San Blas is a Blast

First, I have to add a comment about Isla Isabella. I forgot to mention we were amazed with the acrobatics of the Humpback whale for the first time. Some only got their heads out of the water, but many times just 100 yrds out we saw their entire underbellies as they would spin when they came completely, all 35+ feet of them, out of the water and make a huge splash. More were further out but all day we saw the whale acrobatics. As well as sang goodnight to by whale songs as we drifted off to sleep.

Today in anticipation for our poor perfomance thus far in the Emerald Bowl, I sported my OSU Beaver Football T-shirt (the luckiest one of the season). The information "God" here scared us to leave the dingy on shore as we would venture out for the day. He told us to leave it at this one Palapa, that was hard to see initially, but after realizing that is is just a string of palapa's together that people can park their cars under it is directly towards the shore from a big Blue building and the 3rd one from the left with the green poles is the guy who will watch your dingy for a fee. No Problem, but he wasn't there, so we found a sturdy tree and chained to it. Up a dirt road we walk, then at the blue beer distributors, we chose to walk rt (the wrong direction) for a mile to the crocodile rd. Only to be informed that the Jungle cruise center is about 100 yrds straight instead of rt. Oh well, we were on a boat and needed the exercies. For those who haven't been on the jungle cruise this boat ride was great. Mangroves, forming tunnels as we travel through, sometimes getting swatted in the face, dense ferns and other shrubbery around. We shared the boat (about the size of a pirates of the Caribbean, but with a 50 horsepower motor)with 8 other people from texas. We started the trip turning and banking getting water coming over the sides and a sudden stop to observe what looked like a plastic 18" crocodile, but as the trip continued we saw many different fish eating birds, lots of other crocodiles, one being over 6' in length on the shore (they were real0 Just basking in the sun teasing to you to put your hand out into their open mouths as our boats sat a very short distance away. At the end of the jungle cruise for 40 pesos per boat (4 us dollars), we went into the crocodile farm where they are reintroducing them into the lagoons. They also had javellinas, white tailed deer,and some funky marsupials thingies that climbed all over one of the texan ladies. It was funny to watch. They had many pens with crocs in them, some of them only had the small babies and others had huge 8-10 footers. I actually got a picture of Laura touching one's back legs. Then after the farm they took us to a fenced in and protected spring that had a cool restraunt on it too. Unfortunately I was the only one with a swim suit so I did not go in. The cruise back, we bobed and weaved threw other boats caring more tourists in, it was crazier than Mr. Toads Wild ride.

Next we walked 4 miles into San Blas. Upon entering this typical Mexican town were many open aired restaurants with cinderblock BBQs smoking fillet whole fish covered in hot sauce, or whole fish, or lobster. Oh it smelled so good and looked great, but we passed on them for another absolutely wonderful restaurant (La Familia). The town was ok, the plaza was cute centered around the catholic church can only imagine how great of a Christmas party we missed. Bht for those traveling this restaurant is definitely a can't miss! Best 4.50 margaritas my dad has ever had with fresh limes, stiff tequila, and ohhh so good after a 4 mile stroll. The seafood fillet was covered with clams, oysters (both not cooked), shrimp, and onions and butter cooked in a foil bag. Mom's dinner was great, it was the longest fillet of fish name, it was covered in lots of veggies, some bacon, ham, cheese, it was pretty good. I got a Laura's Fillet or something like that, it was in the middle of the names. it ended up being a bacon on the bottom with fillet of fish, layer of ham, then a layr of cheese wrapped, grilled, and smothered in a spicy cream sauce.......OMG SO GOOD!!!! Then laura got beef fajitas that were better than great with ham, shrimp, and cheese melted on top along with an assortment of veggies. The first taxi offered us a price of 40 pesos (4 bucks) to take us back to the dingy and we were all over that. Luckily we got back and it was there and our shoes and everything, making our view of San Blas and this bay that much better.

The jungle cruise and the palm trees alone are worth the stop. The bitting no se ems are not too bad, but bad on the shore during a full moon.

Sorry for the length and many spelling errors, but thanks for reading

Cheers,
Mike Peoples

PS GO Beavers time to get the 4th qtr update or end of the game......please oh god please have let us win!

