Hola from Cabo San Lucas

Wow! What a ride. These past three weeks since leaving San Diego and finding myself in foreign waters have flown by. It’s finally feeling less like I am on vacation and more like I am living a life fertile for unexpected and amazing adventures. How to sum up this last bit of time??? 

Let’s start with San Diego. One of my crew members, Nick, who joined me in Ventura is based in San Diego. Upon arrival back home he had to jump off and go straight to work. He, however, remained tapped in and a fantastic resource. Nick was also kind enough to allow me to use his address for the delivery of my stack pack (an easy sail cover that helps me drop and stow my biggest sail easier). For those of you who may not know, it’s super important for the longevity of ones sails to keep them protected from the sun as much as possible. And, dropping a main sail in high winds can get a bit unruly so for me the stack pack was a logical and safe addition to the boat.

Planning to spend only a few days in San Diego I was excited that my next two crew members were to arrive the same day as my arrival. These two ladies, knowing the plan, were coming in ready to get going. All was falling into place.

We left on the evening intended. Weather and wave action appeared good for an overnight sail the short distance to Ensenada. What we were met with was not what we had read in the forecast! The swell was larger with shorter periods and coming from a less than comfortable direction. Then there was the wind… we observed gusts of up to 25 knots. With Wahine Toa’s new crew, one not really experienced with offshore sailing and one already feeling queasy, I suggested we go back in to wait it out. All were in agreement. There’s no need to be so uncomfortable. So back into San Diego Bay we went. 

It took 90 min of battling the swell then navigating the harbor entrance to find ourselves back to where we had started. Since we we weren’t supposed to be there we didn’t have a slip to stay at the dock. Feeling a little piratey we snuck into an easy, adequately sized spot knowing we might find ourselves kicked out by morning. All three of us had a sneaking suspicion that we had taken someone else’s slip but better to ask forgiveness, yes?

It was probably 8 am or so when a new boat tied up two slips away. Shortly after they were settled we got to meet Glen of S/V Hina. He and his wife, Barbara, also from the PNW, had spent the last several days with their vessel at the boatyard for repairs. Sure enough we were in their slip. Glen was super chill about it all and within an hour we had moved to another spot, this time one that was reserved for us, they switched to their spot and we had new friends!

Coming back into San Diego proved to be a blessing for many reasons. First, we were able to wait for a gentler weather window! Second, it became clear that one crew members didn’t realize what this was ‘crewing’ thing truly required. We all came to understand that she was not going to be a good compliment for the mission at hand. This lady left the boat leaving me down one set of capable hands.

Immediately I began reaching out and advertising the open position, this time being a bit more detailed about what we might be faced with if weather was to come up while we were underway. I reached out to Nick and explained the situation. He got on it sending out a blast to his sailing community in the area to see if anyone would be willing to join us.

In the meantime, that stack pack Nick had received for me needed installing. I started making calls for that as well. Might as well get it done if we could find someone with the skill and free time. The first 5 calls proved to be fruitless. Stacey, the remaining crew member, and I decided to walk to get food and discuss departure plans. As we were walking I took notice of a sign for a business with an interesting name. I made one more call.

What would you think the odds are of finding someone willing and able to make an equipment installation within a 24 hour window??? I didn’t really think it high however following my inner urging to call the place with the interesting name won me a stack pack installation the next morning, mere hours before we were set to depart for the second attempt at Ensenada.

As if the Universe hadn’t already done me a huge solid with leading me to our rigging (stack pack is part of rigging, kind of) new best friend I get a call from Nick. He says he’s got a sailor friend interested in joining our crew and invites Stacey and I to drinks and appetizers to see how it might all pan out.

Notice all of our long sleeves and pants. We three were so ready for warmer weather/ water.

SCORE! Bree decides within 2 hours to say no to profitable job offers and jumps on board for the estimated two week adventure to La Paz. She’s the perfect addition to the boat. Oh my, Stacey and I just couldn’t believe all the magic brought our way by turning back.

With all hands on deck, tres marinas (3 female sailors) raring to go, we left San Diego on 10 November @ 1800 hrs (6 pm). This time we were met with considerably more favorable conditions for our motor sail to Ensenada. It would have been perfecto if we had seen more wind but oh well. That’s the life of a sailor, right?

Remember those guys whose slip we pirated… Glen & Barbara!

2028 hrs (8:28 pm) we crossed into foreign waters! How exciting!!! By 1030 on the 11th we were dockside at Cruiseport Village, Ensenada. Here we found super helpful staff whose job it was to walk us through getting our entry papers, Visas, etc all sorted out. All went smoothly. In the meantime our friends Glen and Barbara arrived in Ensenada as well. After we had all logistics of entering Mexico out of the way we went for tacos and margaritas to celebrate. 

