A lot has happened since you heard from us last. A rolling stone gathers no moss and a spinning propeller gathers no barnacles, which is really nice if you’re me and need to go scrape them off. Turtle bay got kinda crazy, the Ha-Ha showed up, 150 sailboats all anchored in front of a tiny village that lets face it, has very little going on. We met a few interesting people and crashed their beach party. My recommendation, if you’re thinking you may enjoy cruising in a sailboat rally is don’t bother paying the entry fee, just show up at their party. We left 5 hours behind them, our theory being that we wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of the heard, but we still caught up to some of the slow boats in the dark shortly before Bahia Santa Maria. I guess they were missing their friends because several of them steered straight for us. It really makes no sense when you’re 20 miles from land and the vastness of the Pacific Ocean is on your right, why would you want to cruise in a tight little pack of boats all clustered close together? But that’s the Ha-Ha. We took a short rest stop in Santa Maria and carried on without attending their party on the beach, and so far they haven’t caught up to us. We saw some wildlife on the way down, a shark swam up and checked us out. We saw a dead turtle caught in fishing gear, very sad. Lots of dolphins, so many dolphins. We’re actually kinda getting tired of dolphins, their always so cheerful and when you’ve been been driving a boat for days, dead tired, you start to want to stuff their cheerfulness and their little dolphin throats. I’m kidding, I still like dolphins. We rounded the cape! That’s big news for us, our charts no longer say ‘North Pacific Ocean’ we drove across the words ‘Gulf of California.’ Wahoo! The weather definitely got hotter, the water got warmer and we can see our anchor on the bottom in 30′ of water. We motored past Cabo San Lucas at night and were almost tempted by the bright lights and conga lines, but kept going to San Jose del Cabo where we made a quick stop for beer and fuel. We read in the guide book that when the wind blows from the north, the east cape can be a little uncomfortable. So of course we motored right into that very headwind being described. How bad can it be? We braved the giant swell of the North Pacific, a few puny waves can’t ruin our day. Short steep waves smacked our bow and we watched our speed go down. 4.5 knots, smack! 2.5 knots, smack! 1.5 knots, smack! 0 knots. Needless to say, it was a long 28 miles from San Jose to Los Frailes. At least it washed our decks of all the accumulated filth of the trip down. Some friends that we met in Turtle Bay, Robin and David from San Diego, caught up to us at Bahia Los Frailes and we’ve been hanging with them for a couple days. We made a move to Bahia de Los Muertos, or if you’re the real estate developer trying to sell property to gringos you prefer to call it ‘Bay of Dreams.’ A little more marketing friendly. As we’re desperately low on supplies, we went to the beach club restaurant, which was much better than our backup plan, which was to have a can of baby corns on tortillas. Like I said, desperately low on supplies. It’s a beautiful spot here, lovely beach, warm clear water, and we’ve covered a lot of miles and aren’t feeling in a big hurry to get moving again, but our options are to eat all our meals at the beach club or move on to La Paz and get some groceries. I think we’ll probably head out tomorrow. David and Robin are keen on having a beach fire tonight, so we’ll probably be scrounging the desert for sticks and tumbleweed. Rock on.
