Full Circle

Just a quick note that we have made it back to Punta Mita.  One year and seven months? in the Pacific...  Feels good to have come full circle and be anchored in front of my favorite surf break.  Tired from our two night passage from Cabo, will post pictures and more soon!

In and Out of Cabo San Lucas

Anchored in Cabo San Lucas
Location:  22 degrees 53 minutes North, 109 degrees 53 minutes West

Famous Cabo Arch

Phew, what a crazy place.  We sailed in on Friday morning, to be greeted by what seemed like hundreds of sport fishing boats just around the corner from the anchorage.  At first looking in the binoculars we weren't sure what we were seeing, but little by little figured out it was a whole bunch of fishing boats just sitting around.  Thought maybe it was a 'day after Thanksgiving' tradition, party kind of thing (at 9 AM tho?), but apparently it's everyday here.  The boats that sailed in yesterday morning reported seeing the same phenomenon.

Fishing boats on the horizon

To get anchored, we had to motor around the cruiseship and dodge the fishing boats and jet skis and parasailers crowding the bay.  For two days we had cruiseships anchored right by us...  but sunday and monday were relatively quiet with no cruisehips in port. 

One of several cruiseships we've shared the anchorage with at Cabo!

It's quite the party town, luckily we chose not to pay $100/night for a marina slip, which is surrounded by the nightclubs that go all night!  The pirate party ships that come around the anchorage were entertaining, we managed to sleep pretty well despite the music they blare.   Looks like this will be our last stop on the Baja -- winds are looking favorable for crossing the Sea of Cortez over to mainland Mexcio so we're planning on taking off tomorrow.  Heading for Punta Mita directly unless the winds try to push us in another direction.  Should arrive in Punta Mita on thursday or friday!

Hangin' with the locals in Cabo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday November 22, 2012
Location: 23 degrees 27 minutes North, 110 degrees, 46 minutes West
About 2/3rds of the way to Cabo San Lucas from Bahia Santa Maria

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from out here offshore of the tip of the Baja Peninsula! We almost left Bahia Santa Maria on Tuesday late afternoon, but after poking our nose around the corner to find no wind and flogging sails for half an hour, we turned back and reanchored in beautiful Santa Maria Bay. We were especially glad we turned back after seeing some intense lightning storms offshore that night! Wednesday we were faced with the go/stay decision, and decided to go, pulling our anchor yesterday around 1pm. Last night was uneventful, just full of sail changes and and the wobblies as we made our way downwind to Cabo. Today we celebrated with a stove top stuffing/chicken bake and some mashed potatoes, and yummy pumpkin muffins! Not the full deal, but enough to make it seem like a holiday at sea. We expect to be in the anchorage at Cabo San Lucas tomorrow (friday) morning, and imagine we will be overwhelmed by the tourist extravaganza there. It will be quite a change after three weeks on this desolate coast. As if a signal to what is to come, we were passed by two huge cruise ships late last night...

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Bahia Santa Maria

Anchored in Bahia Santa Maria
24 degrees 46 minutes north, 112 degrees 15 minutes west

You know we're out there when we just realized that Thanksgiving is this week. I had thought about it once or twice, but hadn't checked the calendar to see if it was this week or next… Well, looks like we'll probably either be (a) still here anchored in Bahia Santa Maria, (b) in next door Magdalena Bay or (c) en route to Cabo San Lucas for Thanksgiving. Bahia Santa Maria is a huge bay, just on the coastal side of another LARGER bay, Magdalena Bay (commonly referred to as 'Mag Bay' by cruisers). Both have lagoons/estuaries that run far inland. The first day here, I kayaked up the mangrove lined lagoon with our friends off the boat Balance. We saw lots of birds, and dodged the pangas heading up the lagoon to the fish camps where they stay and unload their catch. This must be a very productive lobster area judging from all the lobsters in the pens up in the lagoon. Tons of them. The fishermen stop by the boat looking to sell or trade their lobsters. Tim and I haven't gotten any yet - we've been happily eating lots of fresh fish. But one boat traded a snickers bar for a lobster tail, and another boat got 10 lobsters for four AA batteries, and a couple cervezas. Granted they're not huge lobsters - mostly it looks like the tails are 3 to 4 inches.

We scored on getting some fresh Wahoo and Yellowtail from a boat that pulled in yesterday. We had seen them surfing the point so we went out to say hi and check the wave out in the afternoon. They had caught lots of fish on their way down, and wanted to make room to catch some more fish on their way to Cabo. So while we didn't catch the good surf, we're now set with enough fish for several days of yummy meals! The tide was pretty low, so it was hard to sit where you needed to take off on the wave - too many rocks around. The tides have been over six feet lately with the new moon, so it can really make a difference. So Tim caught two waves, but I wasn't getting near! It was ok with me though, since we'd already caught a bunch of fun waves at the lagoon entrance in the morning. I had some really long rides, which meant really long paddles back out. Combined with kayaking the day before, and surfing again for several hours this morning, my arm muscles are very sore! Feels good to have the exercise though. Today's surf session was fun with the three guys from the other boat, and one guy from another boat, so it was a good little pack out there, and plenty of fun little waves to go around. Tim is still hoping to catch some larger waves out at the point here, and we'll be keeping an eye on it.

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Punta Abreojos

Anchored behind Punta Abreojos, mid- Baja 

In English, the name of this anchorage means “open your eyes”.  No kidding!   First we had to identify the surface level rocks about a mile offshore of the point, then there were two “bajo” or low spots to try to avoid although you can’t see them.  On top of that, there were hundreds of fish pots to weave through as we motored into the anchorage.  Since leaving Turtle Bay, we’ve had some company.  Four other sailboats and two motorboats all left the same morning as us.  Three of the sailboats ended up alongside us in Asuncion Bay the first night and last night in Punta Abreojos.  We’ve gotten to be friends with the folks on the boat Balance (Nikk and Jan) from Portland, and had them over last night to share a fish dinner of the Mahi we had caught the day before.  They are on the same path, heading south to Banderas Bay.  It’s a different experience having a boat nearby to chat with on the radio and visit with at night!  Kinda fun for a change—we’ve never done the *buddy boat* thing, where boats plan to cruise together. 

