Countdown to Baja Ha Ha 2014

new/old friends

11/28/2014

Brian and Dave Mancini of 'Swan'

Thursday the 20th, we had our last Baja Ha Ha party at La Costa restaurant in La Paz complete with awesome Mexican food, authentic dancing and an excellent Mariachi band. What a real treat to watch – those guys have some chops. Then a rock and roll band played for 2 hours singing such varied covers as CCR, Roy Orbison and a darn good Guns and Roses. Over 200 people attended that party and it was a great ending to one adventure and the beginning of the next chapter. That evening we finally met friends who we’d never met….

Brian had been consulting Dave and Rhonda Mancini’s website for 2 years. He religiously followed their blog, soaking up as much information as he could since Swan was a Pacific Seacraft 34 (our same boat). They had gone across the Pacific and back and their story was so inspiring to us: we wanted to be them.

Swan was set up much like Brian wanted to set up our Indigo. And Dave seemed to have the same views on equipment and boat construction as Brian. Eventually, Brian began emailing Dave, asking questions here and there about how and why he installed certain things and getting his thoughts and opinions on our gear choices. Knowing he had years of real-world experience sailing "our boat" made him our expert.

We always wondered if we'd ever get to meet up with them. We knew they were in the Sea of Cortez but had no idea where, it’s a big place you know…. The morning of the party I happened to overhear an incoming call on VHF to another marina from a Dave on ‘Swan’. How many boats are named ‘Swan’ and how many of those would have a Dave on board? Brian quickly called him to see, and lo and behold, it was THE Dave Mancini of the vessel Swan.

Finally connecting at the Ha Ha party that evening was like seeing old friends, despite the fact that we had never met. What a great experience. Their willingness to freely share their extensive sailing knowledge has helped us get to where we are today and are we forever grateful. Later, invited aboard Swan, we were fed delicious tacos and regaled with wondrous tales of the South Pacific, and further inspired. An amazing couple, I hope they write a book about their remarkable accomplishments. View their website/blog and see for yourself.
www.swancruise.com

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Cabo vs. La Paz

11/28/2014

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The Malecon

Cabo is full of tourists, mostly fisherman and cruise shippers. In short, it’s California expensive, most everyone speaks English (which was kind of weird, I just didn’t expect that), every store and restaurant takes dollars, and there is a person every 20 ft trying to hawk some trinket or panga ride or t-shirt at you. However, we were amazed at the attitude and graciousness of the people: no one was pushy, not even the hawkers. Everyone was overly polite and extremely helpful. The Immigration and Port Captains offices were top notch and our check-in procedure, with all the increased confusion about visas and boat TIPs, went smoothly.

That being said, we were happy to leave Cabo with its party atmosphere. Akin to being in Las Vegas, we can only put up with noise and bright lights for about 3 days and we are itching to go home. Bars and nightclubs and spring-breakers are the rule here. At the marina, we were docked near a party pirate ship that embarked nightly on a sunset sightseeing tour. Upon returning to the dock at night, it predictably transformed into a pirate dance club with music blaring into the wee hours. I can still hear the voice of the announcer’s “arrrgh matey” in accented but perfect English, turning up Lady Gaga to the delight of his whooping passengers. “And there will be applause, applause, applause…” 5 nights of trying to sleep to that was plenty.

In the morning we would wake to a different sort of pirate. At 5am began the shouting, laughing, engines roaring and our boat being rocked by damn near waves in the normally placid harbor. The first morning, not knowing what was going on, we raced up on deck to see small pangas and huge fishing boats EVERYWHERE. Zooming full throttle into the fuel dock from which we were directly across (5mph no-wake limit does not exist here), these drivers encroached a bit (or a lot) too close to our boat for comfort. Every boat in Cabo apparently gets fuel in the morning, this lasts for a couple hours after which the waves and shouting die down to a murmur... repeat the next morning.

One boat that came in reportedly purchased 14 thousand gallons. Yes, 14 thousand. Multiply that by $4 per gallon. Another massive yacht was the gossip of the day after offloading a Mini-Cooper onto the dock; he then proceeded to drive it up onto the sidewalk. Yeah, cause he could. So our piddly 20 gallon purchase is nothing. This is why Cabo is reserved for big fisherman with big boats and even bigger pockets, and why all the cruisers leave within a week to get to “The Peace” of La Paz.