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Passage to San Blas

The Next day after exploring the island we decided to stay and enjoy the beautiful tropical views. Its vacation, where do we have to be? We tried fishing in the morning with no success, so it was true fishing. Shortly after the morning coffee in the cockpit listening to the birds, we are joined by Pepe, a wonderful couple that is traveling with their adorable 18 month old daughter. They were very friendly and invited us to share some drinks in the early afternoon. I am jealous of these younger couples taking a year to 5 off. In the afternoon, a few beers down, we went snorkeling around the Dr. Seus rocks. The fish were amazing, so dense, so many varieties, even with 3-5'breakers going through there occasionally, we really enjoyed it. Not much coral, but the fish were worth every gulp of saltwater. The next morning we left to make our way to San Blas and anchor in the bay just south. Right off the bat, I hook into a little tuna, unfortunately he got off at the boat. We let the lines back out and get another bite within minutes. Then nothing the rest of the day. With nice rolling seas it was a beautiful trip across. We saw dolphins playing around us and at our bow, then there were these little ones that were so cute that loved to play even more! We saw a sea turtle that was floating VERY high out of the water, so we assume he was dead. Almost ran into a line of fishing nets only marked by a green pop bottle every 150 yrds. Luckily we didn't cross the set that was almost 2 miles long. Entering San Blas was pretty as we passed the river and decided to go to mantanchen bay. It is different down here, Reminds me of Cains with tall green peaks of a mountain ridge as steep as Hawaii but taler, tropical palm trees everywhere, the succulent smell of real grills going. Upon entering we all see our first shark in the water, over 8' it was and I thought I saw a couple times an elongated head poke out of the water like a hammer head. But it is beautiful here, no no-see em's yet tonight. No clue where to park the dingy, the resident and "certified" dictator of a greeter was helpful but is very intimidating and doesn't make the place sound pleasant. Almost scaring people to just stay on their boats. We will explore tomorrow. Laura and I are very excited to try a jungle cruise which we will fully update everyone with.

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Christmas Palm Trees

By Mike Peoples For the Peoples

Couldn't ask for a better Christmas present, we did an all night passage during Christmas eve to Isla Isabella. Off in the Horixon we saw a glowing red light that we swore was santa making his way down to South America about 2:50 in the morning. Mom and I's watch was from 12:00-5:00. Laura and Dad had the first watch, she did a great job of staying awake and keeping everyone awake. As it was too rocky and she didn't want to dare going gown stairs, the cockpit was the perfect place to snuggle up. Shortly after I took a nap in the morning I awake just in time to see the greatest present. Dawn awaking, the sky painted in the reds and pinks so familiar to the boaters here, a tropical island off the bow. As we enter two humpbacks clear the way for us and hundreds of birds float above this small island. We sneak behind a Dr. Seus island/rock and set anchor. Tuna jumping threw the air, whales off in the distance, and boobies everywhere (the birds) what more of a christmas morning could we ask for.

Later that day we tried jigging with NW jigs. Within minutes my orange worm wearing a dress was eaten up and snapped the 20 lb test as it got wrapped around the tip. We lost many plastic jibs to hookless nibbles, we tricked one opa to bite the hook and made an excellent dinner (firm flesh) After the success we had to go to shore and explore this "Lost" island. Reminding us of visions of jurassic park, we enter an abandoned fishing camp. There huge marine iguanas are sunning on the rocks around the shanties, off to the left is an abandoned cement complex slightly overgrown by the jungle that was a bird observatory. Up the cliffs we climb filing past nested blue and yellow footed boobies, their feathers as smooth as leather and dumbfounded smiles on each. At the top we looked over the "other" crater lake. Nested in the trees Frigets and other large birds were teasing the opposite sex with their large red throats blown like balloons. About 40 birds were floating overhead, then another 50+ came in and just floated there, arms reach away we were surrounded by these magnificent birds (and not one speck of poop on us). As we looked over the Southern anchorage, we noticed many rocks not marked on the maps and big 4-7' rollers going threw. It was the best Christmas day I could ask for!