Anyhow, after years in Punta Mita, where our morning entertainment was to listen to the ssb radio nets and get the weather reports, we are finally seeing all the places that they would give weather reports for – Cedros Island, Punta Abreojos – these were common names to me, but I had no idea where they were on the Baja.  Now I see why the weather could be especially exciting around here.  Luckily we’re in a really calm weather window, and our problem has been not having enough wind, and having to motor to make the anchorages before dark.   We filled up on diesel in Turtle Bay, so we have enough to get us to Punta Mita, should need be.  But we’re going to wait a day here in Abreojos for the wind to hopefully pick up a bit tomorrow so that we can sail more than motor!  We were thinking of heading to Bahia San Juanico today, which is the famous Scorpion Bay surf break, but since there is no surf forecast for a while we’re giving it a pass.  We would have to add an extra overnight passage to stop there, and it just doesn’t seem worth it.  So tomorrow (Thursday) we’ll head off for Santa Maria Bay, just outside of Magdalena Bay.  It’ll be an overnight sail, arriving there late in the day Friday.  

Turtle Bay exploits

The search for surf continues.  While our surf guidebook did not make Turtle Bay sound like one of the better spots along this coast – there was some swell hitting, so we found someone to take us to a nearby break.  Of course this entailed getting up early to meet Ivan, the surfer/guide, at 7AM.  We were told it was about a 20-30 minute drive, so Tim had a hunch that it must be a beach break in the bay we had sailed by two days earlier.  After meeting Ivan’s friend Christian (fellow surfer) and loading up his sparkly red PT Cruiser (is this really the car you want to go on a surf exploration trip in?), we headed off through town over to Ivan’s house (or fish shack) to grab Ivan’s board.  There we also met his pit bull, who was friendly until all of the sudden... when he started growling at me Ivan told us the dog was *loco*.  Tim quickly told me to get in the car!  

Ivan, Tim and Christian checkin the surf.

Unfortunately we had forgotten to bring the surf racks in from the boat, so the boards were strapped to the roof with the rubber leashes that we use to tie the boards to our ankles – we hoped they would survive whatever bouncy roads we covered unscathed.  Then off to the edge of town, then driving across the airstrip, past the lone little 4 seater plane that comes every few days, and into the dunes.  The dirt tracks through the dunes and hills looked pretty well used, and obviously this was at one point the town dump.  Lots of glass bottles were everywhere alongside.   Ivan told us that there were lots of whale fossils back in the dunes there.  Upon arriving at the beach – it was a point break outside of the beach break – but it was super windy, so didn’t look like much fun.  Christian warned that the current could be bad there – that’s why he didn’t like to surf there.  So we headed back to town to surf the in-town break that had been working the day before.  Rather than take us the way we came, Christian took a ‘shortcut’ that entailed driving along the beach for a few miles.  A very scary few miles– Tim was convinced we’d end up stuck in the sand, and you could see in Christian’s face he shared that concern!   Finally he found the exit trail and mad a hard turn up into the dunes – over a big bump and we were safely back onto harder packed sand.  Phew.

Back in town, they toured us around a bit, and helped us search out a part for our Yamaha outboard.  After stopping at four outboard mechanic shops (luckily Christian is a mechanic so knew where to look!), we lucked out and found the part!  Then we stopped to check the surf and the tide was still to high, so we headed home with plans to meet up later at the surf break.  By the time the tide dropped an hour or so later, it was Windy windy!  But we gamely got into the dinghy in our wetsuits with our boards and headed over to surf the little point break right behind the boat.  Ivan was in the water and coached us (and the four local boys learning how to boogie board) on where to sit to catch the little baby waves that only came through every 15 minutes or so…  Needless to say, Tim caught one ankle biter, and I caught none, but did get a chill that turned into sniffles and a cold for the next day. 

So much for surfing on the Baja so far!  We’re hoping maybe there will be a bit of a swell this weekend and we’ll be in a good spot to catch it.   

Otherwise, we had some excitement the first night we were anchored in Turtle Bay.  After seeing a somewhat scary looking small dark blue/black motorboat with a cabintop cruising the anchorage and approaching the two powerboats anchored behind us, we wondered what they were up to.  The boat had no ensignias, and we could make out the name La Nira on its side.  After visiting the two powerboats, the boat seemed to head back to its mooring.  We thought no more of it and headed down to eat dinner and head for bed.  It was well after dark, and Tim was already in bed, when we heard a voice outside calling us to come out.  It was that same scary looking boat.  They were not holding onto the boat, but were alongside and spoke no English, but asked for our “papels”, our paperwork.  I tried to speak to them to figure out if they represented the port capitain, but they said no, and just kept repeating wanting to see our paperwork.  Finally Tim went below to get his folder and handed the clearance paper from Ensenada to them.  They pulled away, and one of the two young men took the paper inside the cabin.  They were dressed in pants and t-shirts, nothing official looking about them.  They said they were the vigilancia for the pueblo.  Which didn’t have any specific meaning to us – and they seemed more like the pirates that we should be protected from!  After a minute, they came back alongside and handed back the paper and thanked us and wished us good night.  Very strange and unusual.  The next day we heard from others that they were trying to sell them candy and potatoes, one powerboat said they had asked them for tshirts, all weird stuff.  But the locals at the fuel dock confirmed that that was the vigilancia – they are checking for lobsters, abalone, and pirates (drugs).  Why would two unarmed men be sent out in a small cabin cruiser to harass sailboats after dark?  It made no sense to us.  Still doesn’t.  And for the next two nights in Turtle Bay, I woke Tim anytime I heard a strange noise – scared that someone was trying to board us! 

Little sleep and Lots of Excitement

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Anchored in Turtle Bay, Baja, Mexico

It’s rarely a dull moment here on Midnight Blue.  After leaving the lovely San Quintin bay, we did a couple of day sails to anchorages down the coast, first stopping at Punta Baja. 

San Quintin Estuary and Volcanic Cinder Cones

After a fairly windy night at anchor, the next morning while on deck stretching, some fishermen stopped by to chat – it turned out to be the same guys that had stopped by in San Quintin to try to sell us lobster or urchins.  At first they asked for handouts – cerveza, soda, candy (a request from the youngest fisherman on board).  We handed over three cervezas, and then had a nice chat about where they lived and how now was the good time for getting urchins because they are in high demand in Japan in December for some Japanese fiestas.  

