1323hrs tracking map updated with current position

It's that time again, the Baja Ha-ha cruisers Rally launches south form San Diego at 0800hrs Monday morning bringing about 200 boats south to Mexico. We did the 2007 and 2008 Ha-ha and had good experiences both times and would recommend the Ha-ha for anyone looking to get down the outside of Baja California quickly to where it's warm. We did miss quite a few nice spots coming down so fast, but we figure we will save those for our trip north at the end of our cruise. Participants in the Ha-ha range form salty ocean pros, to first timers with just enough sea miles under their belts to make their insurance company add a hefty premium to their polices.

In our opinion, the Ha-ha gets a bad and undeserved reputation as a party trip full of drunken sailors. Sure, there is some beer consumed at the Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria beach parties, but our experiences were packed full of responsible seamen just looking to make new friends on their way south. The best thing about the Ha-ha, is that it sets a hard date in the sand for casting off. Like most cruising boats heading south, we could have stayed in San Diego for months trying to finish all the boat projects and trying to make sure everything was perfectly ready. The irony is that some of the projects from that original list are still on the list and some have even been removed without being completed, yet here we are out cruising having a good time. Three years before our ultimate cruise departure we placed the 2008 Ha-ha are our target with the 2007 Ha-ha scheduled as our learning trip and shakedown cruise to see what the boat still needed and frankly to see if we enjoyed cruising Mexico. Many people we met during the Ha-ha were using the rally as their motivating castoff date as well.

We are still good friends with many of our fellow Ha-ha'ers and are happy to have been part of what we view as a great event to get people off their duffs and head south. We will keep a close eye out for vessels flying the Ha-ha burgee and give them a warm welcome to Mexico. Of course we will also keep a close eye out on where they anchor, knowing they are most likely new to cruising and possibly anchoring, that's just being prudent! So for all you dreamers out there, pick a future Ha-ha departure as your goal and start working towards your own Ha-ha, or get yourself aboard one of the boats heading south as crew. We took crew with us on each of our two trips and many boats are interested in sharing the experience, fun, and work of the 750 mile trip from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas.