We had a long motor sail into weather today -- but it was a good day and we got to end it with a nice swim off the boat after dropping anchor. We've got another long day planned tomorrow to get around to Balandra Bay and from there it's just a short hop down to La Paz!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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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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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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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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11/05/2009, Ensenada
The fog we encountered when leaving San Diego stuck with us for most of the trip to Ensenada, but lightened up mid morning giving us good visibility to enter the harbor.
We tied up to the dock at Baja Naval Marina a little before 2 in the afternoon, got settled in and enjoyed a nice dinner aboard Galetea then a good nights sleep.
Today's big event was to clear into the country. The beauty of doing it here in Ensenada is they have incorporated all the offices you must visit into 1 building, saving you from walking all over town as we had to last time in Cabo San Lucas. You must go to Customs, Immigration and the Port Captain. All went well and we are good to go!
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11/04/2009, Mexico
We're off !
We left the public dock on Shelter Island at 1 am and carefully picked our way out of San Diego in the thickest fog we've had since Newport, Oregon.
Just crossing the border into Mexico! Still in fog, but the big bright nearly full moon makes it better than pitch dark fog.
Next stop: Ensenada!
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09/30/2009, Off the Southern California Coast
We left Marina del Rey with a bit of unease Tuesday morning because of some somewhat disturbing and conflicting weather reports. The area we would be traveling thru starts in one of NOAA's districts, but before the day was over we'd be in a new area with a different forecast. Near Marina del Rey the weather would be getting rougher as the day went on (with the worst of it by point Conception: 40 knot gusts and 12 foot seas!), but the forecast for the San Diego area looked pretty benign. Then there was the inland report of the strong gusty Santa Ana winds piping up -- would that effect us?
So we gambled that the weather wouldn't move south faster than predicted and this time we won!
Then a strange turn of events. It started with a message from some cruising friends in the Cook Islands sending out a note that they were fine despite the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Samoan islands. Then as I checked a weather report I saw a tsunami advisory for the California Coast!
I knew we were safe out deep as we were -- they aren't even felt. So we were VERY glad we'd left the marina that morning after all!
We were also very concerned for anyone that might be waiting in Port San Luis for weather to round Pt. Conception (as we had), because San Luis was one of the Bays they mentioned as a possible threat. If we were anchored in San Luis and heard there "might be" a tsunami type surge coming in would we go out to sea when the winds were gusting to 40 and the seas were 12 feet high? That would be a tough gamble to make.
So we listened to the updates on the advisories and I searched the internet looking for more info on the Samoan tsunami and word on the California prediction. I never did hear if any areas had any problem on our coast and am assuming there wasn't. But it's very sad how much destruction occurred on those islands.
Other than that it was a very uneventful passage with very light winds that forced us to keep the engine on the whole time -- we were afraid if we didn't move fast enough that weather system might catch us before we got far enough south. We did have great visibility well lit by a 3/4 moon -- it was the 1st passage since leaving the San Juans that we didn't have ANY fog! And we were treated to some outstanding shows by traveling dolphin, too.
We pulled into the dock here in Chula Vista exactly 24 hours after leaving the dock in Marina del Rey, and since we plan to stay here a month (we don't want to go into Mexico until November -- the "official" end of hurricane season) we're at home now.
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We had a fantastic sail around Point Conception last night!
We pulled up our anchor in San Luis about 2 in the afternoon and we were able to sail as soon as we left the harbor, even though there was light fog cover. As night drew near, the fog settled in pretty heavy and the winds lightened so that we were motor sailing for several hours until we closed in on Conception. The winds picked up (as we knew they would from the buoy reports I was getting on my cell phone) and soon we were sailing again.
There was still a lingering fog and Terry was startled when he looked up and could see stars! Something we've only seen on one other night passage of this entire trip. It wasn't long before the fog disappeared completely and we were sailing under starry skies in 20 - 25 knots of wind! What a rush!
Even before we rounded the Point, we could see the big brilliantly lit oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel. Turning that corner was like entering another world as the seas smoothed and the wind calmed. Once again we were motor sailing, but this time with clear skies and great visibility -- simply beautiful.