Punta Baja fish camp -- not an easy launch spot!

Next, we headed on south to our next anchorage at Bahia San Carlos.  It was a good sail and the wind really picked up as we headed in to the anchorage just before dark.  After passing several fish or lobster pots as we headed in to the bay, I was nervous about our plan to depart the bay in the middle of the night under darkness.  But Tim was not, and figured out the reciprocal course to follow so we’d be safe.   To get to our next planned stop on Cedros Island was more than a day sail away and we didn’t really want to do a full overnight trip if we didn’t have to.  So we got up and underway by 2:30AM, under light wind conditions, and a nice bright quarter moon.  We had to motor sail for a bit that day, but by afternoon the winds had filled in and we were flying as we approached the north end of Cedros Island, just off the coast. 

We were just making it in before dark, and were a bit uncertain as to where the *good* anchorage was.  We chose a spot and had to get right in near the beach for it to shallow up to a good anchoring depth for us.  The beach was lined with sea lions barking and basking, and little ones playing in the shorebreak.  Several came out by the boat to check us out.  Didn’t get any photos of the sea lions that night, because I figured I’d have time in the morning to do that sort of thing… Wasn’t meant to be though!

Approaching north end of Cedros Island

After a few hours sleep, the wind picked up and first I got up around 10PM to check around and make sure we hadn’t dragged anchor.  Then about ½ hour later Tim got up and stayed up.  Finally around 1:30am, we actually did start to drag anchor, so Tim got me up and we started the engine to take the strain off the engine.  We then decided the best course of action was to pull up the anchor and head out to sea.  Which was no easy feat with the winds gusting down the steep cliffs up to 25-30 knots, in near darkness.  As Tim pulled up anchor, he also had to run down below occasionally to flake the chain, since I couldn’t leave the helm to do it for him.  On his last time down to flake, I was trying to keep the boat into the wind, but all the sudden the depth sounder was coming up… from 30 feet to 20, then 18, 16, 15, and I think we may have gotten in as shallow as 11 feet before Tim came up and screamed for me to hit reverse!  I was so tired I was not aware enough to realize how close to the beach I was getting!!!  Wow.  That was a really close one.  Then as we pulled away from shore we saw a boat headed down the coast… spent a while trying to wait for them to pass us and even tried to hail them on the VHF to no avail.  Finally we headed back up the coast, into the wind to wait till they were past and then headed off the coast a few miles before heading back south to sail downwind in the windy conditions. We were both almost delirious after two nights of limited sleep. Luckily,we were able to sail most of the way to Turtle Bay, and arrived by early afternoon, greatly relieved to have the anchor down in one of the safest harbors on the Baja Peninsula.  We’ve been anchored here for 3 nights and will stay tonight then head out tomorrow.  Will have to write more about our stay here next posting!

Midnight Blue at anchor in Turtle Bay

Whales, Winches and Deserts

Sunday November 4, 2012
Anchored at San Quintin, Baja, Mexico

Here a recap of our stay so far in San Quintin. This is a beautiful area - a large bay - 30 miles across, with a large estuary/lagoon in the corner where we are anchored. The first afternoon here we spotted whales in the bay and I watched them for an hour or so - they were pretty mellow, about a mile or so from the boat, surfacing every so often. Hard to identify them - first we thought they could be humpbacks, but they were more subdued, smaller, and not as pronounced of humps on their backs, so I'm guessing they could be grey whales? We really need a better whale identification book. Early the next AM (Tim and I were still asleep in the v-berth) a loud thump awoke us… I poked my head out the hatch to see what it could have been and heard the whales spouting just off of our bow! I think they could have run into the boat, or at least our anchor chain. Later that day we found a more probable explanation - our bbq propane tank had fallen over - that would have made a loud noise for sure!

We later saw the whales up close in the lagoon while we were exploring. They were two medium size whales with lots of barnacles, giving them a lighter appearance from afar. We putted around for hours in the dinghy, birdwatching and fishing. Success with both, saw an osprey and lots of ducks, grebes and shorebirds and also caught a bunch of foot-long fish (probably grunions?) that we let go. Back at the boat that afternoon, the whales surfaced just off the boat - one about 40 feet away and one just 5 feet from our bow! Close enough for a real good scare!!

One reason we're staying put here is to get some maintenance done - we had two winches fail on the way out of Ensenada, so it's time to clean all the winches, which is quite a chore. We've done the four main cockpit winches so far and will work on the mast winches next. They were quite full of crud and in need of some tlc so I'm glad we're taking the time to do this now.

This morning after being surrounded by fog for hours, when it lifted, I went ashore to climb around on the dunes. There is a dirt bike track on the desolate point out here doubling as a trail, so I climbed up to where I could get a glimpse of the ocean on the outside. I realize how little time I've spent in the desert, so it was a new experience for me - much hotter on land than on the boat! Neat to see what type of vegetation can survive in these harsh conditions. Since we weren't sure if we were leaving today, I just had time for a quick walk, but I could've easily spent the day onshore exploring. And if the wind doesn't pick up for a few days I may get my chance. We're hoping to be able to sail down the coast rather than motor, so we're thinking we may wait till there is a good wind forecast to make our next jump.

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On our way!

Anchored at Isla San Martin (30 degree 29 minutes North, 116 degrees, 06 minutes West)

Well, we did it! We left Ensenada and are heading south down the Baja Peninsula! It's always tough leaving the safety of a marina and the new friends we've made. At least this time we know we'll see most of the folks again as they are mostly heading south and will come visit us in Punta Mita/Banderas Bay.

We had thought we'd just get out of the marina and head to some islands about 5 miles away in the bay, but there were so many aqauculture pens in the little bay that there was no good spot to anchor, so we continued out of the bay and sailed overnight to Isla San Martin. Isla San Martin is a small volcanic island, and we had a very comfortable night. We're just off the coast by San Quintin, a larger town where we hope to find a nice anchorage and surf break later today!

We were able to sail overnight with light 5-10 knots of breeze from the NW pushing us south, but then the wind died around dawn and we had to motor till nearly 3pm to get to the anchorage... just not quite enough wind to push this heavy boat along. When we hauled out they weighed the boat and it is 34,000 pounds!

Ok, just a quick note now to let ya'll know we're underway and we'll be checking the sailmail email... in most of the anchorages we should have internet/phone, but not all (like here). Thinking about all of you who were affected by Hurricane Sandy, and hoping all is well.

