Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico. April 14th 2012

This is our first opportunity to write since leaving La Paz on April 1^st. We’ve covered more than 600 nautical miles in sea conditions that ranged from flat calm to 10-foot wind waves and swells generated from 25-28 knot winds on the nose.  I will try to bring you up to date as soon as possible. Our internet connectivity is very limited and we must be on shore to connect at all. We are planning to leave tomorrow morning at 5:00AM and after we leave we will have no connectivity until we arrive in Ensenada, about 300 nm away.

Posted from Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico.    April 14^th 2012

Departing La Paz

The sail down the Sea of Cortez from La Paz to Puerto Los Cabos was mostly down wind, which afforded us the opportunity to sail a good part of that distance.  After leaving La Paz we headed for Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida to anchor for the night. The breeze was too light to sail, so we motored this short 20 nm stretch.  As soon as we left the channel “Canal de la Paz” we spotted a whale jumping clear out of the water. Its large pectoral fins with white undersides suggested to us it was a humpback whale. We drifted nearby with the engine turned off to watch the whale as long as possible. Several other boats where nearby including two pangas (native skiffs) that were too close to the whale.  The whale seemed to get agitated whenever the pangas approached, and it began to slap the water violently with its tail seeming to say, “Hey asshole you’re too close for comfort”, but the panga operators apparently didn’t get the message. Finally the whale started moving away quickly to the north and the whale disappeared over the horizon with the two pangas in pursuit.

Anchored in Bahia Partida, April 1-2

The anchorage between the two islands (Partida and Espiritu Santo) was very peaceful with only a few other boats to keep us company. That evening Mike volunteered to cook our fist dinner of the cruise. He cut up onions, peppers, celery, cheese and German sausage and sautéed all these ingredients with fresh tomatoes. It was fantastic! Mike had just set the bar very high for the unfortunate crew member that had to cook the next night.  The water was a warm 76 degrees that night and the air temperature remained in the high 70’s. We regretted leaving the next morning but felt that we should take advantage of a fair wind and calm seas, so we recovered our anchor at 8:00 AM and headed for Los Muertos, 60 nautical miles distant.

 

Bahia Los Muertos, April 2-4

We sailed most of the 60 nm from Isla Partida to Los Muertos and arrived at 7:20PM.  The anchorage at Los Muertos reminds me more of the Caribbean than the Sea of Cortez. A restaurant called simply “1535” is situated on the north side of the bay and a small resort is on the south side, in between is a wide white sand beach with high dunes behind that conceal a golf course from view (1535 is the year that Cortez visited this part of Mexico, and the restaurant is named in honor of this). Earlier in the year the beach had numerous sea turtle nests that were roped off to keep 4x4’s from driving over them. The turtles have long since emerged from their nests and headed for the sea and vacationing Mexicans are now camping out on the beach. This is the beginning of their 2-week Easter vacation and we are told by the waiter at “R 1535” that by the end of the week the beach will be full of campers. We drove the dinghy to the dock near the restaurant and spent the day on-shore. We hiked up to a breath taking point above the restaurant to get a closer look at a villa who’s architecture was reminiscent of old Spain.  After taking photos of the villa and sea scape we hiked south, across the beach to the resort. There we nursed a few beers for hours while we soaked in their pool, wandered around the mode rail road museum on the second floor, and played billiards.   Eventually, we felt compelled to either leave or stay and buy more $4 (USD) per beer, and since the latter would have blown my budget for the week we left. We ate that evening at R 1535 where a good dinner with a few beers cost only $10 (USD).  On April 4^th, after two nights at anchor we left Los Muertos at 6:30 AM, headed for Los Frailes; 43 nm away.

Private villa overlooking Bahia De Los Muertos

Thached cabana behind villa

Bahia De Los Muertos looking south, restaurant "1535" in foreground 



Fishing boats on beach



Fishermen and restaurant "R1535"

Cactus in bloom





Bahia Los Frailes, April 4-5

During our sail from Los Muertos to Los Frailes the wind blew 8 knots from the north. We set the genoa and main sail and found we could only make 4 knots of headway so we fired up the diesel and motor sailed at a respectable 7 knots all the way to Los Muertos.  At 10:00AM, while in route to our destination we began to see manta rays jumping out of the water. The manta rays were not the giant rays you see on National Geographic, they looked to be about 4-feet across and jumped a good 2 or 3 feet out of the water. We anchored in Bahia Los Frailes at 2:30PM. By 5:20 PM the manta rays began to leap out of the water all around our boat. They began one-by-one but soon three, four, five and more mantas began jumping out of the water together. This performance continued into the evening and reminded us of the Grand Finale that everyone waits for at the end of a fireworks display.  At one point a school of mantas several hundred feet long and a hundred feet wide swam past our boat. The surface of the water boiled with their wing tips piercing the water surface and as this mass of rays passed out boat, more than 10 mantas leaped out of the water. We all tried to photograph this performance and managed a few good shots, but they don’t convey the scale of this maritime ballet.

Manta ray jumping out of the water

Another ray jumping in Bahia Los Frailes

Alien sighted in Los Frailes, take me to your leader!

The mantas "Grande Finale"

The beaches along Bahia Los Frailes were crowded with vacationing Mexican families, with Good Friday one of their biggest holidays of the year just two days away. I was beginning to think that our plan to check out of Mexico in Los Cabos this weekend was a mistake.  It will be impossible to find all of the officials that need to sign our forms (Port Captain, immigration, health, etc.) on Easter Weekend in Los Cabos, so we’re probably going to check out in Ensenada.

Sailboats at anchor in Bahia Del Los Frailes (Bay of the Friers)

Beach awnings and lifeguard chair

We began to follow the watch schedule that we’d keep for the rest of the voyage. During the day each crewman took the helm for 4 hours and rested for 8 hours.  On long passages when we begin to sail through the night we will modify the watch to 3 hours on and 6 hours off during the hours between 6:00PM and 6:00AM.  The shorter watches at night help to keep the crew fresh at night when it’s difficult to stay awake.

The crew has melded together as a cohesive team: cooperation, respect and good spirits describe the atmosphere on board. When something needs to be done everyone is eager to offer their help. The crew rotates chores like cooking and dishwashing without debate or hesitation. In this regard the skipper is no different from the crew and must take his turn at washing dishes, cooking and cleaning the head. My judgment about using the internet to find willing and able crew has been justified by my experience so far. I couldn’t have found a better crewman that Mike if I had personally interviewed a dozen prospective candidates, and my friend TJ has also proven himself an able seaman.   

More to come …

·         Los Frailes to Puerto Los Cabos, April 5-6

·         Puerto Los Cabos to Bahia Magdelana, April 6-8  

·         Bahia Magdelana to Turtle Bay, April 9 – 11

·         Planning to leave Turtle Bay, April 15

 We have been waiting in Turtle Bay for the weather to improve. We plan to leave at 5:00AM April 15.


We are in Morro Bay today May 6th, and I am working on the blog...hope to have new content by this evening. Tomorrow we sail for San Simeon Bay to anchor and the next day we begin a 2 day sail to Monterey Harbor.