Turtle Bay

Bahia de Tortugas, Baja California Sur. On the charts, it's called Puerto San Bartolome. To cruisers, it's simply "Turtle Bay". The trip here from Ensenada took us 49 hours, and was about 290 miles. Leaving Ensenada, we were visited by several Blue whales, and two of them got to within 50 yards or so from us. They are huge, and graceful, and their spout is like a "V". They are a heck of a lot bigger than this boat! We motored away from Ensenada into a direct headwind, having to go west to get out past Punta Banda, at which point we turned to the southeast and set sail. We motor sailed for a few hours, and then were able to shut it down and let the wind take us. The wind was forecast to be light, but it freshened to 15 - 20 knots and seemed to stay that way all the way here. At one point during one of the nights, I saw it hit 29 knots, and since I was steering the boat, Teri came up to help me reduce sail somewhat. With moderate swell and steep wind waves, it was actually a rather rough 2 days.

The Mexican coastline is very scalloped, and about 100 miles south of Ensenada we left the coastline and took a direct course to pass just to the west of Isla Cedros. This course took us quite a ways offshore, and for the first time I was able to look completely around the boat and not see land. It was also amazing to go for a day and night without seeing any other boats! With the wind blowing up pretty good waves, we made good time but I was very aware that we were on our own. In addition to the isolation, there were also all the warnings that the charts are not totally accurate and some of the coastline was last mapped by the U.S.S. Ranger in 1890 -1892. To drive the point home, the first afternoon out of Ensenada we sailed past two haystack type rocks that were not on the charts! So getting offshore further was good, because the water was charted to be about 7000 feet deep. 

We sailed down the west side side of Isla Cedros, and after clearing it by a good margin we turned southeast again, rejoining the coastline at Punta Eugenia and continuing another 20 miles or so to Turtle Bay. It was morning, and the wind was blowing briskly from the northeast, so it was on the beam or forward a little to close hauled. It was my watch, and the autopilot was doing a great job of driving the boat, so I was kicking back and trimming the sails for maximum speed. I was over 7 knots for a long time, which was perfect because it was fast enough to convince a Yellowfin Tuna that the cedar plug we were towing was its next meal. The handline went tight and I yelled "fish on!" and pulled it in. Ed estimates that it was about 20 pounds, and it was a beautiful fish. In all the excitement, I did not get a good picture of it. Ed filleted it immediately, and we had fish for three days! Too bad we don't have any wasabi aboard!

We had met several cruisers in Ensenada who were heading south, and many of us left there on the same day. I'm happy to report that they all arrived here, although some of them took considerably longer than others. Today most of us got together on the beach at a small place that is run by a guy named Rogelio. He has a little snack bar and happens to sell cerveza for 15 pesos, and it didn't take long until we had quite a party going. It was fun to get to know some of the other people who are doing the same thing as we are, and compare stories about the trip from Ensenada. Many are from the Pacific Northwest. 

SEVERAL DAYS LATER: Well, it's Monday morning, and the storm has passed. We moved to the south side of the bay in advance of a storm, and had a windy but not too rough ride. Those who stayed on the north side reported 6 foot waves breaking, and a local sailboat actually sank. The top of the mast is still sticking up out of the water. We are gathering last minute provisions, and plan to leave this afternoon. We only have 75 gallons of water capacity, and ran out last night. This morning Ed had Enrique bring 50 gallons, and we poured a 7 gallon jug that we had aboard in the tank too, so we have 57 gallons in the tank, and our reserve is empty. So, we are leaving with about 70% of our capacity - not sure about the wisdom of that, but it'll be interesting! In the meantime, I'll be fishing and sailing.

We checked out of the Bay Club Marina on Monday, the 1st of November. Moved the boat about a half mile to the "Police Docks". Because there is no place that anchoring is allowed (during the week), we took a slip there. Met some other boats who were also about to head south, and talked about the weather forecast that included Santa Ana Winds gusting to 70 knots. We decided that we were far enough south to be safe. 

