These fifty-mile legs are a lot easier than the 200-mile day and the 140-mile ones we made from Cabo. We left Punta Abreojos in the damp dawn this morning, rounded the point without incident, and proceeded north to this sweet, protected bay. Southbound we stopped long enough to take a hike on the hills above the town and to have lunch and buy a few parched groceries. This time we're trying to take advantage of the fine weather, so we'll just rest the night and head out again in the morning for Turtle Bay.

Today we saw kelp for the first time in a year, and a small whale surfaced right behind the boat, and curious fur seals popped up to have a look at us. Every day we see new varieties of creatures that don't make it south. And every day the air is chillier and we don another item of dress: One day, a sweatshirt; the next, socks. The change of seasons is accelerated when one moves up the latitudes.

A note on equipment: We love our radar. We don't use it every day, but when we're making passages like this and need to enter a bay after dark, it's worth every penny. As we came into Bahia Asuncion, the radar showed us the boats anchored around the bay long before we could see them with our eyes. Even after we were anchored, the lights of the town were so dazzling against the moonless night that we could only gradually pick out the hazards that showed up so evidently by radar.