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Isla Isabela Merry Christmas

We are currently anchored on the east side of Isla Isabela. Basically we are anchored in the open ocean protected by this small island. This is a first for us. No cove for any protection. The weather is calm and there is a slight swell coming around the island. The island itself is right out of Darwin and the Galapagos islands. Birds are everywhere there are marine iguanas and feral cats as well. We plan to go ashore this afternoon just in case the wind pops up tomorrow and we have to leave. Last night was amazing but we had to motor most of the way. When we get back to Mazatlan I will try to add some pictures.
Merry Christmas to all

Leaving Mazatlan and Merry Christmas

I just figured out that I actually didn't let everyone know that we made it to Mazatlan. We spent 6 wonderful days exploring this great city. It had so much to offer that we look forward to our return in a week. Our plan right now is to go to Isla Islabela for 3 or 4 days. Hopefully it will be nice enough to enjoy some swimming and snorkeling. If not we will head down to San Blas for a Day or two. Mike and Laura arrived on Saturday so we spent Sunday exploring the whole town. Probabaly our favorite part of town is the historical district. The Merchado which is the town square is very old world. Our friends on Hiatus said it reminded them of Argentina, I thought it was just like Spain or Italy. At night it was all lit up and people just milled around. I know it was a tourist hang out, but it was still great.
It is Christmas eve and it is getting dark. Our expected arrival at Islabela is 6:00 tomorrow morning. What a wonderful way to spend Christmas eve. Open ocean and clear skies. Unfortunately it is not warm at the moment, but we hope for improvement.
Life is good

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Warm Winds and Calm Seas...

It is the afternoon of Christmas Eve and we are on our own journey to a small island south of Mazatlan, Isla Isabella, for Christmas Day. Our thoughts are on all of you and we really appreciate the cards and e-mails sent to us. It makes home feel closer, and times shared with all of you more vivid in our minds. Michael arrived on Saturday with our "land" mail (yes, Larry and Tina it found us) and we have had a chance to read all the cards and notes...thank you for the kind words and messages. Dave's blog is our way of staying in touch and letting you know where we are. E-mail is our "phone" as our last cell phone bill was almost $900.00 when we were getting set to leave the states in October!

At any time if you want to join us let us know and we will get the guest room empty and ready for you. Our only guests in waiting are Kelsey and Jeromy at this point. So here is our tentative travel plans:
In February we will be south of PV and visiting with our Canadian friends, Gary and Sandy.
Late spring through fall we will be in the Sea of Cortez
August: we will put the boat on the hard to "dry out".
August: Helen will hopefully go to Washington, D.C. to vist Kelsey and Jeromy (who moved there in November) and then return to Oregon for the month of September to substitute.
Late September: Dave will come to Oregon and from there we will drive the mini motorhome to Texas and visit Michael (who will be starting his third year of his PhD program at Texas A&M).
October the boat returns to the water and so do we...
Come November 2008 we will leave the sea and explore PV and below as we head to Panama and later through the canal.

We aren't sure where our anchor will set next Christmas but we know we will have learned more Spanish, be feeling 10+ pounds lighter and 100 pound richer in shared times with old and new friends. Life is good and we are lucky to be living it to the fullest right now.

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Half way across to Mazatlan

We are halfway across to Mazatlan. We left at 3:45 this morning with hopes of calmer wind and waters. Well they have been a little of each. The sailing has been great 7 to 8 knts most of the way, but the seas have not dropped down much at all. They are running 6 to 10 ft right on our beam, no fun. The wind has been also on our beam at about 20 + the whole way. It should drop down here in just a bit but it could remain lumpy most of the night. It is great to be able to sail though. They say by tomorrow there will be no wind for 3 days. Just a motorboat trip.
Will write more when we get to Mazatlan.