After Ensenada our next stop for planned for an anchorage at the north end of Isla de Cedros where we were promised a sea lion / seal colony for close observation while swinging on the hook close to shore. We were not disappointed. 

But before I get to that I’ve got a fun little story about our approach to the island.  It was November 15th and we had spotted the island. We had dolphins bow surfing, wind in our mainsail (but still needing to motor a bit to make good way), and warm, sunny weather. We are moving right along while Cedros continued getting bigger when all of a sudden we start slowing way down. We check to ensure we are still in gear - yep, still in gear. We gently urge more throttle to no avail. Quickly we throttle down, switch to neutral, and begin the deeper investigation. I open up the engine compartment for a peek inside but nothing seems out of order. Quickly we throttle down, switch to neutral, and begin the deeper investigation. 

Many of you have heard the story of us picking up some trash in our prop when I was on the crew delivering a sailboat from Hawaii to Seattle. This memory popped in my head and quickly I came to realize that the most likely scenario was that we had something fouling our prop. We dropped the mainsail, threw out a safety line with float attached to drag behind the boat & put down the swim ladder. Off I jump to take a closer look. Luckily, unlike the previous boat, my prop is situated very close to the surface of the water. As soon as I made my way to the stern it was clear that we had kelp wrapped around the drive shaft and prop. Calling up for my dive knife it was quick work to clear it.

Now, while I was in the water it dawned on me how warm and enjoyable it was to be floating in the salty goodness of the sea. “Ladies, you’ve got to get in here!” In less than a minute, two splashes. I came back on board for a bit while Bree and Stacey swam. Then, out of no where, we are visited by a super playful 'lobo marino' (seal). This sweet thing is swimming all around Bree and Stacey, jumping in and out of the water, splashing and emanating joy! I jumped back in to share the experience. This frolicking new friend continued on for at least 30 minutes making close passes to us as we swam. Such an exhilarating moment! Even after we were all back on board this little one continued to give us a show. It was quite amazing. 

We continued on our way and found the anchorage on Cedros and the anticipated pinnipeds. They ranged in size from huge elephant seals to the much smaller harbor seals and some sea lions. The three elephant seals were quite the spectacle. They would lay in wait for the tide to come in to carry them out into the water. The smaller seals, seeming to prefer more water time than their massive counterparts, were my personal favorites to watch. They splashed and played in the water with an air of joy! The larger seals, more of a lazy bunch, definitely are teachers of how to have down time but are arguably more impressive to take in when considering their massiveness. 

We stayed only one night at this north anchorage. The cacophony of noise put out by this colony had gone on all through the night so I was ready to go. We pulled up anchor, said good-bye to the colony then traveled 11 nm south to Las Palmitas. This anchorage was described in my cruising guide as historic due to this being where huge Spanish galleons would stop way back in the day to top off their barrels with fresh spring water. We had planned to swim the short distance to shore and walk to the cistern that captured the water bubbling to the surface. That plan was quickly vetoed after Stacey jumped in to find a significantly quick and strong current that took her straight back to the safety line dragging behind. I can’t imagine Stacey ever going off a boat again for a swim without one of those safety lines. She and Bree are convinced, if not before that moment definitely now, of their importance. Stacey got quickly back on board. Bree and I did also swim however after Stacey’s discovery we knew what to expect and planned accordingly. 

On the following day we departed without even touching land on Isla de Cedros. Our next destination was Bahia de Tortuga (Turtle Bay). It was a relatively quick passage compared to the long overnights sandwiched by full days we were becoming accustomed to. We pulled right in dropping anchor amongst other sailboats, all ironically with hailing ports up in the Pacific NW and tucked in for the night. Clearly we were with the cool people! 

Bree and Stacey had ants in their pants for days now and were anxious to get to shore. As soon as we were up and functioning e took to work inflating the dingy & getting the motor on the stern, the fuel onboard, etc. Despite the carburetor struggles the outboard had been having it fired right up. I went on to test it out a bit since we were a ways from the pier, sketchy as it was, and didn’t want us stuck rowing that distance. Good thing I had. After a few shifts into forward and reverse I felt some stickiness in the motion. One last time going into reverse and SNAP! Part of the gear shifter on the handle broke in two rendering it unusable. Well poop! 

Desperate to get the girls to shore I rowed over to a nearby boat to ask for mechanical assistance. I had already taken the handle apart and saw no way to rig a new system that would work as we needed it to. Maybe another set of brain cells would help me come up with a plan. 

Check out that sketchy ladder. Be careful Clint!!!

Rønin, the sailboat closest, was my aim. As I came close I was met with the bright and welcoming smiles of Lara, Clint and a very excited to have company pooch named Tut. This couple from nowhere near the PNW (Clint from Arkansas, Lara from Texas) had sold everything, bought a boat in Seattle, and learned to sail on the fly. They had also come down from Anacortes, like me, only two or three weeks before me. How amazing is that??? 