The Peace
Everyone I know who has been to La Paz said the same thing over and over: “You will love it”. So I had high hopes for this place, but was afraid it couldn’t stand up to the hype. So far, it does.

On Monday Nov. 17th we took our first trip into town during the Mexican “Revolution Day”, similar to our Independence Day. It seemed the entire town was out shopping the sidewalk sales with their families. We spent 6 hours walking the Malecon (waterfront) and downtown. It was a bit intimidating our first day with the crowds of people, but walking around town on a normal day is a pleasure. There are stores and eateries galore. I’m not into shopping but I do plan on eating my way through La Paz.

Zoning?
La Paz seems like a big melting pot. Not just people, but everything melds into everything. No zoning applies…Our limited walks around the downtown area reveal tiny taco stands next to expensive restaurants, gorgeous homes adjacent to seemingly abandoned buildings. Residential mixes with commercial, historical with modern. There is a 3 story Sears in the middle of downtown standard shops - across the street, a historical building. A couple blocks away we found a typical Mercado with local folks selling everything from freshly butchered chickens to any style of cowboy boots you can imagine. Go another couple blocks and you see a lovely cathedral in front of a weather-worn town square featuring an inoperable fountain centerpiece and several shoe-shiners still amazingly making a living. Across the street is a modern Starbucks-like coffee shop.

Interspersed in all this are smaller shops straight out of the 70’s and spaces for rent with broken windows and smashed tile floors inside. There seems to be an ice cream store on every corner. And shoe stores galore! On the outskirts of town we found a supermarket/mall with a GNC store, go figure. There’s also a Walmart, a Costco, a Home Depot, a cinema with English movies and Spanish subtitles (which we plan on going to soon). Old world meets new. Decay and disrepair meets new construction and upscale commercial enterprises. Mexican meets American. Around each corner is something interesting.

Sidewalks Beware
The Malecon, or concrete boardwalk, extends for literally miles along the Bay of La Paz and is amazingly well-maintained. Interesting statues pop up every so often and the view is phenomenal. But it is the only sidewalk that is consistent.

We learned quickly that everywhere else, we’d better be looking down while walking or we’ll be going to the hospital. Every shop front has its own sidewalk installed, therefore every 10 feet the sidewalk changes from cobblestone, to concrete, to sand, to tile. There are countless unmarked deep holes you could break a leg in, cracked concrete chunks to trip over, uneven stairs, slippery slopes, sheer ledges, shrubbery, trees, thorny cacti lying in wait, rebar poking out of the ground, wires dangling from a house above, literally any obstacle you can think of. OSHA no esta. Neither are the injury/accident lawyers, apparently. I'll be glad to look down rather than have lawyers take over Mexico.

Driving While Patient
While we have not driven a car here, we have walked lots of miles already and noticed two key things about drivers here. They don’t believe in stop signs and pedestrians are king. A 4-way stop is really more of a 4-way yield. Nobody actually stops, they slow down enough to look to their left but invariably speed up to get through the stop sign first. It all seems to be a pretty well-oiled dance though. No one honks their horn, there is no angst; they just patiently take their turn and merge evenly and quietly, unlike Californians. We are still impressed.

In fact, the other interesting thing we noted was pedestrians get treated with much caution. If we even look like we might want to cross the street, they slow down and wave us across, even if we are trying to time it to go behind. This is almost to a fault, so we have to be careful of looking too indecisive.

Foreigners Galore
They (we) are everywhere. Apparently there are over 1 million Americans living in Mexico and most live in southern Baja: Cabo, La Paz, Todos Santos, etc. Many own houses, operate businesses and of course lots of them are here like us, on sailboats. They have been very helpful to those of us who are painfully obvious “newbies” and who lack the required Spanish skills.

At one point we looked lost (street signs are an enigma here) and an American couple stopped and asked us if we needed help finding anything - we were looking for a breakfast place. They said “follow us” - so we did. The couple just bought a house last year and when asked about places we should avoid due to potential crime (every town has a sketchy section we figure), they told us there was none. Amazing for a town of over 200,000.

They promptly dropped us off at Corazon, an open air patio-ed former house/compound-turned restaurant that had excellent chilaquiles and huevos rancheros, fresh-squeezed orange juice and simply really cool atmosphere. Score. Been back 3 times and it won't be the last.

