CABO TO ??

La Playa de Mantanchen Bay, San Blas

Four thirty in the morning came and went! The alarm went off at 4:30a.m. We sluggishly got out of bed, got dressed and had the boat all ready to take off. It was still dark out and we were so tired that we decided to go back to sleep.  We later woke up at 10:00 a.m. We checked the weather to see when a good time would be to leave. It looked like 4pm was going to be the best time to get to Mazatlan by daylight within the next couple of days.

Rijnard and Lisa’s boat was now gone so we figured they were on their way to Mazatlan. Hopefully we would be meeting up again with them again there.

The rest of the day we decided to just relax on the beach, swim and have one last meal at The Office on the Beach. 

Around 3pm we headed back to the boat and got prepared to leave by 4pm.

We picked up our anchor and headed out. The winds were very light so we had to motor for a while. In the meantime, we got a call from Rijnard and Lisa on the VHF radio. They were 60 miles ahead of us. They told us they had horrible winds all day along, around 30 knots with messy big seas. Once I heard that I panicked inside. I was anticipating a hellish sail and felt like turning the boat around back to Cabo.  Well about an hour after leaving, sure enough we were in horrible seas and high winds…20-25 knots on our beam along with steep confused waves (boarding waves at times) on our beam. It was awful and it lasted for one night and two days. The winds never died down. While we were enduring these waves, Rick wanted to make the boat more comfortable so he had to change our heading a bit. In changing the heading a bit it was going to send us off our original course so we had to make a decision. Do we fight our way through and go to Mazatlan or do we add an extra day to our trip, make the ride more comfortable and head towards Puerto Vallarta or somewhere thereabouts at dark. We chose to change our course, add a day, make the ride more comfortable (which wasn’t really that more comfortable) and go to San Blas at dark. I definitely didn’t want to miss San Blas.

Finally on our last night the winds died down and the seas calmed down a bit.

Piedra Blanca de Tierra
 (this is a rock that is not on the charts and if it had not been light out we were on a collision course with this rock and would have sailed right into it!)

On the last few hours of our trip our navigational charts on our iPad stopped working so we had to break out the paper charts. But still this wasn’t going to help us much entering Mantanchen Bay (San Blas) at night! We really try to avoid entering any anchorage at night. 

We arrived in San Blas around 8:30p.m. by the light of the moon, anchored and went right to sleep.

Anchored in San Blas, Nayarit

The next morning we woke up to paradise! The views of the bay, the mountains and the lush green foliage were something I’ve only seen in a movie.  We couldn’t wait to get the dinghy off of the boat and into the water to go exploring. And…Harley really wanted to get off the boat. She’d been holding a few days worth of poops in.

So we put on our suits, got our backpacks ready for a day of fun and launched the dinghy. As we headed to shore and the nearby palapa food stands we saw a man standing in the water just beyond the breakers waving us over towards him and his establishment. So we headed that way. He ended up helping us get the dinghy to shore and then allowed Harley to do her business on the beach right by his restaurant. Harley went about 6 different times. I don’t know how she held it for 3 days…poor thing. The man was laughing and saying, “oh it’s fine it’s fine.” I was chasing after her with little doggie bags. It was kind of comical.

Our Amigo, Barro

We were then led over to a very cute little open-air restaurant called Playa Hermosa. It had a dirt floor, and a thatch roof with brightly colored Mexican woven tablecloths on all the tables. The kitchen was partly enclosed with clay bricks and tile. The man introduced himself as Barro and the owner and cook as Alicia. Barro was so kind and spoke a little English, which was quite helpful. Barro offered to keep an eye on our dinghy while we went for a walk, swimming or whatever for the day.

As Rick and I sat down we both looked at each other and said, “This is it”! This is what we had been looking for when we first set out on our trip….a remote little far away place that wasn’t overrun with tourists, and wasn’t Americanized. We wanted the real deal….a place where you could still see and feel it’s history.

There wasn’t much on the menu they had on hand so we ate the only thing available, deep fried cheese quesadillas. So we had an order of those and two Limonada’s.  After our delicious meal, Rick, Harley and I walked down the road a bit and ended up on a beautiful secluded beach!  We walked a bit further and found another beach that had some good waves for body surfing. We put our things down on the beach and ran into the water, diving through the first set of waves. Harley was right with us. She was even catching waves with us. It was pretty cool. She was having as much fun as we were if not more. There were a few other locals on the beach. It appeared to be a family of six. There was a man, wife and four young boys all swimming in the water. The boys were so curious about Harley. They came over to us and asked me all about Harley. I could not understand much of what they were saying and just said, “Si” a lot. They loved Harley!

