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Okay, now I’ve seen it all! We’ve seen flying fish all the way down the coast but flying squid? Yes, Pacific Flying Squid is a real thing and they make an ugly mess with their ink when they splatter on your boat. It blasts out of the water like a jet and can travel as far as 100 feet in 3 seconds and fly as high as 10 feet above the water’s surface! It glides by spreading out its fins and flapping. But it also forms wings by spreading out its tentacles in a radial pattern. Needless to say, we’ve had some outside boat cleaning to do. Serhad, who was on our crew from San Diego to Cabo, kept the boat deck clean and got in the water and scrubbed the water line whenever it got dirty but he went home and now we have to do it ourselves 🙁 Miss you Serhad!

We are anchored in front of the hotel zone in Cabo while Kevin is quickly installing new lithium batteries. The reason for the quick installation is tax agents, a division of Mexico’s IRS, have been doing random sweeps through this anchorage looking for violation of import tax regulations. Any boat parts the Mexican officials find on your boat that appear new will be taxed 16%. A cruiser who was anchored not far from us was boarded by customs agents and cited for his spare boat parts and had to pay over 500 USD in cash. All cruisers carry numerous spare parts since some parts are difficult to get once you leave the U.S. Mexico doesn’t use its red light/green light method when checking into customs with a boat. The best way to bring your boat into Mexico is by hiring a yacht agency as your representative since voluminous amounts of paperwork are required. We were told the rules are enforced differently depending on the official and the rules can change daily. Welcome to Mexico!

We were able to sail the entire 180+ miles without turning on the engine from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas. The weather was perfect to fly our spinnaker. We were all excited to reach our destination after having 4 hour watch shifts and not much sleep.

The entire Pacific Mexican coast is extremely barren and desolate. Once we were within 20 miles of Cabo we started seeing new construction. Once we rounded the corner at the famous rock formation EL Arco (the Arch) we could hear the sounds of civilization. It was a little bittersweet after such a tranquil sail for the past 12 weeks. Cabo is a high energy coastal tourist and sport fishing town, and port of call for several cruise ships. It’s bustling 24/7.

Upon our arrival, music was blasting from the many beachfront restaurants and bars, crew ships with hundreds of passengers (including lots of excited kids from the Disney cruise ship) and too many vendors to count. The fun part is the wonderful fish tacos and margaritas 🙂 Snorkeling around the rock formations is close to where we are anchored so Kevin and I will take the dinghy over there early tomorrow morning to snorkel before the many tour boats arrive.

Our San Diego to Cabo crew left early this morning and we will miss them. We thank them and our Seattle to San Francisco crew for their friendship and for all they did to help us make our dream of sailing to Mexico possible.

Now its time to clean up the boat, do grocery shopping and laundry. We dropped all the laundry off today at the laundromat since there was too much for my small washing machine. Kevin was the Sherpa and took 2 very large bags of laundry in the dinghy, hiked with it several blocks in the hot sun to the laundromat. To my surprise, the Mexican laundry ladies will wash, dry, and fold it for us and we’ll be able to pick it up tomorrow.

Kevin hopes to get the new batteries installed while we are here as well as replace our fresh water pump that is making noise like its screaming at us! We are planning to pull up the anchor soon and begin exploring other beach towns in the area starting with San Jose del Cabo.

Today was the beach party at Bahia Santa Maria. The panga boats took a boat load of us through the surf to the beach. A band came from La Paz with some old equipment and a generator and played dance music for us. They were willing to work for tips. Four nice Mexican women made us delicious Mexican food. They served us a single plate of food piled high with fish, shrimp, pico de gallo, seasoned rice, and more tortillas. There was plenty of margaritas and cerveza. The food must have been brought in by panga boats because the store several miles down the coast.

A local person brought 5 Mexican puppies (breed unknown) to re-home and they were getting lots of attention and running around the dance floor. One sailing couple took a cute puppy. That puppy will have a new home sailing to Europe. Lucky dog!

There are mangroves in the area that would have been fun to explore but we ran out of time since we are leaving before dawn tomorrow. We have 187 NM to get to Cabo San Lucas. The winds should be favorable so we should arrive sometime on Thursday. We were told its very busy there in the harbor with lots of boats and one or two crew ships so be prepared to anchor out in the bay and dinghy into shore. The marinas in Cabo San Lucas are some of the most expensive in the world and are usually filled to capacity with big sport fishing boats.

