Bahia Santa Maria
12 November 2010 | At sea just south of Bahia Santa Maria
Fred
Arrived in Santa Maria Bay at 1530 on 11/10 in company with Adirondack. Panga came by and Al asked if he had any lobster. The response was that the season didn't open until the 15th. As he went by we discovered he was the game warden! Glad we didn't buy anything! Quiet night at anchor. Next day was bright and clear and we decided to put the dinghy together and go ashore and do some hiking and exploring. In we went looking for a break in the surf and decided it looked smaller to the east of the estuary so we headed in. Waited for the set and went in after and made our first shore break beach landing successfully. The new dinghy wheels are really great as we just pulled the boat up on the beach to discover that we were really on an island and had some more lagoon water to cross. Wheeled the boat over and launched and set off only to run into a submerged mangrove root and bent one of my new wheels. So we pulled our wounded boat out and decided that it was getting late and we should try for a return through the shore break. Took our one wheel vessel to the surf and launched and again were successful. So far so good. Back on the boat we took the dinghy apart and stored it and relaxed and watched the sunset. We cooked Suzy's Beer Bread which was delicious and went well with Penny's chicken soup.
We departed Santa Maria at 0730 bound for Los Cabos about 28 hours away. Weather is going to be very light so we will be motoring the whole way. As we left Panta Rhei and Island Bound were coming in from Turtle. We met both couples at the Ensenada Immigration office and will see them in Cabo.
All is well on the good ship Tapatai and all systems go. Worried that we are not getting enough voltage to the batteries but will have that sorted in La Paz. Will try to get my wheel fixed in Los Cabos.
PENNY'S NOTATION: Just before we left for our little beach sortie, Fred proudly stated that the dinghy and wheels "were our car" for the next 6 months. Roughly 32 minutes later, the "car" was wrecked. Fred was in such a dither that it was really rather humorous to watch. The entire adventure from departing Tapatai to back on board Tapatai was roughly 50 minutes. Ah, life at sea. I thought of my sweet friend Suzy as we had beer bread with our dinner. -p