Dawn is rising; orange, red and yellow fingers creeping over the water reaching out to embrace the sky. Surf is caressing the shore, across tiny fragments of rock trying in vain to sweep it back into the sea. Rugged mountains dotted in scrub brush rise gloriously to meet the sky making long shadows where the sun begins to warm their surface.

Looking around I am met with a dozen or so sailboats all anchored in the calm waters of the bay; sheltered from the wind and waves. Wind has been blowing briskly for days now as though it wants to send us all away on its arms; away to explore other lands, anywhere but here.

Wind sings many tunes as it whistles, moans, or screeches through the various riggings, lines, wind generators. After days of this I long for silence and stillness. Wind, be calm; Seas, settle down - let us play in your generosity.

Frisky, frolicking rays leap in the surf outmaneuvering their predators. We revel in the display as they leap out of a cascading wave, flap their wings both black and white entering the waters again in a seemingly painless bellyflop! The splashes mar the surface.

Life exists also on the land with several ostentatious mansions serving stark contrasts for our minds seeking to reconcile the poverty with the wealth side by side on the beauty of the beaches. Mansions making the beach look like paradise made comfortable, shacks making the beach look like an austere way to eke out a living - off the abundance of the sea. Where do we fit in?

As guests in this place we seek to experience all it has to offer allowing the contrasts to unsettle the stability of who we are and to view how precarious the tightrope line between comfortable living and survival.

Yesterday, we marveled in the wonders of creation with the diversity of marine life swimming around us as we took both Katryn and Zachariah out snorkeling around one of the only living reefs on the west coast. The squeals of both delight and fear could be heard mutely underwater as new discoveries were made. Angelfish, needle fish, rockfish, parrotfish, pufferfish and dozens more we are incapable of giving names. Colors sparkling against a dull brown sand and rock backdrop. A two foot long needle fish had the audacity to swim right into Katryn's face mask startling her enough to want to head in for a break.

A place of contrasts, Bahia Los Frailes; poverty and wealth, quiet and riot, barren and full of life, rugged and tamed, a place of waiting and relaxing; waiting for the wind to settle enough to gently blow us to the next discovery.

Comments [1]

We are currently in a brand new marina in Cabo San Jose. It is still under construction but will be very nice when complete. It costs us $40 a day to tie up here, has water, but no power yet. We are waiting here to time our passage around the East Cape of the Baja peninsula where a land breeze seems to blow up in the afternoon and really kick up the waves. We had attempted to get to the next anchorage, Bahia Los Frailes, but turned around after an uncomfortable slog into a big wind took too much of our daylight to arrive on schedule. It turned out that the mutiny of the crew caused by the difference of my enjoyment of the nasty ocean, and Lisa's extreme dislike of those conditions, was even more uncomfortable then the pounding waves on the boat.

Here are some highlights of my last week:

We have had very decent weather since we left Ensenada and the seas have been calm. Although the wind didn't always blow in a perfect direction or speed to sail in, the passages were good. Sometimes when I hoisted a sail I could feel a rhythm. The boat responded and almost danced beneath me and the sound of the hulls slicing through the water entranced me. I felt as though I had been sailing for 50 years. And sometimes it felt as though I really didn't know what I was doing. I would fight the boat, pacing the deck and tweaking a sail or adjusting our course trying to find out what was holding us back. We seemed to have opportunity to try every combination of sail: 7 Knots of speed in 10 Knots of wind with all three sails out, a reefed down main and jib in heavy wind, and motor sailing when there just wasn't enough breeze to get gone!