After coffee was made we pulled up the anchor by 5am. We are weaving through boats in the dark anchorage working our way out into the bay. At 7am is roll call. We get on channel 69 on our VHF radio to listen to the morning announcements and weather report. Then there’s roll call to make sure everyone is accounted for. If you need anything this is your chance. There were requests for a doctor for a young boy with a broken leg and a man that needed an injection for an allergic reaction. There is a doctor and a few nurses in the group. Others needed boat parts, sail repair and drinking water. The rally group trades with each other for the items they need. It can be anything from fresh baked brownies to alcohol or fish. I’ll have to find out what they traded the doctor to fix the broken leg 🙂

Today the winds are light so we are flying our spinnaker. The fishing pole is in the water and we’ve caught 3 mackerel. The sea lions were chasing one fish as fast as Kevin could reel it in.

We’ve gone 70 NM and still have another 110 NM until the next stop, Cabo. Just for the record, I am able to post my blog everyday thanks to Starlink. It has been working as far as 50+ miles offshore.

We arrived at Bahia Santa Maria at 5:30 am this morning. It was a nice sail with a full moon. I was on watch from 1am to 5am sitting at the helm with headphones on listening to music while everyone was asleep.

As you can see from the photo above this is a very small fishing village. There were local fisherman catching shark today for our fish tacos they are serving us tomorrow at our beach party. Two fisherman pulled up to our boat this afternoon and we finally figured out they wanted to trade Kevin a big shark for beer but we decided not to trade 🙂

Today was a day for exploring the area but we had to explore by dinghy because the surf was too high to get to shore. The Baja group has hired the fisherman to use their panga boats to take us to the beach tomorrow. There were a few sailors that brought their surf boards so they were out riding the waves today.

Our mothership, Profligate hosted a party for the 10 kids that are traveling on the rally. They were having jumping and diving competitions off the big catamaran. They are home-schooled while cruising and have so much fun getting together. It’s always fascinating to talk to them about their travels.

We got together with a group and had a nice dinner on Patsy’s boat Talion. Kevin prepared a wonderful ginger soy tuna. There was lots of red wine and laughter.

It is a beautiful night of sailing with the full moon’s reflection following us as we glide through the sea. It is nice to sail with a little light. There’s a warm wind that makes it much more comfortable to be outside during the night watches. We are 60 NM offshore so the nights can be cold and lonesome. That’s the reason 2 crew are on watch during the night.

We have been flying our spinnaker (the brightly colored sail) during the day. This type of sail is used in lighter wind conditions. When the wind calms down the waves calm down but that means we slow down. The rally we are in is about sailing without using your motor unless there is no wind. When this happens, the Grand Poobah will make an announcement over the VHF radio advising everyone to turn their engines on.

The crew today did a “man overboard” drill. There wasn’t actually anyone in the water. Kevin had the stern open and was removing kelp off the rudders when the boat hook he was using got away from him. When you need to pick something out of the water while under sail it calls for all hands on deck. That means everyone responds to help get the sails down so the boat can be turned around. With 3 large sails up this takes immediate action and coordination between crew members. Thanks to our awesome crew, the boat hook was successfully retrieved and we got back on course. It’s always good to routinely practice this drill in case anyone ever falls overboard.

Right now there is no concept of time other than we see the sun rise in the morning and set in the evening. We eat when we’re hungry and sleep when we’re tired. It is mental freedom.

Turtle Bay was a great stop. We enjoyed all the fun activities and great food. The people in this village were so welcoming! Now it is time to sail to Bahia Santa Maria. This is a photo just outside Turtle Bay with our buddy boats as we left the bay this morning. There has been blue skies and sunshine all day along with 20 knot winds on our stern. The waves are steep with a good size swell so the boat is rockin’ and rollin’. At one point the washing machine got loose and blocked the door to the main berth so we couldn’t get the door open. A moving washing machine is not a good thing. Kevin didn’t want to get one but I told him I was not washing clothes with a bucket and a stick. Dishes and pans have been slamming around in the cupboards but I know they are secure and cannot escape. It’s noisy in the cabin today.

Try cooking on the stove with your pans swinging on a gimble. Chile probably wasn’t the best choice for lunch with the rough water 🙂 We have been gone for over 2 months now so all the prepared dinners I had in the freezer are all eaten and now I have to cook. I’m thankful I brought an instapot with me or I’d be wearing our dinner tonight. I plug it in (that’s what’s nice about having solar panels) and set it in the sink to cook.