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I Better Bring our Blog Up to Date

We are currently in Muertos waiting for a weather window to cross over to Mazatlan. Currently it is blowing 25 to 30 knots and there are 8 to 10ft seas in the crossing. We have 20 to 25 knts of wind at anchorage with small rollers coming in all the time. Not much sleep last night. This seems to be the normal winter weather pattern. A few good days. Then the wind blows from the north for 3 or 4 days, and The cycle continues over and over. Since leaving Agua Verde about a week ago we were in transient staying short periods of time at Evuristo and then La Paz. We had a great happy hour with the 4 other boats in the cove at Evuristo. Boats we already knew but it was fun to catch with 2 of them we hadn't seen for a couple of weeks. We stayed 3 and 1/2 days in La Paz. We took care of our temporary import permit. Because of the location of the office it took half a day. That's ok we are cruisers! The best part of our visit to La Paz this time was finding a new restaurant called La Costa. This is a sand floor right on the beach palapa style location. They have the best food we have had on our trip so far. Out of the time we were there we went there 3 times. Once for lunch. Two of the three times we had Grilled Garlic Crusted Crab. We got three crabs with fixings for $7.50. The flavor was amazing.
In a couple of days we should be in Mazatlan waiting for Michael and Laura to arrive for 10 days. It will be great to see them. We are hoping to take them out to Isla Isabela, an island 85 miles south of Mazatlan and about 30 offshore. It is suppose to be wonderful snorkeling and hiking around.
It is time to find warmer weather and maybe a little less wind. We can tell the water is warmer. I caught 2 Mahi Mahi yesterday. One was the biggest fish I had seen on the trip. Unfortunately I lost both before I could get them in the boat. They were flying high out of the water and just twisted out of the hook. Oh well. We ended up catching 6 or more fish. Keep one for dinner and released the others. Life is still good just lumpy

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Ague Verde

WE made it to Agua Verde. This is as far north as we plan to go this year. It is getting cooler and the water temperature is actually too clod to snorkel. I went snorkeling today, and the fish were amazing. Probably the most variety I have seen yet this trip. We need to get a book so we can identify them. Bottom line though is I froze and only lasted 15 minutes in the water. We will leave tomorrow and start heading south back to La Paz. By next weekend we will be ready to cross to Mazatlan. This is all weather permitting of course. Wednesday and Thursday we are suppose to have another Northerner, but only 20 to 25 knts.

We are a little disappointed in Agua Verde. We have read so much about it's beauty and it is just not what we expected. We have seen much more pristine anchorages before this. The mountains in the background are actually green and rugged. The water is turquoise, but the water front area is very trashy and just not pretty. The pictures in the books make it look much nicer. So far Puerto el Gato is by far the most beautiful. We also scored 2 huge Lobsters from the local fisherman in Gato.
Life is good and now we are looking for warmer weather.

We were able to move

Finally after 6 days we got to go to a new anchorage. We have had 25 to 30 knts of wind out of the south then two days later we had 30 to 35 out of the north. The northerly lasted 3 days. We had some shelter but not as good we had hoped. I had 200ft of chain out in 30 ft of water so I wasn't going anywhere, but the motion and the noise made for very little rest. We actually never left the boat. We heard stories of people waiting out 40 to 45 knts in less protected areas. The protected anchorages of the San Juans were sounding pretty good for awhile. We also heard Oregon got pounded by 125knt wind and tons of rain. We have no room to complain.
Now we have beautiful normal conditions. Calm mornings, afternoon breezes, and calm evenings. I think it is suppose to be about 78 today, but it was 63 this morning. We are anchored in Puerto el Gato. The hills around the bay have the color of the Grand Canyon. The colors at sunrise were amazing. Exploring the beach and surrounding area looks like fun. I think we will stay here one more night and move on to Aqua Verde.

Not much more from here, but we did order some lobster from a local fisherman. He is suppose to bring them around noon. This is our first attempt to buy or trade with a fisherman. Hope it works out. lobster sounds really good.

