Bash 3
06/27/15

Everyone was up and ready, so we cast off the dock lines just after 1:00am, and motored into the black night. It was a bit bumpy, but we had a gorgeous orange moon to keep us company for a while. By the time we were close to Cabo San Lucas the wind was howling and the seas were large and knocking us around. We decided to duck into Cabo to await daylight and milder conditions. We carefully made our way into the beach area south of the Marina and dropped anchor at 4:00am in front some of the same cantinas that I had enjoyed while here with the folks from the Baja Haha.

We started moving again at 8:00am in a clear and breezy morning. We quickly upped anchor and headed out for another try at rounding the Cape. This time, though the winds were still blowing hard, we made it around the corner and into the Pacific Ocean proper. We finally cleared the dreaded Cabo Falso, a large point that funnels and increases the ocean winds in the area, at 09:45am. Conditions began to improve as we covered more distance, becoming sunny and relatively calm by noon. We caught a beautiful Bonita in the afternoon, which became our first Hawaiian Pokey of the trip, which we enjoyed with cold beers. Later, Mark brought a nice Striped Marlin to the boat after a great fight. As darkness fell we were treated to a nice sunset, and we had a Boobie land on the front of the boat and stay there the entire night. Billie quickly dubbed the bird "Tits McGee", being a booby and everything... (it left quite a mess for us in the morning). We reefed (reduced) the mainsail in case the wind came up during the night. The air temperature has been creeping downward since we made the turn North, with the water temp dropping a full 10 degrees since last night. Billie was the first one to don pants and a jacket, but the rest of us followed by the time our watches began. Mike and Mark took the first watch, from 10:00pm to 02:00am.

06/28/15
Billie and I relieved Mark and Mike and assumed the watch at 02:00am. They reported no vessels sighted and conditions were calm with a bright moon of about 70%. Our Boobie bird friend, christened "Tits McGee" by Billie, was still perched on the pulpit railing above the anchor. I was wearing a pair of jeans that I had brought down on the Haha for the first time in 20 months. We motored all night with the reefed mainsail adding a bit of lift and stability. The old Perkins diesel motor just kept purring along, happily propelling Odyssey towards the U.S.border. At about 5:00am we passed on the inside of a vessel heading south, the first one we've seen since rounding Cabo Falso yesterday morning. The wind came and went throughout the morning and day. After sunrise we had glassy seas for several hours. We tried a variety of lures behind Odyssey, but had no fish for today. Although we had a few bumps, the ocean has been very friendly to us, with calm winds and waves. I should mention that we violated my insurance policy on the first day as we headed towards San Jose Del Cabo, having entered a forbidden hurricane zone when we passed below Bahia De Los Muertos. It was not until this afternoon that we departed the non-covered area and we once again officially insured (don't tell Susan!). We passed Magdalena Bay and Bahia Santa Maria, heading offshore as the sun went down. The night proved to be pretty bumpy, with winds coming and going and changing directions under a very bright moon.