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Back on the boat!

We’re back on the boat!  It’s been a long 4+ months away from Midnight Blue – traveling to see family and spending months working on our property on St John in the Virgin Islands.  Our first stop was to fly down to Puerto Vallarta/Punta Mita, Mexico to visit our friends and meet their new baby; it was a wonderful homecoming!  Then up to New York for Jane’s family reunion on Long Island…  fun times at the beach with my nieces  who both got good at jumping the waves – we couldn’t get them out of the ocean!  At the end of the trip we went for a sail on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater out of New York City – what a treat to get back on the historic ship that I grew up sailing on the river.

Tim and I with my nieces, mom, aunt & uncle, sailing on the Clearwater in NY Harbor

After New York, it was down to the Virgin Islands, to our cottages on St. John.  We did a ton of maintenance – lots of painting, landscaping and miscellaneous projects.  The biggie was building a cement retaining wall along the side of our driveway…    After two years away, we made up for it with all the maintenance and improvements this trip – Tim worked tirelessly from dawn to dusk, with only a few play days off for surfing and snorkeling.   We also did a photo shoot of the house – new photos are on the website (www.justenoughstjohn.com).

After months on St John, my next stop was back up to New York to play general contractor.  My mom has been talking about remodeling her kitchen for over 10 years (Tim helped her plan it out during his first time meeting her in NY back in the year 2000!).   Finally, she made the leap and ordered the cabinets and bits and pieces and hired a contractor to do the job.  I went up to help her get the kitchen prepared (cleared out) and to oversee the contractors.  Things went fairly smoothly, but as always there were unexpected expenses and it was a very busy week!  Here are the before and after photos.

Before...

After!

Tim left St John and headed to Florida for a quick visit with his sisters then we met in San Diego en route back to the boat.  After visiting a friend and picking up some boat parts, we headed south – Tim’s friend gave us a ride to the border and we walked across the border into Tijuana, Mexico.  After wandering around a bit, we found the ‘ABC’ bus to Ensenada and an hour or so later we were back on the boat!

Reentry to the cruising life and Mexico has been fairly painless.  We’ve never returned to find the boat so filthy, and still can’t get over how dirty it is here.  There is constant dust and smog and dirt covering the boat  – you wash it one day and it’s filthy again the next.  Our lines and wire rigging are caked in dirt.  That plus the fact that it’s hard to access the surf around here without a car are driving us to get out of here sooner rather than later.  But meantime, we’ve enjoyed excellent tacos (especially some yummy fish tacos) and I’ve gotten to do some fun Latinoamerican Zumba classes.  And it’s an interesting town to poke around – the local farmer/flea market is quite an experience.  Several blocks filled with stalls all piled with clothing and other household stuff – like hundreds of yard sales all in one spot.  The produce stands are filled with tons of local produce – they grow quite a lot in the valleys surrounding this area.

Lucky for us our friends Robin and Kenny on Pionero had to go up to San Diego to pickup some boat equipment, so they were able to pick up some engine parts and a new stereo for us.  We hauled the boat out of the water this week to paint the bottom, so now we just need to provision and do a few more boat projects then we’ll be off.   Oh, and of course, we can’t leave until we go up to the wine country just outside of Ensenada with a bunch of friends from a few other boats this weekend (I’m really looking forward to that!).  We’ll be watching the weather to make sure there are no late season hurricanes and plan to stop at various anchorages along the Baja Peninsula on our way back to Punta Mita.  Most likely we’ll be back to Punta Mita in late November.  More to come when we get ready to head out... now that we’re back on the boat I’ll be a better blogger!

Recap of Our Voyage

Now that we’ve had a few days to settle in to Ensenada, sleep, eat a few tacos, clean the boat and do some laundry (yay for clean sheets!), I’ve got some time to reflect on the voyage.  Overall, it was a great voyage, mainly because we had no major problems.  That seems pretty rare for a month long voyage.  There were challenges, mainly to do with dealing with the weather, and lack or abundance of wind and seas.  But  we feel fortunate to have made it here safely.  One of our world cruising books recommends that sailors only undertake to sail from Hawaii to Mexico ”in extremis” because it is against the tradewinds and ocean currents.   Making this passage at this time of year, you are really subject to the whims of the High Pressure system that moves around all over between Hawaii and the mainland.  In the center of this high pressure system, there is no wind! It did seem as though whenever we thought we might break free from the high and get some wind, it caught up with us again, until the very end of the voyage.  In any case, we made it!  And I was only seasick for the very first day at sea (probably because there were no seas to speak of for most of the trip!).  Here are some stats:

Distance sailed:  roughly 3,300 nautical miles (nm)

Distance from Waikiki to Ensenada (straight line) 2,293 nautical miles

Total travel time:  31 days 8 hours (May 12 – June 12)

Average Speed:  4.4 knots (this includes all the nights drifting!)

Number of nights becalmed or hove-to: 3 nights

Number of ships we passed: About 20? 

Number of Sails we used:  8 (all the sails we own!)

Total engine hours:  126 hours/ about 52 gallons of diesel fuel

# of fish caught:  2

Gotta love sailing.  We traveled an extra 1,100 nm to get here.  At our average speed of 4.4 knots that’s an extra 10 days at sea!  We can’t imagine what a different trip it might have been if we’d had wind, and if the wind had been from the right direction!  Here are a few pics from the passage, including the chart with our track highlighted.

Our track from Hawaii to Mexico.

Comfy seat for the person on watch in the cockpit.  This was before Tim put up even more tarps so you couldn't see out that side, but now wind or seas could get in either!

Rainbow!

Capt Tim tries to nap - often unsuccessfully.

Sunrise.

Got all my layers on - thank goodness we bought that long underwear at Patagonia in Hawaii!

Finally a nice warm sailing day, using the BIG jib.

Tim cleaned both fish, first the little Mahi, then the Albacore (below) a week or so later.

A nice albacore tuna!  Amazing how the canned stuff has the same flavor :-)

When the wind filled in we were sailing well!

