We reached a major milestone in our journey yesterday when we rounded the southern tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas about 9 am!
It was just as we remembered from 10 years ago as far as being greeted by dozens of sport fishing boats heading out of the harbor at sunrise, but the coastline seems to be much more built up with lots of hotels along the hills of the coast. The number of people on the beach would indicate that not many of the rooms are occupied however.
We ducked into the harbor to check it out for anchoring for the night, but the harbor was rough and more crowded than it had been 10 years ago -- mostly due to the 2 huge cruise ships in the small bay! So we continued on to the next possible anchorage at San Jose del Cabo -- where there is also a new marina that would be a possibility if the anchorage wasn't good.
We were delighted to find a lovely open roadstead anchorage off a beautiful white sand beach lined with fine hotels. Once again, people on the beach were noticeably absent. About 15 minutes after dropping the anchor in the clear warm water, we were diving off the boat and enjoying the 1st swim of this adventure! Another milestone! How refreshing after our long 30+ hour trip from Mag Bay. We had a good nights sleep and were on our way again at 6:30 this morning as the sun began to rise.
Started the morning with great sailing until our course turned us into the wind on our way to an anchorage at Los Frailes where we plan to spend the night. From there we will have a longer day (about 45 miles) to the next anchorage at Bahia Los Muertos. The winds are supposed to be nearly non existent tomorrow, so we will spend Thanksgiving motoring all day.
We will bring a little tradition to the holiday, despite our travel plans. I'll prepare a lunch ahead of time of dressing with turkey meat (canned turkey from Costco!) and then when we're at anchor I'll heat a small canned ham and we'll have that with mashed potatoes and corn and green beans. I even have a can of pumpkin I'll turn into a pie or at least a pudding tonight.
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We left Neah Bay about 3 1/2 months ago to begin traveling down the coast. Tonight will be the last night we'll see the sunset on the open Pacific, as we should round Cabo San Lucas tomorrow morning to begin the next phase of this adventure: The Sea of Cortez!
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We left Bahia Santa Maria about an hour ago for the short (20 mile) hop to Bahia Magdelena.
We're traveling in the company of 40 very large power boats that joined us in Santa Maria yesterday. They are the FUBAR -- a rally similar to the Baja Ha Ha, but for large mega yachts. We first heard about it in San Diego, but had no idea about their schedule until yesterday afternoon when they started coming into the bay. Pretty interesting to see that many large power boats come in and anchor all around. We were just glad that we weren't making a night passage when they were -- it would have been a bit nerve wracking seeing so many radar blips and AIS reports while traveling in the dark. They had a party on shore yesterday afternoon and are now headed into Mag bay. They are headed to Man O'War cove, while we are going to Pt. Belcher. Mag Bay is very big.
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The trip to Bahia Santa Maria remained uneventful and windless, so we made lots of water and got lots of rest. It was a gorgeous star filled night with great visibility. A good trip all and all.
Approaching the headland looked just like making landfall on a Pacific Island, as the mountains on the point are the only land you can see, the rest being flat beach. So we are in a beautiful peaceful anchorage with occasional dolphin and clear blue water.
We plan to stay here a day or so -- like we told our friends on Galetea "Long ago we made a rule that we should stay somewhere at least as long as it took to get there". Then we'll have a short hop (about 20 miles) to Bahia Magdelena and then another overnight to make it down around the tip of Baja at Cabo San Lucas.
Changed the ships clocks to Mountain time today -- should make the sunrise and sunset occur at a more reasonable hour!
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The good news is we made lots of water today......... but you know what that means: we were motoring with no wind. But the seas are smooth, the sky is clear and it's a pleasant day out here and looks to be a good night. We're hoping to see more of the meteor shower tonight -- only saw a few shooting stars last night.
Spotted a few whales today and some dolphin stopped by for a visit.
So on we go!
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The 50 mile passage from Turtle Bay to Asuncion was wonderful! We were able to sail as soon as we left the harbor at sunrise. Sunny blue sky, smooth seas with 10 - 15 knots of wind abaft our beam -- it doesn't get much better than that. We did have a gray whale sighting, but pretty far from the boat to have a good look.
Like all good things, it did come to an end as the wind died just before noon, and we had to motor sail the rest of the way. But that wasn't bad, either, and we used the engine time to run our watermaker and desalinated 15 gallons of water to replenish our tanks.
By 3:00 pm we were anchored in beautiful little bay, well protected from the NW wind and swell and had a lovely night. We are staying here today to rest up and prepare for another overnighter to Bahia Santa Maria. Meteor showers tonight!
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We got up at 4 am and hauled anchor and motored out of Turtle Bay as the sun was rising -- off to a good start.
Galetea had some glitches with their navigation system, so we headed back in to Turtle Bay so they can work on it. It's a beautiful day and we'll enjoy another night here and hopefully be off again tomorrow am.
Yesterday I began to have all emails sent to comcast addresses from my winlink address returned as undeliverable. Not sure what the problem is, but if you're comcast, don't be alarmed that you don't hear from us. I'll try to post on the Blog daily, as well as sending out SPOT reports daily -- even when we're not traveling.
Enjoy your day!
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What an enjoyable stop!
We put the dinghy in the water yesterday and with Jim and Ellen (Galatea) went into the small town to look around and find the Veracruz Restaurant that provides free WiFi. The town was much as we remember from 10 years ago. Since this is a stop for the Baja Ha Ha Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas they are very cruiser friendly and can provide all the services that might be necessary -- fuel, water, laundry, food and internet.
