2010 Hola Mexico - Missive 2

November 30, 2010: After listening to the Ensenada amigo net and joining folks for coffee, we ventured into town to explore this community. The infrastructure here is in sad shape but not surprising. Bob, Nita & I visited the bank to exchange our larger denominations of pesos to smaller bills and coins, experienced the ATM that didn't have any money in it, and lunched in a small café on gringo avenue. While Nita went to the grocery store, Bob and I toured thru two museums. Mike spent the day rewiring his solar panels.

December 1-3, 2010: Ponderosa & Odessa pulled out of the marina at 8 am sharp. We were hoping for some 10-15 knot winds which would make for an easy wonderful sail. It wasn't until about noon that we got any wind and it only lasted for about 5 hours or so. Sad to say the whole rest of the trip we motorsailed which was a shame since the days and nights were beautiful. But you don't go far with less than 5 knots of wind.

Dolphins kept us company thru various parts of the trip. You could almost see them grinning knowing they swim faster than we could sail. It was eerie at night to see their bodies stir the bioluminescence - little torpedoes dashing around the boat. The night skies were littered with stars; what a spectacular sight. It made the night watches much more interesting and less spooky. The moon was just a sliver and didn't offer much for light. At least the seas were calm and boats had each other for company. The US navy was conducting live fire drills around San Celmente Island - the radio was alive with activity the entire way to Turtle Bay. We were surprised that we could hear them on the VHF radio this far south.

Around 1 am on the second night, I was awoken by Bob to come up and help him. According to the radar a boat was rapidly approaching us without any navigation lights showing. Bob called Odessa to let them what was going on, in the meantime I scrambled to get dressed to go topside. All of sudden, a bright spotlight lit up our boat and moments later a voice on channel 16 hailed "Ponderosa" speaking English. When we finally saw enough of their boat, I remarked to Bob that had to be a Mexican Navy patrol boat. Thankfully it was . they asked our destination, where we came from, and the captain's name. In the end, they told us if we needed anything to call on VHF 16. At least that was a good first time experience.

Nita was on watch on Odessa and she was becoming alarmed since we were not answering her hails on channel 68 . we were busy speaking with the Navy on 16. She could see the boat approaching us but of course had no idea what was going on. Once the patrol left us we called Odessa telling them what happened. Sure enough they were also visited moments later.

The scariest part of this incident was seeing the boat on radar but without running lights on. Then your imagination runs wild with "what ifs" . were these the local bad guys preying on cruisers? But the sea gods were kind to us and so was the Navy and we kept on treking towards Turtle Bay. Sure didn't take me long to go back to bed - I had another hour of sleep coming to me.

We pulled into our destination about 10 a.m. and were immediately greeted by the local fuel panga. We graciously declined fuel, but did fix breakfast and jumped into bed for a 4 hour nap. I wish I was 20 something again; staying up at all hours was a lot easier back then. December 4, 2010: It was Perry designed boat rendezvous here in Turtle Bay, 2 Tayanas, 1 Toshiba and 1 Valiant. Mike and Nita knew the folks on Victoria Rose so we all gathered on shore for a walkabout. As you probably all ready know, it is a very run down community with dirt roads and shabby homes with junk everywhere. However, the people were friendly and very welcoming.

We gathered for lunch at the official or maybe unofficial Bahia de Tortugas Yacht Club. Other cruisers hanging out having coffee invited us in. The owners of the restaurant cooked up fish and beef tacos which were quite tasty. And our open air view of the bay made for a lovely scene . until interrupted with the local grader coming by working on the road. The dust on our tacos added flavor.

On the way back to the dinghys we made arrangements for fuel delivery via the local panga. They were quite efficient and the price of diesel was very reasonable at about $3/gallon. We only took on 48 gallons but this allows us to skip Cabo San Lucas; that crazy rat race of tour boats, jet skis, and pangas. Our next leg takes us to Bahia de Santa Maria, only 230 nautical miles and we will leave about 3 pm. Looks like we may have some wind, sailing sure beats motoring. It's been a good day in the neighborhood