I wish to retell a story from my perspective. Three days before landing at Cabo San Lucas we were far offshore. I spotted a line of dolphins jumping out of the water in single file about a quarter mile from the boat. There seemed to be more then usual, maybe twenty. I swung the boat hard to Starboard in pursuit, hoping to catch up and get their attention. They like so much to swim between our hulls and play in the wake of the boat, and we like so much to watch them do that. Just as we were catching up, and as predicted, they broke off of their course and came around at the boat. There was a scramble on deck for cameras but they seemed to pass by us though rather then play tag with our boat. We all looked back to see where they might be off to and to our surprise saw a wall of dolphins, there had to be 200 or more, swimming abreast and jumping the surface, coming straight for us. It was intense. And at that moment, zzzzzzing, one of the fishing rods we had rigged on a side guardrail latched into a fish. I yelled at Lisa to grab her rod (thanks Tyler Mason) but she was reluctant to step up to the challenge. I grabbed the rod out of the holder and began the fight, and then zzzzzzing, the other rod left trolling behind the boat latched into something under the sea. Now Lisa had no option and picked up that rod. As the tsunami of dolphins swam by the boat we realized that they were herding prey that probably also attracted the game fish that decided to feed on our lures. In the excitement of bringing in the fish, we had to pull our attention from the huge pod of dolphins that brought us here. The rod I held jerked violently in my hands and then went quiet, disappointingly whatever I had on the line broke free. This was probably good though as it gave me a chance to check the boat and coach Lisa in bringing in her catch. We were all quite excited as she landed a yellow fin Tuna. I helped her get it on the boat by using a gaff hook I was so glad to have purchased.

After days and days of solitude, or at most a quaint fishing village on our way South, it was exciting to come around the point and enter a rather exotic cove known as Cabo San Lucas. It is thought to be a historic pirate hangout for sea gypsies to lurk in, waiting to dash out on passing ships and do their pillaging. We anchored near shore but were soon overwhelmed by the cacophony and chaos of the resort beach of Cabo. Maybe the 2 giant cruise ships should have given it away, or the 50-ish glass bottom tour boats darting about, the motor boats pulling para-sailors aloft, or at least the 10 resort hotels lining the beach. The most unnerving incident for me were the sea-doos zinging in and out of the anchored sailboats, and in particular, one scrawny 15 year old, pirouetting at full speed, and often falling off as he would loose control in an abrupt turn or hitting the wake of one of the (too) many boats in the harbor. I was quite certain he was going to carve a new opening in our boat with his rented machine. The zoo quieted down at dusk... just in time for the beach bar parties and dj's on megaphones to take over. We quickly came to the conclusion that this was our last night here. We prefer the lonely anchorages. Better yet, the ones with a couple of sailing cruisers, visiting and watching out for each other.

Comments [2]

Safely ensconced in our 38 foot catamaran while firmly docked in the Marina Puerto Los Cabos I have time to slow down and evaluate what went wrong today.

We left Cabo San Lucas late today because we had been too exhausted from our long run down from Magdelena Bay to make a plan earlier. We also neglected to get a local weather forecast, but the skies were clear and the temperature was in the 20's when we woke up at 7 am. It looked like a great day.

I cooked up some potatoes and ham for an early lunch while underway and was noting the change in ability to cook while underway and not feel the least bit queasy. Improvements are small but memorable. Shortly after washing the last of the dishes the wind started to pick up. I thought nothing of it....for a time.

Within an hour we had to reef the main twice, after a little heated discussion with the captain who was loving the spray in his face and the wind in his hair. We were riding short steep swells right on our bow. It was beginning to feel more like an old roller coaster ride and less of an afternoon sail. I soon got tired of the pounding and when the spray completely covered our salon windows I started wishing we were going the other way; with the waves. We saw wind gusts in excess of 30 knots - on the nose! Not fun anymore.

I hate how I react when it gets this rough. I know we were fine, the boat was fine, but the ride was so intolerable that I grasped whatever was nearby with white knuckles and grit my teeth and tried to bear it; which didn't last long. I longed to be unconscious at that point and wanted to be anywhere but in my own skin, on this boat that was rocking and rolling and making explosive noises underneath.

Now I question whether or not I should be this honest but I choose to be to my utter humiliation because I know I am not the only female out there cruising who struggles when the conditions are less than perfect. Cruising isn't all about sun, warmth, paradise, snorkelling...it can be hard...furling in a sail that is flapping around trying to shred itself into pieces, listening and feeling hour after hour of pounding, creaking, groaning and water slamming into the boat. Some moments are definitely idyllic and some need to be left in the past; this day was one of the latter.

