We left San Jose del Cabo at 7:55 a.m. on June 19, a Friday. The wind was rather calm, but not the seas. As we rounded Cabo San Lucas around 10:00 a.m. it had already increased to mid teens to twenties, and then jumped to twenties to thirties. It was a boisterous ride with green water coming over the bow and sides for about two hours until we passed Cabo Falso. At that point the cape effect began to taper off and the seas settled down a lot. The swell was still rather large and coming from two different directions, so the ride was a bouncy one, and hanging on was a necessity. We did three hour watches during our two day trip up to Bahia Santa Maria, which always work well for us. The sea temperature was 83 in Cabo, now falling to 69. There were hundreds of fishing boats trolling off of Cabo as we left, we heard there were blue fin tuna in the area, and we saw hundreds of leaping Mobula rays as well.
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| Rounding Cabo San Lucas, a wet ride indeed. The Mexican Navy came by but left us alone. |
We pulled into Bahia Santa Maria bay in hopes of going ashore and getting some of the great sea shells that others have shown us. This was again not to be, as there was a large swell running and crashing on the beach inside. So, we anchored for a few hours, I cooked a chicken and potato saute, then off we went to Turtle bay. Arriving at Turtle a bit early due to calm weather and seas, we dropped anchor and went to sleep for awhile. That afternoon, Enrique dropped by to fuel us up from the panga with the huge fuel tank aboard. We slept again, and awoke early for a head start towards Ensenada.
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| Ensenada fishermen with their dive gear and catch of shellfish. |
On our way we trolled and caught some skipjack tuna which we released. This time we went behind Cedros Island in hopes of missing some of the large swell for awhile. It turned out to be a great idea, as the seas were calm, sun was warm and life was good for four hours as we passed. Then, as we stuck our nose out from behind the last rocks, the %#@# hit the fan. Large 6'-8'swells and winds of 25 knots on the nose. Ugh. The winds dropped into the teens after awhile, but the swells remained mixed up and large.
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| One surprise was a pod of Orcas that joined us and swam in our bow wave for about 5 minutes. This occurred off of Sacramento Reef, below Ensenada. |
As we passed Sacramento reef, we saw a sight we had only heard others talk about, a pod of Orcas! They were far off at first, then swam right up to us and surfed in our wake for about 5 minutes before heading off. So amazing to see these HUGE animals leaping out of the water right next to the boat. And, a bit scary. The next day brought dolphin, blue whales and humpback whales. Ho hum. Actually the blue whales were great to see as we had seen mostly humpbacks on our trips.
Ensenada was fantastic to visit, with a new malecon, Sunday market, new restaurants, and new friends. Our friends from previous trips, Sylvia and Tom stopped by on their way up from La Paz in their car, and we ate up the food they donated before crossing the border. You can't bring fruits, veggies, or meats across. They mentioned that their slip neighbors Manny and Lola were boat sitting here in Ensenada and we should meet them... So we did. We got along famously and Manny took us on a drive up through the wine country where he knows many of the vintners. We drank too much, but had a fantastic time learning about some new wineries (to us).
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| Once again, we met some wonderful new friends and their family at Tres Valles winery in Guadeloupe Valley. (R-L, Manny, Lola, Leif, Lisa, Leticia and family. |
We also met a crew from a race boat named "Challenger", and Leif enjoyed talking racing and boat stuff with them for several days as they prepared to head off to Panama, and the east coast.
Time flew and we left for San Diego and SWYC, our favorite yacht club down there. It was great to be back in the USA, and upon crossing the border line out in the ocean, we dropped our Mexican flag, and inserted our ATT sim cards into our phones. Ahhh, ATT. I've never been a fan until we encountered Telcel in Mexico. Now, love ATT. Telcel is ok, but unless one is fluent in technical Spanish, it is nearly impossible to discuss the theft of air time and data, which happens all the time.
While in San Diego we met with Jan and Dave friends from racing on their boat Pendragon, and had many meals out. Nice to have a real American burger.
The next stop was Dana Point, where we hoped to anchor for two nights. After one night with 6 other boats anchored nearby, and 5 more on the way, we left for Catalina.
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| Many of the wineries near Ensenada are first class, and we had a great time hosted by our friends Manny and Lola. They drove us to their favorites, as well as some where they knew the owners, which was a special treat. |
At Isthmus, it felt like we arrived home finally.
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| A new attraction for us was the renewal of the sea plane service to Isthmus. Fun to watch them fly low over the Isthmus and land right near the mooring field. |
We hiked daily, met with friends and had a great time relaxing. The weather was perfect, sunny and a crisp breeze to cool things down.
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| Oh dear, now what?? This group stopped short when they saw the Bison that we had just walked by within 10'. They slowly made their way past, as he was right next to the trail. |
It was now about time to figure out where we would put Finisterra for a home base. San Pedro is a good spot for sailing across to Catalina, so we decided on Cabrillo Way marina, a bran
d new marina near Angel's gate, or the opening of the jetty to the ocean in LA harbor. We had our choice of slips as there were many, many open slips, and took a nice upwind one with no one on either side for the time being.
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| The view from our hike to the ridge line above Cherry cove, Fourth of July cove and Isthmus. We love our Croc sandals for hiking, but this proved to be a bit much for them with the steep loose granite. |
Now our trip is officially over, and the decommissioning begins.
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| A shy Island Fox hiding out behind a palm tree near the Banning house. |
Leif and I have taken off all of our belongings, and pretty much everything else in preparation to clean the boat from top to bottom.
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| Our friends Paul and Carol from SV Unleashed joined us in San Pedro and for a quick trip over to the island for a couple of nights. This helped soften the blow of being back in civilization once again. We are on a walk on the ocean side of San Pedro. |
This also means moving back into our home in Costa Mesa, and cleaning it from top to bottom, and washing everything from the boat which is salty and damp. So, land life is good so far, but we'll see how long that lasts. It's crazy driving, noisy, and the speed of life has accelerated greatly. After looking at the pictures of our friends and adventures, I sort of miss it already. The air temperature is a wonderful thing though, and no bugs!