Ed got up at midnight and got under way. When my watch started at 0300, we were in Mexican waters. Tijuana was astern and the Islas de Coronados were coming up on starboard. The wind was on the stern at about 5 knots, so we were motoring. Within a half hour, the wind began to freshen, and soon we had enough to get over 6 knots. The motor pushes the boat along at about 5 knots, so another knot is a 20% increase! Seas were gentle, and the autopilot was doing a fine job of driving the boat, so I was able to move forward in the cockpit and play with sail trim and look at the sky and ocean. It was a moonless night, but with fog forming and a kind of haziness that limited visibility to overhead. I saw a lot of falling stars, and the reflection of Jupiter on the water was amazing.

 On Teri's watch before my next one started, we were beam reaching on a starboard tack. The wind was light, but out of nowhere it started gusting to 28 knots. Teri has that kind of luck; not enough wind for awesome sailing, punctuated by "what the hell was that" conditions! We were about 5 miles offshore, and it was katabatic wind flowing out of the huge Guadelupe Canyon. We got a little thrill out of that and both sails got reefed for a little while! 

My next watch started at 1000, and again the wind built, so I shut down the engine and sailed the rest of the way to Ensenada. I love it when I have full sails up, 15 to 18 knots of wind on the beam, and 7 knots over the ground! Don't think it's quiet, because at that speed there is a lot noise as the boat hits waves. In fact, the wind pushes up these little (sometimes huge) waves, and then they fizzle and reform, and they do not die quietly. So even without us there, would it be noisy? If a tree falls in the forest, and there is no one there to hear it, did it make any sound?

The approach to Ensenada was uneventful. We are at a marina called Baja Naval. It is nice, and very close to downtown Ensenada. After clearing customs, Teri and I walked for a while, and got a couple of margaritas for the walk back to the boat. It's kind of fun to walk around with a margarita in a styrofoam cup, and these were excellent! Upon returning to the boat, we ran into our neighbors on s/v Eagle, Tom and Jeanne. We had talked with them on VHF several weeks ago after leaving Monterrey, and we had met them in San Diego. Since Teri had a lasagna in the oven and we had just bought some fresh bread at the panaderia, Teri invited them over for dinner. They brought a salad and a bottle of red, and of course I had opened a large bottle to start breathing before they arrived, so we had a feast! I very much enjoyed the evening with good food, good wine, and getting to know this wonderful couple!

Today the three of us walked into town and had a taco and a cervesa for lunch. Muy bueno! They are forecasting gale force winds tomorrow, so we are staying put until after the system blows through. In the meantime, we'll keep enjoying life here in Ensenada! Hasta luego!

We arrived in San Diego on Sunday morning, and spent most of the day being lazy because we were up all night crossing down from Catalina Island. The Harbor Police Docks on Shelter Island are OK, but bathrooms and showers leave a lot to be desired. On Monday morning, we tuned in to the cruisers net on VHF, and found out about a coffee klatch at Downwind Marine scheduled for 10 AM. So we put the motor on the dinghy and drove over to a nearby beach, and walked the rest of the way. While there, we met some other cruisers, and from one couple we learned about about a great deal on a slip that they had found. Calling that marina, we were able to get a slip for 2 weeks for $261. So we moved the boat to Bay Club Motel and Marina, and this is a great spot!

It is about a 1/2 mile walk to Downwind Marine, and also to West Marine. I am amazed at how many marine businesses are here - it's a whole industry here! Today I splurged and bought a fishing pole, which I plan to use once we get south of the border (I have a Mexican fishing license, but not one for California). I see fish tacos in my future!!

Ed has been working on getting insurance coverage for Mexico, and finally got that secured this morning.    We have researched the paper chart options and have decided to go with the Yachtsman brand; the book that covers the west coast of Mexico costs $100. Not a bad price, but they are not as nice as the Maptech paper charts that we used on the way down from Astoria. Even though we have a chart plotter at the helm, and Ed has charts in his laptop computer, the paper charts were indispensable in making the trip. Every hour, we would write down our GPS coordinates, speed, and heading on a log that I created. Then we would put a X on the chart and note the time. This way, if the electronics fail, we know where we were at the last hour as well as the speed and heading since then. Paper charts also helped in planning. Before departing from any port, we would look at the chart, decide where we wanted to go, and chose the waypoints for each leg. Then we would measure the length and heading for each leg, and after programming the waypoints into the chart plotter, we could check the headings and distances against the chart. Don't leave home without it!