I love the warmth of the sun, I love to see my husband's eyes light up in excitement when sailing, I love that my children are seeing another perspective on humanity and cultures, and I love hearing Zach eke out a few words of Spanish.

Somedays, though, I wonder.....is this enough? Is it?

Comments [5]

We are almost half way down the Pacific Baja coast of Mexico! We left Ensenada with mixed feelings; sad to leave behind new friends Butch and Cynthia, anxious about the long, desolate way ahead and just wanting to get to the Sea of Cortez where the water is warmer and the anchorages closer together.

The first step was an overnight sail to Bahia San Quintuin. Upon leaving the Marina Coral Brad and I got into a little tiff as he was not going the way I would go, the chart plotter was beeping incessantly and wasn't doing what we thought it should and Brad wasn't communicating at all. I got frustrated and griped! Brad griped back! But, we eventually got back on track with both the boat and each other. Stress can bring out the beast in us.

The night sail was long and thankfully uneventful, my eyelids wanted to close many times when on watch. Brad was great and took the majority of the hours in the dead of the night. The kids each took an hour in the late evening giving Brad the chance to catnap on the salon couch. We arrived the next morning at 10:00 am, but to where? There was nothing here! Nothing but a hook in the land offering shelter from the wind and the waves so we could get some rest. Brad and the kids dinghied to shore to explore the beach and the sand dunes while I got supper started. We were startled to hear a whale breathe right nearby and were treated to a front row view of a grey whale. Very exciting when in a little dinghy. After supper we headed to bed super early knowing we were going to rise at 5 am to start our next leg - Turtle Bay, 180 nautical miles and 30 hours away! I was wondering if there would be more civilization there than in San Quintuin. I will leave you to wonder until you get there in this story. (Hi Kurt!!! - we are almost half way!)

Jump ahead to Turtle Bay - not civilization as we know it. I am amazed at the dishevelled, desolate appearance of this coastline. It is barren, dusty, and dirty. It's beauty is in is austerity, much like a prairie winter but the opposite - you prairie folk will understand. I was much disappointed to view only three other cruising boats anchored here as the journey to get here was long. We wandered around dusty, bumpy roads looking for an internet cafe to no avail. We stumbled into a run down house that doubled as a store with basic provisions. I was not sorry to leave this bay early the next morning- where were the turtles?

Turtle Bay to Magdelana Bay was our longest leg solo yet and we did it! We had some great winds on our shoulder which danced us along the surface of the ocean at a wonderful 7 - 8 knots. When the winds died down we pulled out the screecher and played - we were doing 7.8 knots in about 8 knots of breeze - what a ride! The sun was shining and the seas were gentle and I was no longer eating rotten chicken! We ended up motor sailing a large portion of the 243 nautical miles as the winds were just too light to sail.

While way out of sight of land we saw dolphins cavorting in the distance so Brad pops the autopilot off and turns the boat hard about to try to get closer and soon the dolphins decide to dance and play in our wake at the bow hulls. They leave us shortly with our breath taken away. As we begin to get back on course we look up and see a wave coming at us - not of water but of dolphins jumping out of the water chasing fish! There were hundreds in a line all coming at us! The sight is so beyond words that living vicariously is no longer possible - this you just have to see for yourself. The dolphins parted to go around our boat on both sides chasing their dinner into the distance. All was pandemonium aboard Tenacious Grace with every crew member running for their cameras and then ZING the fishing line starts singing. Brad grabs the rod from the holder and starts reeling in the fish as the dolphins are still surrounding the boat. Then....ZING.....the second fishing line has caught something too! I grab the other rod and start reeling while the kids are still trying to videotape the dolphins. I then spent what felt like 15 minutes trying to win the fish onto the boat - he was putting up a fight and I had Zach tether me to the boat; just in case! I ended up landing a 30" Yellowfin Tuna; complete with a savagery of blood - it looked like we had massacred someone on the cockpit floor! Then we started resuming some order - we got the boat back on track, Brad gutted, cleaned and cut up the fish while I washed blood from the floors, wallls, doors, steps, etc of the cockpit! We will post some photos of these most excellent adventures.