On another occasion we looked lost again (sense a theme?) and an American woman asked us if she could help. Her son owned a paddleboard shop right on the Malecon and they had a pizza joint upstairs. She told us about Marina Palmira and that the operators there (more Americans) were the best people to ask just about everything. Coincidentally, Marina Palmira happens to host the Thanksgiving potluck every year, which we just attended. We thankfully got our fill of delicious turkey and mashed potatoes and every other dish imaginable, while spending the afternoon with ‘200 of our closest friends’.

In the last 2 weeks we have met many cruisers who have been here awhile and they all seem readily willing to dole out directions and tips. We joined Club Cruceros, a La Paz based cruiser social club. They host a ‘coffee klatch’ every morning that gives people a place to chat and get info, they have classes and parties, a book exchange and movie rentals. They also generously helped local boaters during and after hurricane Odile, raising money to assist those with damaged or totaled boats.

The morning VHF radio net provides local weather forecasts, and allows anyone to ask questions of the hundreds of other listening cruisers that roam the area, everything from the best place for engine work to dental work. So, if we need anything, it’s there for the asking. It may be our first rodeo, but there are plenty of other people who have ‘been there, done that’. So the mere fact that we don’t have to do as much work figuring things out, is nice. Leaves us much more time for beach bumming!

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valhalla

11/21/2014

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Was it worth it? What do you think? ;)

We pulled into La Paz last Sunday, Nov. 16th, after several nights sailing here from Cabo.
Our first leg was to be 45 miles to Bahia Los Frailes, a spectacular snorkel and dive area.
However, upon arriving at 5pm (we left at 6am so just imagine going 45 miles and it taking ALL day),
we found the anchorage too crowded to be able to swing comfortably. The water depth went from about 35-40 ft down to 900 ft in a few seconds so the area in which to anchor could only hold so many boats. Plus we saw more coming in behind us that would invariably want to squeeze in. Top that off with a nice big south swell that was pitching the boats bow to stern, and we waived off.

This was the last thing I wanted to do as it required an OVERNIGHT sail, AGAIN. Sigh. Didn't I say in my last post I never wanted to sail overnight again and here I am doing it the very next time we go out. Logically, though, we figured either we get no sleep at anchor worrying about swinging into boats and pitching wildly and THEN have to sail again, tired, all day the next day... OR we (I) suck it up and sail overnight, arriving to the next anchorage in the morning and sleep all day, comfortably. We opted to keep going. (Yes I agreed, with no arm-twisting.)

While I was not thrilled about the prospect, I will admit, after having 6 overnight sails under my belt, it was no longer a mystery. It actually ended up being a very nice night, no moon but the water was smooth and quiet and the hum of the motor allowed us to sleep off watch.

We arrived at Bahia de Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead, sounds ominous, no?) at 4am. Tired and not wanting to go into such a place in the pitch dark, we motored around for an hour and then realized we could just drift for an hour to save fuel. We motored in at first light, dropped the hook & I immediately fell asleep in the cockpit. Hours later when I woke up, it was like being in paradise.

Crystal clear aqua blue water only 30ft deep, white sand beaches, only a small hotel and a restaurant on the beach nearby with a few scattered (and expensive) homes set cliff-side. This is it, this is what we were waiting for. Peace.

We stayed the entire day and the following day there just chilling: reading, swimming, napping. I actually made pancakes! What a nice break. Finally we are doing what we came here to do… nothing!

The next day we sailed onward towards La Paz. Our sail there was interesting, up to 20kts of wind at one point between the Isla Cerralva pass, waves splashing on deck constantly (so much for my salt-free boat I'd just scrubbed in Cabo), sailing up to a whopping (for us) 7 kts at times. Then the wind suddenly died to 1 kt... more motoring. Then back up to 15-20kts but much slower forward movement due to current and wave pattern. As soon as we were used to a tack, heading, wind speed or direction, it changed.

We motored into tiny Caleta Lobos, about 5 miles from La Paz, and anchored in the north finger between the tiny Isla El Merito and the mainland. With just enough room for 2 boats to swing, by the time we were making dinner, one other boat had arrived to take that spot. The wind shifted again at 9pm, 180 degrees and buffeted us for an hour causing much consternation as to whether we were really dragging (we weren't). Other than that, again... peaceful. I'm sensing a theme here.

We decided to try and get into a marina while we got the lay of the land in La Paz, expecting to be there a few days, up to a week. Not having internet or phone yet, we emailed via SSB to Marina Costa Baja, solely due to its proximity at the end of the long bay (it’s faster to get the boat back out on the water) without knowing anything about its amenities. We never expected what we got.