Tonight we are going to try a different watch schedule. Sue is sleeping so she will be ready for her shift late tonight . . . smart girl! We are going to do 4 hours of watch, 4 hours of sleep, and repeat until we get to Bahia Santa Maria on Monday.

We watched the funniest old movie recommended by our crew. The movie is “Captain Ron” starring Kurt Russell. We are all still using lines from that movie on each other. Maybe its funny because we’re sailing but nevertheless its always fun to watch a movie that makes you laugh 🙂

A quick rain and wind storm blew through and left us with this beautiful rainbow. It was windy all night long but beautiful sunshine when we woke up this morning. Today Enrique, the guy who owns the fuel, brought us 125 liters of diesel for 4,750 pesos. People in this town will bring fuel to your boat, water, pick up your garbage and your dirty laundry, and bring it back to you clean and nicely folded.

Today was the Turtle Bay Beach Party. The party was at a beach down a mile from the town so we all had to take panga boats because of the rough water. On the way, the panga went speeding through a huge flock of pelicans that were feeding on shrimp. We’ve never seen so many birds in one place! They crammed so many of us in the pangas that we felt like we were escaping from Cuba. We were all getting wet and laughing all the way. It was so much fun! There was music, frisbees, volleyball and lots of cerveza, margaritas, fish and shrimp tacos. There was a tug-o-war game between the men and women. The women won! Probably because the ratio was 8 to 1.

We are getting to know the other cruisers and we look forward to crossing paths with them while cruising. Everyone has different plans as to where they are headed. Some are going on the Pacific Puddle Jump Sailing Rally which sails to the South Pacific, others are going on the Panama Posse Rally and heading through the Panama Canal while others will make their homes in different parts of Mexico. Cruisers that kept their houses will spend the winter in Mexico and leave their boat in a Mexican marina and return to their home in the states come Spring. What will we do? That is yet to be determined 🙂

We put the dinghy back on the boat tonight and stowed all our gear in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning. We are sailing down the coast 250 miles to Bahia Santa Maria. We expect to be there by Monday, Nov 7.

After motor sailing 360 miles we arrived at Turtle Bay on Thursday morning at 5am in the dark. We were all so tired it felt wonderful getting more than 2-3 hours of sleep like we’ve been getting the past 3 days.

We didn’t know what to expect to see when the sun came up. This is the entrance to the town from the bay. We took our dinghy to shore and were greeted by several men and children wading out into the water to help us get the dinghy onto shore. One little boy took my back pack and another took my hand. They were such polite people. Once the dinghy was on the beach the men and all the children got in line to collect American dollars from us. It was expensive valet parking for our dinghy.

We wandered up a path to find the baseball game and along the way met a woman named Maria who said she would make us margaritas and another little hut had fish tacos. Needless to say, we were there for awhile and then walked to the baseball game where the kids were excited to get all the gear when the game was over.

We realized it would be helpful to learn some Spanish. It was difficult ordering something as simple as tacos. We had no idea what we were going to get. But our fish tacos were very good and so were the margaritas. The people in the village have been looking forward to our arrival. Maria told its more exciting than Christmas! The money they get from us is the majority of their income for the year. They sold us margaritas for $3 and tacos for $2 and made us welcome signs.

There is only one paved road in town and the neighborhoods are all dirt roads. The houses are passed down to the next generation without doing much improvements. They are very happy and friendly people despite not having much. We look forward to spending the day on the beach tomorrow meeting more locals.

Last night we had dinner sitting at the best seat in the house! The sunsets out on the ocean are gorgeous! The boat was rolling side to side while I was trying to roll out dough for biscuits but I’m slowly getting my sea legs back after being at the dock in San Diego for two weeks. I was on the boat only a few hours out in the ocean when I started feeling ill. Thanks to the drug Meclizine I began to feel much better within a few hours.

This photo was taken while eating dinner at our outdoor table cruising a few miles North of Ensenada, Mexico.

Kevin and I were on watch until midnight last night and then again at 6am this morning. The other sailboats in the rally have scattered and now we are all miles apart without anyone in sight. We have seen more dolphins in this area than ever before. It is always exciting to see them swimming towards us. I try to take pictures but they are so fast diving in and out of the water.

The weather has been sunny with light winds. We have done a fair amount of motor sailing today. The winds are suppose to pick back up in the next day or so as we get closer to Turtle Bay.