We swam for quite a while having so much fun. Rick lost his shorts one time and I lost my top every time I caught a wave…real pro’s! The waves eventually started to get bigger and Harley ended up getting tumbled pretty good in one. After that she was a little cautious. She stayed on shore and would make attempts to get back out to us, but she wasn’t getting the timing right and kept getting pushed back by the breaking waves. Finally I’d had too much myself trying to rearrange my bathing suit top constantly and got out with her.

Harley found a friend!

After we all were out of the water, we grabbed our backpacks and we continued on a path along the back of the beach. It was lined thick with trees and bushes with lots of stickers. I was kind of nervous to know what might be inside all of that.  Harley wasn’t nervous and romped around without a care in the world. When she came out of the bushes, she was covered in sharp little clusters of burr like stickers. They were so sharp Rick and I could not pull them out. They needed to be cut out with scissors. Poor Harley…she isn’t looking so great these days. Her hair is so matted in places and over grown and dirty that she almost looks like one of the local dogs.

We made our way back to the Palapa, Playa Hermosa, where we first started. It was turning to dusk and the little no-see-ums (biting bugs you can barely see) were out in full force! Rick and I were slapping ourselves in places where we were being bit. They are supper annoying! Barro had a bucket of burning coconut husks that he put on the ground near our table. The smoke of the husks is supposed to keep the bugs away.

Harley staring at us through our netting we have up to keep the little bugs out

By this time of the day, Alicia had scored some fish from a local fisherman and prepared it for us for dinner. Muy delicioso!

A new couple, Al and Lindy, we met earlier out at anchor came up on the beach on their SUP boards and joined us for dinner. They are originally from Bellingham Washington. They bought their sailboat four years ago in Point Richmond at Brickyard Cove Marina (our old Marina). Small world!

After dinner and getting back to the boat, Rick performed a little de-burring surgery on Harley with a pair of scissors. He did a great job! But the next morning, I decided to get my hands on a pair of scissors to fine tune what Rick had done and I butchered her cute little face.  I need to find her a groomer as soon as possible! And I’m pretty sure they don’t have any down here.

One thing I’ve noticed here that’s different than Baja is the air is humid instead of dry and the water is not that gorgeous blue anymore. It is sort of a greenish color…the same way it looks in SF Bay.  I like the humidity in a way because it makes my hair curly and I don’t have to do a thing to it. 

Tomorrow we plan to go on a Lagoon Jungle Trip up the San Christoval Creek. Supposedly you can see all sorts of birds, crocodiles, jaguars, coati, wild boar etc. We leave here at 7 a.m.

CABO SAN LUCAS

The Arch

That evening Rijnard and Lisa invited us over to their boat for dinner. Rijnard caught a 7’ Sailfish a few days prior and had plenty to share. Lisa made chowder with the Sailfish. It was very tasty! We stayed and visited with them quite a while until our eyes could no longer stay open. We were pretty exhausted from our journey. As soon as we got back to our boat, we were in bed and asleep within five minutes!

The next day Rick and I went to our favorite eating spot, The Office on the Beach, with Rijnard and Lisa. We took the dinghy to the dinghy dock at the Marina and walked along the beach to the restaurant.  We had a delicious breakfast! The food and the atmosphere were just as I remember.

It was Rijnard's Birthday on the 7th of January so the below video shows the way the celebrate at The Office!

Since we have been in Cabo we have done more exploring and more playing around enjoying our surroundings than we have any place else. Most of our stops along the way have been more about searching for boat parts, working on boat projects, going for provisions and getting organized on the boat. I finally feel like I’m on a fun vacation!

We will only be here until Wednesday because there is a good weather window for us. Our other boater friends who are here are planning to leave the same time as we are. We all had originally planned to go to San Jose del Cabo and then making our way down to La Paz, but the weather is way too cold, windy, with large swells right now. So, we are cutting straight across to Mazatlan, which is about 190 NM (a two day sail).

Sunday morning, Rick and I paddled on the SUP boards all the way over to the Arch. It was a true test in balance due to all of the Panga’s and jet skiis zipping around causing sloppy wakes. But once we got there it was amazing…so beautiful. The water is even clearer and you can see all sorts of fish swimming underneath you. We even saw a flying Manaray along the way. Being near the Arch and surrounded by the gorgeous gigantic rock formations in the water is was so cool! I just had to stop and sit on the board for a moment to soak it all the beauty surrounding me.