Life is good

No problems

No problems with the wind last night. We only saw 15 to maybe 20 knots here. Very protected anchorage. We heard others around on the net talking about 30 to 35 and doing anchor watch all night. We moved over to the other side of our cove and are now protected from the forecasted north wind that is suppose to come on Sunday. We had a bunch of needed rain last night, but the sun is starting to come out as I write. The water is very clear and we can see colorful tropical fish down to about 20 ft. We plan on Snorkeling around today. We spent a great evening with some friends we had meet up in Alaska on Wandering Star. We just keep running into each other since then. It was good to catch up. They left to go north at sunrise. Tonight we are going over to Hiatus to work on a Magnum of wine they have saving. Us, Sans Clas, and Hiatus are all anchored in this little cove. Oh ya buy the way our electronic charts show us about 1/4 mile on shore right now. So much for charted navigation. Those who have radar overlay really see the difference. Anchor watch has taken on a new meaning, you can actually see your anchor on the bottom.
Life is good

Sitting out the storm

We are currently sitting in Evaristo bay waiting for a south storm to develop. All the weather guru's are looking for 30+ knots of wind to hit the entire inside of Baja. When we contacted one of them last night and told him where we were going he said are you crazy. He said he wouldn't be anchoring any where in the Sea Of Cortez for the next 2 days. Whopee!!! The great part is on Sunday the wind will shift to the north and blow 40 + knts. We are hoping this is a good place to sit. There are five boats total here, but four of them are in our group. I don't think we will get the weather they are predicting, and I think this is a good anchorage to sit in. I got up at 3:30 am to make sure I was the first one here though, and I was.

Our other boats are just now arriving so I need to go help. Even if we get a bunch of wind I have 7 to 1 scope and a huge anchor to back it up.
Life is still great even thought it is rainy and cooler.

Dave and Helen

Out of La Paz

After spending a week in La Paz it was time to get out of there. Between being sick and lousy weather we didn't really get much done. I(Dave) think after listening to the cruisers net each morning I had the flu that was going around. I like that better than it was something I ate. We had a great Thanksgiving with a potluck that included 200+ cruisers with turkey and all the trimmings. The turkeys were provided by a local cruising club and everyone brought a side dish. I wasn't feeling very good but had a great time overall.

La Paz is a great town for cruisers. It has everything you could ever want and more. They have a market that is similar Pikes Market in Seattle. We have enjoyed shopping for fish, meat, and vegetables. They also have food counters inside that have great food and prices. You do have to have an open mind both when you shop and eat at these places. By their standards they are very clean, someone fresh from the states might think differently. Oh what fun! Just before leaving we went to the big super market called CCC. This store has everything you could find in the states, and all the local foods as well. There really is no need to over provision. Prices are a little high if your buying the brands you are used to, but local substitutes are very reasonable. La Paz has a cruisers net work that is on channel 22 VHF. This is on every morning except Sunday. On Sunday we are treated to story telling but Gunter on vessel Princes. Gunter's stories are comical in nature and last about an hour. He has to be one of the best voices for story telling I have ever heard. At 7:30 each day the is all the news you really don't need to know and then some. At 8:00 the net starts first with any medical or other emergency needs, mechanical needs, Weather, Bay watch, dollar value, general questions for help about anything, lastly swaps and trades. Every morning there is something going on to listen to.

We are now out at Isla Partida, a small island about 20 miles outside of La Paz. We are anchored out with about 5 other boats we know. Each boat takes turns having cocktail social hour on their boat, but this usually turns into a snack type dinner. Our social life has definitely improved since doing the Ha Ha. The good side is both Helen and I are moving towards our best state of health in many years. We spend the day hiking, swimming and just enjoying the local surroundings. Our view is the like the Red Rock scenery of Arizona, but you are surrounded by water. Sunrises and sunsets to die for, and pelicans to entertain you. Life is good!

Will write more in a couple of days.
Dave

We are in La Paz

We have been in La Paz for 3 days now. This really is a cruisers home port. La Paz has everything we need and then some. Unlike Cabo the is no Boom Boom Boom going on at all hours. For those stuck in the US mode there is an Apple Bees, Burger King and Mc Donalds. Funny thing is the are always packed!
50 cent tacos and $2.50 margaritas are more to my liking. We have still not explored the majority of the city but do a little every day. We listen to the cruisers net on the vhf radio every morning and learn what is new and what to do in the city. The weather has been in the high 80's during the day and low 60's at night. We have a nice breeze in the afternoon to cool things down . There has been some problem with petty theft from boats so we need to make sure everything is put away and locked up every night. We are having a great time with Haitus and Sans Cles, but also know we will be going different ways soon.

