Cabo San Lucas. A very famous place. Many years ago there was large cannery here. Then they dicovered body shots and it has never been the same.

I am anchored a 100 yards off the beach behind which are hoards of pastey white tourists, bars and condos. 27 years ago I visited this place and recall sitting on that same beach and drinking beer at the only palapa on the entire stretch of beach. My how the power of belly button shooters has changed the atmosphere and landscape.

It was a beautiful day and Pat and I were anxious to get out of here for less expense towns. We had been told that in San Jose Del Cabo just 14 miles or so up the coast that there was a new marina with what a sailor wants and fuel. Why stay here and listen to the disc jockeys spin old disco cds when we could bask in the quiet of the town where many of the workers in Cabo live.

A huge cruise ship entered the small harbor as we were preparing to get away. NCL I think it was would go into "virtual anchorage" . 'The ship does not drop anchor but computers control thrusters in the bow and stern and keep the ship positioned exactly where it is told to. COOL. As I lifted the anchor on my not so virtual anchor another huge cruise ship came in and practiced "Actual Anchorage" an apparently obsolete and low tech anchoring technique where the anchor is deployed to contact the bottom of the bay holding the ship in place. Glad I had just moved because she anchored right where I had been.

Did I mention it was beautiful and sunny and warm?
We tried to sail but the light wind was right on our nose. For those non sailors it means sailing way out of our way to get to our destination. So we motored. I was still closely monitoring my batteries alert for any sign of over heating but they stayed normal. Three hours later we entered San Jose del Cabo Marina. There were lots of unfinished docks and a few power boats in slips. We called and called and called the harbor master with no response. After about 30 minutes they took our information and notified us there was no room at the inn. Could we stay overnight at the 500 foot dock that was vacant except for an 90' schooner? No. Do you have fuel like you advertise in your ad that says you are open? NO. We got the message we were not welcome here. Now what? We did not have enought fuel for the crossing to Mazatlan and so would have to return to Cabo for fuel.

But we were hungry and so ashore we go to the small open air restaurant of Ali. There we met two wonderful Americans from Las Vegas who had built a house in Los Cabos and were attempting to spend the entire winter in their new home. We were invited to dinner on our return trip.

The retaurant was open air. Music was blasting from a boom box on the counter and a flea bitten dog was sleeping under one of the tables. The music was unique here in Mexico in that it was French! "Thank heaven for little girls" Ali was shocked when I identified the crooner. We ordered shrimp tacos and beer. As the french music blared Christmas songs Ali sang and made fun of Pat for not drinking beer. When the plate of tacos arrived we were fully into the laid back cruising world. These taco were huge with a side of beans, salsa and cabbage we ate like kings! This was a much nicer reception than we got at the Marina which is run by an American. We noticed a picture of a very young Ali as the head chef in the Sheraton in Acapulco. He said all through his career at some of the top restaurants in the world all he really wanted was a small open air restaurant with Maurice Chevalier booming and a flea bit dog sleeping on the floor. He was very happy and a delightful person to have met.

We now had to sail back to Cabo but the wind should logically be behind us since it was in front of us earlier. No. It knew we wanted to go back to Cabo so had swithced direction to be on the nose inorder to make us feel comfortable. Why should we have any wind that was helpful?

Motored all the way back to Cabo and non vitually anchored where I had been not 10 hours earlier. The cruise ships and the hoards were gone leaving a beautiful sunset and warm calm water. In a very weird way it was nice to be back. Tomorrow fuel and off to Mazatlan.