Clint was happy to jump aboard and see what he could see. Offering to JB weld the piece for me the two of them agreed to ferry me and the girls to and from shore while it cured. These guys became instant friends of Wahine Toa and her crew.

During our long, slow back and forth trips to and from our boats, as well as running errands as a team, we bonded amazingly. They even provided amazing support during the ceremony I held to release my mom’s spirit bundle on the one year anniversary of her passing to the other side. The true definition of kismet. 

The Gang.

Too bad for us that there are less and less sightings of the namesake to this bay and while we did spot a few turtles out at sea we most certainly did not spy any during our stay. With the next leg of this journey being the furthest offshore and the longest at just over 250 nm we suggested the new sailors buddy boat with us down. We all felt it was the safest idea so that’s what we did. On that Friday the two boat set sail for Magdelena Bay. Oh, and did I mention that before we departed Hina had arrived at Bahia Tortuga as well? Remember the boat whose slip we had pirated? Yep, that was them.

Anyway, onto the next part of this incredible adventure. We left Tortuga and were met with many hours of good sailing with no need for the engine. This is the most peaceful part of sailing. We were all in heaven! Sunrises and sunsets are simply incredible out at sea, as are the clear & star filled nights. The moon was just beginning to fill again so it was quite dark. I wonder if there had been a meteor shower as we saw some huge, long lasting shooting stars. Seeing that was spectacular!!! 

The sail overall was fantastic. There is such a quiet contemplation when you’ve been offshore for 48 hours with only the ocean and sky surrounding you. Without incident but still needing to motor more than we wanted we arrived in Magdelena Bay after three full, beautiful days, two gorgeous nights. We dropped anchor just after sunset while the sky was still brilliant with vivid colors. Sitting in the cockpit enjoying the scenery after such a big hop is a huge reward. 

Unfortunately we were only able to sleep and take a morning swim before we needed to leave. One of our crew was to catch a flight home in time to make a further flight taking her to family for Thanksgiving. Although Stacey & I secretly conspired to Shanghai Bree as we did not want to say goodbye to such a lovely third we, in the end, relented. We decided the risk of having her mom call in the Mexican Marines wasn’t worth it so we got underway early the next morning right alongside of our buddy boat, Ronin.

In just over 24 hours of being underway we rounded the lighthouse at Cerro Cabo Falso just before sunset then Isla Cerro Blanco & the famous Arch rock & Neptune’s Finger to find ourselves in the bay of Cabo San Lucas. Such a loud and busy place!!! Party boat, fishing & sailing charters, boats at anchor, beachside bars and hotels. Oh WOW! So much traffic to be aware of and dodge in unfamiliar territory but we did it. My crew was eyes wide open while on bow watch to make sure I avoided collision while we searched out a place to anchor. I was on the verge of being a nervous wreck but the girls keep me calm by being diligent.

This time we were all pretty excited to get to shore. Once we were confident that the anchor was holding we inflated and launched the dingy for a short row to land. We had arranged to meet with a sweet friend of mine whom I met in Mazatlan maybe 5 or 6 years ago. In 2018 she took a promotion that brought her to Cabo and I was super stoked to see her. 

Now here comes the funny part… I row us in and as we get close to the tiny break at the shore both Bree and Stacey jump out hoping to keep control over the dingy and land us without getting too terribly wet. What happened was quite the opposite. As they removed their weight from the bow of the dingy they effectively bounced me right out the back of the boat. That’s gratitude for you! I was pretty prepared to make them walk the closest plank available! We all had a good laugh.

We found Olga, my Mazatlan friend, pretty quickly. After introductions and a huge hug she took me to an outdoor shower where I was able to rinse the salt off some. For the rest of the night, however, I was walking in wet shorts with sand in my pockets. 

Our first night in Cabo was filled with walking around seeing the city, lots of laughs and even more turning down guys trying to sell us every drug imaginable. Truly an eye opening experience.

Around midnight Bree, Stacey and I made our way back to the dingy and then to Wahine Toa for the night. The next morning we discovered our dingy missing. Welcome to Cabo! This last week we’ve spent in the marina since we were now without a launch to get us to shore. Even Ronin came in to a slip for a few days. They had lost their dingy to the sea somewhere along the way from Tortuga to Magdelena. We were all now dingy-less. What poor luck! They way I see it though is that we have all arrived safe and sound here in Mexico. The loss of a dingy, while inconvenient, is small in comparison to any number of mishaps that could’ve happened. I know Team Ronin feels the same.

Now it’s just Stacey and I on the boat. We’ve not only had great fun with Clint and Lara from Ronin, met a couple of local boat captains who’ve been super helpful & have become friends but also spent lots of time with Olga and her crew. AND, it was perfect timing for me to arrive here in Cabo so I could celebrate Olga’s birthday with her! We couldn’t have planned it any better.

Feliz Cumpleaños Olga!