Ensenada to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Banderas Bay

Approaching Ensenada harbor and Cruiseport Marina.

We left Ensenada on Sunday, November 16th at 10:00 a.m.  The sun was out, 13 knots of true wind which bumped up to 20 off and on.  The boat was making around 6-7 knots of speed with a reefed main and our 120% jib deployed.  There was a rather large swell running with us, so the boat would leap ahead and then slow in the troughs.  In the fall, it is not as much fun sailing for me, as the days are so short.  It gets light around 6:00 a.m., and the sun slowly creeps upward in the sky, and as noon arrives, it appears that the day is almost over.  By 3:00 p.m. it looks like sunset soon and the long shadows and dark seas dominate the land/seascape.
  Our next stop was going to be Turtle Bay, about a two day sail from Ensenada.  The winds were pretty strong throughout this leg, and as we skirted the inside of Cedros Island it piped upwards  of 20-30 knots, with our boat speed reaching up to 11 knots at times!  We were flying, and the sad part of it was that this occurred  in the middle of the night with no moon, so we couldn't see anything.  There were no other boats around, and fortunately no whales.  It was a bit creepy, as going that fast without seeing what was in front of us was unnerving.  We have heard of other boats who have struck whales and sunk... When the sun rose in the morning it was a relief to me.  It remained blustery as we roared past Isla Cedros and into Turtle Bay for a rest stop and refuel, two days and nights from Ensenada.
   We left Turtle Bay the following morning around 11:00 a.m. headed for Bahia Santa Maria, approximately 220 miles away.  The winds were light, and Leif was concerned about our alternator which was making weird hissing noises when we ran the engine.  Fortunately that wasn't often with all of the wind.  This trip so far was more of a sailing adventure, not a motor sail as our last trip turned out to be.

The "Dolphin Experience" team practicing their talents.

   As we sailed, there were thousands of dolphin swimming with us for a few miles, jumping and diving under our bow.  One night on watch at 5:15 p.m.  I heard a loud exhale and looked forward to see a large swirl right next to our bow...  Then a huge slick of swirling whale slime surfaced on our port side.  I looked back, and a large (40'-60') whale surfaced right behind us, way too close for comfort, but thankfully we didn't connect.
   Bahia Santa Maria came and went, we decided not to stop after swinging in and getting internet to update our weather gribs and seeing that it was going to be supposedly calm to medium winds for the next few days.  Well, that was sort of true, the winds were generally 10-20 kts, with choppy seas and swell.  It is finally warming up, sea temps are up to 79 degrees.  Finally saw a sea turtle, and a booby, and the clouds are looking more tropical now.  It has been a challenge to sleep this trip, the boat has been creaking, banging, things making all sorts of weird noises, and quite rough.  So, with the wind and swell, and noises, it's been physically a challenge, we are both pretty tired.  Our mast is making odd clunking noises, the alternator decided to seize up and start smoking, and our auto pilot has begun to make odd grinding sounds.  All of this adds to our mental state of worry and fatigue as we near Cabo Falso.  The engine requires an alternator in order to function, and alas we have decided not to install the spare that we brought along.  It has one fitting that is not the same as the installed one, and we're not sure if it needs an extra part, even though it's the exact same model.  So, no engine.
   We are thinking that if the wind stays up, we'll make it to San Jose del Cabo on Saturday, Nov. 22.  Well, that didn't work out as the winds decided to finally go light as predicted three days ago, so we sat off Cabo all day bobbing around waiting for the wind to fill in.  Not happening.  So, bobbed all night, hand steering, around 35 miles off Cabo.  Finally mid-morning the wind started to fill in and we were off, but not in the right direction as it was coming directly from our destination.  We tacked back and forth, getting closer and closer when the wind once again died, about 11 miles out of the marina.  Nuts.  We didn't want to risk turning on the engine as the alternator seemed to be toast, so it was either sit and wait probably another day out here, or unpack the dinghy and fire up the outboard and push ourselves in.  That's what we did, and it worked perfectly, thankfully, as the wind picked up that night from the wrong direction, and didn't stop for 5 days.  We would have ended up crossing the Sea of Cortez in 20-30 knots of wind without an engine, which was not the safest idea.
   After all was scrutinized, our mast was not loose, just the boom goose-neck attachment needed lubricating.  Leif replaced our alternator with the spare that we brought along after learning that the extra hole was normal and not in need of a plug that the fried one had installed in it.  And, the auto-pilot seemed to work well enough, probably get a spare replacement for it when we get to La Cruz.

Our faithful dinghy and Tohaitsu motor helping us into San Jose del Cabo.

 While in San Jose del Cabo, the wind blew hard daily, sending dust from the surrounding hills all over our salty boat.  Now we had a muddy mess to deal with, but not worth cleaning until the winds die down.  The hurricane Odille that hit Baja really damaged the marina as well as surrounding hotels and structures.  There were pilings without docks attached, sunken boats tied to docks, and the ladies restroom was without any walls, just toilets, sinks and showers.  I had to use the men's which was not popular with the workers who apparently were not told of this arrangement.  The dolphin experience that was located here was restocking their dolphins who were flown out to Puerto Vallarta prior to the hurricane.  This was pretty interesting to see, although they didn't want us taking photos, we managed to get some from afar.  Once into their new enclosure, the dolphins were given directions from the trainers and they put on a quick show for us, probably to ensure that they were thinking clearly and could follow directions?

The women's bathroom, sans walls.  Sad, as it was really nice, with granite and tile floors.

  The weather looked promising for a departure on Friday, so off we went to Puerto Vallarta.  The winds were 15-20 knots, and short choppy seas for the first day or so, finally settling down on Saturday afternoon.  We motor-sailed the entire way, making water for use while we are in the marina in the days ahead.  As usual our speed didn't match our timing of our arrival and we arrived at 3:00 a.m. in the dark morning hours of Sunday, November 30th.  Even though we know this marina well, we didn't want to enter in the dark without an assigned slip, so we motored in circles until past 6:30 a.m. when the sky started to lighten as dawn approached.  Sunrise here is 7:15 due to the time change.  We are now two hours ahead of Los Angeles time.  Our slip was a welcome sight as we needed some down time to regroup and get some rest from the trip.  La Cruz is a small town as compared to Puerto Vallarta, but it has many great restaurants with live music each night, and a thriving gringo community.  It always feels like home when we arrive here.  Most of the locals speak only Spanish, but are very patient with those of us who are learning.  It's fun to test my poor Spanish in the local tiendas.  We left California on November 3, and arrived November 30 to our mainland destination of La Cruz where we will be until mid-January when we think we'll head south towards Panama.