Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas

Wed. 11/2

0640 24.26 x 112.14 72F/68% Anchor up at sunrise to begin the third and final leg down to Cabo.

 

 

 

0815 2 4.39 x 112.13 76F/65%  Moderate winds for much of the day.  Jumping Manta Rays.  Spinnaker up for ~5 hours.

1615 24.06 x 112.05 80F/56% Sails down, motoring.

Just before casting off in San Diego, as we perused the aisles of Trader Joe’s for last-minute provisions, Cap’n Casey's like, “Nah, we have enough & no more storage room.”  True if we want to live on chips and noodles.  Knowing better, I ignored him and bought like a drunken sailor.  Even so, we’ve run out of a number of things.

2300 John’s watch.  50+nm off shore.  I heard a buzzing/flapping noise over my shoulder, maybe 3 or 4 times.  Scanning what I could see of the dark deck I saw nothing and had been warned NOT to go on deck alone at night.  Figured it was a line or bit of canvas flapping in the wind.  The morning light showed it to be a flying fish that took a wrong turn.

Thu. 11/3

I’ve got the insufferable 1100-0200 watch; black & uneventful.

0100 Steve woke up long enough for us to raise the sails.

0725 23.09 x 110.37 79F/76% 

0800 Wind <10k, boat <5k.  jib down, main centered.  Flying fish, sea turtles.
1330 22.51 x 109.55 89F/59%  The tip of Baja Mexico is in plain sight, just a few more miles.

1415 22.53 x 109.54 Anchor down in Cabo San Lucas, in the harbor.

Phew, what a great trip.

The water looked clean and clear so over the side I went, closely followed by Mike.

Shore Leave.

<Need to firm up travel plans asap; potentially sail Cabo to Puerto Vallarta arriving the 8th or 9th, stay for a few days with Steve and friends then fly to San Diego on about Sunday the 13th.>

Fri. 11/4

Layover in Cabo.  Boat lore: my son says you should never have a banana on a fishing boat.  (Huh?)  Chip says any self-respecting boat carries a bottle of rum.  Not that I wanted any personally but as Chief Liquor Steward I felt obligated to immediately buy several.
The four of us dinghied to the dock and wandered deeper into Cabo past the facade of over-priced restaurants and American fast food and fell upon Los Tres Gallos.

 

Red flag: no tables were occupied.  But the place was charming and we were tired, thirsty and anxious to find someplace authentic.  Okay, let’s start with beers, tortilla chips and test their salsas: all were flavorful and the eager-to-please owner was proud they were made in-house.  One, though delicious, was hot as blazes and while we three wept like schoolgirls Mike was unfazed. <Note to self: send him some of John Jr’s killer habaneros.>  High on endorphins, we had tequila shots all ‘round. We were happy with our various entrées and topped it all off with a thimble-sized coffee/orange/molasses concoction, on the house.

Sat. 11/5

In Cabo we lost 2 of our crew; Chip & Mike flew home.  It was a great foursome, so thanks Mike and Chip, but the heavy sailing’s over so go back to your land-lubbing lives.  Now we need Gabrielle-The-Linguist because they speak Mexican or something down here.