HEADING SOUTH ON MX BAJA COAST

Monday, October 28th, day 116 Baja Naval  Ensenada, MX

I woke early today, tossing and turning for an hour or so. We have begun studying the weather and planning our departure from Ensenada. These next few legs had me a bit concerned. There was to be several long crossings in a row. It’s been a while since we’ve been underway overnight. With one week left here in Ensenada, our next stop is...

San Quintin, 108nm, 16hrs where we will be at anchor. 

Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay), 212nm 30 hours again at anchor.

John has calculated variables along the way. It looks to be 5-7 stops. He’s in favor of the longer runs, skipping some of the known anchorages. It was interesting to see what we ended up with. There were no marina moorages until we rounded the cape of the Baja Peninsula, landing in San Jose Del Cabo. We had high hopes the weather would holds up...  John changed the oil, John made water, I worked on housekeeping, organizing and provisioning.  Rob and Deanna are arriving in Ensenada today... so we will wait to greet them!

We ended up using plan B, at a slower pace. 

Sunday, November 3rd, Day 122  Ensenada, MX to Bahia Colonet  67nm  9.5 hrs

Came across John on Mystic, a Krogen Express.

Landing a couple of small tuna.

Monday,  November 4th, day 123   Bahia Colonet to San Quintin   44nm  6.5hrs
Tuesday, November 5th, day 124   San Quintin to Bahia Tortuga  188nm  27hrs

Underway with the playful dolphin always brightens your day!

In the pilot house underway overnight to Bahia Tortugas.
Instruments are dimmed to maintain our night vision.

I snuck one in with the flash on, pissing off the skipper.

Finally the full moon we were expecting rose.

The best sunrise ever is at sea, after a long night!

The Captain is asleep in the "watch" berth missing the sunrise.

Almost there. 

X marks the spot where the anchor dropped.

Greetings from other sailors.

Patches, our boat doggie longing for dry land. 

The local church in Turtle Bay.

"The" meeting place.

Our anchorage

It appears we have caught up the part of the Baja Haha group waiting out unfavorable weather.

John hoisting our Pirate flag. 

Lots of beautiful Catamarans making the run with the Baja Haha. 

Patches and I got ashore but John and the dingy did not. 

Trawler Tender "Pairadice" is in the water, however, it to to heavy to land aground.
We tried bungie and anchor options... aborted. 

Plan B for getting ashore. 
Dingy and pangas arrive at the stairs, to load and unload passengers.

Smaller dinks can go ashore. We will be looking for a second lighter dingy while at home.
Keep the large one for fishing and exploring, the smaller one for getting through the shallows. 

On a walkabout, looking for grocery.

I found another church on a walk about!

At anchor Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay)

A girl and her dog, happy at sea.

John's Birthday Bash. The storm has cleared, most of the "Baja Haha" (sailors) have left.
The Kuka Kuka restaurant and shops have closed.
I made arrangements with the establishment to open during lunch time the following day,
as to celebrate John's Birthday, Veteran's Day and the remaining travelers in the Pacific waters.
A special menu and brews were offered for the select few.

Meanwhile... there are no fishing licenses for shellfish in Mexico.
However, the local panga fishermen are eager to share.
Can you say, ceviche?

Ready to wait.

While waiting for the tacos... we enjoyed authentic chips and salsa.
The guys put their heads together, checking weather, charts, tides and such. 

Plenty of boats in the waters heading for Cabo and LaPaz.
Several of us decided to let them go ahead of us as to steer clear of chaos.

Everyday brunch in the pilothouse.
Making headway to the next anchorage south.

Wednesday, November 13th, day 130 Abreojos  60nm  8.5hrs  (at anchor)

And we are on, to the next... fishing, of course!

More tuna....

and they are getting bigger....

Yellow fin tuna for dinner... and the freezer.
to be clear... there were more! Oh, happy day!

Next crossing tomorrow morning, Wednesday 11/13, day 132
Bahia Abreojos to Bahia Magdelina (Mag Bay) 170nm 24hrs  (full moon crossing!)

Full moon, fair winds!

Our Mag Bay morning escort!

Getting Patches to shore in Mag Bay.

The view from the beach dog walk in Mag Bay.

Getting Pairadice's dink ashore here was a bit easier! 

A Whale of a welcome.

Everyone contributes to the shell collection.

Happy to be on dry land. 

We met these charming kids they were play with styrofoam packing material...

...and took some time out to show us their church!

Patches and I said our prayers. 

Here comes the storm...

Our friends, Kevin and Alison at anchor, on their Hordhavn, Red Rover.
They have a weather guy and fax machine. We were "off grid",
when the tropical storm was given the name "Raymond".
 Each day they dingyed over with a map of the storms path. 
It was time for everyone heading south to stay put for a few days. 

Random white caps while at anchor. (Mag Bay)

A cache of fresh lobster was acquired and the storm party became an event!
All the mariners contributed to a pot luck of side dishes. Each tail was $5 US.

The local owners of this home left for church, allowing us to use
their property for our large group.

The meal prep is well underway. 

When the boats come in the hostesses get busy.

Damn the bad luck.

The Mag Bay buffet line.

We sailors gathered to wait out tropical storm Raymond,
before we all head farther south, heading to the Sea of Cortez...