November 10, 2008 - Monday

I got up early and took a last walking tour of Cabo. It was about 5:30 a.m. and the streets were nice and quiet. The water front, normally a zoo in terms of noise, confusion, and crowds was serene with only an occasional jogger. Normally there is a chaotic mix of sailors, motor yachters, commercial fishermen, sport fishermen, the tourists staying in town, and poor locals selling their wares all milling about together. I guess Cabo San Lucas is somewhat unique in that all this eclectic group co-mingles and comfortably co-exists. The fishermen were already busy, however, on their boats as they made their way out to sea. Those that were not yet gone were a frenzy of activity and the crews looked like ants swarming the boats getting things loaded, tied down, and ready to go. I went by a little coffee shop that JJ and Steph had suggested, but it was too early and it was not open yet. I got some pictures of the "quiet" cabo and returned to the boat about the time the others were getting up.

We have planned to continue up into the Sea of Cortez to find a new home for Serenity and this was the first day of that extension of the Ha Ha. However, there is a new marina that recently opened about 20 or so miles east of Cabo San Lucas that we all wanted to explore, so we headed off to Cabo San Jose Marina. Before leaving, we stopped at the fuel dock to refuel with diesel for the boat. We needed about 35 gallons, so...we traveled about 800 miles on less than $100 of fuel. We could have done better, but there were times that we wanted to get somewhere to participate in Ha Ha fleet events and "assisted" mother nature by using the motor. Still, that just isn't bad. We also got some ice and pulled out about 9:00 a.m.

I would like this blog to be as entertaining as possible, so it is with great regret that I inform you that virtually nothing happened today. There was no wind, with occasional gusts up to as high as very little wind. Because of this we motored at a leisurely 2200 rpms and made it to Cabo San Jose a little after noon. The marina looks like it will nice, and it was certainly much cheaper ($35 per night) than Cabo San Lucas ($175 with the Ha Ha discount), but the marina is in its infancy and there isn't much at the Marina yet. It appears to be in the middle of nowhere, but Cabo San Jose is really just over the hill and a $6 taxi ride away.

After giving Serenity a full washing, we finally inflated the dinghy and will now leave it inflated and tow it behind the boat for the balance of the trip. We went to shore and explored a little bit but, again, it is pretty undeveloped and there are only a few little markets and a bar or two. We had a beer and then returned to the boat.

There were about 20 or so Baja Ha Ha boats here and we were able to chat with them a bit. There was a lady there that looked familiar. I asked if she worked at the Orange Coast College and she did. It ends up that she was the first mate on the Alaska Eagle, the boat I sailed BACK to Newport Beach after the 2006 Baja Ha Ha. At that time, she and her husband had been building a sailboat - and the boat they have now is that now completed boat - it is the third boat they have built. But wait, it gets better. WARNING: non-sailors won't care about the rest of this paragraph. Sailboats go relatively slow. They have a "hull speed" which limits how fast they can go and it is always a very slow speed compared to what a catamaran can do because a catamaran goes "on" the water and a sailboat goes "through" the water. In the Ha Ha there were several legs where a boat called Taboo who was coming in first and reported moving at one time as fast as 20 knots. We all assumed she was a catamaran... it wasn't; it ends up that it was this boat that the couple had built! We don't know what they did to her (there are certain ways that race sailboats can be built to perform), but it sure worked!

That is it for Cabo San Jose and tomorrow it will be off to Bahia Frailes, which is a great anchorage we stopped at last year and which is located right around the corner from Cabo Pulmo, which is, go figure, where the Pulmo reef and the associated national underwater park are located.

Paul.