June 7-8, 2022
We left La Paz on Scout at dusk, preparing to motor like hell for San Jose del Cabo, hoping to catch up with White Wind and Progress One who had left a few days before to gunkhole their way along the cape. It was quite windy in the Lorenzo Channel, as a Coromuel was blowing, but mellowed out by the time we got to the Ceralvo Channel. Dawn saw us at Cabo Pulmo and we reached San Jose del Cabo about 17:00, in time to fill up with fuel. Unfortunately, we were unable to pay for the fuel, as their credit card machine was down.
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| The East Cape |
White Wind and Progress One had left to stage at Cabo San Lucas just before we arrived. We were sorry to have missed them. We spent the night at San Jose del Cabo, which gave us time to enjoy the tacos chinos at El Marinero Borracho.
June 9, 2022
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| Coming into Cabo |
We reached Cabo about 10:30. Despite a cold wind and choppy seas, the tour boats were out in force around Cabo San Lucas. I was reminded how fortunate I had been to spend several days there, virtually alone, during Covid. We could see a band of low overcast hovering over the cold, Pacific waters. It was dismal out there. White Wind had left later and we caught him by early afternoon. By mid-afternoon, the wind had died down to the high teens, but it was still cold. It got windier after dark.
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| Tour Boats Anchored in the Slop at the Arch |
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| Cold Enough for Foulies |
I made macaroni and cheese with bacon for dinner, which tasted good in the cold weather. We passed Blair and Mark in Progress One sometime during the night and headed for Mag Bay where we had all planned to stop to wait for better weather.
June 10-11, 2022
The wind had calmed a bit during the night and was quite pleasant by the time we reached the entrance to Mag Bay about 13:30. We debated stopping, but I managed to get a weather download as we neared shore and it looked quite doable, so we decided to strike out for Turtle Bay. We kept Asuncion and Abreojos as bail-out options if things got nasty, but the weather model showed higher winds in that area than out on the rhumb line for Turtle Bay. White Wind and Progress One also opted to continue on, but headed for Abreojos, instead.
It was a cold and wet crossing. It remained cold and overcast the entire way. Winds ranged from 17 to 22. Seas never got over about four feet, but we did our share of slamming. At times, it was difficult to sleep in the forward cabin and I slept on the settee. The forward cabin was also leaking somewhere, probably at a stanchion. The hatches had been sealed with plumber's putty and did not leak at all.
Most of the way, we managed to make over five knots. At one point on Saturday night we slowed down to under three knots, but I tacked away from what must have been an adverse current and gained another knot and a half. It was very cold and damp, but not horrific. The spray mostly stayed out of the cockpit and we managed to keep the cushions dry, unlike my last bash on Scout in 2019.
We plowed ahead, changing watches every four hours. I had the noon to 16:00, 20:00 to 0:00, and 4:00 to 8:00 watches, which left me free to cook dinner each night. It was a little bit challenging to keep pots balanced on the stove, but I managed to produce chicken in green mole one night and pasta alfredo with sausage the next.
June 12, 2022
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| Pulling into Turtle Bay |
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| Full Moon over Turtle Bay |
June 13, 2022
It looked like we wouldn't be leaving until Wednesday, so there wasn't much to do. I made French toast for breakfast, which was delayed by the arrival of Enrique Junior's fuel barge, with whom we negotiated the purchase of 350 liters of fuel at 32 pesos per liter, to be delivered later.
I was making bean dip to disguise the tough, stale taco chips we had on board when Enrique Jr. showed up. Enrique Senior had changed the price to 36 pesos per liter. Greg objected. His son got Enrique on the phone and, after a period of haggling, they agreed on a price of 34 pesos per liter. It was good to have full tanks. We were ready to leave should a window suddenly open.
I spent the afternoon catching up on months worth of blog posts and trying to learn scales on the mandolin. Unfortunately, every time I picked up the mandolin, I was suddenly overcome with the urge to nap. I lay down for a quick nap in the cockpit and slept for a good two hours until the sun came out and Greg woke me before I got sunburned. I was groggy and unable to concentrate on the mandolin, but I did manage to do a little bit more writing until Greg got hungry and prodded me into cooking dinner.
I cooked up some beef marinated in chile and we had tacos with beans for dinner. In no hurry to go to bed after a lazy day, we stayed up and watched Man of the Year with Robin Williams. Between Williams' suicide and the recent election hijinks in the United States, it was somewhat uncomfortable to watch a movie about election machine malfunction. It did not take me long, afterward, to abandon my book and fall asleep.
