11/11/2006, On board Volare
We left Cabo this morning at 0700 on route to La Paz with a stop at Los Frailes about 45 miles up the coast from Cabo. We are now about 5 miles out of Los Frailes enjoying happy hour. We have The Gypsey Kings belting out "Volare" in the cockpit, and have had a great day's sailing on the nose but in calm waters so it's been very pleasant. Los Frailes is located almost on the Tropic of Cancer and is the easternmost piece of land on the Baja Peninsular. The bay teams with sea life and apparently resembles a nursery for small manta rays who often provide entertainment for hours as they sommersault and splash for hours.
There are about 12 boats from the Ha-Ha heading to La Paz that will be in the anchorage tonight. We've buddied up (look at that I've only been in America a few months and already speak the language)with Dave and Melanie on 'Talerra', a Cape George 38 from Anacortes. They are doing the puddle jump next year so we'll no doubt be seeing a lot of them.
Well we're nearly there so best I go up on deck and organise the crew. ##
---------- radio email processed by SailMail for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
|
Comments [1]
10/11/2006, On board Volare
We crossed the finish line at Cabo San Lucas at 0800 local Thursday and dropped anchor off the town at about 1000. We had a beautiful sail for 10 hours on Wednesday afternoon and into the evening with just the spinnaker up and pulling us along at sixes and sevens but by about 2100 the breeze had dropped away and we motored through the night and into Cabo.
What a difference Cabo is after Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria! It's a beautiful town nestled in amongst the mountains at the tip of the Baja Peninsular. Lots of big condominiums, golf resorts etc. A long sandy beach with restaurants stretches from the harbour for about 4 miles and we are anchored off this beach in about 7 metres of crystal clear water with a temperature of 26 celsius. The air temperature is in the mid thirties so we are well into the warmer weather. This place is sports fishing paradise. The marina is full of American sportfishing boats and the smallest marina berth costs about AU$200 a night. A bit out of our league so we have chosen to anchor off.
We did the check-in formalities with immigration yesterday afternoon and wondered around town afer a long leisurely lunch at one of the many harbourside restaurants and returned to Volare for a fairly early night to catch up on sleep lost during the passage. Today (Friday) we completed some chores in the morning and joined the end of rally beach party for the afternoon and into the early evening where we did some further bonding with all our new found friends.
This rally has been great in that we have met lots of people, some of whom will be doing the Pacific crossing at around the same time as us and others, whom I'm sure we'll stay in contact with over the ensuing years. It's been a fabulous experience for Debbie's sister and her husband. Living and working on a yacht has been a new experience for them. We've caught lots of fish, seen some unbelievable sunsets and sunrises, drunk lots of wine, laughed a lot and generally had a great time.
We will leave for La Paz on Sunday. We plan to spend a few days getting up there (La Paz is in the Sea of Cortez to the north and on the eastern side of the Baja Peninsular) and then Milton and Gail will leave us on the 20th November to fly out to see a little more of the States before returning to Australia.
Thank you to all those who have posted comments on the blog site - it's great to get some feedback from time to time to know that someone is actually reading this journal. Salacia - it was good to hear from you. We followed your travels last year down from the Pacific North West and on the Ha-Ha before your rolly ride to Hawaii. We knew of Salacia when she was in Australia with her previous owner.
We had the opportunity of getting to an internet cafe yesterday and uploading a few photos for the gallery (including, by request a few of Debbie's crocodile wrestling manoeuvres at the kick-off party in San Diego) - not many because we ran out time but when we get another chance we'll upload some more.
OK that's it for now. I'm sitting in the cabin surrounded by laundry after the girls made a trip to the laundrette today.
We have just had a fireworks display off the beach about 200 metres from us. Life couldn't be more perfect...... ##
---------- radio email processed by SailMail for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
|
08/11/2006, On board Volare - noon
We up anchored at 0500 local this morning to get a good run down the coast to Cabo San Lucas, about 180 miles south east. We are currently motor sailing to charge batteries and make water. Our bottom speed is 7.5kts and if we maintain better than 6 kts for most of the trip we'll be at anchor in Cabo during daylight tomorrow. The temperature is really warming up - 30C degrees down below, probably 32C - 34C degrees on deck.
I'm going to try and describe a beach party we had ashore yesterday afternoon. First, to set the scene, Bahia Santa Maria is a totally desolate place hundreds of miles from civilization. There are a couple of fisherman's shacks ashore and out at the entrance point there's a couple of shacks that are used as a surfers' camp during the year. Backing onto the bay are mountains with no trees but there is a kind of green undergrowth so the mountains are very pretty (this part of Mexico is in the hurricane belt so it does get some rain a few times a year). Very few boats come here, most preferring to travel a little further down the coast and go in to Magdalena Bay. So here is a place that only sees some activity for two days a year and that's when the Ha-Ha fleet pulls in to anchor. All of a sudden the bay is transformed to a small city with 170 plus yachts at anchor (at night with everyone's anchor light on, the scene is like Bunnerong Power Station or fairyland - take your pick).
The Grand Poobar arranges beforehand with the local fishermen to have a party ashore. Now here's the amazing part. Thousands of cans of beer and ice are trucked in by 4WD. Enough lobsters, fish and prawns to feed 700 people, tents, generators, margarita mix and tequilla, portable toilet (yes - singular - for 700 bursting bladders!!)and last but not least, a fantastic rock 'n roll band drives for 12 hours to get there from La Paz to entertain for tips! UNBELIEVABLE! What an afternoon.
We opted to have a bar-b-que aboard before going ashore as I had a pressing hairdresser's appointment I couldn't break and we don't like standing in line for a few hours waiting to eat.
We caught another dorado this morning so no shortage of fresh fish. Swimming along minding his own business at 11:00. Bar-b-qued fish taco in the cockpit at 13:00. ##
---------- radio email processed by SailMail for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
|
