The Taco Traveler

Currently, we're about half way to Mag Bay from Turtle Bay, motoring as we have been through the night but now with no sail up because the wind has completely died. It's a rough ride right now with big swells and chop and no wind to steady the boat by. This leg started out with some excitement, as we saw several whale spouts just outside of Turtle Bay, and they were going our direction but we weren't lucky enough to get an up-close look and I didn't want to hassle/chase them. There wasn't much wind last night until about midnight, and when it came, it came pretty hard. We'd been motoring along with minimal wind, and then I woke up when Denali was on watch and it was blowing all over the place - 7 knots up to 20 with 30-knot gusts. That's just not fair. I thought about putting the main up (reefed) for a sleigh ride, but with the wind already gusting like that, I decided it wasn't worth the craziness to go into the wind for the few minutes it would take to do it, especially as we couldn't see the seas coming at us. On my next shift, however, I put out the staysail and that had an immediate effect of stabilizing us in the severe chop, as well as getting us all the way to hull speed (about 7.5 knots) with only a little help from the engine, and surfing speeds (down the face of a swell) up to 8.95 knots.

We just crossed over Moore Bank, and Uncle Sam Bank is 4 hours away, so I've got a line in the water with a Rappala lure that's got some crazy jiggling action. It hasn't even got me a bite yet, but it looks cool, and it dives down a bit, which I'd gather is better than skipping across the surface in these conditions. But what do I know? Guess I'd better go study my new "Fishing for Cruisers" book some more.

One great thing... the water is now 62.6 degrees. And in the daytime it's not really cold at all (currently 68 degrees). We'll be to Mag Bay around 6am tomorrow.

TT

We arrived in Turtle Bay yesterday about 4:30 and anchored at 27 41.257 N, 114 53.316 W. It's been blowing pretty hard, and I probably should have picked a more sheltered side of the bay to anchor (farther to the east there are high hills / mountains shielding that part of the bay a bit more from this northerly), but since we're going to have to row ashore, I didn't want to anchor *too* far away. We've got about 120' of chain out, which is a lot for 20' of water (6:1 scope) but there's plenty of room in here and I wanted to be sure we'd sleep well despite the 20 knot winds pushing us around. I also have the Nobeltec charting feature on (Boundary Circle) that sounds an alarm if we stray outside the circle (which would indicate that our anchor was dragging). The alarm went off a couple times last night, not because we were dragging but because I'd made the circle too small. Malavika was the only one who heard it & woke up to check; I slept right through it. I may need to find some way to amplify that alarm. :) I got 12 hours of sleep last night, and Denali & Malavika each got closer to 14, as they just got up around 10 am. So we should be all caught up and ready for another overnight sail.

So we're going to head into the town soon and get lunch, walk around a bit, maybe look for some engine parts for the outboard, and then later this afternoon we'll head out for Bahia Santa Maria or Mag Bay (Bahia Magdalena). Mag Bay right now, from everything I've heard, has so many whales in it that sometimes you have to wait at the entrance to sneak your way through. Lots of mama whales giving birth in the estuaries within Mag Bay. So that's a more likely stopping point than BSM, though it's a few hours farther.

It was nice & warm here when we arrived yesterday (mid-upper 60s, with sun), but it's now overcast and pretty cold. Looking forward to much more warmth farther south.

TT