June 14, 2022
I slept very soundly until nearly 9:00 when Greg woke me with the news that the fleet had left and we would be leaving shortly. I got up and dressed hurriedly but, by the time I was fully awake, we had determined that only five or six boats had left and we would still prefer to wait at least until the wind died down in the night.
White Wind and Progress One had had a pleasant trip to Asuncion overnight and were planning to fuel in Asuncion before continuing onward after the thermal period. I made pancakes for breakfast and we discussed strategies with the other boats, both those remaining in Turtle Bay and those who had left. Apparently, it was benign outside, but we still decided to wait until 20:00 before departing. Greg took a nap and I applied myself to my writing, hoping to be caught up before we departed.
I made chili stuffed potatoes for dinner and we hauled up the anchor shortly before 20:00. It was calm inside the bay, but not at all calm outside. The wind quickly built to 25 knots. It was lumpy and, though we were making good speed, we couldn't go in the direction we wanted. We had left with Fly Aweigh and Gayle Force, but soon left them behind. We had a full mainsail out and were traveling at six knots while they slogged along at four. Soon, we lost them even from AIS. With the main up, we were forced to tack. Greg took the first watch and I tried to sleep. The trouble was that heavy objects kept coming adrift and flying around the cabin, requiring me to get up and stow them before one of them killed me.
June 15, 2022
Greg let me sleep (or try to) until 2:00. It was very cold and wet and the wind was still blowing 25 when I came on watch. We had been sailing mostly west and, therefore, had made little progress towards our destination. I continued to sail west for another two hours and then finally tacked north, heading for a point off the western tip of Cedros Island. The problem was that heading straight towards that waypoint was very slow. I gained two knots by falling off ten degrees, but then had to keep tacking back and forth in order to clear the island. Still, it was worth it because we were making better than six knots. I spoke with Fly Aweigh on the radio early in my watch, but then lost even radio contact. They were having a rough go of it and we were racing ahead.
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| Sailing towards Cedros |
The wind dropped to about 18 knots during my watch with periods where it climbed back to 25. The benign conditions we had seen on all the forecasts were nowhere to be found. It was extremely cold. I held out until 6:30, but it didn't get any warmer or calmer when day broke.
Greg took over about 6:45 and I lay down but didn't sleep much because it was terribly cold. I got up at 10:00 and made coffee just to warm up. I took the watch back at 10:30 and Greg made a welcome breakfast of scrambled eggs with the leftover chili potato from the previous night's dinner. It had finally calmed down and smoothed out to some degree. The wind dropped to 10 knots and the swells were large and slow. We were finally able to sail in the direction we wanted and were making nearly seven knots. It was all I could do to entertain myself until Greg came back on at 15:00. I went below, did dishes, wrote for a bit, and settled in for a nap.
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| Moonrise |
June 16, 2022
Our cell phones changed time zones during the night and my alarm didn't go off when I had wanted it to. Greg woke me about half an hour late. I had managed to sleep, for a change. It was cold, although not as damp as previous nights. For some reason, I had a hard time staying awake and had to make coffee at 5:00. Suddenly, it was light. There was a powerboat coming and going on AIS, but I couldn't see them. The wind was down to ten knots and the seas gently rolling. We made good time in our desired direction.
Greg took over at 7:00 and I tried to sleep, but kept being awakened by cramps in my ankle. Each time I was awakened, I had to leave my cozy bunk and pace around the salon until the cramps eased enough to lie down. I was relieved when 10:30 rolled around and I had an excuse to get up and reheat the previous night's dinner for breakfast.
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| Marina Coral |
Greg took over at 15:00. He managed to procure us a slip at Marina Coral in Ensenada, which was a great relief. It was never fun to arrive at a port in the middle of the night with nowhere to land and we had had no luck reaching any of Ensenada's marinas for the previous few days. I ate a little bit of lunch and then went below to write.
I made spicy
chicken wings and rice with veggies for dinner and then took the
watch at 19:00. Greg took a nap for a few hours and then got up to
bring us into the harbor. It was difficult to find in the dark, I
could see the hotel from a long way away, but the entrance to the
marina was not apparent until we were right on top of it. The
fairway was narrow for a boat our size and it took two attempts to
back into the slip. We tied up at 22:00. It was good to be at a
dock.
June 17-18, 2022
We got a good night's sleep and I enjoyed a nice, hot shower in the morning. Many boats had arrived at the same time and the office was very busy. We were allotted spots on the 11:00 shuttle to the port captain and repaired to the hotel restaurant for a nice buffet breakfast.
