Viva Mexico! (Peter)

As we write this, we’re at anchor in a windy exposed anchorage off Cabo San Lucas, pitching and rolling and preparing to head north as soon as it is sensible. There is no point in trying to beat into 20 plus knots of wind, especially considering that we haven’t had to sail upwind more than a mile or two since we left Seattle three and a half months ago. We might have to ease into it slowly….
We have cleared into Mexico officially, with visits to the Capitania de Puerto and Migracion, as well as Banamex to pay the fees. It all went well, all papers are stamped and we even had time to have a delicious seafood taco lunch and pick up a few groceries. We had planned to head north, into the Sea of Cortez, as soon as we got back to the boat but it seems prudent to wait a bit until the wind calms down, so we will probably be here another night. Our trip down the Pacific side of Baja was very enjoyable with nice downwind passages of two or three days punctuated with stays of several days in beautiful and remote anchorages.


These were mostly light wind passages as you can tell from these images, here Ginger is taking a nap on the foredeck.

Ginger tweaks the set of the sails.

Sunset at sea.

Fishing has become important to us. Here is a little fish for dinner.

Here is a big fish for many dinners.

When we arrived at Bahia Tortugas, we had the place to ourselves for a couple of days, then the Baha Ha Ha fleet arrived, and suddenly we had a couple of hundred sailboats as neighbors.


Pangas, expertly handled open fishing boats with very big outboards were pressed into service as water taxis, ferrying Ha Ha customers back and forth.



Another passage, and a thrilling sunrise at sea. Minutes after anchoring in the very beautiful and wild Bahia Santa Maria, we (OK - Peter) managed to drop the outboard motor in 30 feet of water. After quickly marking the spot with a bouy, we found that it was a little too deep to dive for it. As luck would have it, already anchored near us was Baloo, a Seattle boat we had gotten to know in Turtle Bay. We've enjoyed exploring and snorkeling with Nick and Cindi. We had learned that they are two very competent people in many different ways who happen to be, you guessed it, scuba divers and are carrying scuba equipment. Did I mention that they are generous and helpful, also?



After a quick dive, the rest of Peter's day was spent resusciting the outboard. It runs fine. Just lucky!



Ginger's father and step mother gave us a bottle of port as we left Puget Sound, after the succesful salvage it was time to celebrate.