Baja Mexico

Ahoy! We enjoyed a great time in San Diego and some of the fun “tourist” activities as well…The San Diego Zoo (Very Good!), toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier (now a museum). Denielle, Nancy’s daughter, came from Reno to visit and brought along her new boyfriend…who just happened to have served aboard the USS Midway, we got our very own private tour guide to show the ins and outs of a working aircraft carrier. Later in the week Nancy and I went to Tijuana for a afternoon. We found a Tequila Festival happening in the downtown area where Nancy and I really enjoyed sampling the many (and I DO mean MANY) free tequilas! How could we pass this up! I had a short time to study for the General HAM license and passed first try (Whew!), now we can send and receive emails anywhere in the world aboard Windfall.

We set out on the 17^th Annual “Baja Ha Ha” on October 25^th from a cold and dreary San Diego Bay…along with 195 other sailboats, and set our course for Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay) about 410 nautical miles down the Baja coast. We had all types of sea conditions...including some very “confused seas” with 10’ to 12’ waves that tossed Windfall around a bit, but we endured well and gained much faith in our trusty sailboat.

We arrived at Bahia Toutugas where there is a small town that is absolutely crazy about baseball, soon it was the Locals vs “The Ha Ha’s” at their new “stadium”. “Slugger Nancy” stepped to the plate and knocked one out for a base hit, and later got a run! Yeah Nancy! We later partied on the beach with music and fun for all…and about 500 fellow cruisers. One afternoon we went on a dinghy “adventure” with Ben (our new crew member), and our friend Ralph who is crewing for our friends Butch and Susan aboard Valparaiso. Ralph was in search of large whale vertebrae to take home. The four of us piled into our dinghy, “Blondie”, and motored far across the bay on a quest for the treasure. Sadly, as we slowly motored to the beach, our faces dropped with disbelief….litter covered the beautiful beach, plastic bottles, jugs, all types of plastic litter as far as we could see. As “they” say…this is Mexico and recycling has not yet reached us. We left with a new pride in that Windfall does practice recycling…and every bit counts…as we have seen.

Soon it was time to set sail for Bahia Santa Maria 223 nautical miles further south. We tossed our lines into the beautiful blue and warm water….soon….Zzzzzzzzzzzz ! Ben (pictured) was battling with a nice 12 pound tuna….which I must say we also practice safe “Filet and Release” methods aboard Windfall. Soon Ben and I were enjoying “fresh sushi” on the stern; Ben said it was still wiggling in his mouth (Now THAT’S fresh)! Nancy did an excellent job of preparing the tuna for dinner and the crew of Windfall enjoyed it very much. Kudos to Nancy!

Bahia Santa Maria is a very small fishing village tucked inside a beautiful and well protected bay. After two days and nights of sailing, we arrived with a beautiful blue sky sunrise and we looked forward to a well deserved rest. Within minutes of setting anchor, our VHF radio blasted out ”Attention Baja Fleet…we have a MAYDAY…A boat is on the beach and in dire need of help … We’re requesting help immediately”! We quickly packed with tools and necessary items, lowered our dinghy into the water, and with blurry sleep deprived eyes we were on our way. About 60 cruisers showed up to help a lone cruiser, not with our "Ha Ha" fleet, who fell asleep and drifted ashore with his beautiful sailboat…four years his home and dream tossed ashore in minutes. The decision was made to cut everything and salvage all we could before the high tide...which was coming in at that moment. Soon tools were flying about the stranded sailboat, items were being packed high on tp the beach, and onlookers shook their heads with a quick shot of reality that THIS could be their boat washed ashore and THIS could be them standing in shock as others cut away their dream. No time for fancy unbolting and such. Time was not on our side, and the tide was literally at our feet as we worked diligently to save what could be. One particular winch was stubborn and would unbolt from the boat….till I used a battery powered Saws-All saw and cut it off! We salvaged what we could, yet, they were holding out to see if a high tide in 5 days would help to free the stripped boat deeply lodged into the wet sand…many shook their heads as they walked away…”It’s a Damn shame…poor guy”. We felt lucky to be safely anchored in the bay.

Currently, Nancy and I are at Cabo San Lucas (Yeah!), sitting at a beach-side cafe in WARM 85 degree sunny weather...Oh, and the water...it's clear, blue, and 78 degrees! Sure do miss that cold rainy Columbia River....Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We "Skyped" Nancy's Dad in Florida while we sat at the cafe' table (very cool!). Today we did all our "check-ins" to clear customs into Mexico, later this afternoon we have a beach party with the Ha Ha Fleet. - FYI for our cruiser friends - The Mexican authorities (and locals) have been gracious and very helpful, the process took only a few hours and was actually fun as we walked Cabo in search of the Port Captain, Immigration, and API (Federal Port Authorities - because Cabo is a Federal Port you MUST pay a daily tax even to anchor in the harbor (about $10 US - which is better than the $140/day the marina charges!) Our Spanish is actually getting "Muy better"!

We must say that we have NEVER seen so many stars as while we sail, it's really incredible to look up and see stars ALL around and down to the horizon waterline...it's something to see. We've caught several tuna, one BIG (something) broke our 40 pound line....of course. One tuna tournament here in Cabo is happening, and so far the biggest tuna is 180 pounds!

Monday we sail to La Paz, then Loretto ( Sea of Cortez) which we "hear" has several islands to snorkel and dive...and do nothing but enjoy that warm Mexican sunshine.....Ahhh...the Mexican life suits us well.

We LOVE our watermaker (Thank you Kim at Columbia Marine Exchange!), we ran it continuously for 20 hours on the way to Cabo. We've filled other boats watertanks and have enjoyed MANY showers! (requested by crew!)

We have a beach party to attend, wish you all were here to enjoy with us! ....I guess I'll have a Margarita!

More sailing "Adventures" to come!

Currently, it’s 84 degrees, water temperature is 71 degrees, and our course set for Cab San Lucas…109 nautical miles ahead. We landed two very nice Bluefin Tuna and only kept one 12 pounder as we have “plenty of tuna” according to Chef Nancy. Ben and I are holding out for a sailfish or marlin.