As for wildlife, it was pretty quiet most of the way across, with the exception of one pod of dolphins that found us one day when we were motoring through some glassy water.  Throughout the trip we had a black-footed albatross that would show up and circle us for a while, and then reappear the next day; we named him Alby.  When we were 2 days out of port, we had 4 albatrosses following us!  And then we passed by several large (hundreds!) pods of dolphins – so cool when they surrounded the boat.  Neither pod stayed with us long, just stopped by to catch a quick bow ride and greet us.  And then coming in to Ensenada, we saw gray whales (close enough to make us change course!), flocks of pelicans and many sea lions!  The sea lions actually wake us up with their barking throughout the night here.  Here’s a few more pics. 

One of the several glass balls we passed.

A Huge school of dolphins and loads of birds greeted us on the way in to Ensenada.

Sea lions abound in the Ensenada harbor.

Entering Ensenada harbor.

We’ve started making our summer plans.  First it’s off to Vallarta to say hi to some friends, then we will make our way east – to see family in New York.  From New York it’s down to the St. John (Virgin Islands) where we’ll check on our rental homes and do lots of maintenance!  We’ll leave the boat in the marina here in Ensenada for the summer.  Luckily it seems like a pretty safe place overall, and we’ve got some friends that will be here and can keep an eye on things for us.

Day 32 - Land ho - From Aloha to Hola!

Just a quick note to let you all know we're safely in port tied to the dock at the Cruiseport Marina in Ensenada Mexico!  Now it's off to sleepyland...or maybe a few tacos and a beer first!

Day 30

More hard decisions today... a day or so after the decision was made to head to Cabo, we became aware that the tropics were not "all quiet" but things were starting to brew, and we would be under some definite time pressure to get to a safe port before a potential tropical storm might head our way. So today we again changed our destination - back to the safety of Ensenada, far enough north to be out of hurricane zone. Hopefully the weather gods will look favorably on us for the next few days!

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Day 28

We thought we might be there by now... But since "there" has just changed from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas (or thereabouts) we still have another 800 miles to go. As we approached the coast, the winds picked up and so did the seas, making it hard for us to keep on course for Ensenada. We hove-to (drifted with sails set to keep us in place) one night, then decided to head SE to be more comfortable and keep making headway. So after two days of heavy winds and BIG frightening seas (not to mention COLD COLD weather in general) we are far enough south that it just makes sense to continue towards Cabo and not try to get back north to Ensenada. So the journey continues... this trip has been really trying. Just when the light (or Margarita/cold beer) at the end of the tunnel appeared, it was extinguished and replaced by fear of seas breaking in the cockpit during the cold dark night. We finally holed up down below at night, leaving our windvane to steer the boat which she did admirably. Having the new radar, and the AIS systems that alert us to ships nearby we felt ok to not be on deck for once. Things seem to be letting up today and we are able to head right at Cabo, so maybe we'll make landfall in a week? Stay tuned!

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Day 25

Well, this has definitely made it into the record books for the longest passage ever for both of us. The way over from Mexico took 24 days of sailing (but really the record was 21 days straight since we stopped at the Socorro Islands after 3 days). Anyhow, we're getting close now, less than 500 miles to go, and we've had plenty of cold north wind for the past two days. Those winds should take us all the way in to port. May get some heavyish winds to keep things exciting just when we're getting verrryyyy tired. We hope to make landfall in a couple of days.

Tim's been keeping busy with little projects of course, trying to keep us dry and warm in the cockpit where we sit for our watches. It's gotten a bit rough for cooking but i did manage a pan of brownies for watch treats last night. We've still got a bit of tuna left which may go into a thai curry if it gets calm enough later today. Other than a rolly boat which requires constant bracing and one hand to steady yourself, all's well on board.

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Day 21 - becalmed again last night!

Becalmed again last night, and sat drifting in big NW swells while Tim made a yummy dinner from our freshly caught Albacore Tuna! It was a beautiful fish. Tim had never caught one of these before. It definitely tasted different than the yellowfin we're used to eating. Didn't have the energy to roll sushi but had some sashimi. Raw, the meat was so melt in your mouth and silky, good dipped in wasabi and soy. Then Tim seared some, and cooked it reminded me of canned tuna! I plan to make fresh tuna salad today. We motored again yesterday, keeping a watch from the bow to ensure we didn't run over any large floating lines or nets. We're also keeping an eye out for the glass japanese fishing buoys... we passed a few earlier before we realized it might be cool to grab one to have as a keepsake of our time becalmed in the pacific! On bow watch we've both been enjoying sitting up there, perched on top of the overturned dinghy, listening to our favorite tunes on the earphones. It a sweet feeling to be cruising through the glassy ocean out here in the middle of it, but sad when you look around and see plastics floating. Some patches have lots of debris, but mostly we're just seeing the odd buoy or masses of line, or little bits of small plastic stuff. Don't think we're right in the pacific *gyre* where the bulk of the plastics are, but still sad to see what we've seen, and worrisome from the standpoint of motoring through it. That's why we chose to drift becalmed at night, since we can't keep a watch for the lines that could foul our prop and harm our engine.

Todays forecast sounds like we will hit the favorable westerly winds later today, the wind has already picked up again (in the middle of the night actually we got up and raised sail) so we're moving along towards Ensenada right now. If the winds pick up as forecast, we're going to have LOTS of wind to speed us along, maybe we can reach Ensenada in about a week. Been enjoying the solitude of the quiet moments when we're becalmed or sailing slowly along. It'll be quite a difference when we get back into heavy winds.

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Day 18 - More than halfway now!

Position: May 29, 2012 at noon (HST), 34 degrees 11 minutes North, 139 degrees 52 minutes West.
First of all, we're definitely past the halfway mark now, both by distance covered, and by time elapsed (we hope WAY more than half the time!). Hard to measure when we hit *halfway* given that we haven't exactly sailed a straight line to our destination. Which by the way, we have decided will be Ensenada, Mexico, just south of San Diego. Given that a hurricane was headed at Puerto Vallarta this past weekend, we decided it is just too risky to sail further south until next fall. Unless of course, the winds push us that way and make it too difficult to get to Ensenada!

