sorted out.
Bahia Santa Maria is a big, spacious bay. The shoreline is about one-third arid mountain, one-third mangrove and one-third sandy barrier beach. It is a more diverse landscape than what we have seen so far along this coast. The water is warm and it looks like there are a lot of interesting places to explore by dinghy, kayak, swimming and on foot. I think we're going to be pretty active during this rest stop
After the "Baja Bumper Boats" experience two nights ago, we settled into a long period of very peaceful sailing, with occaisional motoring when the wind died down to far. Yesterday afternoon I made special rum punches and the three of us sat down to enjoy them. The wind was blowing 10 knots, the sea amazingly flat, the Code 0 steadily pulling us along on autopilot. We were all sitting around the table outside in the cockpit, talking and laughing like we were on the back deck of our house instead of 50 miles out in the ocean with maybe one or two boats visible on the distant horizon. I think we are all feeling very comfortable and secure in our little nautical space capsule.
The sky was completely clear when the sun went down and with absolutely no light pollution, we were treated to an amazing night sky. You know the sky is clear and it's truly dark when the Milky Way looks like a long, distinct cloud that stretches across the sky. Several shooting stars caught my eye as I mostly watched the boat sail itself during my watches. The sea was so calm that I was able to turn the autopilot to its minimum responsiveness setting, which makes our sailing mechanically silent, save for a few chronic squeeks as the boom sways gently.
A very nice finish to Leg 2 of the Baja Ha-Ha.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Baja Bumper Boats
Take 100 boats sailing in a radius of about 20 miles on a pitch black night with strong winds and decent swells and what do you have? A cool video game on radar called Baja Bumper Boats.
Nobody had hit anyone else, but we had a close call with some nitwit who overtook us then cut ahead of us way too close. Renee took evasive action to clear his stern. She rarely swears but I think I might have heard her this time.
I navigated us out of the swarm, the wind and seas have calmed and the moon is rising so, alas,the excitement is waning.
Nobody had hit anyone else, but we had a close call with some nitwit who overtook us then cut ahead of us way too close. Renee took evasive action to clear his stern. She rarely swears but I think I might have heard her this time.
I navigated us out of the swarm, the wind and seas have calmed and the moon is rising so, alas,the excitement is waning.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Bahia de Tortugas
We have been having fun during our Bahia de Tortugas rest stop.
Yesterday we played baseball in the small town's ball park, which is quite impressive. It's a modern lighted field with good quality artificial turf. Amazing for a village with a population reported of around 1,200 people. We played a unique version of baseball, one where everybody gets a pitch until they get a hit. Yachties and town kids lined up for their turn at bat, the kids in full uniform and trying to look impressive, the yachties trying to figure out if it is possible to bat, catch and throw without putting down their beer.
The rest of the town around the ballpark is made up small homes, some small shops, a gas station and a modern medical clinic. While the town dusty (no paved roads) and the people quite poor, most of the homes and shops are kept up well and there's a friendly, small town atmosphere with lots of smiles and welcoming greetings. It seems like a nice place to live, although I bet its hot as hell in the summer.
We started off today with a "fancy" egg breakfast at anchor. Then I spent the rest of the morning taking apart and rebuilding our electric head (marine toilet). It was making a sound like a piece of metal somehow got into the macerator, which would quickly damage the blade. It wasn't a piece of metal. Here's a tip for those of you who have an electric head or install one in the future: Don't swallow olive pits. I won't elaborate further.
After that lovely task, I was ready for the Baja Ha-Ha beach party so we piled into the dinghy and took off. It was a bring-your-own picnic with BBQ grills provided and a beer stand set up by some locals. We brought some ranch beef steaks and salad and Jeanne and I drank a bunch of beer, punctuated with a little rum. I handed out our extra steaks to Mark, a friend I made in Morro Bay, Jeff, who shared his ceviche with us, and two young women who I thought looked rather hungry. I'm enjoying conversations with my dentist and friend Jim Forni, who is sailing with five other hotshot sailors. I've always enjoyed our sailing conversations during my dentist visits and I'm enjoying getting to know him while not reclined and wearing a bib.
The Ha-Ha organizers were selling hotdogs to raise money for victims of Hurricane Patricia. During the morning radio check-in, the Grand Poobah (Ha-Ha boss) touted that the hotdogs were imported from Costco in the US and the food handlers would have plastic gloves "and stuff like that, so the food will be semi-sanitary." I figured that having just rebuilt a head, I would not volunteer to help with the fundraiser and thus potentially compromise the "semi- sanitary" conditions.