When we got to the port captain's office, it turned out that the marina agent had forgotten to bring our paperwork, so we had to wait until the noon shuttle arrived with our papers. We got checked in and did the paperwork for departure, but our exit document would not be ready until after 16:00. Greg needed to cancel his temporary import permit before it expired and that could not be done until he had the zarpe (exit document.) He would have to return the following day to cancel his TIP. We left the port captain's office by 13:00 and returned to the boat.
My friends, Jan and Ramona Miller, were spending the summer in a trailer park in the southern part of Todos Santos Bay. They drove up to visit and we took advantage of their car to go to dinner at Las Cazuelas, a restaurant they liked. I had a very nice, if salty, calamari dish, but the others were disappointed with the food. Mine had unexpected bacon, so I was content. Still, it was a pleasant visit. I had not seen Jan and Ramona for over two years.
Greg had to go back to the port captain's office on Saturday morning, but Jan and Ramona picked me up at 9:00 and we went for breakfast at Flor de Calabaza. While I found the French toast a bit dry, it was nicely presented and my latte was excellent. Ramona bought some amazing sourdough bread, which she shared with me.
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| Ramona & Me on the Beach |
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| Art Truck by the Estuary |
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| Anchorage at La Bufadora |
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| Ramona & Jan at La Bufadora |
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| The Blowhole at La Bufadora |
La Bufadora is a natural blowhole on the southern side of Punta Banda. It was packed with Mexican tourists. We wended our way past the vendors to the overlook and took some pictures. The swell was not large, so the blowhole wasn't tremendously spectacular and no one was getting wet. The coast was beautiful, however, and Jan informed me that it was possible to anchor there. It was fun to see a part of the coast that we always bypassed by heading straight for Ensenada.
Once we wearied of being hassled by vendors, we drove back to Jan and Ramona's trailer. Their space overlooked the estuary. The park was rustic, but very clean and neat. There were tent spaces along the water. It was too cold to sit outside, but we visited for a bit inside and I played Ramona's guitar a little bit. She had been impressed with my Martin travel guitar and had bought one like it. It was a good size for a small trailer.
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| View from Jan & Ramona's Trailer |
About 16:00, we left to drive back to Ensenada. Highway One was under construction and the traffic was very slow. We stopped and picked up Chinese takeout on the way back to the marina. Greg and I had been craving Chinese food for over a month, but all the Chinese restaurants in La Paz closed at 17:00, so we had never gotten organized early enough to get any. It was interesting trying to order Chinese food in Spanish from a cashier who spoke only English and Chinese. We weren't sure what we were getting, but it turned out OK and we got enough food for three meals. We took the food back to the boat and had a nice dinner with Greg. Jan and Ramona left at 20:00 to try to get home before dark and we made an early evening of it, as we planned to depart early the next morning.
June 19, 2022
The fuel dock was supposed to open at 7:00, but I saw no one stirring there when I left the showers. We left the slip at 7:40 and went to the fuel dock. The marina had been out of fuel, but it was supposed to have arrived the day before. We didn't know if there would be fuel or not, but figured we could ask the office when they opened at 8:00. The fuel attendant arrived shortly after 8:00 and we topped off our tanks. We left Marina Coral at 8:30 and headed for San Diego.
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| Greg Leaving Ensenada |
It wasn't windy, at first, but there was a good sized swell. Greg took the first watch, but I stayed on deck because it was a little nauseous below. I took the watch at noon and Greg heated up leftover Chinese food for lunch. The wind built to twenty knots, but at least the sun was out and it was warmer than it had been since we left San Jose del Cabo. There were nine big tankers anchored off Rosarito and we had to wend our way between them.
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| Tankers Anchored Off Rosarito |
Greg was scheduled to take the watch at 16:00, but we had reached the border and he was occupied with checking us in via the CPB Roam app. I had tried to use that app in 2018 and 2019 with no success, but they seemed to have finally worked the bugs out of it. It still took 90 minutes, because there were humans at Customs and Border Patrol who had to review our information, but we finally got approved before we had to make a decision about whether or not to enter San Diego harbor. Greg took the watch back at 17:30 and I went below to write and make dinner.
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| Full Moon Sailing |
June 20, 2022
We arrived at the fuel dock in Marina del Rey at 9:30 in the morning. We topped up the tanks, paying exactly double what we had paid in Ensenada. It was good to have completed our journey.
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| Scout in Her Slip in Marina del Rey |