Monday, mid-morning, Lisa and I were escorted in the dinghy by Rick to the dinghy dock where Lisa and I got off and headed to the bus stop. On the way to the bus stop, we stopped at a Starbuck’s to use the Internet, and then we walked a few blocks to the bus stop and headed to the Sorianna for provisions. We bought a lot of food and my large dry bag backpack and Ikea bag were full and heavy as anything. I could hardly walk without my knees buckling. Lisa had her hands full with several bags of her own. Since we were crippled with heavy bags, we called Rijnard to come and meet us where the bus stop was instead of having us walk to the Marina to meet him to give us a hand.  Once we got off the bus and Rijnard arrived I was so happy to hand him my Ikea bag full of groceries. He also carried one of Lisa’s bags. He’s such a brut. It seemed to be effortless for him to walk carrying two large bags.

Later that evening, we met up with Rijnard and Lisa at the dinghy dock and walked over to Mi Casa (my most favorite place in Cabo). We had a delicious meal there and had fun with all of the festivities the restaurant has to offer. One man dressed as a clown came to the table and made us all hats made of balloons. Then another man came with a little cage with two little canary’s inside who pick a little slip of paper with their beak that has a fortune on it. The man then hands you your fortune.  Then lastly there was a man playing the guitar who came to our table to play music. It’s all fun but of course not free.  A tip is always appreciated.

Rick, Me, Rijnard and Lisa at Mi Casa

The balloon maker snuck up on Rick and gave him a massage. Rick didn't realize it was a man at first. 

This morning we got up early and took Harley to the beach by dinghy to run around and to do her daily business. After that we ate our last home cooked breakfast for a while (since we will be making a passage tomorrow and cannot cook very easily) and then we hopped back in the dinghy and went to shore with all of our laundry to drop off at the Laundromat.  After that we stopped at the bank to cash in some more US dollars because the rate is higher that it has been. After standing in line for quite some time, we were asked for our passports and realized we’d forgotten them. So…we will make the trip to the bank later this afternoon.

One thing interesting while we were waiting in line, Rick and I were both asked to remove our hats and sunglasses. I guess we were dressed in bank robber garb.

Did I mention that in the late evening and early mornings you can hear the whales crying or calling or singing or whatever it is they do? Whatever noise they make it’s really awesome to hear! Apparently the whales are hanging out around the Arch. So they are not far away from where we are anchored.

So we are supposed to leave tomorrow and I am not really looking forward to leaving here. I really am enjoying it but I am excited to move forward and check out some new places. Our friends, Robin and Fiona are going to stay on another week. And, hopefully our friends Lisa and Rijnard will be leaving with us tomorrow. Their boat is almost 20 feet bigger and a bit faster than our boat, but we should see them when we land.

Hasta Luego!

Ensenada to Cabo

So…the rest of our time in Ensenada was not what we had hoped. We only expected to be there for three days but due to weather, we were forced to stay there for almost two weeks. The Port of Ensenada was actually closed to all boats under 500 tons going in or out of the harbor at the times we wanted to leave. So…that meant us!

Getting a ride to the Walmart during a downpour 

The weather was very cold and rainy the first week. The entire second week pretty much rained non-stop which kept us held up down below. Rick and I watched movies and munched on snacks huddling close to our diesel heater.

We had water delivered to our boat one rainy day and filled our tanks!

Our friends Kirk and Heidi arrived the previous week, which was a nice treat. We hung out with them on and off when the weather permitted. We went to an outdoor market with them and took lots of trips to the taco stands with them.

An Osprey in our Marina

I took more pictures than what I have to say about the two weeks spent in Ensenada.

 

The mascot of the Marina who sits in the cruisers lounge

The night before we left, we got together with several other boaters that were leaving the same time we were, in the Cruiser’s Lounge at the Marina. We talked about the weather and the waves and what each other’s plans were. After the get-together, Rick and I had it in our heads that we would all be sailing in close vicinity to Cabo. We felt comfort in knowing we would be surrounded by other people to stay in touch with about the weather and the sea conditions. But the day we left, after all of us were heading out of the Marina at the same time, everyone seemed to take a different course than we did. We did not see any of those boats for the next 7 days.  We were able to reach our friends on Monark by VHF radio at times and occasionally Jollydogs for weather updates. We were grateful that we had some communication.  Our friend Jim on Anore apparently had some engine and autopilot  issues, so he had to stop at various anchorages along the way.