So, it is evening and the wind is whistling in our rigging while our boat gently sways and rocks in the swell. We can see the lights in the village and the other boats anchored here. I have cinnamon buns rising soon to be baked and we were stunned to find an internet connection. I will post a picture of the village and you will wonder how they can be so connected and yet so desolate.

As a quick side note, a young Mexican boy was persistently trying to convince Brad to purchase a shell from him for $1.00; this while standing on a beach covered in shells. We did not have a dollar with us so kept saying, "No, Gracias." A little later when we hopped back into our dinghy to go back to Tenacious Grace we were delighted to find he had tucked the shell he was trying to sell into Brad's sweater. I think he just took a liking to Brad and gifted him - he didn't hang around to see the discovery either. It was so gracious and we were blessed.

When I started writing this we were almost half way down the coast with no internet. Now we have internet and are one 150 mile leg away from the Sea of Cortez! It does get better, Cynthia and the marine life will take your breath away! Special greetings to Kurt and family! You made this all possible.

Comments [1]

I woke at 05:00 to pull the anchor and leave San Quintin yesterday and it has been a 30 hour trip to get to Turtle Bay. For about the first 24 hours we saw no evidence of human life. I quite enjoyed that. We also enjoyed more dolphin encounters, whale spout sightings, and discovered two 3 inch squid had landed on the boat sometime overnight. I was tempted to eat them!

We did a little less sailing and a little more motoring then I wanted. There are two points of wind direction that we can not sail into: one is common to all boats and it is within 30 degrees left or right of straight into the wind. The other is within about 30 degrees left or right of dead down wind. This is because of our sail configuration. The solution is to tack in a zig zag pattern to put the wind where it works and we did some of this but because the wind was quite light, our velocity made good (corrected speed) was very slow, so the yanmars did some work.

Over the last few passages I have lost a couple of fish hooks trying to figure out fishing on the big water. A tiny piece of fish lip stuck to my wire line confirmed that the lost lures weren't only because of faulty knots tied in the line, but possibly because of big sea monsters. At about 07:00 I caught my first Pacific fish on this journey. It was 32" and possibly a Yellow Jack. After I cleaned it on deck, some of it went on the grill and it tasted wonderful.

We arrived in Turtle Bay just before noon and were met by a panga "Anabell" selling fuel from his boat. We had heard that he has a better reputation and filled our tanks but we were ridiculed for the slightly higher price that we payed him by the competition on the village dock in very broken English. The competition also charged us $2 U.S. to tie up our dinghy to the dock. We explored the small village and found a small grocery store where we bought bread and drinks. The best word that comes to mind to describe the village - desolate.

I am mesmerized by the explosions happening all around our boat. Large, ungainly pelicans circle above and dive with suicidal frenzy at fish just below the surface of the water. We will rest overnight and press on for Mag Bay Bahia Magdalena) tomorrow. We will post more photos in the Mexico album when we get a better internet connection.

Comments [1]

Ensenada was good and we really enjoyed spending time with Butch and Cynthia from Sailing Vessel Albatross. I really appreciate the time that Butch took in tuning our mast rigging and splicing together a sacrificial piece of anchor rode for our all chain primary anchor in case we need to cut it loose in an emergency. Thanks also to Tim on S.V. Sunnyside for diagnosing a short in our VHF radio antennae that prevented us from having good reception.
It was a benign overnight passage with some good sailing in the late hours of the night from a land breeze that kicked up. A full moon made for a good companion through the night watches.
We arrived at Bahia San Quintin just before noon and anchored in shallow water near the mouth of an estuary. There was a small village nearby but we didn't see much activity except for a few Panga's (Mexican fishing boats) heading in and out of the bay. Soon after we had the boat securely anchored I thought that I heard a whale spout and that was soon confirmed as we spotted the whale lazily surfacing in the shallow waters around us. We lowered the dinghy and headed for shore to explore a very deserted beach.

Comments [0]