We will be having a traditional Thanksgiving with turkey and the works thanks to a local cruising club. We volunteered to help prepare turkeys at 7:30 in the morning. There are 200 cruisers signed up for the pot luck. Should be fun.

Will write more probably before we leave; it really is a fun city. Today things are closed for the national holiday tomorrow. They are having a parade but they are not sure if it is today or tomorrow, and that comes from the parade organizers themselves.

Los Muertos

We are about 55 miles from La Paz and 120 from Cabo. Los Frailes was fantastic. It was hard to leave. It was a typical Mexican beach. Some really nice homes that were empty because they couldn't get title to the land, and about 30 fish camps right below them. There were a number of camping places onshore and from what we understand they have about 50 to 75 campers there come the end of the month. The Bread and donut truck comes by on Wednesday and the veggy and meat truck comes by on Friday. The fisherman will bring ice from La Paz when people need it. We caught a nice tuna and a big wahoo on the way up from Cabo. Spent three very enjoyable night there and now we are in Los Muertos.

We understand that some weather might be moving in tonight and tomorrow so I think we will be here till Friday. It was a very uneventful 47 mile to get here. We did sail the whole way but no fish and not much other traffic. There happens to be a Giggling Marlin here on shore so we are going to meet some friend for a drink later!!!
Thinking of you all.
It is a little cooler today about 80, but it is a welcome cool down
Mike we are glad you are home safe and sound.

Us

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We made it to Cabo

Wow we made it to Cabo San Lucas. Coming in from the sea has no equal. Looking at the town you see all the tourist stuff that Cabo has to offer, but we sit out here at anchor in our own little world. We have been here for two days and tomorrow we are going to leave. I had enough after the first day and night.

Doing the Ha Ha was a great experience. I would have loved to visit a few more anchorages on the way, and stayed a couple of extra day here and there. Meeting the people and the daily nets were worth every effort we put into it. We ended up sailing about 780 miles in total to get here. Most of the time we were between 70 and 100 miles off shore. It turned out that is where the fish are. The last leg we stayed within 35 miles and caught nothing. Our winds ranged form 5 knots to 37 knots. We sailed with no motor for 117 hours and motorsailed for another 16. Our lowest speed was 2.5 knts and top observed speed was 11.7 knts. Our Seas were from about almost flat, 5 ft ocean swells, to about 12 ft swell and chop mixture. It was a great ride

We caught at least twenty YellowFin tuna, two Mahi Mahi, 8 Wahoo, 1 SkipJack tuna, and two Yellowtail. We hooked one fish so big it ripped off 200 yds of 250 test line before we could break it free. We never saw what it was. We only kept what we could only take care of and give away. We released alot of big fish. Most of the fish were caught on a hand line using 200 lb test mono with a feather lure. Best color was Mexican Flag, with black and purple coming up second

All those behind us you will have a blast, we reduced sail at night and just had a great ride. Most of the time it was blowing too hard for our spinnaker, but great when we could.

Lastly the temperature is in the nineties during the day and a low of 75 at night. The humidity is about 60%. All the local people we have meet have been friendly and very helpful.

So far it is all we had hoped for.

Next to La Paz

We have made it to Bahia Santa Maria

We made it to Bahia Santa Maria first thing this morning we sailed most of the 250 miles in 10 to 15 knts. It was a great time. We turned on the engine to charge batteries and make water for about 4 hours. It will be nice to just sit and relax for a couple of days. Helen caught 6 Bonito and 2 yellowtail we will have one of the yellowtails for BBQ tonight. It is very warm and dry. I love it
WE leave for Cabo in 3 days more later

On our way again

We are on our way to Bahia Santa Marie. WE are currently about 30 miles off shore and the wind is running about 15 to 20 it is another great ride. We are taking 6 to 8 ft swell off our stern quarter so it is a little lumpy. Had a great day we caught 7 Tuna and 2 Dorado. We also hooked something so big it just reeled off about 250 yrds of 200 lbs test line and broke off. We couldn't get the boat to go backwards to slow down. The drag was full on on my big senator reel. Never got to see what it was.
Everything is fine here it is about 80 during the day and 60 at night. Believe it or not I wore fleece all day. We had Dorado for diner it was great..Mom is sleeping right now she has the 4 to 8 shift tomorrow.
Good Night all
Us

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Turtle Bay Mexico

We are in Turtle Bay Mexico. It is just like the tour books say it is Coyote Ugly. There is nothing here except a small poor village of less than 1000 people. There used to be a cannery, but when that closed so did the town. The people that are left are very friendly and helpful. Pangas are running around all day willing to do anything for a buck. We went to the two restaurants in town and had a drink at each one. This is beer country. Trying to find a Margarita was almost impossible. Then they were not very good. The people who eat in town choose to eat on their boats the next night. This is Mexico!!!

