LEG THREE (Cabo San Lucas)

November 6th, 2009
We did it! Leg three of the Baja ha-ha is complete. We pulled anchor on Wednesday at 6:00am and sadly sailed goodbye from the beautiful bay of Bahia Santa Maria. We covered 180 miles in roughly 33 hours to our slip. Yes, our slip. We are staying in the luxurious Marina Cabo San Lucas. It is very expensive, probably the priciest place we’ll stay on our entire trip. But we need the amenities, i.e. rest showers, laundry, easy access to groceries, restaurants and the whole tourist thing are fun. The sail was relatively easy compared to leg one, 15-23 knot winds, swells 5-8 feet and at times we had no wind and resorted to motor sailing. We are having interesting moments playing with our genacker which is used for light breezes and is sooooooooooooooo beautiful with its florescent colors. AND we caught a Mahi Mahi (unsure of the spelling) and grilled it an hour within catching (the best fish I have ever had). Our first night in Cabo (we arrived in the dark at 9:00pm) the fleet had a bash at the ever famous Squid Roe. This is a huge bar that probably accommodates 400+ crazy, dancing sailors. We danced, probably got to bed around 1:00amish. Amy continues to function beautifully on little sleep, and she easily establishes wonderful (and very cute) friends. Yesterday she attended the beach party while Steve and I did the wallmart shopping to reprovision the boat. Today is the closing Baja ha-ha ceremony. Perhaps some you heard about the sailboat that sunk during our first leg due to a whale attack. The fleet is trying to fly down the captain of that boat to share the story. My hope is she will be present at this closing event as we have all been a little on edge regarding the fluke episode and wish to know the details and lessons learned. CAN YOU IMAGINE? (The skipper spoke at our closing event last night and please note that it was not a whale attack. For the details of this event, which is quite fascinating I suggest you purchase Latitude 38, January issue) At present, our challenges include: Language, laundry, banking, water, and the heat (loading things on the boat require long walks with heavy items). Amy will probably fly out of Cabo within the next few days (although I think she is open to staying for the season) and Steve and I will putter north to La Paz. We plan on having Thanksgiving with our new friends Dan and Rainy in La Paz but who knows anything can happen between now and then. Anchoring in Punta Los Frailes and then Endenada de los Muertos before reaching La Paz is the projected itinerary. The internet connection continues to be a problem as we have yet to get online from the boat and wireless café’s are scarce. It is a really tough life here dealing with the fresh fish, lovely culture, warm breezes, fellow sailors and warm water. I will probably not be able to post again for a few weeks so please, don’t worry too much about us, I think we’ll survive.