On Sunday, Nov. 16th we entered La Paz harbor. My first words as we get to our boat slip: “I’m never leaving.” Purely by happy accident, we find Marina Costa Baja is attached to a resort/golf course complex and we now are equipped with an INFINITY pool, hot tub, both of which overlook a private beach, a bar/restaurant at said beach/pool, several other restaurants in the complex, free pretty reliable wifi, free shuttles downtown, filtered water, it’s located just outside of town and behind a gated community so we feel a bit safer, they have their own fuel dock and did I mention there’s an INFINITY pool? I think the pictures below will confirm that I am obsessed with the pool.

Our initial plans were to stay here a week, get a feel for the place and see what we wanted to do after that. After being here for less than 4 days we decided to base ourselves out of here for the next few months and do a couple weeks of gunk-holing to various islands and then come back to this marina for a week or so, "as needed". Our next destination is Isla Ispiritu Santo which is renowned for spectacular snorkeling, wildlife watching, hiking and white sand beaches. We will leave after Thanksgiving and stay for one or two weeks. In the meantime we are finally on vacation… poolside!

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cabo wabo

11/11/2014

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Beautiful Sunset at Turtle Bay

750 miles from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas
12 days total, 6 full nights at sea with two stops: Bahia de Tortugas (Turtle Bay) and Bahia Santa Maria.

A continuous series of ‘firsts’ for us, this was our first real passage. Not only did we complete our first overnight sail, we did 3 nights in a row right off the bat. Overall it was our farthest distance offshore of about 40 miles, our first time in Mexico, our first test of the SSB and sailmail, first docking at a foreign port (and in the dark no less) side-tied to another boat last minute. Longest distance sailing without motoring was 40 hours, etc. etc. The firsts continue to compile…

I can best describe our trip to Cabo as yin and yang. There were highlights and low lights and everything in between. I now realize I have to get used to drastic changes as every second of every day is different and challenging.

Highlights (yin):

Crossing the imaginary (on our chartplotter) Mexican border line just south of San Diego. Wow we are really here! Now let’s hope we don’t get boarded by the Mexican Navy (we didn’t).
Finally anchoring in Turtle Bay after being on the water for about 74 hours. We did it! High fives all around. Now this is real Mexico, dusty streets, open air beach shacks with sand floors or decks, fishing pangas, rickety pier, stray dogs running everywhere, tiny one room tiendas (markets), first time I’d seen eggs sold non-refrigerated (they last longer that way), shocked at just how many food products are the same or similar as in the US, no street names, houses are nothing to speak of but everyone has nice cars…what’s up with that?
Cruisers potluck on the beach with over 400 people and 150 different dishes and Pacifico (yay!).
Eating manta ray soup for lunch at this little open air patio/I think it was her house. Who knew you could eat that? Tastes like fishy beef, it was good though.
Surrounded by dolphins in glass-smooth waters near Isla Natividad.
Anchoring in Bahia Santa Maria after 2 nights of 17-24kt winds and 10-12ft seas, worst we’d ever been in. Just happy to be anchored and still.
Beach party at Bahia Santa Maria. Delicious shrimp tacos cooked in a little beach shack miles from civilization. Beach was gorgeous, smooth hard packed sand with a cool estuary. No buildings in sight except a couple shacks.
Meteorite sighting… anchored at Santa Maria we witnessed a green flash streak across the sky falling behind a stark mountain with near-full moon in the background.
Finally being able to sleep on the boat down below, even if it’s only while motoring.
Not taking any seasickness pills since day 2. Very proud of that.
Leg 3: Warm waters at last! Mid-ocean seawater bucket dump to celebrate the crossing of the Tropic of Cancer (now called Tropic of Taurus) latitude.
Manta ray kickflip right next to the boat… he did it twice, a 360 flip, then I guess he was done showing off. Very cool.
First dinner (beef tacos) made at sea on the stove (not until our calm last leg). I always pre-made pasta or quinoa salad dinners before leaving for the next port.
Visited by butterflies for entire last leg of our sail. Brian thought I was crazy until he saw them too. And we were at least 20 miles from land.
Finally got used to the motion enough to read on board (liken it to reading in a car eliciting car sickness).
My last night at watch for 5 hours in calm seas, full moon and no boats to be seen. We normally did 3 hour watches at night but I was awake and Brian was getting some much needed sleep while we motored. This was how my first night sail should have been! Calm waters, peaceful and gorgeous full moon.
Sailing down to Cabo in late afternoon, watching the sun set. Perfect weather, 80 degree air temp, 80 degree water, calm seas. The perfect sail. A welcome respite from Leg 2.
Entering Cabo in beautifully eerie, rippling, inky waters, rounding the Cabo arches with the help of a full moon.
Real showers at Cabo Marina. Breakfast out.
Final beach party at Mango Deck on the sand with the arches across the bay as a backdrop.
Beers with new-found friends at Cabo Wabo, Sammy Haggar’s bar (from Van Halen).
Strawberry margaritas, fresh made guacamole, ceviche, best chilaquiles!

