Two of my friends, Howard Ward and John Lawler with a friend of Howard, Ron Linder, we motor sailed Taya from Mazatlan to San Diego. We left at 9:30 am on July 15th with our first stop at Cabo San Lucas to refuel and rest. The passage was rough with peaks of 35 knots of wind right on the nose.

We left the next day for the crossing of Cabo Falso at 07:00 in relatively calm conditions. The wind was blowing at 24 knots on the nose. The conditions were to stabilize for the remaining time of the trip at winds between 15 and 27 knots right on the nose. The seas were variable with wave heights of 5 to 10 feet. That is why the call it the "Bash North".

After rounding Cabo Falso we started to turn right to our WNW heading, and again we had the wind right on the nose. We ran out of fuel (140 gallons capacity) at the entrance of Bahia Tortuga and a panga volunteered to tow us to our anchorage for 600 pesos.

Soon Enrique came over and told him we needed 650 liters of diesel fuel. An hour later he was at our boat with 50 liters jerry cans to fill our tank. John bled the engine and were soon on our way towards Ensenada. There, we obtained our Zarpe (Mexico official exit document). We spent the night comfortably at the Ensenada Coral Marina. The next day we went to town and loved it.

We left Ensenada the same day at 20:00 bound for San Diego. We made landfall at 06:00 on July 24th, exactly 8 days and 6 hours later. It was a fast and boisterous passage.

With John who remained on the boat with me for a few more days, we fixed a few problems. On Monday, John joined with friends in San Diego. I flew from Tijuana on the 27th, on a Volaris flight which took 2 1/2 hours for 2800 pesos. We had a brand new Airbus 320. Who said that Mexican Airlines are flying junk airplanes?

After resting a few days here in Maz, finding room and board for our 3 cats, we plan on driving back to San Diego on Tuesday morning, July 30th. We will remain in San Diego for a week or so, to clean up Taya both in and out. On August 2nd, we move Taya to her permanent moorage at the Island Packet dealer, until she sells to a happy mariner.