Kirk and Heidi waving goodbye

Jim on Enore

A whale sighting just as we were leaving Ensenada

Sunset on our first night

We had originally planned on stopping in Bahia de Tortuga and Bahia Magdalena on our way to Cabo but we weren’t sure how long we would have good wind, weather and wave windows and we did not want to get stuck out on anchor somewhere. So, we sailed seven days straight to Cabo San Lucas.

Various picturesque sunrise's and sunset's on our journey!

The week went by fairly fast. Rick and I took 2-3 hour shifts to be on watch. One day turned into the next without much change of pace. We had decent weather most of the time. We only had one evening, which lasted all night long of difficult sailing. The winds were 20-25 knots along with large swells that were not very far apart.  And, it was pretty darn cold the entire trip. We did have moments during the day that were warm enough to take off a layer or two but that was it. The sun was shining, but it was still quite cold.

During the seven days offshore, we sat in the cockpit most of the time adjusting sails, talking and eating and taking in the fresh air and views. Not much to see but beautiful blue water and daily colorful sunrises and sunsets. We did not see land much of the time.  As I said, we took 2-3 hour shifts, so whoever was on watch would keep their eye out for other boats (especially large ships), check the Chartplotter (which for us is our iPad) and to make sure we are on course.  The one who was off watch went down below and slept in the V-berth usually fully clothed (It’s not easy to undress in a rocky rolly boat, and who wants to use up their sleep time undressing and dressing again).

We only had two things happen that could have potentially been REAL problems. Both occurred just after the sun went down. The first thing that happened was that we caught a drift-can (like a crab pot but bigger and harder) in our rudder. Rick heard a loud thunk just under the bow of the boat then the next thing was that our steering went out. We both stuck our heads overboard to take a look at the rudder with a flash light. We had the hardest time seeing exactly what it was. I thought it was a shark at first then Rick grabbed an anchor pole and jabbed at it. It was hard as a rock. Rick moved the tiller handle back and forth trying to loosen the can but had no luck. Then he moved the throttle into reverse as far as it would go. Finally the can was dislodged and we could steer again. That situation could have gone really wrong…bouncing out at sea with no steering!!! The next thing that happened another evening when the winds died and we had to start our motor was that the motor died. It wasn't working. The starter batter was not getting charged for some reason. Again…not good timing to have your motor quit in the dark. And…no power, no running lights or spreader lights. We would have been mowed over by a ship if we were in the way. We wouldn't have been seen. But again Rick saved the day and all was good. 

Flipper

Most every day there would be moments when the dolphins would come swimming and spring up out and into the water along side the bow of the boat. That was very exciting. Harley was going nuts watching them. She was whining and running up and down the decks.

 

We were able to fly the Spinnaker twice!

The life of a dog on a boat..zzzzzz

On our seventh day of sailing we reached Cabo early in the morning. As we rounded the Arch snapping photo’s and getting excited to be someplace and some place warm! The bay was such a beautiful crystal blue color and the water was like glass.  We ended up anchoring around a few other sailboats right off the beach. One of the boats belonged to our friends Rijnard and Lisa on Enchanter! We both screamed with excitement when we saw each other. We did not think we would see them again since they had plans to go a lot farther than we were going and at a faster rate. So it was a great surprise to see them! 

Approaching Cabo just after Sunrise

Punta del Cabo

We were anchored right in front of Pueblo Bonita Rose Resort

Attessa was anchored next to us who we saw parked next to our dock in San Diego.

A warm welcome from Lisa and Rijnard on Enchanter!!

After we dropped the anchor, we put on our swimsuits and jumped in the water. Rijnard and Lisa offered to take Harley in their dinghy over to the beach for us on their way to the dinghy dock at the Marina. So, they took Harley in their dinghy and pulled me on my SUP board.

Harley cannot wait to join me!

Harley was in heaven to be off of the boat and on solid ground! She ran like crazy up and down the beach and in and out of the water. Seven days straight was a long time for her to be cooped up on the boat. But she was a good traveler and hung in there.

As soon as Harley was done playing on the beach, I loaded her on my SUP board and we paddled back to the boat. The water was so warm yet very refreshing! Apparently the water temperature is around 80 degrees.

Later that day we noticed another sailboat had arrived, Monark (one of the boats that we originally left Ensenada with). We were so happy to see them as well!

To be continued…