Tidings of Joy: Cruising to Cabo

After our long 30 hour cruise to Bahia Santa Maria it was so nice to not only sleep in our bed as opposed to the watch birth in the pilothouse but it was really great to sleep in. We both got 10 hours of sleep. Rejuvenated we spent a slow morning in p.j's watching the surroundings and pangas zipping by as they started their fishing day. Shortly after breakfast a panga came by the boat and hovered around the stern. I asked Jeff to go out and talk with them since I'm not fully confident using what little Spanish I have. As soon as he opened the door they said in English, "you want lobster?" Which for Jeff is like striking gold. He of course said yes and asked if they could give him just the tails since we didn't want to deal with the killing and removing the shells. They of course agreed and four dollars and one chocolate bar later Jeff had three lobster tails. It was such a fun experience and something we had only read about happening in our guidebooks. We were really in Mexico now. The rest of the day was uneventful we completed some boat chores, rested, read, showered and Jeff cooked up his lobster tail feast.

Panga & Lobster Fisherman

Jeff with his Lobster Tails

Bahia Santa Maria Anchorage

Boat Cruising By Anchorage

Sunset

Big Moon

Fully rested and packed full of lobster (well at least Jeff was) it was time to move along. We cruised only a short 33.5 miles to Bahia Magdalena (Mag Bay as all the regular cruisers call it). Even though it was only a short distance we've been hearing about Mag Bay for years and how it's a major stop between Ensenada and Cabo and a nice place to rest. The size of Mag Bay is comparable to San Francisco Bay and we wouldn't even see a third of it. The cruise was pleasant and easy and a nice change from the long overnighter. We were afforded our first whale sighting of the trip and found ourselves shouting the familiar, "blow! tail!" and it was great to see them again. The marine life has become more and more abundant the further south we head. We also spotted dolphins, seals, pelicans and frigits (Jeff's favorite new bird). Three other sailboats were already anchored in Man of War Cove in Mag Bay when we arrived and we found our spot with plenty of room for us all. After getting the hook in and settled a bit we decided to try out our new inflatable dingy. Jeff left it blown up and tied to the top deck so now it was just a matter of launching it over the side and heading to shore. Sounds easy right? Not so much. Or at least not for us yet. Our main dingy has launching gear and a built in harness for lowering it overboard. The new one did not and after some sketchy rigging we decided to give it a go. This time I ran the crane and Jeff caught it down below. Also about this time the wind was picking up and we found ourselves contending with some chop as the new dink slammed into the side of the boat. Jeff got it secured and next I lowered the motor. Again with some doing Jeff got it attached and oars secured and we made our way to shore taking pleasure in our new rig. Unlike the states there wasn't a clearly marked dingy landing on the beach so we just found a place that looked ok and as Jeff gunned it into the beach while then raising the motor I launched myself into the foot of water and grabbed a line. Jeff then jumped out and with the wheels lowered we wheeled it ashore. Shew! That wasn't as smooth or as easy as we had hoped getting sideways to the breaking waves crashing into shore made me way nervous. Dingy locked to a rock we started out exploring.

Man of war cove is a fishing village where pickup trucks launch pangas all day long. There really is no town so to speak but one long beach that has some buildings and one bar/restaurant. We got a nice leg stretch in walking from one end of the beach to the other finally deciding we needed a cerveza. The beach hut was charming and inviting and when we arrived another couple from one of the other sailboats anchored was there. We said hello and found out they were from Israel. They were just finishing up as we got our Pacifico. Five or six local woman were there sitting at a long table playing some game we didn't know but we just kept hearing one lady calling out single words, "mesa, naranja, negro...." The view was of the beach and the anchorage and it was a very relaxing place to to have a beer. After our second we decided we had better make our way back and start raising the dink before the wind picked up any more. We watched some Thursday night football, made dinner and went to bed.

Sunrise at Bahia Santa Maria- Pre-Departure

Cruising into Mag Bay

Village in Mag Bay

Frigit Cruising into Mag Bay

Camp Site in Man of War Cove

Beached Dink

On Shore at Man of War Cove

Fisherman Launching their Pangas

Anchorage from Shore

Church on Shore

Tidings of Joy Anchored

Building on Shore

Whale Bones on Shore

Having a Drink

The Bar/Restaurant

Sunset

Night

Overnight the wind had picked up to where we weren't comfortable leaving so we decided to spend a second day at Man of War cove. Too windy to lower the dink because of crashing waves onto the boat we just had a day of chores and relaxation and prepared for our next long overnight cruise in the morning.

At 0655 we up-anchored and started on our 26 hour long cruise to San Jose Del Cabo. We were really fortunate to have the moon with us from 7pm until sunrise easing our minds about seeing outside and making it feel more comfortable not being in the pitch black. We settled into our shift which we more like routine now and more familiar and Jeff even managed to have dinner al fresco as the sun set. As we got close to Cabo San Lucas we started seeing a lot of boats coming and going and despite being exhausted we both got really excited. We finally were at the end of Baja California a long 850 mile journey that we had accomplished on our own in our own boat not a cruise ship. As we approached San Jose Del Cabo (about a 20 min drive from Cabo San Luca) we once again found ourselves high fiving and feeling giddy and proud.