Whales, and more whales!

Sunday, Nov. 23^rd – Tera, Les, and their two girls, Rel (7), and Eryl (5) joined us for the trip to Cabo! Tera and Les sailed with Martha this past summer and decided that they needed to bring their girls for a trip! Which is awesome. Plus, Eryl is almost Meryl and we had the best time bonding over that fact. We departed San Diego around 4 and sailed beautifully out of the harbor to find a very big lack of wind outside and a rather large, bumpy sea state, our least favorite conditions.

Monday, Nov. 24^th – We got into Ensenada in the early morning after an all night motor, all slightly queasy and dehydrated. It somehow seams dryer in Mexico than it did in California if that is possible!it is quite a process to clear through customs in Mexico, the best being that we have to get something called a Temporary Import Permit(TIP) for Martha. However, their computer systems only went back to 1920, Martha was built in 1907. They kept wondering why we had such an old boat! Eventually, they had to write the whole permit out by hand, but it worked and we were able to get on our way to Isla San Martin!

Tuesday, Nov. 25^th – During the night I picked up some sort of cold/sore throat/stuffy nose L. But we saw a VERY cool, VERY terrifying forest/valley fire ravaging part of the coast. We could see the smoke as we left Ensenada and it slowly got closer and closer. When we first saw it, it was behind the hill and looked like a volcano, which was even more terrifying. It was unreal and spectacular all at the same time. The smoke was bright orange and red and billowing up into the sky. We got into San Martin early in the morning and anchored up along the fishing ponga’s. I law low for the day hoping to cure my cold quickly. We made a nice trade with some local fisherman for some lobster and decided they should come back the next day with a whole bunch more. We traded brownies, cookies, coke, and coffee. They want the things they can’t get, which is sugar mostly!

Wednesday, Nov. 26^th – They next morning they came back with 11 more lobsters and handed over the brownies and such, what an excellent trade. I lay low for another day, my head felt like a swollen balloon while some did a little shore exploring and then we headed over to San Quitin for a little bit. Alyce, Jake, and Sugar joined us for our lobster/pasta dinner. Alyce is taking her grandfather’s yawl, Cheerrio II, down the coast and up into the sea of Cortez with her friend Jake. Sugar, her dad, is on the first leg down and they are having family and friends visit for different amounts of time. Very, very cool what she is doing. It was a great night of festivities, beer, and lobster! YUM!

Thursday, Nov. 27^th – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! A little late now J. I lay low for yet another day, very annoying, but I got to work making a bag for a flashlight to hang on the foremast. Surfing, boogie boarding and body surfing occupied most of the day for the others (as well as getting food ready!) and Alyce, Jake and Sugar joined us around 3 for the big feast! Thank you Alyce for the delicious ham, sweet potato’s, and pies! The food was delicious and the company was even better. It was glorious meal.

Friday, Nov. 28^th – They let me sleep in this morning (still sick) while the rest of the crew got up at 4 to get underway for Isle Natividad – about 180 miles away, right near Turtle Bay. We were hoping to find some good surf spots! We caught a big Bonita this morning (a fighter too) and I spotted two whales!!!!! After studying our book, I decided that they were fin whales. Fin whales often travel in pairs, rarely show their flukes and arch their backs when they are going to deep dive. Just spotted another one! Only caught the flukes on his way down for a deep dive, but still awesome and beautiful every time. They are such majestic creatures. We have tried to sail a couple times, but it never lasted. It has mostly been a very hot and dry day (perfect for working on our tans!), which to give the weather man credit, is exactly what they predicted! However, my 6-9 watch, we sailed the entire time! We had the main, golley, and spin up and cruised happily at 4 ½ knots. We sailed into a dense fog bank which decreased our visibility to nill, but was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. And because that wasn’t enough, dolphins came to visit! They stayed with us the entire time and you could hear them squeaking and clicking to each other. It was one of those magical things that I will never be able fully explain to anybody, you just have to experience it.

Saturday, Nov. 29^th – The rest of the night was motor-job unfortunately. We gave the sailing a valid effort but it was just not happening. We tried out a new watch schedule were we do 3 hours on and then 6 off. Which was much, much better as we could get that really important REM sleep we desperately needed. Isle Natividad didn’t provide any sort of shelter for anchoring so we had to head for Turtle bay instead. We anchored up and jumped in just as quickly. The water was deliciously warm and was perfect after a couple days of sailing.