We've had some good wind and then a bunch of no wind. Right now we're back to motoring, trying to get out of the center of the high and back into some light winds at least. We've got a bunch of diesel still, but want to conserve as much as possible, not knowing what the remainder of the trip will bring. Last night was the first night I had a moon to light up the ocean around me for the better part of my watch. The night before was super cloudy and squally with cold winds and rain. But at least we had wind. Twice now, while sitting in the cockpit on night watch, I've been hit by flying fish! It's crazy. First time I thought it was a bird, until I got the flashlight shining on this flopping fish with wings. Next time I still yelled and woke up Tim (who thought I'd gone overboard), but I quickly realized what it was and got the fish back overboard. They have such beautiful big blue *wings*. Poor things - if I was panicked, I can't imagine how they must've felt!

So, still the decisions about whether to motor and use our diesel or sit becalmed and wait for wind. The forecast for the next 72 hours is mixed, we're really hoping for more wind! The other day, after seeing the forecast for light winds we decided to switch to our big huge 150+ jib (the forward sail), taking down the smaller 110 jib we had on the roller furling. Normally, this is not a maneuver that we would do at sea, but since there was no wind, we did it. And at it paid off that day - we were able to sail at nearly 5 knots in very light winds. Then as night fell, we were regretting the big jib - squalls, choppy seas and gusty winds made us remember why we had chosen the small jib for the passage. Too much sail can be scary in heavier conditions. Luckily we got the jib rolled up and managed through the night with the staysail, and now that it's light again, we're glad for the big jib.
Suffice it to say, there are always difficult decisions to make, and this trip had had it's share despite the mostly fair weather conditions. Depending on the wind, we're looking at about 10-12 more days at sea. Our GPS shows 1,100 more miles to Ensenada…. At least we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But we're running out of good books!

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Day 12

Position: May 23, 9am Hawaii time, 31 degrees 01 minutes North, 147 degrees 55 minutes West

We've got wind in our sails now! For the past two days we've been sailing along to the north quite well. Our next challenge will be to get east - but the easterly winds aren't making this an easy task. We're hoping for a switch to more northerly winds that will help us get east. In any case, sure feels good to be moving and making tracks after the first ten days where we never got further than 500 miles from Hawaii - it felt like the islands didn't want to let us go! And now that we're under complete cloud cover and wearing our long underwear, we sure miss Hawaii!

Next on our agenda as we get to the point where we start heading east is to pick our destination. Will it be Ensenada (a port in Mexico just south of San Diego) or will we risk hurricane season and head south - trying to make landfall at Cabo San Lucas (tip of the Baja peninsula) before heading to Puerto Vallarta? We've studied the history of hurricanes (with help from our weatherdude Jamie on S/v Totem) and while it seems highly unlikely that a named storm would get that far north this early in the season, we know that you can never say never when it comes to hurricanes. And this seems to be an active early season for Mexico with two named storms already since we've been out here. Right now, we're leaning towards a track to Ensenada, although that would mean not going south to Vallarta until the fall after hurricane season. Ensenada would also be much closer, which makes it an attractive choice!

I have to say, we are so indebted to our friend Jamie for giving us invaluable guidance and support daily this trip!!! We knew that understanding the weather out here would be key, and we have the ability to download our own weather charts, but having internet access provides additional info. Knowing that someone onshore is looking out for our route with us gives us so much more confidence and lowers our stress levels immensely. Muchos gracias to Jamie and the Totem crew - who we know because Jamie's wife went to the UW MBA program with me, and we got to hang out in Mexico, although they've sailed far away to Australia now!

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Day 7

Position: May 18, 6:30 pm Hawaii time, 25 degrees 52 minutes North, 151 degrees 19 minutes West

Just after the last posting, we were becalmed for the better part of the day… We tried to take it in stride and make the most of it. We stripped and jumped in the ocean for a dip - neither of us daring to venture far from the swim ladder, or stay in for more than a few minutes. Too scared of sharks or a sudden gust that might move the boat quickly from us. After doing some weather checks, Tim called me to the stern, where we had been trailing our fishing line listlessly all day. There was a school of beautiful mahi mahi that would get excited every time he tugged on the lure. It was funny to think that as long as we were just drifting along this school of fish would likely stay by the boat. Of course Tim got the next lure out that he could reel and make more action and caught a cute little mahi for our supper (actually several suppers so far).

We've managed to sail for the past two days - first on a NE heading, but then when winds started to get too light, we tacked to the SE this morning. We'll plan to keep tacking staying in the winds for a day or two until the forecast looks good to head further north. So all's well here on Midnight Blue, other than our constant concerns about choosing the best route to get across the ocean!

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Day 4

Position at 9:30 am Hawaii time, tues may 15: 23 degrees 34 minutes North, 154 degrees 13 minutes West

It's been an eventful first few days at sea. Luckily my seasickness passed after the first day. Probably because there have been no *seas* to speak of. We've had very calm weather - in fact, not even enough wind for sailing at times. Our progress has been slow, but it feels good to break into this trip slowly without getting tossed about. It seems the calmest we've ever seen the Pacific Ocean! The first full night out, we motored a bunch, then second night, after noticing an accumulation of water in the bilge, Tim found a hole in the salt water exhaust pipe cooling the engine. To repair it he used JB weld and epoxy and fiberglass cloth and magic tape - thank goodness we had some JB weld onboard! The first repair held but then he noticed a second hole which required fixing… all in all he was at it from about 5 to 11 pm. Fortunately it was super calm so we were glad to have caught this corrosion now when it was easier to fix than if we were in big seas. We have been motoring on and off since and the repairs have held up nicely. But then last night after shutting down to check the oil, etc, the engine wouldn't start! Panic! Thank goodness we quickly realized the engine stop cord had been left pulled out, so once it was pushed in, the engine started right up.

Well, now our challenge will deciding how much more to use the engine when the winds are light. We will want to conserve fuel to use at the most opportune times. We started with just under 100 gallons, which gives us about 200 hours of motoring time. So far we've already used maybe 13 gallons, deciding to take advantage of the opportunity to motor east as much as possible while winds were too light to move us with just the sails. As Tim puts it, we will have to be sailors as much as possible from here on out. Sailing in light wind is a definite skill, especially in a boat as heavy as ours! We've been playing with the spinnaker and our mizzen staysail, and I'm sure we'll get more practice today. We expect the winds to fill in from the east in a day or so and we'll be heading north then, hoping for a smooth crossing.