Not sure what I will do with all my time here - we are not leaving here before Nov 1. Maybe I'll slip the line in the water behind the boat and see what kind of fish are swimming around. I have been walking every day and getting at least a mile, usually 2. We have a list of chores to do on the boat, including washing it inside and out, and some repairs to do.  Last night, Teri and went to a seminar to learn about cooking meals in pressure cookers. There were about 40 people there, and the 2 guys with the pressure cookers did a great job. I learned a lot and look forward to practicing some of it! We are planning to take Ed and Teri's grandsons sailing on Saturday! Hope I can still remember how to sail!

I am going to try to change how this blog looks for this post:

A bison on Catalina Island

Arriving at Avalon in the fog!

Mai Tai's at the Bay Club Hotel and Marina on Shelter Island

Just trying to figure out how to upload photos, now that I have a great internet connection!

Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands.

We departed Santa Barbara on Monday morning in a very thick fog, headed south for Santa Cruz Island. It's 20 some miles, and the wind soon picked up to about 10 knots from the west, so we set sails and shut off the engine. The fog cleared and we had a great sail across the channel at about 5 knots. We did see one whale but it was a ways away. Arriving at the north side of the island, we turned and headed around the east end, because we were headed for a place called Smuggler's Cove on the southeast corner of the island. We were met head-on by hundreds of what we thought must be dolphins headed west and jumping on every stroke of the their tails. But they did not appear to have dorsal fins, so we think that they were Northern Fur seals.

We anchored here in Smuggler's Cove with a few other boats, and we decided to blow up the kayak for the first time on the trip and see if we run into any issues doing it on the boat instead of the dock. It went well, and we soon had a kayak to play in! Because Roxie has not learned to do her business on the boat, she needed to be taken ashore, so Ed and Teri decided to take her. Ed got in the kayak first, and held it against the stern of Sea Moore. Teri sat down on the swim platform and put her feet into the kayak. Now, I understand the desire to be graceful, but I think it might have been better for her to have gotten on her knees, and then into the kayak. I didn't have time to  get my camera….. as she pushed into the kayak, it went away from her, and she rolled backwards into the resulting gap between the boat and the kayak. Her PFD soon brought her to the surface, choking and sputtering, and totally soaked! The second attempt worked better, and off they went. Given that the surf looked pretty big and that none of us have ever landed or launched an inflatable kayak in the surf, I figured that I might be in for a show. So I filled my water glass and got a bag of potato chips and sat in the cockpit with binoculars to watch. They did fine, both landing and launching, and Roxie was soon back onboard a happy dog. Teri put some rice on to boil, and I baked 2 cod fillets and fixed some broccoli. We enjoyed a scrumptious meal and then watched a movie before bed.

