Baja Ha Ha Second Leg 10.30.08
30 October 2008 | Turtle Bay (Bahia de Tortugas)
Author: Paul; Weather: Warm
October 30, 2008 - Thursday
It was nice to sleep at anchor last night. First thing this morning I prepared an e-mail about the first four days of the trip. Stan sent the e-mail over his satellite phone and I hope you all received it. I think he sends an e-mail every day and I will try to be better at keeping you posted about the trip.
Unfortunately, we developed refrigeration problems first thing this morning as the refrigerator was making a racket. We (Stan, actually) tried to figure out the problem, but do not know what the situation is yet. We called the fleet (on the VHF radio) to see if anyone had any expertise in refrigeration - no luck. We then called the locals on the VHF, and one of them is supposed to line something up for us, maybe today. Until then, we bought ice in town and will try to save the food that way.
After playing with that for a while, we inflated the dinghy and mounted the outboard motor on it. During this morning's roll call we were informed of a new "environmental" tax of four dollars per person to go to shore. Although we were told we could pay $20 for an annual pass, when we got to shore, he did not have the annual passes and we were forced to buy a daily pass.
Although at times irritating, it was very impressive listening to the young local teens trying to drum up business for the water taxi. Apparently, they have purchased a boat (Panga), or are working on commission, but they have been on the VHF radio all morning asking if people needed taxi rides. They are, of course, referring to taxi boat rides. It is easy to understand why other nations hate Americans, as these local children, trying to earn a dollar, sort of get harassed by some members of the fleet for talking on the VHF channel (69) that we have been using. Others, however, simply make reservations for a taxi ride and they pay the four dollar fee.
Having inflated our dinghy, we did not take the taxi ride, but road it into shore about 1 PM. They have extended the rickety old dock to include a very low riding dinghy dock. It was less than stable when sober and proved to be much more complicated later. Again, the children's efforts at earning a dollar was impressive. When we landed on the dinghy dock they had hand written maps of the city available for one dollar. Although we knew we were going to be Vera Cruz restaurant, we bought a map and headed into town. I wish you could see turtle Bay sometime. There is not a paved road in town, but there are several markets, and they have now opened a second Internet caf�. I am not sure of the population, but there can't be more than 2 to 3000 people. I am sure that the regatta adds significant income to be city coffers each year.
We got to the Vera Cruz restaurant and ordered beers on a hot afternoon. I ordered fish tacos and Negra Medelo beer for two dollars. The others each ordered lobster which costs $20. The restaurant is situated on top of a hill that overlooks the bay. The staff is very friendly, but the service is somewhat slow. As a result, we had no choice but to drink many beers while we waited for our meals to arrive. Many of the other boaters were at this informal party and the comradery was impressive. Everyone was taking each other's pictures and consuming fair amounts of alcohol.
While not drunk, we (or at least I) was several Negra Medelo beers into the afternoon by this time and we now returned to the dinghy dock. On the way, we stopped and picked up the ice for the refrigerator, some bread (Bimbo, white bread, of course), and some "good luck" junk food (Bunny Tails, to be precise. Those are the equivalent of the Hostess Snow Balls) that is supposed to be the guarantee for good fishing further down the line. The dinghy dock is lower than, but connected to, the "real" pier, which is in such disrepair I expect it to have collapsed each time I return. To access either of them from the other, you climb (or in this case, descend) a vertical ladder about 13 or so feet. Although the first step down the ladder is a little hairy, it isn't bad. But then when you get to the bottom and think you have things whooped, you step to the dinghy dock, which is basically a floating wooden path extending about 50 feet out from the main pier. It is probably just a wood frame built on empty 50 gallon drums - fortunately I did not have the opportunity to get an up close and underwater look at the exact configuration.. Needless to say, it is less than stable, add a few beers to the mix and it became an exercise in balance and concentration. Imagine a kid who has been walking for about 1 day, keeping his/her arms out and thinking about each step. That was basically the trip back out the dock. The winder or rougher the water the more unsteady the pier. I swear the wind and water got MUCH rougher while we were in town because I know that darn thing wasn't bronking like that on the way in!
Anyway, the same 3 boys were at the end of the dock, waiting to retrieve everyone's dinghy for them. By now, the dinghy's were strung together and when you told them what dinghy was your's, one of them would dive in the water (keep in mind the bait fish in the water situation described below) and would swim back to you pulling the dinghy. Again, it was refreshing seeing how hard these young people worked their butts off to make, literally, a buck. I guess living in total poverty does that to you. Now that I think about it, though, none of them was dressed poorly and they certainly took pride in their appearance as all were well groomed and clean (that can't be easy in this very dusty little town).
As far as the weather, it has been warm and humid. There are storm clouds to the west, but the rain did not get to us. Tomorrow is the beach party and we will need to take care to not get sunburned horribly. Although the water is very warm, a fishing boat dumped its bait in the bay so the water is not clean right now. It should be better over by the picnic site and will certainly be much better down in Bahia Santa Maria. However, Bahia Santa Maria was hit by a hurricane a few weeks ago and we don't know what to expect. I hope it is not different as the ride in to shore, as you may remember from last year's emails, was one of the highlights of last year's Baja ha ha trip.
A quick note: remember that I mentioned that we had unloaded our dinghy and that there was the one water taxi (Panga - very small fishing boat with a powerful outboard motor) with the kids trying to get business? Well, there were actually several of the taxi's, maybe 75 dinghies, and then two boats floating around delivering diesel fuel to the cruisers. We, by the way, are carrying 4 five gallon jugs of diesel and dumped that into the tank and then had the boat come fill up our jugs. Anyway, imagine all these boats buzzing around like crazy. Now, imagine the sun has set and we are just sitting on deck enjoying the cooling weather (still not cool, but cooler than the very warm day). All of a sudden, someone on a boat nearby starts playing a bagpipe, it was very cool. After every song people would cheer or blow their fog horns. He (or she) finished and then someone started playing a trumpet. Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty cool. As we settled into out bunks for the night, a "band" fired up on shore. Like I mentioned, these people are anxious to make a buck and I can only assume that this guy was NOT paid, but was hoping for tips: he was laughably horrible, think that really, really horrible Asian guy on American Idol. My hat goes off to him for having the intestinal fortitude to get up there and try. I hope he made significant tip money.
In any event, I have rambled on too long and will close. Please feel free to enter a comment - look for the "comment" key and click it. Again, I apologize for the lengthy entry, but I am using this for a journal as much as a status to you, so bear with me.
Paul