I know it has been a long time between blogs, but we haven’t had very good wi-fi until now. We are sitting at the dock in the Fonatur marina in La Paz. Our journey from San Diego has been a multitude of experiences. We picked up a third crew member for the Ha Ha. His name is Ray. He is another member of the Oakland Yacht Club.
We left San Diego with a hundred and sixty other boats from all over. We had several Canadian boats, one from Hawaii, and one from the Mediterranean. There was also a boat from Colorado, not to mention all the boats from Northern and Southern California.
The first leg was from San Diego to Turtle Bay, about a third of the way down the Baja coast. It started off with no wind, so we did what you call a rolling start. That is, we motored until the Grand Poo Bah says it’s time to sail. It took a while before the wind came up but then we sailed the rest of the way to Turtle Bay. We were one of the last boats to arrive in Turtle Bay because we went out about 40 miles. We made it in time for all the festivities. Drinking at the one and only hotel in town, and the infamous beach party.
This is a picture of Entre Nous at anchor, in Turtle Bay.
This is about half the boats at anchor in Turtle Bay.
The three amigos having a cervesa at the hotel.
This town really goes all out for the Ha Ha crowd. They are a little behind on the date.
The Grand Poo Bah mixing with the crowd.
This is one catamaran that anchored a little to close to the beach. He anchored in six feet of water at high tide. It’s not six feet any longer.
We left Turtle Bay earlier than the rest of the fleet to, hopefully, get into Bahia Santa Maria at a reasonable time. On this leg we had wind right on the nose, and quartering seas. Just a few hours out of Turtle Bay our autopilot went out. We are now hand steering the rest of the way, until we can get it fixed.
Here is a picture of Ray at the helm. We are finally into warm weather.
Ray looks very compfy in his bunk.
We came into Bahia Santa Maria at night with no moon. We kept an eye on the radar and used the night vision binoculars and found a suitable spot to anchor for the night.
We woke up to beautiful scenery and a gorgeous day. The next thing to do is inflate the dinghy and go ashore.
Waiting for the crew to get in so we could go ashore. The epitome of relaxed.
This is where we checked into Mexico and received our visas.
The odd trio. There is nothing here but four buildings that the fishing fleet use during the season. The locals from around here come to welcome the Ha Ha boats and fix us a meal, serve us beer, and bring a rock ‘n roll band to entertain us.
Three local kids selling homemade jewelry and painted eggs.
We departed Bahia Santa Maria about midnight so we would arrive in Cabo during the daylight hours. Our calculations were right on. We arrived in cabo around noon.
This is a picture of some of the condos at Cabo Falso, the area just before rounding the point to Cabo.
These two pictures are of each side of Cabo point. This is the famous Cabo arch.
As we were coming into the anchorage we had to dodge many jet skis and pangas, not to mention a huge Disney ship.
The first night in Cabo San Lucas, the Ha Ha group has a ritual party at El Squid Roe.
This was early in the evening and the girls were already dancing on the tables.
We basically took over the place.
The booze was flowing freely.
The next day we went into the mall next to the marina and found some stores with very interesting things for sale.
We also found a couple of friends for joel.
We left Cabo a day or two later. heading for La Paz. Two stops are planned. The first will be a nice anchorage called Los Frailes. The second stop was Los Muertos. (the bay of the dead) There is a nice resort that was built here with an 18 hole golf course, restaurant , and bar, right on the beach.
We wound up staying at anchor in muertos for three days, waiting for a norther to blow through. The norther gave us 25 kt. winds in the anchorage. Just imagine what it was like in the open sea. The second day after the norther blew through we weighed anchor and headed for La Paz. 12 hours later the anchorage was in sight. Home at last.