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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