Sunday, Nov. 30^th – I made pancakes for breakfast and with the little girls on board, my creative side came out in the form of mickey mouse, flower and turtle shaped pancakes!! After breakfast we all headed ashore for a little walk around town and to find some treats. The town and how it looked remind me a lot of Ethiopia with the houses and dirt roads and people sitting on their porches. Such a different way of life, yet they are all so happy and proud. It is beautiful, really. We stopped in a couple markets for Mexican coke and some other treats. The coke here is much less sweet than in the states and tastes perfect on a hot sunny day. We headed back to the boat with a stop at Maria’s on the way to get some local fish tacos. After a little swimming, we got the boat ready to get underway and hauled back anchor and sailed off to Abriejos. On my first watch, Christopher and I kept hearing this big splashing/slapping sound behind us, but couldn’t see anything at first, but then with the binoculars I watched this whale launch himself out of the water! It was dusk, but this guy was getting airborne again and again. He breached at least 6 times straight up into the air. It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.

Monday, Dec. 1^st – I can’t believe its December! My body doesn’t believe it with all this warm weather and warm water, very, very weird. Second watch of the night we got to sail! For the first time in a while, so in this instance it was something to celebrate. We happily cruised at 6 and 6 ½ knots! We anchored up behind Point Abriejos in the early morning and after a late breakfast, we went into shore to play in some waves! I played with the yougins for a bit, crashing through the waves, body surfing some. After a little snack, I took a boogie board out and caught some AWESOME waves. The break was perfect for riding them all the way into the beach and then splashing out to catch the next big one. TO MUCH FUN!

Tuesday, Dec. 2^nd – Tera and Les went in for an early morning surf session and we hung out with the girls. We had a super yummy breakfast of fried eggs, chorizo, bacon, and homemade bread. Most went ashore for some more play time but Tera, Rel and I stayed put and listened to stories and I sewed up the multiple holes on my favorite pair of shorts. After a late lunch, we got underway for Bahia Santa Maria (right outside of mag bay). The sailing was perfect for about an hour, and then as if on cue, died right when I came up on watch. But we had beautiful moonlight illuminating the entire deck all night. Dolphins came to visit again, hanging out within 5 feet of the boat, making Tera and I giggle like teenagers. Sometimes you can’t help it!

Wednesday, Dec. 3^rd – uneventful second watch, motoring and more motoring, bleck! I went back to sleep after watch and woke up to everyone running up on deck, turns out it was two whales! I watch both of them breach and then take couple breaths before doing a deep dive, still special every time. After our slight detour, we headed into Santa Maria and anchored up nestled right into the beach for optimal playing! We cleaned up and very quickly jumping in to the crystal clear, 75 degree water! Pristine and gorgeous, I don’t even know where to begin to try and explain it! After lunch, we headed to shore to play, catch some waves, and explore a new beach. And boy, did we find a treasure trove of shells. The upper dunes were covered in shells, mostly clams, but if you looked hard you could find all sorts of things, from teeny tiny to quite large. It was hard to say no and not pick up every one you came across, but I still ended up with quite the collection.

Thursday, Dec. 4^th – Swedish pancakes for breakfast, kinda like crepes but thicker and more absorbent, made with lots of eggs. Yummy with powdered sugar and lemon juice. After breakfast we took one last swim before getting underway for Cabo, too soon for this trip to end. We had a perfect down wind sail leaving Santa Maria with the seas behind us and caught a Wahoo!! Not sure what its actual name is but it sure made every one shout WAHOOOOOOO when we pulled it up on deck. We got a beautiful sunset, the kind you see on calendar photos, but better, vibrant colors and stunning sky.

Friday, Dec. 5^th – Our second watch proved to be awesome sailing! A little light at first, but it filled in nicely and we were soon surfing down the waves, happily doing 7, then 8, then 9 knots. Woohoo! WHALES, SO MANY WHALES TODAY. First one was off the port side, then I happened to glance behind to check the traffic situation and right off the stern a huge humpback (I think) breached. Full body, and landed with a huge splash. I was completely speechless and then could only form enough words to say “Holy Shit!”. What an amazing breach, and so close too! Then again off the port side were two fin whales, working their way down the coast, spouting together and then taking a deep dive. And then because 4 whales just isn’t enough, we had one last one come up near and the bow and then again at the stern before diving deep. What an extra special last day of sailing and whale sightings with Tera, Les, and the girls. We arrived just outside of Cabo around 4 and struck sail, took a nice dip in the 82 degree water and then headed in to the fuel dock and then got a slip for the night. Cabo is major culture shock after being out on the outer coast with just a few other boats for two weeks. Imagine leaving the peacefulness of Vermont and going to NYC on new years eve to watch the ball drop. It was similar, except 60 degrees warmer. People everywhere, party boats everywhere, and endless noise everywhere. Not exactly the best place to be, but perfect for provisioning and picking up our new guests.

Saturday, Dec. 6^th – Had to send off Tera, Les and the girls today L. But we got Doug, Deb, and Candice for our trip up to La Paz! It was a clean, provision, try not to over heat day. Around 3, we headed out of the harbor and anchored up in Cabo Bay to have a play/swim afternoon before dinner and then getting underway for Los Frailes! There were some pretty strong northerly winds blowing for the last couple of days and they blessed us with a nasty sea state, very short, steep waves. Not the most pleasant and it was kinda a sleepless night.