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1 day out

Just wanted to put out the word that we have actually left.... Motored out of the marina about 4pm on Friday, anchored in Waikiki to scrub the bottom of the boat, had dinner and a nap, saw the friday night fireworks show to send us off, and now it's 5AM on Sunday and we're at 22 degrees 51 minutes North, 157 degrees 49 minutes west. Anyone that wants to keep track of our position can always check the Pacific Seafarer's net online (i think it's at www.pacseanet.com), and look at the Current Roll Call. My call sign is KF7OHO; I'm one of the last boats on the list. I check in every night, but I'm not sure they're that current at posting positions every day...

So far all's well, very light winds though. Hoping to get enough wind to keep us moving today, we only were doing 2-3 knots last night, too slow for our liking, so we've turned on the engine to put us along a bit this morning.

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And we're off again!

It’s been nearly a month since we sailed back into Honolulu.  And a very busy month for sure!  Since we had come back and decided not to head back out until the weather (specifically, the Pacific high pressure system) stabilized later in May/June, I took the opportunity to book a ticket to the mainland to go to my niece Katya’s bat mitzvah.  I now think this might have been the real reason why we had to turn around!  I had been bummed about not being able to attend this momentous occasion with my family.  It turned out to be such a lovely experience – a real treat to be able to share this event with my niece and to have a visit with my family (including my sister’s mother in-law from Bolivia) – it’d been over a year since I’d seen my nieces!  I also took the opportunity to stop over in Seattle on my way back to Hawaii to take care of some Doctor appointments, and the timing happened to coincide with my honorary niece Maggie’s 10^th birthday party.  It was a sleepover with 11 girls – I’ve never heard so much giggling or screaming!  Suffice it to say, I had a great time on the mainland, catching up with friends and family.

Me with my nieces Katya and Jennifer

Me with my *nieces* (they call me aunty!) Maggie & Kate

Now, after being back in Hawaii for a bit over a week, we are seeing a good weather window for our departure.  If the forecast holds, we’ll let you know when we are at sea!  While I was on the mainland, Tim spent his time fixing up the boat further.  We added Radar to our new boat equipment.  Tim was up on the mast for better part of a morning, but he got it up and running in one day!  It’s going to be a huge relief in case we end up on the foggy California coast.  It’ll also be helpful for avoiding other vessels and even understanding squally weather we may be approaching.  We’re pretty psyched to have this new tool!

Timmy up on the mizzen mast, installing the radar

We also made some real lee cloths (tarps for the side of the cockpit), and a tarp to cover the gap between our dodger and bimini.  On our previous passage, Tim had gone to extraordinary measures to try to keep the sea from invading the cockpit – using all means of spare canvas, and cushions, and fenders.  And Tim has been working tirelessly to re-bed hatches to fix the leaky leaks, and to generally tighten up ship (screwing down floorboards, checking over the engine, adding weather stripping to the anchor and propane lockers on deck, etc.) , always good to do when you are heading offshore.

Block that wave!  No water allowed in our cockpit!

So, if it still loooks good, we may be heading out very soon.  We'll be posting blogs underway, and look forward to getting back to Mexico, althought it does feel like we're leaving paradise here in Hawaii.

Back Safe in Hawaii!

Deja vu - waking up at the dock again this morning. We're back the same slip at Kewalo Basin in Honolulu. Great sail back, a bit tricky identifying the channel markers at night against the backdrop of the city lights but then our friend Skip was here to catch our lines and welcome us. It feels right and good being back. More later...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

About Face -- Back to Hawaii we come

It's been an interesting trip... Maybe we're just finally tuning into our intuition that it wasn't the right time to go, maybe the boat isn't as ready as we thought (several annoying leaky hatches -- not serious safety issues, but also not making things easier), maybe the weather didn't cooperate as much as we'd hoped. Whatever the reason, we decided yesterday to do an about face and head back for Hawaii.

After a two days of nice sailing (despite my feeling seasick), on Friday (first night of Passover) I was seasick and went down for a nap early afternoon. We were headed along with nice Easterly breeze, but seas were growing. By the time I got up a few hours later, we were already pounding into it with seas up to 8 feet and the winds turning more on the nose. Needless to say, we decided to skip an at-sea Passover seder this year. After my check-in on the Pacific Seafarers net at 6pm, we were really uncomfortable, and things were banging around and Tim was studying the growing confused seas and dark clouds as darkness set in. We decided that the best thing to do was to hove-to for the night. The weather picture looked good if we could continue North for another day or so, but we just didn't feel comfortably continuing through the night given the conditions. So we hove-to (meaning we set the sails and rudder to keep the boat pretty much stationary, with the seas just passing calmly under us -- for the most part). And it immediately felt good not to have the seas pounding over the bow, and washing down the deck into the cockpit. It's amazing the fixes Tim had already come up with to keep the cockpit dry! We decided to sleep through the night and make a decision after checking weather again in the AM. Which we did, and have been heading back south ever since... smooth sailing when we're going with the seas! We should be back to Oahu on Tuesday.
Happy Easter everybody!

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Day 2

Just a quick check in. About 30 hours out and we're at 24 degrees 00 min north, 156 deg 39 min west. Things have been smooth so far, except some small leaks on our port side, but hopefully nothing serious. Just took a look at the weather and everything looks good. Leaving Honolulu at 4am yesterday, we motored around Diamond Head & up to Koko head crater with the full main, then the wind filled in and we got up the staysail, jib and mizzen. We've had good winds and been making good time (average 6.5 knots so far).

All's well, except dealing with the fatigue - but we're trying out a new watch schedule (4 hours each instead of 3 hours) so we each got a few hours solid sleep last night. I was seasick much of the day, but seem to be feeling much better today, let's hope that lasts!

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Leaving Hawaii

After a few weeks here on Oahu, we've got what looks like a good weather window to head offshore for Mexico.  Depending on the winds, we'll either land somewhere in California or head directly for Mexico.  I've sent an email already to most people receiveing the blog, but wanted to post that we're currently anchored in Waikiki (left our safe little dock slip in Kewalo Basin) and as soon as we're done cleaning the bottom of the boat and getting the anchor stowed, we'll be underway!

It's hard to leave Hawaii - it's such a great place.  And we'll especially miss our family (THANKS FOR EVERYTHING KEV - WE LOVE YOU!), and our friends here.  But, I guess this is the weather we've been hoping for, so it's time to set sail!

