We just dropped anchor a few moments ago, and it feels nice to not be out in the wind and not have the engine running. Our 38 hour passage wasn't as calm as forecasted, but we did just fine. We motorsailed the whole way hugging the coast between Cabo San Lucas and Magdalena Bay. During the 184 mile journey we encountered a steady 20-25 knots on Sunday and Monday morning. The wind died down to 15 this afternoon and then built back to 20 by the time we put down our anchor. We noticed a big difference in our boat's performance between 15 knots of wind and 20+ knots of wind. When we have 20 knots+ of wind the boat bangs a bit though the waves. When this happens, the speed we've built up gets knocked back 20% or so...then we build boat speed back up and then the same thing happens all over again. It's also more stress on the boat than at 15 knots. With the 15 knots this morning and early afternoon, we glided though the water and the swells were much flatter. The Baja Bash is all what they describe.

We're anchored here with one other boat. We met him in Cabo, and he's headed to Newport Beach. Our friends on Zephyrus and Windblown were behind us by about 15 miles so they may not make the anchorage before dark. If they don't, they will probably tuck into Bahia Magdalena which is about 20 miles closer, and is an anchorage we passed up as Bahia Santa Maria was our intended destination.

It feels good to have one part of The Bash behind us. I think of this trip up Baja in four parts. The first part is between Cabo and Mag Bay. This is the trip we just completed. Part two is between Mag Bay and Turtle Bay. Part 3 is between Turtle Bay and San Quintin. Part 4 is between San Quintin and San Diego. Each section has its own challenges. In part one the challenges were rounding Cabo Falso and dealing with major headland Punta Tosca. Also, we had to get used to the steeper swell and motion of the boat caused by beating into the wind. Last but not least, after being in Mexico all winter, we'd forgotten quickly how COLD it is on the outside of Baja. We've officially left the tropics, so it's back to sweat shirts, pants, and foul weather gear at night....BRRR was it cold last night!

We're unsure of the weather the next few days. We're getting mixed weather reports. Originally, Tuesday was supposed to be a good day for traveling, but we're hearing otherwise now. We may stay put here until Friday when the weather is supposed to get better, but we'll listen to our HAM radio nets and weather forecasting and talk with our friends before deciding when to leave.