Pre Ha-ha down the Baja
Goodbye Ensenada, hello Bahia Tortugas. It was a long trip motoring down the Pacific coast of the Baja, windless and placid. Apart from the lack of wind and the fuel consumption that goes with it, we had a good time. Dolphins are always entertaining when they decide to swim with us, and we made a lot of dolphin friends. Turtle Bay is a welcome respite after a couple rolly anchorages and a couple nights at sea. Our first impression of Turtle Bay was that it’s scenic, barren and rugged. The village is dusty and run down, the people seem friendly, and it has the basic amenities such as cold beer, fuel and groceries. Upon waking up this morning, it felt like we were in a scene from the Discovery Channel. Fishermen in pangas hauling nets loaded with fish while the birds, dolphins and sea lions got in on the action. At times it felt like a feeding frenzy. Kirstyn is convinced she’s never seen so many birds in one place. This Bay is a truly amazing place. When we arrived yesterday, we headed for the dingy dock the guide book mentioned, which it turns out doesn’t exist. As we contemplated our next move, some kids on the beach pointed out the landing spot that also happened to be right next to their family’s restaurant. The Bay gets some swell, so timing the landing is key. The restaurant had three things on the menu, ice cold Tecate beer, beef tacos, and fish tacos. The fish tacos contained fried tuna and were delicious. When we arrived we were the only cruising boat in the bay, until the arrival of a couple on a sailboat that we had briefly met in Ensenada later in the day. The Baja ha-ha, which is a cruisers rally with 150 sailboats is set to arrive sometime next week, and will turn this quiet fishing village into a gong show, so we’re thinking it might be a good idea to stay ahead of them. With over 400 miles left to the cape, we’re looking for a little bit of wind to get us there. Currently the forecast is calling for more peace and serenity, which would be welcome if we weren’t hoping to make it to the cape without burning a bunch of fuel. It looks like there’s one more good anchorage that supposedly has fuel between here and Cabo, and we haven’t decided if we’re stopped there, but it might be up to the weather gods, because we probably don’t have enough fuel tank to get us to Cabo.
Soon they’ll be making another run!
A new day in Ensenada, we wake to the ‘bing bong’ and the cheerful voice of a cruise director. Young and chipper, she instructs the throngs of buffet stuffed cruisers on the procedure of debarking the ship. I know, because I’ve been here for three weeks, that the Carnival Inspiration is in port today. I peer out my companionway, bright white and rust streaked in all her glory. There’s a second ship as well, the ultra tacky Disney Wonder is also in port today. I can see the bulbous stern, and a plume of black smoke belching from a funnel adorned with Mickey Mouse ears. Soon the happy cruisers will be wandering the Malecon, looking a little lost and bartering for jewelry and backpacks with their favourite professional sports franchise logo. The cruise ship people are slightly mysterious, they walk past silently, taking the occasional picture and then they disappear, promptly at five. They are much quieter than the Mexican families that come to the Malecon in the evening and on the weekends. Mexican children run and play while their parents hold hands and laugh at private jokes. Cruise ship people aren’t that comfortable. Some carry large DSL cameras. Some young couples take selfies with our boat as the back drop. I occasionally consider calling out to them, wanting to find out how I find their selfie on Instagram, with me in the background enjoying my morning coffee. I’m in a lot of those selfies, I could maybe become a celebrity background model and charge 10 pesos per selfie. I don’t know how I’ll collect though. I know from the cruise director’s afternoon announcements that the trip back to Los Angeles will include a Halloween party. Every trip back to Los Angeles this month will include a Halloween party. I wonder what they do on the way back to Los Angeles in November? Does Disney do a Halloween party? We can’t hear their announcements, their PA system is much quieter. The other day we cruised past one of the ships in our tiny boat. Several passengers lined the stern rail on one of the upper decks. Kirstyn waved to the happy crowd. One gentleman reluctantly waved back then looked to his fellow shipmates looking a little embarrassed. Today our plan is to do a small amount of boat maintenance then walk to the Mayorista store to get groceries. We might also stop at the store with the giant bottles of rum and vodka for 109 pesos. I might get a fish taco while we’re up that way, those are good tacos, we’ll see.
Dolphins doing dolphin stuff
I finally got around to getting the pictures off my camera from back in august. We met these dolphins at Hakai Pass on the beautiful central coast of BC.
