Sail Cutthroat

7 November 

Did I mention just how absolutely perfect the sunrise and sunsets have been these past few days? 

 Being offshore with clear skies and a full moon, both are equally remarkable.  Let’s not forget the stars…incredible! 

Photos will be on the web when we reach the next stop with internet capability – probably Cabo depending on where we stay.

We woke up in Turtle Bay to the sound of as many birds squawking as I’ve ever heard at one time.  There were pelicans, sea gulls, cormorants and several other varieties I couldn’t identify all feeding off of an incredible array of fish and whatever else they could dive for.  Seals and dolphins were also swimming around and the whole thing made for quite the show of force at 0530 hours.  It definitely got us up.  Despite all of this activity surrounding the boat, we escaped the bird poop on the deck.  These are obviously well trained birds – thank you!  By the way – we didn’t see one turtle… Speaking of Turtle Bay, the following info was provided by our Carlsbad, CA neighbor, Chuck Kogge, affectionately known as ChKogge – a plethora of information.  http://www.kristiina.kaapeli.fi/log33.htm
Bahia de Tortugas, a village of 4000 inhabitants on the mid-Baja California, is a popular stop among cruisers for three reasons: there is no port captain i.e. no paper hassle; it provides an all-weather anchorage; and you can get fuel. Eager diesel sellers will come to you many times before you even anchor down. The village seems to get a good deal of its livelihood from the visiting vessels. A sardine cannery was closed 8 years ago, leaving most of the people unemployed. There are only two fishing vessels in the bay, so it’s not a fishing village.There are about 20 cruisers anchored in the bay, the daily change is about 5 vessels. The village has several small stores and an internet. You can have an expensive shower in the hotel (50 pesos!).  The village is covered with dust. Only some brightly painted walls distinct from the overall color of dust, greyish-brown. It probably rains very seldom. The only green spots are planted trees and bushes, in addition many have pot plants. Every house has a fenche, the materials! Pieces of wood, plywood, tin sheets, tres, bricks. We even saw a fence-embankment made of used fridges. Every yard has a barking dog or two, some have chickens. Children are shy and smiling, shouting ‘hola gringo’ when you pass. There are houses of every sort, from large, painted stone residences to plywood huts that look more like kids’ playhouses than real homes.
Yup – that’s it!
 He also suggests this website to see more:    http://math.ucr.edu/ftm/bajaPages/PhotoPages/Space.html

As we were making ready to depart, we were visited by another Island Packet Crew on a IP32 who were down from Washington State enroute to Cabo.  Jack and Steve wanted to see the “big” IP and check weather reports (a common cruiser thing to do).  Jack had previously taken his boat to Mexico and then doing the Hawaii and back to Seattle trip – much like our planned route so we were happy to pick their brains for awhile.  We were underway at 0945 hrs in what appeared to be another day of 10-15 knots from the NW.  That lasted until we got out of the harbor – then the wind virtually died.  On went the engine and we saw flat seas, no wind, and sunshine all day.  After all the swells from the previous days, Carol was most pleased and she spent the day fishing.  After about an hour we reeled in the line – I read that in order to catch fish at sea like this one of the requirements was that a woman had to spit on the lure.  Now Carol being the good sport that she is agreed to do this but I think she was a little dehydrated yet from the first few days so I don’t think we got enough spit.  Anyway – Elise to the rescue – spit away and low and behold we got a small tuna.  It was very exciting for all of us.  Now fishing can be a pink task on a boat, but getting it off the hook and gutting it still remains a blue task in my book.  Roger did a superb job on that front and our little tuna provided for a very nice dinner which Roger grilled on the BBQ – always a blue task.  We complimented the fish with rice, asparagus and sliced tomatoes making for quite the feast.  Not being too sure about this fish, the left-over meatloaf from last night standing by just in case.  So, we checked that fishing block off the list.  As the weather calls for pretty much more of the same tomorrow, Carol’s task list is pretty well set – FISH! Since we haven’t been sailing today and the seas are flat we are averaging over 8 knots putting us well ahead of plan.  If we continue at this pace we’ll make Bahia Santa Maria (near Magdalena Bay) at about 5 PM.  If we slow down and sail, we may just continue on to Cabo – only another 150 miles.  The winds are supposed to come up tomorrow afternoon/evening encouraging most of the cruisers to leave wherever they are then  to take advantage of the expected 15-25 knots from the NW – oh darn!  It’s gotten much warmer especially at night.  Most of the cockpit remains open now – we had this very cool “eisenglass” (plastic windows) installed making it almost another room – very comfortable in the cold – but now more and more are rolled up as we move into a warmer climate.  We’re such spoiled wimps…but happy and comfortable.