Sail Cutthroat

12 November 2006 0230 hours
Latitude 34 19N Longitude 107 17 W

I came off watch at 0400 hours on Friday the 9^th and went to sleep but was awoken at 0530 to the sound of something hard sliding on deck right above me. I instantly knew it was the bucket filled with water we left out for our next big catch and that meant that we had some wind heeling the boat. Finally! On deck it was blowing 20 knots and building – we must be getting close to the cape! The sun was coming up we were only a couple of miles off shore and we were having a great sail. From everything I had read, rounding that cape could get rough so we made sure everything was locked down (at least better than it had been – Roger’s multitude of cameras and computers always warrant an additional check, and we had all gotten books out). The winds continued at about 20-25 knots and we were on a nice broad reach but the swells stayed in check and we just had a great ride. We headed around to a beam reach in anticipation of seeing those famous big arched rocks just west of the entrance to Cabo San Lucas.

Fishing boats were everywhere, not the locals but the sport fishers out early from Cabo. Obviously the fish like that particular area. We did a major course modification to allow a small boat that was getting kicked all over in the wind and waves to maneuver because he had a huge billfish on the line – probably half the size of his boat. The fish was jumping for us – it was quite the sight. We don’t know if he ever landed it, but he was sure working hard at it.

Radio chatter told us that Cabo was a mess with the Baja HaHa crowd still there. No slips were available and there were boats anchored everywhere, some in up to 100 feet of water (need lots of anchor chain and rode for that). Radio talk later in the morning spoke of one boat dragging at anchor through the harbor with no crew aboard. That’s always fun and causes me to want to put our boat someplace else…

We were headed for a new harbor about 15 miles further east but still one of the suburbs of Cabo, San Jose del Cabo. The cruising guide talks about it and there was a big ad for the new marina – just the kind of place we want to stay for a couple of days! I’ve been trying to call them on the sat phone but the number listed turns out to be a fax machine and I hadn’t gotten a response from my emails either, although that’s not unusual in the Western Latino time zone. When Roger tried to hail them on the VHF someone else called us saying they were told that the marina wasn’t open yet and they had no way of delivering fuel yet in the newly built harbor – so much for that plan. Our choices were to sail further up and around the cape to the next secure anchorage, Cabo Los Frailes, or up to La Paz 150 miles up into the Sea of Cortez ( really out of our way but very tempting), or continue on to Mazatlan. We opted for Los Frailes – hope it’s open!

We anchored around 4PM just behind a huge rock jutting up several hundred feet. There was small fishing village and some very upscale small resort looking places all appearing to be closed. The village looked like a big flea market with small motor boats (pangas) racing around. There was a dirt road that connected all of this and it was amazing to see the cars racing along and down on the beach – lots of activity considering there was nothing there. Several other boats came along into the early evening.

We went for a swim in nice warm water but very salty – that felt great, made some Mojitos – those tasted good, had dinner in the cockpit, watched the stars, and went to sleep early.

In the morning there was one last boat in our little anchorage – a BIG one, one of those mega-yachts. He probably couldn’t get a slip in Cabo either but I think his owner got a hotel room because before we left a helicopter flew out and landed on the yacht. It really looked out of place in our remote little anchorage.

The trip across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan has been pleasant allowing us to sail along at a nice clip of 7 knots in 10-13 knots of wind just forward of the beam. The seas are calm – no swells. We saw only two boats today as we were leaving our anchorage – both also leaving. Other than that it’s been very quiet – even the fish have left us.

Roger had a delightful day.

He wanted to make some water, so on went the generator. That of course gave him the opportunity to turn on all his little comfort devices so he was happily below watching TV with all the Air Conditioning units pumping away at full speed. Ah, the comforts of home out here in the middle of the ocean. So he was a happy camper! We did have one little bird join us most of the way as he perched himself on the dinghy cover for the longest time. We got through two of our Spanish lessons also – we need to be more diligent about that. Roger tries to keep us on track with that one.

The moon isn’t as big and bright and we actually saw some clouds tonight. We arrive in Mazatlan in the morning where we expect the climate to become more tropical. First stop is to get fuel, then find a place to put the boat. There are two harbors in Mazatlan. The one we’ll hit first is the new marina harbor which boast two fine marinas one with a big hotel – that’s our first choice. The older port is right in the town and where the cruise ships go. That’s also where most of the anchorages are so we may end up there. I’ll let you know in the next update. I should be able to get internet somewhere and will update the website with pics.

The plan is to stay in Mazatlan for a few days before we make the last leg to Puerto Vallarta. We’ve gone just about 1000 miles already and been gone for 10 days with many stops along the way – it really flew by.

More info to come in the next couple of days.