Random thoughts on unimportant topics
It’s another beautiful day here, but unfortunately Kirstyn isn’t feeling it. Sinus pressure, leaking eyes, head so heavy her neck feels like it isn’t up to the task. I’ve dubbed this ailment Mexican flu. If Spain can take the blame for a flue that killed millions, Mexico can handle one that makes your face hurt. Faced with a dwindling stock of Buckley’s, my thoughts have turned to remedies, and if I only remember one thing my mom ever said, it’s “vitamin C.” The fresh juice counter at the grocery store may be my best hope for curing this affliction. Obviously this is going to take some preparation and planning, I’m now the caretaker of an invalid, alone in a foreign land. I’m going to need medicine, nasal decongestant, maybe some NyQuil? There are about 100 pharmacias within 10 blocks of here advertising cheap Viagra, but this situation doesn’t call for Viagra or Valium. I’m gonna need to find the real pharmacy where real Mexican people shop, not the drug addled, sex crazed cruise ship people store. Although, maybe Valium and Viagra is exactly what she needs? No! Vitamin C dammit! It seems so simple, too simple, but what’s my plan? The mayorista has a lady with a juicer, pick your fruit, hand it to the lady, pay your pesos and you have a jug of fresh juice. Kirstyn says orange, but there’s gotta be some crazy healing power in those fresh mangoes, papayas, guavas and pineapples. Yeah. A new Canadian couple arrived last night, sailed from Bamfield of all places and harbour hopped down the coast. We shared a few beverages and heard stories of river bar crossings, marine corps helicopters and broken Diesel engines. Pretty standard stuff. Every time we meet new cruisers the stories come out and inevitably we always want to know what each other’s plans are. The thing is, most of us are winging it. When should we leave Ensenada? How soon is it reasonably safe to show up in Cabo? Turtle Bay won’t see a tropical storm this year says one “experienced veteran.” Another guy tells us the late season storms are more likely to veer north and cross the Baja. The Baja haha is a annual sailing rally that departs San Diego at the end of October, and we’ve been told that most of the people that sign up are fairly new to the yachting scene and join the rally for the supposed security in numbers. I’m certain we don’t want to get caught in the middle of 300 pensioners on sailboats, so do we go early or let them go past? How is being unemployed so challenging? Maybe I do need some Valium.
Ensenada tap water for the soul
Because we’re here in Ensenada for awhile, it seems only natural that we should experience the culture, meet the people. So last night we went to the red light district. Did you think I was gonna say we went to Sunday mass or volunteered at a refuge for three legged puppies? No, normal Mexicans are too busy with their own lives to deal with the likes of us. We were drinking tequila with transvestite hookers. Now, in case you haven’t done that before, I’ll give you a little advice. You gotta be careful, that stuff can give you a wicked hangover. Luckily moderation is our M.O. That’s why when some of our boat neighbors stopped by at the crack of ten this morning, I was able to pry my eyelids open and mumble incoherently before applying my favourite hangover cure. I’m sure you’re curious what my secret is, so I’m gonna tell you. First, you need grease. McDonald’s is a great source for grease, but my choice this morning was Carl’s Jr. excellent large greasy burgers fast. Perfect. Second, you need vitamins. LOTS of vitamins. I chose a very large fruit smoothie. Not to get too sciencey or technical, but the grease coats and neutralizes all that nastiness in your stomach while the vitamins do their thing. Boom, the cure. The triangle painting, I’m not sure how I feel about it. It was a gift from a bartender named Travis. He told us its for acid trips. Travis makes the best piña colladas we’ve ever had, and may be a great artist. I still haven’t decided. Anyway, if you want some original art from Travis the Mexican bartender, I can probably hook you up. We met a Guy from Nanaimo today that sailed down a couple weeks before us, he got knocked around a bit on the way down as well, so at least we aren’t the only ones.
Jennifer Anniston is too old to do romantic comedies
Today we took the bus to Tijuana, had some great enchiladas and grilled fish. Dollar beers and a free shot of tequila, good times. But what I really learned, from watching movies in Spanish on the bus, is that Hollywood is shit. Tom Cruise, in the latest Mission Impossible, running, jumping, looking old and tired. He’s like a a way less classy James Bond, except that Sean Connery, at a hundred and six years old, could probably still kick Tom’s ass. If you paid to see this at the theatre, we are no longer friends. Jennifer Anniston trying very hard to play the cute, funny but chronically available chick looking for love. I’ve seen this movie before, in English. I think she’s made 18 or 20 of these movies. She wasn’t 50 years old in the previous ones though. Anyway, Tijuana, what a town. We took a nice stroll through the red light district, hung out with some painted donkeys, in general a nice excursion and to top it off Kirstyn found the tackiest fanny pack ever. I think the store must have found it in the back of their storage room, a refugee from the eighties when Mexican tourist shops were quaint and a little less ‘made in China.’ An excellent purchase.