The next day, we enjoyed the sights and visited with a few other cruisers who were also anchored there. I took the kayak and started getting used to being in the ocean in an inflatable kayak. I didn't try to got through the surf though. After dinner I went up in the cockpit, and looked around. It was warm and calm, and 2 new boats had anchored nearby, so I decided to kayak over and meet them. I visited with some people on a big catamaran, and then headed towards the surf to get a closer look at it from the ocean side. Before I got there, though, the breeze started coming up, and I looked around and saw a wind line cutting through the cove. I immediately started digging towards SeaMoore, which was upwind on my port bow. Within just a few minutes, the entire cove had whitecaps. I was seated towards the back of the kayak, and it was hard to keep it pointed into the wind. I was also nervous that the wind might get under the bow and tip me over. As I got closer to the boat, the wind increased and it seemed like as hard as I could paddle was not making progress. I thought about what was behind me - 6 miles to Ana Capa Island, which was only 10 or 15 degrees wide, but beyond that it was about 30 to 40 miles of open ocean. I changed my heading a little into the wind, so that I could paddle on both side without loosing my heading, and started making a little headway again towards the boat. When I finally got there, Ed and Teri were both waiting for me and rooting for me, and were very concerned. I drove the bow into the stern of SeaMoore and Ed caught my bow line. I just sat there and rested for a minute before climbing out. We have a home weather station on the boat, and as soon as I got aboard I looked at it; the wind was 25 -28 and the max gust was 29mph. So that is about 25 knots. The folks on the catamaran were dragging anchor, and it took then 2 more tries to get a good holding. SeaMoore held well, but we were very vigilant for the next couple of hours till the wind slowed down. Another strange thing about the wind coming up was that when it did, the temp went up from 73 to 80 degrees. We were in the lee of Santa Cruz Island, and I considered that the temperature increase could be due to compressional cooling, but I don't think it would warm that much just blowing over and island and not raining on the windward side. Anyway, we got up this morning at 0300 to head for Santa Catalina Island. The wind had dropped to nearly calm, and it was a beautiful morning with a full moon and 75 degrees. 

We left the next morning, and are now enjoying Catalina Island, which will be the subject of my next post.

SoIt's our final day here at Port San Luis Obispo, about 4 pm. The wind is howling outside at about 20 knots, and the sky is clear and warm. The forecaster says that the wind will slow down a little tonight and tomorrow morning around Pt. Arguello. I am hoping that she is correct, because looking south at the sand dunes down toward Pismo Beach, I see a huge cloud of sand being blown up, and looking at the ocean I see lots of sheep grazing out there. So we are planning to leave in the morning before 4, with the intent of getting around the points by noon and therefore hopefully before the wind pipes back up. Assuming that it goes down.

I just discovered that my MacBook has a jack for my earphones, so I can listen to Robin Trower's "Bridge of Sighs" as I write this, without subjecting Ed and Teri to it. Next up: Billy Bob Thornton!

Heretofore in writing blog posts, I have written the entry after a passage and then uploaded it. I am trying something different this time; by writing this initial piece prior to departure, and then as we are enroute I will add to it. It's 90 miles from here to Santa Barbara; 18 hours at 5 knots, 15 hours at 6 knots. I'll be back.

So, we left last night - early this morning, actually - at 0130. we have made it around Points Arguello and Conception, and we are in the Santa Barbara Channel. It's 1247, and I am wearing a tee shirt and shorts. Bright  blue sky and bright blue water. The swells are passing under us about 8 seconds apart, and they are about 2 feet high. The wind is on the stern at about 6 knots, so we are motoring. This morning around daylight, we were abeam Pt. Arguello and the wind was from the north at 15 and the seas were 10 - 12 feet at about 8 seconds. It's called the "Cape Horn" of the west coast for a reason, I suppose! 

We are headed east, and off to the south and southeast I can see San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands. We have sailed past some oil platforms that are huge! Even from several miles away, they look huge. There is a lot of oil in this area, and the chart actually shows "oil springs" There must be some, too, because we have seen miles of water with oil floating on the surface. I suppose it's okay if it's natural and not there because of a human action. Since when were humans not natural? The wind is completely calm, and the water is glassy.

We arrived Santa Barbara this evening at about 1845 hrs. Since there are no slips available, we have anchored east of the marina in 5 fathoms of water. It's a little rolly, but I will sleep well because I'm tired. Ed and Teri have taken the dinghy to shore and may be getting groceries. If not tonight, then tomorrow! We are running low on some basic provisions, and we had quite a grocery list. Things like nuts, eggs, fresh vegetables, potatoes, hummus, etc. Interestingly, we have not had a real discussion about where to go next. The only 2 place we are going for sure soon are Santa Catalina Island and San Diego. I suppose tomorrow we'll talk about where to go next. It is a huge relief to finally get past Pt. Conception - we have arrived in southern California!!!