Doing the "Baja Bash"

No, not the Monster Mash, the Baja Bash....motor sailing against the current and prevailing wind the whole way up the Pacific side of Baja, about 775 miles from Cabo to San Diego. This journey is one I have feared and loathed since we decided to buy SV Sun Baby in San Diego rather than the beat up boats we saw in Florida. If we did not go to Florida or the Marquesas on her, it would mean the long journey north at 5 to 7 miles an hour.

We sit here today in Turtle Bay to rest, fill up on diesel and wait for the next weather window with light winds and calmer seas. Starting from Puerto Vallarta we have traveled 775 miles of our 1075 mile trip. One remaining potential "nasty spot" left and that is rounding Cedros Island and crossing back to the mainland Baja. This is where the winds really whip up. Once across, we have all the more difficult parts of the journey done.

Cabo to Bahia Santa Maria seems so long ago. The watches were graced with lots of shooting stars and little to no moon. It is amazing how much light you get off of stars. Much less ocean traffic over here compared to PV to Cabo. There are a handful of boats going north. The sailors seem to stop and rest and the sport fisher boats just pass us up and head straight to San Diego.

Bahia Santa Maria is a wide open bay with mountains blocking a lot of the north wind from the anchored boats. Long beaches and sand dunes line the majority of the bay. A little fish camp is nestled below the mountain. We traded 8 AA batteries, 6 little snickers and a sleeve of Chips Ahoy cookies for four luscious lobster tails. A delightful meal. (We only wanted two but they gave us four...oh darn!) The kid in the panga loved Rocky and said, "next time bring another dog like him and I will trade you lobster for him!"

After 36 hours rest, we had another break in weather and could make the next passage up to Turtle Bay before the next wind storm. Most of the time we had very nice conditions 5 knots breeze and small swell. But on one of my watches it was 20 knots apparent and lumpy. That's not so fun. It calmed however and we had another 12 hours of perfect cruising. On one of Larry's watches he saw a bunch of Gray whales. We were off San Ignacio, a whale breeding location. Other then that, no whale sightings. I would venture a guess that Greys are more shy than Humpbacks. However we did spend a few months in their breeding ground, Banderas Bay.

Rocky is doing well. It took two passages for him to totally get with the program. He now expects someone to go to bed every three hours (three hour watches) so if it is rough he has someone to snuggle with. If one of us is not in bed, he snuggles into the pillows although generally, he likes the floor best. We keep him to his usual schedule and take him forward to his pet loo before and after the afternoon wind and chop that usually arrives. Today however, he has a lot of extra energy as he has been constrained by the 42 hour passage. At anchor, we let him roam the deck. He loves sniffing the air and barking at cormorants, pelicans and pangas.

A little more about Turtle Bay. We are here with seven other sailboats and expect a couple more today to wait out the coming storm. Today is Tuesday the 16th and we don't expect we can leave here until Sunday. The coast has been cool and gray. Yesterday afternoon the clouds parted and out came the sun along with the wind. The same thing is happening now-sun and wind. Rather then describe turtle bay surroundings, I will add photos in Ensenada or if we find a wifi place in town. What is special about this place is protection and diesel availability. Not much else really unless you love the barren geological formations of the landscape.