We had been commended for how well we landed our dinghy in the light surf at the beach. Unfortunately, our departure was not as elegantly executed. All started off well. We timed the waves and got the dink out into the water during a lull. However, I'm still having trouble lowering the outboard while standing outside the boat in thigh deep water. I can't see the release tab from that angle and don't have the muscle memory yet to feel my way through the operation. While I was fiddling with the motor, the surf decided that it's lull was over and two waves crashed over and into the boat. That by itself would just be wet and inelegant, but the patch of water we were in was choked with fine, red seaweed. So the three of us and our boat were covered in it. The Mexican panga (open fishing boat) drivers and the people on the beach got a laugh or two out of that. We suffered through it in good humor, but it took us about half an hour to remove the seaweed from ourselves and the dingh
y. We're still finding strands of it on and around us.
Tonight we heard splashing outside the boat and got the flashlight to investigate. There were a lot of small fish swimming around the boat and one big white pelican. The fish were attracted to the light from the flashlight, which the pelican appreciated as it made catching them much easier for him/her. While we were clearly upsetting the natural order of things, it was quite entertaining for us, satisfying for the pelican, but clearly a foul deed from the fishes' perspective.
Leg 2 of the Ha-Ha starts tomorrow at 0900. It's 230 nautical miles (nm) to Bahia Santa Maria. So far, we've been logging about 110 nm per day in variable winds and some motoring. If we keep that up, we should arrive before noon on Monday.
Yesterday we played baseball in the small town's ball park, which is quite impressive. It's a modern lighted field with good quality artificial turf. Amazing for a village with a population reported of around 1,200 people. We played a unique version of baseball, one where everybody gets a pitch until they get a hit. Yachties and town kids lined up for their turn at bat, the kids in full uniform and trying to look impressive, the yachties trying to figure out if it is possible to bat, catch and throw without putting down their beer.
The rest of the town around the ballpark is made up small homes, some small shops, a gas station and a modern medical clinic. While the town dusty (no paved roads) and the people quite poor, most of the homes and shops are kept up well and there's a friendly, small town atmosphere with lots of smiles and welcoming greetings. It seems like a nice place to live, although I bet its hot as hell in the summer.
We started off today with a "fancy" egg breakfast at anchor. Then I spent the rest of the morning taking apart and rebuilding our electric head (marine toilet). It was making a sound like a piece of metal somehow got into the macerator, which would quickly damage the blade. It wasn't a piece of metal. Here's a tip for those of you who have an electric head or install one in the future: Don't swallow olive pits. I won't elaborate further.
After that lovely task, I was ready for the Baja Ha-Ha beach party so we piled into the dinghy and took off. It was a bring-your-own picnic with BBQ grills provided and a beer stand set up by some locals. We brought some ranch beef steaks and salad and Jeanne and I drank a bunch of beer, punctuated with a little rum. I handed out our extra steaks to Mark, a friend I made in Morro Bay, Jeff, who shared his ceviche with us, and two young women who I thought looked rather hungry. I'm enjoying conversations with my dentist and friend Jim Forni, who is sailing with five other hotshot sailors. I've always enjoyed our sailing conversations during my dentist visits and I'm enjoying getting to know him while not reclined and wearing a bib.
The Ha-Ha organizers were selling hotdogs to raise money for victims of Hurricane Patricia. During the morning radio check-in, the Grand Poobah (Ha-Ha boss) touted that the hotdogs were imported from Costco in the US and the food handlers would have plastic gloves "and stuff like that, so the food will be semi-sanitary." I figured that having just rebuilt a head, I would not volunteer to help with the fundraiser and thus potentially compromise the "semi- sanitary" conditions.
We had been commended for how well we landed our dinghy in the light surf at the beach. Unfortunately, our departure was not as elegantly executed. All started off well. We timed the waves and got the dink out into the water during a lull. However, I'm still having trouble lowering the outboard while standing outside the boat in thigh deep water. I can't see the release tab from that angle and don't have the muscle memory yet to feel my way through the operation. While I was fiddling with the motor, the surf decided that it's lull was over and two waves crashed over and into the boat. That by itself would just be wet and inelegant, but the patch of water we were in was choked with fine, red seaweed. So the three of us and our boat were covered in it. The Mexican panga (open fishing boat) drivers and the people on the beach got a laugh or two out of that. We suffered through it in good humor, but it took us about half an hour to remove the seaweed from ourselves and the dingh
y. We're still finding strands of it on and around us.
Tonight we heard splashing outside the boat and got the flashlight to investigate. There were a lot of small fish swimming around the boat and one big white pelican. The fish were attracted to the light from the flashlight, which the pelican appreciated as it made catching them much easier for him/her. While we were clearly upsetting the natural order of things, it was quite entertaining for us, satisfying for the pelican, but clearly a foul deed from the fishes' perspective.
Leg 2 of the Ha-Ha starts tomorrow at 0900. It's 230 nautical miles (nm) to Bahia Santa Maria. So far, we've been logging about 110 nm per day in variable winds and some motoring. If we keep that up, we should arrive before noon on Monday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)