Early this morning we were able to take turns getting a few hours sleep as we continued on our trip to Oxnard. We should be docked by about 3 this afternoon and then will spend a couple days at the reciprocal dock for the Channel Islands Yacht Club -- and we'll enjoy the Southern California sunshine!
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Alex
09/22/2009, San Luis Obispo, California
We left Monterey with hopes of staying out 2 nights and rounding Pt. Conception so we would officially be in Southern California, and hopefully leaving the land of sand and fog behind us.
Anxious to get going, we left Monterey earlier than we should have to time the rounding of the "treacherous" cape for the night hours, so we amended our plan to stop in San Luis for a brief rest -- and check the weather report -- then continue on.
Again we traveled all day with no wind and light fog. At least this fog was high enough we had about 2 mile visibility during the day and we could even see shore for once! This made the traveling so much more interesting and much easier since you could keep a sense of direction just by looking around instead of having to stare at the compass and other instruments.
The highlight of the day was passing a north bound sailboat, because Richard Reppy, the old cruising friend we met up with in Monterey was onboard! He'd driven down to Santa Barbara the day before to help a friend bring his boat back up to Monterey -- so we knew we might happen to pass on the way, but what a delight to actually see the boat (right as night fell) and talk to a friendly voice and get an idea of the weather ahead!
Shortly after that the fog enveloped us and we had a long night of motoring along depending on the instruments to see our way. The sky began lightening up as we approached San Luis and we were able to pick our way in from buoy to buoy and set the anchor at 8 am.
Once situated we took a nice nap and awoke to sunny skies! Now we'll spend the day enjoying the sun and plotting when the best time to leave to round Pt. Conception -- right now the weather reports are leading us towards leaving here around midnight so we round the point just before sunrise.
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08/24/2009, Emery Cove Marina, SF Bay
We left Fort Bragg/Noyo River at 9 am Tuesday August 8th and crossed under the Golden Gate bridge at 7 am the next morning!
We had an uneventful rounding of Pt Arena, which is why we waited in Fort Bragg. The last time we came down the coast in Cetus we encountered huge seas and strong winds with gusts to 50 knots in that area and we didn't want to do that again!
Unfortunately, the winds on the coast this year are either feast or famine, and though we took off the first day the gusty winds and "dangerous seas" subsided, the forecast for some 10 - 15 knot winds from the West and Northwest didn't materialize and we headed out into south winds and fog. So once again we motored along in our little bubble of fog and had little visibility that night until we rounded Pt. Reyes and the fog began to lift, making it easier to spot the buoys we needed to follow through the Bonita Channel to reach the Golden Gate. Were excited to see a large killer whale go by on the 1st day, and that was our only sighting of this short passage.
At 6 am it became light and made for very easy transiting of the channel and we could suddenly see all the huge ships going in and out of the bay. The night before they had just been images on our radar and AIS. Even with the top of the bridge shrouded in clouds, it was an awesome sight to round Pt. Bonita and see the Golden Gate -- it's really a great feeling of accomplishment and we celebrated by opening a small bottle of champagne to toast as we passed under the bridge.
One unusual announcement to mariners came over the VHF radio as we were going through the Bonita channel -- they were telling everyone to proceed with caution through the channel because there were to be swimmers crossing the channel at 7 am! We didn't see the swimmers, but had we been even 15 minutes later we probably would have.
We then proceeded across the bay to the Emery Cove Marina -- it had been our home from 1998 -1999 when Terry worked in the Bay area before we headed down to Mexico the last time. It was nice to pull into a familiar place.
We've been enjoying being here and walking all over town. Yesterday we had a big adventure! We took BART to San Francisco where we caught the ferry to Sausalito and met up with our good friends Liz and Tom (they were in the area for a wedding). We had a fantastic day with them, checking out the Bay Model and then going back to Cetus and then out to dinner at Trader Vic's (the home of the original Mai Tai)
Now we have a free week to explore some more, get some boat projects done and plan the rest of our journey south.
Then Carly flies down on the 31st for a short visit!
Life is good.
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