We'll be checking in on the Pacific Seafarers net daily, so you can check our position on their website at pacseanet.com under the current roll call or http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/pacseanet.php.  We're the call sign KF7OHO.  I'll also post blogs once in a while :-)  Ok, gotta go get in the beautiful water and help Tim clean the bottom - we miss already our friends on Scotch Power II who were here to help us last time!

Back in Oahu

Tim and I did a little island hopping on our way to Oahu, stopping up the coast on the Big Island, and then the next night on Lanai.  We were glad we waited a day to cross the channel -- we heard that it was blowing up to 40 knots in the channel between Big Island and Maui, and didn't really want to experience that.  And we were rewarded with good sailing conditions the next two days -- pretty windy, and lots of wind swell, but since we were going with it the whole way over, it was fine sailing for Midnight Blue.  And we were rewarded with sightings of creatures and good fishing!  The first night we anchored and were watching the sun go down, and this wild looking fin came out of the water and we think it could have been a whale shark feeding along the surface.  Or a very large Manta Ray....  The next day sailing to Lanai we were splashed by a breaching humpback whale; it literally landed about two boat lengths away, then came charging towards us!  Scary.  Soon after that, we had a double hookup on the two fishing lines - not one, but two beautiful Mahimahi.  We let one go, since that was more than enough fish (and work to clean the fish) for us.  So the past two night have been yummy fish dinners!  And plenty left to share with our neighbors and friends here on Oahu.

Don't have a good picture of those fish, but I realize i never posted the picture of the last mahi i caught on our way in to hawaii -- so here it is:

Next the plan is to get provisions aboard, and wait for weather.  And of course, visit with Kevin & Primo!

Kevin's Housewarming

Well, the weather didn't coperate for us to sail to Oahu last week as planned, but it looks good for us to sail over tomorrow.  Since we couldn't sail over, we decided to fly over to come for Kevin's housewarming party this past weekend.  When we arrived friday morning, we were completely surprised to find that Tim & Kevin's sister Valerie had flown in from Maryland!  What a great treat to have a mini-family reunion as well!  The housewarming party was fun; Kevin's good friend Jim Hubbard played live music - we love his cd's listen to him all the time on the boat.  Needless to say, we extended our plane flights a few days to spend more time with Valerie - she's here until Wednesday, but we will fly back to Kona today to get ready to sail back over here tomorrow... weather looks ok for the trip.  Then we will make final preparations and hope for our *weather window*. 

UPDATE:  I wrote the below posting about a week ago, but never got it online till now.  Since then, time's been flying as we get ready to head out of Hawaii. Sold the truck - we'll part with it this friday )-:  Had a great weekend with my sister Nancy in Kauai (big stormy rain & thunderstorms, but fun!).  Nan comes over to Big Island tomorrow and I'll wrap up work this week then next week, after Nan leaves, we'll head for Oahu visit Tim's brother Kevin and to prepare for jumping back across the Pacific to Mexico.  Ok, that's the brief update, now for the real posting...

******

Belated Happy Valenties Day to ya’ll!   We had a special celebration on valentines thanks to the Giant’s winning the Superbowl.  Tim and I had a bet on the game and the loser had to be chef for valentines dinner…  Tim lost, and he outdid himself on a wonderful beef stroganoff meal topped off with strawberries and whipped cream and yummy coffee drinks for dessert.

For those that I’ve not been in contact with over the past few months, we’ve been spending the winter here on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Bought a car (actually truck) so we could get around, and a standup paddleboard for exercise & fun.  We’ve been in a slip at Honokohau harbor, just outside of Kaiua-Kona, on the west side of the island.  It's us and about 200 sport fishing boats.  Very few sailboats in the marina, and even fewer transients that are allowed to liveaboard.  So, it's a little lonely at night!  Although we have met a few other fun cruisers that have pulled in, noone else has been here as long as us.

It’s been great hanging out with our friends here –my great friends Robyn & Brian & Tasman are about an hour away in Waimea, and Tim’s good friends Grant & Andie live in Hawi just about an hour away too.  But it’s just far enough that we prefer to go for overnight visits usually.  

Tim, Carol (grant's mom) and Grant on Thanksgiving

Andie, Carol & Me

I’ve been doing some contract work- actually rented a little office space in the marina shopping mall area.  It’s in a built out loft above the Kona Boat Rentals shop.  Windowless – but I’m finding I’m really focused and very efficient in the little green room.  I’ve been putting together an economic analysis of yet another endangered species critical habitat designation – it’s actually a *redo* of an analysis that I worked on 5 years ago!  I’m on track to get most of the work done, but as these things go, I will probably have to leave a few ends undone for the folks at IEc to fill in when Tim and I head off into the Pacific again. 

We had a tough time deciding on our next steps from here – it’s intriguing to head further out into the South Pacific, but apparently there wasn’t enough pull there for Tim and I to sail there now.  We miss Mexico.  We miss our friends and of course, the surf, in Punta Mita.   In fact, our good friends there have just had a new baby!  So, you can imagine I am excited to get back and meet little baby Ela and to see mama Ana and papa Jason.  Once we decided to head back east to Mexico, the dilemma was how – I actually priced shipping our sailboat on a container ship back to the mainland, but it was crazy expensive – probably $10,00 to $15,000 all said and done.  So, we’ve decided on one great big adventure – to make the passage back by ourselves, just me & Tim.  Usually boats heading east for the mainland wait till june/july, then jump off for San Francisco or the Pacific NW – it’s the easiest route.  You go north till you hit westerly winds once you’re up past the Pacific High, then head east.   But no, we like a bit more challenge.  Since our goal is to get to mexico, and preferably before June when hurricane season starts, we are hoping for some favorable weather in March … like a cold front that pushes the Pacific High further south towards Hawaii so that we can get north and east of the high more quickly…We hear that this is a good possibility in March, so we are trying to get it together to be ready to go if/when the right weather presents itself.  If not, we’ll see…

Me & Tim at Waipio Valley overlook

So for now, we’re busy getting ready, and also, having some last fun in Hawaii.  My sister Nan is coming to Kauai this week, and I’m going to fly over and spend the weekend with her… then she’ll come here for a week!  After Nan’s visit, we’ll sell the truck, pack up the office, and sail over to Oahu for a last visit with Tim’s brother Kevin.  And then, when the right weather hits, it’s back out into the big blue….