Our trip down was great. It took us 54 hrs to sail 360 miles we were hauling. We had 15 to 18 knts of wind the first day, and ended up motoring that first evening when the wind died. About 11:00 at night the wind picked back up and continued to build the whole trip. Most of the next day we had 20 to 25 knts then at night it rose to 20 to 30 knts. The strongest wind we had was 37 knts. We sailed down wind with just the Main up, no reef, and were doing 7 plus the whole time. Michael Lewis saw 11.7 once on his GPS. What a ride! It was a little bumpy with very steep 6 to 10 ft wind chop. We had nothing break unlike a number of boats in the fleet. At the end when we arrived in Turtle bay I told myself I can really get into this. It was a great trip.

WE caught 5 Yellow Fin tuna on the trip. We had one fall off the gaff and one was too small, but we still have a nice bag of fresh fillets in the refer. WE cooked tuna for three meals and tuna tacos for lunch today. They are great. We look forward to the next leg from here to Bahia Santa Maria. 250 miles further down the coast.

Will write more when we arrive there on Monday

Later Dave and Helen

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Windy and wild

We have gone about 160 miles in 30 hrs. Great time. The wind is blowing between 20 and 25 and we are sailing with just the Main alone doing about 7knts. Tried to run the Jib too but the wind wouldn't fill it with such lumpy seas. Looks like we might make it there tomorrow afternoon, but the wind is suppose to let up a bit tonight and tomorrow. We actually hit 11 knots with both sails up before if wouldn't hold it shape. The ocean is now a very dark shade of aqua I will try to fish soon. Yellow tail have been caught in the fleet.
Make sure you check out yotrips too. This is our location

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kd7txh

On your way

Well, it sure sounds like fun to me!  Have a great time!  I will enjoy following your trip.  Were you glad to get out of the smoke or are you still affected by it?

 

Happy Sails To You!

Elizabeth

We are on our way

We are in Mexico, we are about 40 miles south of San Diego and the wind has died. We are motoring about 5.5 knots with about twenty boats within 3 miles of us. Have to keep a good watch tonight. We started out with 15 to 19 knots for about 3 hrs it was great. We the wind died to 11 knots we put up the new spinnaker. Totally cool!! Not much else it should take us about 2 1/2 days to get to Turtle Bay, if all goes well. I will update more tomorrow.

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Sat. October 27 2007

Time is counting down. I am trying to update my new Blog using my Ham radio. Hope it works. We are still in smoky San Diego waiting to take off on Monday. So far we have meet many of the Ha-Ha'ers and they are a great group of travelers. When we leave on the Baja Ha Ha on Monday there will be 178 boats and about 600+ people. Should be quite a sight. We are also the proud owners of a rainbow colored spinnaker. We bought it at a swap meet from a couple who have their boat in Ecuador, and just didn't need one so big. I am so excited!!! Helen arrived two days ago and is enjoying the weather, but has not been able to enjoy island time as yet.
I will update as we go down the coast.

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It's 80+ degrees here

Sorry about that, but it is 80 something degrees here. Very light wind. It is actually 93 right now in the cockpit. I think I can get used to this. This morning when it was just 65 in the cockpit I had my fleece boots and fleece coat on, I must be adjusting rather well. I am looking forward to Helen's arrival on Wednesday and the weather should hold.
Later

Oct 20 2007 Sitting in San Diego

We are currently sitting at the police moorage in San Diego. We lucked out and got a slip. We are able to stay here ten days so we took advantage of it. We won't have to move until we leave for Mexico on the 29th.