Sea of Turtles/Mar das tartarugas/ukulele on board
Our stay in San Jose del Cabo was a delight. We were there waiting for our friend Gerry Mosel, who was bringing some vital boat parts for us. Gerry lives in his boat in Oahu, and will be sailing with us to the French Polynesia. He brought his ukelele with him. Now we have a little of Hawaii with us. Hurray!
The marina where we stayed had a lovely pathway lined with the work of Leonora Carrington, an English/Mexican surrealist painter from the 30's. She was really ahead of her time. By the paintings, there were gorgeous sculptures representing some of the subjects in her paintings. Whenever I get a good connection I will post some photos. We also had a great meal in an organic farm nearby. And the stand up paddle boards got to be used for the first time. San Jose really made an impression on us. Very clean, and the people are very polite. The drivers stop for the pedestrians on the crosswalks, which I didn't expect it, as I had never experienced this courtesy in other south and central American countries.
We have sailed/motored for almost 4 days, and covered 672 miles to Acapulco. Below is a short summary of my diary of the trip. We left on Thursday, the 26th, at 5PM.
Day 1: light winds, up to 17kts and calm seas. We caught 2 small tuna fish, at the same time. Lots of sashimi, fish tacos and sushi for the next 2 days.
Day 2: the winds are still with us, still light which is making the passage very comfortable. We caught 2 mahi mahi but we let them go because they were too small. Mauliola crew has a good heart. By the end of the day the wind was gone and to our distress we had to turn the engines on.
Day 3: this was a very exciting day. At sunrise, in my watch, we caught another mahi mahi. I had to wake Paul and Jerry to bring the fish in. This one was big enough to keep but we lost it. Paul said we shouldn't feel bad because it would bring us good karma. Right after a big school of dolphins came to play under the bow. A few hours later we started going thru a sea of turtles. For 4 hours we motored thru a parade of turtles. They were everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of them bobbing in the water, without any concern for Mauliola, owners of their own ocean. We were so happy to see that there is still a healthy population of them. I don't know the species, it looked different from the green turtles we see in Hawaii.
And by 4PM we caught a big mahi. We reckoned he weighted from 30 to 40lbs. Gerry brought it in, after a long fight and lots of unasked for advice from all of us. Needless to say how excited we were because a fish that big can feed us for many days. We do not fish for sport and after that the poles were put away. Paul did a superb job of cutting the fillets, without wasting any thing.
Day 4: we are still without any winds. We are near the coast now and we can see land. These prior days we couldn't see land and almost no other boats. A few birds here and there, and curiously they were most lonely birds, like Mauliola, a lonely bird in the sea. By 1:30 we arrived in Acapulco. We decided to stop here for fuel. Our destination is Chicaua, 160 miles south of here, where we should get some surf. We will be leaving tomorrow. Aloha to you all and hasta luego.

Mar das tartarugas
A nossa estada em San Jose del Cabo foi otima. Nos estavamos esperando por Gerry Mosel, um amigo que vai viajar conosco ate a Polynesia Francesa. Gerry mora no seu barco em Oahu, Hawaii, e trouxe partes que precisamos para o barco. Ele tambem trouxe uma ukulele. Agora temos um poquinho do Hawaii conosco.
A marina onde ficamos tem um jardim onde estao expostas pinturas de Leonora Carrington, uma pintora surrealista inglesa/Mexicana dos anos 30. Do lado dos quadros, esculturas belissimas represantando alguns dos figurines nas pinturas. Quando tiver uma boa conexao vou colocar algumas photos no blog. Nos jantamos um dia numa horta organica, um jantar delicioso num jardim belissimo.
San Jose nos causou uma impressao muito boa. A cidade e limpissima, o povo educado e gentil. Os motoristas param para os pedrestes nos cruzamentos, o que eu nao esperava pois nao havia visto isso nos outros paises da America Central e do Sul que eu visitei.
Nos velejamos/ou com motor por 4 dias e percorremos 672 milhas ate Acapulco. A seguida e um pequeno relato do meu diario da viagem. Saimos de San Jose del Cabo dia 26 as 17 horas.
Dia 1: ventos leves, mar calmo, pegamos 2 atums pequenos. Muito sashimi, sushi e tacos de peixe no proximos 2 dias.
Dia 2: ainda temos vento, calmos fazendo com que a passagem seja muito comfortavel. Pegamos 2 dourados mas deixamos os dois se irem pois eram muito pequenos. A tripulacao de Mauliola tem o coracao bom. Dourado e como o nome diz, dourado, belissimo. Fiquei contente que eles se foram. No fim do dia o vento se foi e para o nosso desgosto tivemos que ligar os motores.
Dia 3: esse foi um dia excepcional. Ao nascer do sol, no meu plantao, pegamos outro dourado e esse de bom tamanho. Mas esse soltou-se. Paul disse que nao ficassemos tristes que isso iria trazer bom karma para nos. Logo em seguida um grupo de golfinhos veio brincar na proa do barco. E um pouco mais tarde comecamos a passar por um mar de tartarugas. Centenas e centenas delas, boiando calmamente, sem nenhuma preocupacao com Mauliola ou nos, donas do seu mar. Por 4 horas elas desfilaram. Corrinha, essas sao as suas tartarugas. No fim do dia pegamos um dourado enorme. Nos achamos que ele pesava de 15 a 20kg. Ficamos muito contentes pois um peixe desse tamanho nos alimentara por muitos dias. Nos nao pescamos por sport, mas para comer, e depois disso guardamos as varas. Paul filetou o dourado com perfeicao, sem perder nada.
Dia 4: ainda sem vento. Estamos mais proximos da costa e agora ja vemos terra. Esses 4 dias nao vimos nada alem de alguns barcos e aves solitarias. E muito interessante como as aves que vimos quase sempre eram solitarias assim como Mauliola. As 13:30 chegamos a Acapulco. Resolvemos parar aqui para reabastecer. O nosso destino e Chicaua, que fica a 160 milhas ao sul, onde esperamos ter surf. Sairemos de manha.
Hasta luego e beijos para todos.