The wild life in the bay has been very entertaining, as well. Hundreds of birds flock around feeding -- we especially enjoy watching the Pelicans dive from 20 feet up. Seals swim amongst the birds and this morning we were treated to a few dolphin swimming around our boat.
Today we'll top off our fuel, I'll wash a few clothes and bake some bread (I started a sourdough starter while in San Diego -- something I've never done), Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and do a day hop (about 50 miles) to Bahia Asuncion.
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For any family and friends that haven't had success sending emails to our winlink address, please drop a note to followcetus at gmail dot com from the address you'd like us to add to our address book. Winlink won't receive mail unless the address is entered in its address book in an attempt to block spam. So if you've tried and not succeeded drop us a line and I will enter, re enter or correct your address. Thanks! Heidi
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Our stay at San Quintin was short, but eventful. Yesterday afternoon the Mexican Navy entered the harbor and sent boats out to our three anchored boats and boarded us! We've been in anchorages in the past were they went aboard boats, but this was a first for Cetus.
3 men came aboard, two with machine guns (as seems the norm in Mexico for any military) and the third with a clipboard. They were all very polite and just recorded a bit of information (name of boat, name of captain or owner, documentation number, etc.) It didn't seem that they were really checking us out, more just making contact and assuring us that if we had any problems or needed anything that we can contact them on VHF channel 16. So a little excitement was added to our day!
After a good long sleep to make up for the lack the night before (as we traveled), we got up and hauled the anchor and motored out of Bahia San Quintin during a beautiful sunrise. Our intention had been to do an overnight sail to Isla San Benitos, as it had come highly recommended by a couple of friends, but the weather forecast had us changing our minds and we will do the overnight but make landfall in the much more protected, Turtle Bay. The weather forecast has a front coming down with high winds and seas beginning Friday, so we (along with Galetea) thought it best to get to a nice protected anchorage instead of the iffy one behind the small islands. So it will be all night and most of tomorrow traveling to reach Turtle Bay, where we will stay put for a few days.
The afternoon wind we'd hoped for hasn't come up, so we're back to being a motor boat for now. But the seas are smooth and it's a pleasant ride. Not much wildlife so far on this trip, just a couple flying fish and a shark. So on we go!
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11/10/2009, Bahia San Quintin
This was the best passage of our voyage since leaving the San Juans!
Not only was there NO FOG, but there was WIND! Cetus is a sailboat after all.
And the wildlife was unbelievable! It began before we exited Bahia Todos Santos (where Ensenada is located) when the water suddenly EXPLODED with dolphin! Over a hundred dolphin were literally flying across the water fleeing a couple killer whales that were in hot pursuit and also leaping high into the air. It was like nothing we've ever seen before. It did give us pause as one of the whales headed right for us surfacing just a few boat lengths away.
Later in the day as we sailed along at 6 - 7 knots with following seas we were treated to more dolphin -- but just the playing feeding kind. Terry spotted a gray whale while I was down below (at least that's what he says...)
After a beautiful sunset the sky stayed bright with stars and then even brighter when the moon rose about midnight. We did have to drop the sails as the wind died about 9 pm, but it was still a pleasant night of travel.
We went slow, as to not arrive at our destination before daybreak. Soon after the sunrise we worked our way into the bay, followed by Galetea and Calypso, and dropped our anchor.
We're enjoying this beautiful, calm anchorage.
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The day we pulled in to this marina a guy warned us the surge would be bad this weekend -- that was our first tip off to the large swell coming this way which prompted us to stay put in the marina. We figured we'd rather be securely tied to a rocking dock than to be in an uncertain anchorage.
So we tied lines at every angle possible to keep Cetus as still as possible and away from the dock so it wouldn't rub through the gel coat. The surge started picking up pretty good yesterday afternoon and we rock and roll a bit and the lines groan, but all in all it hasn't been bad. Still enjoyed a potluck on another boat last night and got a good nights sleep despite the conditions. Don't think that would have been possible in an anchorage because even if a big swell didn't hit, we'd be nervously watching for it.
Things should start subsiding from here on out, so we plan to leave tomorrow with Galetea and make an overnight passage to Bahia San Quitin (about 115 miles south).
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11/07/2009, Baja Naval Marina
We'd planned to make Ensenada a short stop -- two nights -- just enough time to clear into the country, rest up a bit and then head on to remote anchorages.
But once we docked we began hearing about the big swell traveling down the coast -- a result of a nasty storm in the Gulf of Alaska -- and we've been keeping our eye on that. It is predicted to pass through Saturday and Sunday, so we've decided to stay put here in the marina because we don't know how big it will really be when it gets down this far, but didn't want to take a chance on being in an uncomfortable anchorage somewhere.
That's given us the opportunity to explore Ensenada a bit, and it's been quite enjoyable. Yesterday we walked around the city with Ellen and Jim and armed with a street map from the visitors center. We went to 3 museums -- the first being an old (1800's) jail. Definitely not somewhere you'd want to spend any time as you can tell from the picture of Terry in his cell.
The next stop had displays of Mammoth bones and tusks and the very early history of the area. The last was set in a grand old hotel, The Riviera Hotel and Casino (built in the 1930's).
The bar in the Riviera has a plaque saying it is where the Margarita was invented! And the bar was reminiscent of the bar in the Jack Nicholson movie, "The Shinning". Lots of old pictures from it's hey day and many shots of Ensenada then and now -- truly fascinating.
I'll upload new pictures today so you can take a look at Ensenada for yourself.
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