Ensenada to Bahia de Bartolome (Turtle Bay), and on to Cabo San Lucas

Jan. 16, 2014
Dawn brought a beautiful sunny, windless day.  I walked to the nearby 7-11 to get some bags of ice just prior to leaving.  We left the dock at 10:30 a.m., motored out of the harbor and set sails and cut the engine.  We had good wind for about an hour, then it was on the nose, so on went the engine.  We had a two day and night passage to Turtle bay ahead.  On the way we saw several whales, grey's and humpbacks, lots of dolphins and birds.  Not many ships or yachts this trip.  We entered Turtle bay, dropped anchor and thought we'd have a nap then get fuel.  This was not to be as it was high tide and the fuel dock is in shallow water, so we raised anchor and motored over for fuel.  At this point, we decided it was just as easy to nap while moving, so off we went to Cabo.

It was difficult to see where the ocean ended and the sky began.

   As we motored onward, we noticed a strange thing... our refrigerator and freezer were colder than 32 degrees, hence it was working!  Odd, but good.
   We motored onward with little or no wind, which is  also strange, it's usually howling off Baja.  As we crossed towards Bahia Santa Maria, the seas were glass-like and hundreds of turtles were sun bathing.  It was difficult to miss them with the boat.  The sea temps were quite warm, 70 degrees and rising.  Last time we passed this way it was 45 degrees!

Our yellow-fin tuna, near Turtle bay.

   As we approached Cabo, the air and water were getting quite warm, no more warm clothing and we put out the fishing line.  After an hour, we had two small Yellow-fin Tuna hit the feathers.  We released one and filleted the other for a later date.

Cabo in full swing, tourists enjoying a trip out for the day.

   Sailing overnight for so many days was a little challenging, but not too bad.  The night watches were fairly warm and a lovely moon to see by.  We arrived at Cabo San Lucas at midnight, checked in to our slip and went to sleep.  Ahh, to not be bouncing around while sleeping!  We awoke to pangas of cheering, clapping tourists driving by our boat on their way out to the arch rock for snorkeling.  This time Cabo seemed more welcoming, cheaper and not as noisy as the last time.  We ate several meals along the malecon, rested up and cleaned the salt off of the boat.  Two days here, then off to cross the Sea of Cortez and head to Punta de Mita and La Cruz.