Sunday, Dec. 7^th – We anchored up in Los Frailes in the early afternoon and all took a moment to find our legs and brains after the night and then collected a shore party. We spent the afternoon exploring the beach, swimming and collecting shells. After a nice afternoon, we had dinner and learned a new card game from [Doug, this one called “Oh Hell”, too much fun!

Monday, Dec. 8^th – We did a 4am departure for Bahia de los Muertos – Bay of the Dead – another 40 miles north. It was another crash and bash up wind but we made it in by the middle of the afternoon and even got a little bit of sailing in. There is a great little open air restaurant right on the beach and we went ashore and had a delicious dinner and beer thanks to Candice! They even had ice cream!

Tuesday, Dec. 9^th – Beach play day! Old friends of Martha who winter in Los Friles came over to say hello and catch up on the happenings. We all needed a relaxing morning, but the beach soon called our names and we got the sailing rig put back together for the small boat and started shuttling people into shore. I stayed behind on the boat to get some work done on my blog stuff and to finish up sewing the bag for the flashlight on the foremast. Right before dinner, I noticed a big splash off the point, turned out to be a whale! He/she was tail slapping over and over and then would breach, then continue tail slapping for awhile longer before breaching again. WOW, so incredibly special to watch such a majestic animal be so incredibly acrobatic.

Wednesday, Dec. 10^th – Another 4 am departure for Isle Espiritu Santo! We had a slightly less bumpy ride and even got to sail! We anchored up in Playa Bonanza, which has the longest white sandy beach on the entire island, perfect for exploring! The beach was covered in bits and pieces of broken shells that are smoothed out and bleached white from the love of the ocean and sun. I like to think of it as a well-loved beach. If you found a big pile of shell pieces, you could dig through and find these tiny colorful and gorgeous shells. I still can’t wrap my head around how intricate some of the shells get, in such a little amount of space. And to round off a great day, we got to finish by having a movie dinner, the Princess Bride, which is a long time favorite of mine.

Thursday, Dec. 11^th – the folks from Dirigo (a fellow schooner from Port Townsend) came by to say hello and catch up on our trips. It was awesome to have the two schooners anchored up next to each other in the same bay! After that, we decided to head up to Los Isolotes, a couple rock islands north of Isle Partida that has a sea lion colony living on them. You can anchor up and swim with them!! The pups are often very playful and love to come out and play with you. As long as you stay in the water and just off the rocks, the males don’t seem to care, the water seems to be neutral territory. We jumped into our wetsuits, got our snorkel gear on and headed over to the rocks. The fish are AMAZING!! Brilliant colors, big schools, and sweet tails. Their colors were just totally cool. Black fish with bright orange tails, a white strip down the middle and iridescent blue along their backs and bellies, little tiny electric blue fish floating along the rocks, a large green/blue iridescent fish trying his best to hide in the rocks but not really succeeding (his color makes it rather hard), a teeny tiny orange fish with a bright blue back, and a fish with a long nose and spotted all over with a bright yellow tail. And then the sea lions! The pups are the cutest thing! A couple bigger guys came out to have a look at us and they swam within a foot of me, stopping to peer at me through my mask before deciding I wasn’t that interesting and moving on. Unfortunately, the pups weren’t super playful this time around, just means we have to go back! After all the fun there, we headed over to Ensenada Grande on Isle Partida to anchor up for the night and play!

Friday, Dec. 12^th – I woke up early this morning and caught the sun coming up on the cliffs and slowly making the shadows of early morning disappear. It is one of my favorite things about being in a hilly desert area. Much to our disappointment, a big cruise ship decided to anchor in right outside of us and we used that as our cue to move! I would have loved to explore on shore and scramble on some rocks, next time! We moved over to Caleta Partida, the bay separating the two islands, and tucked ourselves in for some play time! Snorkeling, going up the masts, and paddled boarded were thoroughly enjoyed in the beautiful, crystal clear water.

Saturday, Dec. 13^th – There is a small shallow channel running between the two islands and I spent the morning exploring it and the fish camp right on the beach. Fish skeletons everywhere! The water is the color of a pale blue sky, and you can see right to the bottom. It is truly amazing! After some playtime, we headed over to Bahia Gabriel for the night and anchored up. I spent the afternoon playing in the water and having chicken fights on the paddleboard, snorkeling to find the anchor and just relaxing in the beautiful water. Trying to get some the last of my blog work done, time to go sort through photos!

Sunday, Dec. 14^th – A morning of whales! Crossing over from Bahia Grabriel to La Paz, we saw at least 7 whales! And it isn’t far to travel. It ranged from a spout here and there to full-blown breach, tail slapping, dorsal fin slapping and interesting, nose in the water and tail flying overhead, breach. The perfect welcome to La Paz!