Yang:

Day 1 sucked - can’t say it more blunt than that. We were totally exhausted. Could not sleep until the 2nd night out… just too amped up and nervous I suppose. That very first day I kept thinking “what on earth were we thinking not taking crew?” Literally everyone we talked to who asked us how many people we had on board, when we said just the two of us they grimaced and said “eewww” or “ooohhh” like we were crazy. Everybody has crew. Now I knew why… we should have made Luis or Jesse go with us. Would have been more fun. I will say that day 2 and 3 exponentially improved, and by the time we got to Turtle Bay, we both felt much better.
Rolling around in a chop with no wind was horrible. Boom banging. Sails slatting. Washing machine motion. Can’t move around the boat without falling onto something….
Brian hits himself seemingly on an hourly basis, whether it be whacking his head on the boom or the companionway door or the dodger. Puts him in a foul mood. Even when I so carefully plant every foot and try to not to move quickly about the boat to avoid falling, I still back-slammed into the chart table and got shwacked on the temple with a cupboard door. 3 days later the bump still hurt.
All of Leg 2 from Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria. 2 full days and nights of rocking and rolling. 17-20 kts winds gusting to 25kts, surfing down 10-12ft breaking waves. It was miserable for the entire fleet. But I never felt unsafe, in fact the boat took the waves like a trooper and we were really happy with the Monitor windvane which steered the boat way better than we ever could. We sailed the whole way, which actually made for better motion, but by the morning of day 3 before we made landfall, I broke down in tears… I just wanted OFF. Let me ‘splain…
On top of no sleep, we traveled too far inland to get away from the horrible waves and got stuck inside what I nicknamed the ‘Bay of Purgatory’ as it took forever to sail out with light and fluky wind going back into the large waves with no forward momentum, top that off with no more energy to deal with the crazy movement…
I just have to say going to the bathroom was the worst. Getting there is hard enough, we usually hold on for dear life when climbing down the steps below to avoid getting lurched backward or sideways when the boat rolls. Then it’s a comical dance tripping over the liferaft, dinghy and sails in the middle of the floor (we put those below on overnight passages as we’ve read too many stories about things on deck being swept overboard). We do a monkey bar hand-over-hand maneuver along the overhead handholds, trying not to get thrown to the side of the boat as it rolls. Then run 2 more steps to the front, body slam full force against the closet, ping-pong off the v-berth while opening the bathroom door, whip yourself in there and close it before the next wave slams the door in your face. Then try dropping your pants in a bathroom half the size of a telephone booth, gripping a handhold with one hand, bracing yourself with one foot against the wall, and sometimes depending on the heel of the boat your forehead bracing against the wall as well. I won’t go any further details, you can imagine the rest on your own. It’s not pretty.
At Bahia Santa Maria we were SOOO happy to be on land but as soon as I stepped on that gorgeous beach I got land sickness. Damn it! Such a beautiful place and I couldn’t stand up for more than 10 minutes without feeling the unbearable need to sit down. Dizzy, exhausted and probably dehydrated, everything started spinning and I was seeing white spots. Ironically, after just wanting OFF the boat, all I wanted to do was get back ON the boat and go to sleep.

All in all, this trip was a ‘bucket list’ experience. We are glad to have done it and I am learning that cruising is yin and yang; and I need to put up with some definite yang to get to the yin. I cannot say I am ready to cross an ocean, in fact after Leg 2, I never wanted to sail overnight again and could not fathom sailing for 30 days straight to the Marquesas. That is up in the air… for now we will be sailing up to La Paz later this week and are looking forward to a vacation!

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new/old friends

Cabo vs. La Paz

valhalla

cabo wabo

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