Resident Gringos
It seems we’ve officially been accepted as local gringos here in Ensenada. Walking down the main tourist street today, a shopkeeper made a move to try to hawk his wares to Kirstyn and his partner stopped him and said “she lives here.” Obviously for our benefit, in English, but hey, we’ll take it. We’re starting to figure out where the good grocery stores are, which is nice. We went to Walmart yesterday, and the ‘low low prices’ were not as low as we’d hoped, but we found a big discount store with great prices on produce and meat and a lot less flashy advertising. Nick and Ucie left on their next adventure, so Kirstyn and I are on our own once again. There’s been some talk about taking a day trip on the bus to Tijuana tomorrow with one of our boat neighbors. We’ll see, could be a good time.
Tofino to Ensenada, waves, wind and barf.
September 14
Moral has been restored. We left Tofino on the morning of the 12th to a light northwesterly breeze that quickly worked up to a gale. Seas built and soon we were surfing down waves at 12 to 14 knots. The crew were all seasick. At one point a wave broke on deck and filled the cockpit ankle deep with sea water. By the morning of the 13th they were praying for god to take them. By evening, Nick and ucie were mostly recovered, but Kirstyn was in bed sobbing. Things were different today. Bright sunshine, a steady breeze pushing us toward our destination and a tame following sea. By noon Kirstyn was back on the cigarettes and craft dinner. We are currently 190 nautical miles off the coast of southern Oregon under a bright starry sky.
September 16
The past couple days have been easy downwind sailing, taking turns on watch, listening to tunes and enjoying the last of our fresh vegetables and meat. Last night a pod of dolphins visited us leaving phosphorescent trails zigging and zagging under the boat. So far we have spotted a grand total of three ships, none of them got closer than a few miles from us. We are currently about 300 nautical miles northwest of San Francisco and should be crossing busy shipping over the next few days. In bird news, we’ve been visiting by several albatross and other sea birds and T seems unfazed by our ocean journey and the humans are also in high spirits.
September 18
Nick saw a seal today, and a crab trap float. I might attempt to snag a fish. Maybe. Ship count remains at three. We’re over half way, that’s pretty exciting news.
September 24
We arrived in Ensenada yesterday, found a marina slip and sorted out our customs stuff, we still need to go back to the government office and pay for our temporary import permit on Monday. The final days of our offshore trip were a little trying. A couple nights of strong winds and big seas left us a little exhausted and very happy to be in Ensenada. Kirstyn and I are trying to decide our next move. Hurricane season isn’t quite over further south, although a few of the long term Mexico cruisers told us Turtle Bay is a safe secure anchorage this time of year, we’d like to stay a bit longer in Ensenada. It’s pricey here, there’s no good anchorage close to town, so we if we do stay, we gotta pay big city marina prices. Anyway, for now we’re enjoying the food, proximity to ice cold delicious beverages and marina life in a busy sea port. Our current home is under the giant flag on the Malecon. There’s been live music and some great people watching. A couple weeks here doesn’t seem like a terrible way to go, and Kirstyn figures she can negotiate a decent price with the marina we’re at, seeing as their busy season is still weeks away and half of the slips are empty. I’m gonna give her a pep talk like the old man in Rocky before she heads up to the office. Eye of the tiger.
Kirstyn lounges with beef jerky
In a recent conversation between Kirstyn and my mom, the topic of eating in bed came up. The consensus was that it’s really nice to enjoy a snack in bed. Beef jerky has become Kirstyn’s go to when she’s relaxing “it’s a trend I think, your mom has been eating in bed too.” I’m not sure that two people make a trend, but I’ve taken a few bites and I think I might be on board with this. Beef jerky is a way better choice than crackers, people get kicked out of bed for that.
Adventures of Sunshine Three 