Haven't Budged

We arrived into Ensenada Grande, what was it, two days ago? Since then we haven't moved the boat more than 60'. It's been pretty calm, sunny and warm since we arrived. Yesterday we were working up some energy to hit the long hike until we saw the Sea Lion pull around the corner and head in for the anchorage. We contemplated "bugging out" for another bay to the south but decided it was as good a day as any to be social. Michelle started baking cookies and I got the dinghy ready. Throughout the morning we had many friends come by to catch up and see our home. Bud Lehnhausen (longtime friend and expedition leader) and Tom Niessen (friend and one of Michelle's professors) got to stop by just before the ship left. It was great to see both of them due to the fact that Tom was about to head home and Bud would not see Michelle before he got off the ship. We made a quick delivery of some of the leftover cookies to Ryan Foley and Singyn Hunter (see Mag Bay stores delivery) before the Sea Lion headed out for Los Islotes.

For the rest of the day and through the evening last night we had the entire bay to ourselves. After dinner last we stayed on deck until the stars came out. It was glassy calm so the stars reflected off the surface of the water and there was enough bioluminescence in order to see schools of fish being chased across the bay. We found it hard to go below until it got too chilly to stay on deck. This morning Michelle got us moving early to get up the arroyo before it got too hot. We spotted many lizards along the way as well as a black jackrabbit at close range. The trail took us to the far side of Isla Partida and the cliffs on the East side. From our high vantage point we were able to look down on a peregrine falcon flying by as well as a pair of red tailed hawks flying up above. The seas were calm enough for a distant view of some dolphins swimming north. On the hike back to the beach I contemplated whether to head out for another spot or stay put. We got back to the dinghy took one look at our ideal anchorage, great conditions and no other boats in the bay and decided that we weren't budging, at least not today. Two other boats have joined us in the anchorage but they're keeping a very 'polite' distance so life is good. So, besides moving our anchor 60' closer into our little cove to secure our 'spot' we haven't budged. Mark

In the Gulf

Last night's run north from Cabo was phenomenal! We pulled out of the slip around midday, and set a northeasterly course. Seas were calm, and we even had enough wind to sail for a little while. We saw several humpbacks and gray whales, a sea turtle swimming and had a masked booby give us a close fly by. We also had a large group of bottlenose dolphins play "Sea World" with us. Although they're much larger than the other dolphin species we've seen so far, several came in to ride the bow and started leaping out of the water right next to us! The perspective is so different from this low to the water. I'm seeing things I've seen dozens of times before with fresh eyes because it's all so much closer.

Then things got even better... A cloud layer had moved in, and created the conditions for a mind-blowing sunset with the peaks of the Sierra de la Laguna in the foreground. The sky, sea, clouds and mountains turned every shade of orange and red that you can possibly imagine, and it lasted for nearly 45 minutes. At the same time, a gorgeous full moon rose out of the ocean to the east. I was disappointed for awhile, because the clouds obscured the beginning of the lunar eclipse, then the most amazing thing happened -- about ten minutes before the total eclipse began, the clouds cleared. Seriously. They were gone for just over an hour, exactly spanning the time of the total eclipse. During this hour of darkened moon, we were able to see some stunning bioluminescence. At one point, we had an entire sky full of stars, a burnt orange orb of moon halfway up the sky and the glimmering fairy dust of millions of bioluminescing plankters all around us. Like I said, the perspective is so much different from a dark boat, low on the water.

I was just coming into Cerralvo Channel at sunrise this morning, and watched the full moon set behind the ridge above La Ventana. Gorgeous. We'd hoped to stop at Isla Cerralvo on our way north, but local weather sources say the northerly winds are supposed to pick up today and blow through the weekend. So, we scouted the shoreline, and plan to come back in late April when there's less chance of getting blown out of the anchorage. Right now, we're on home turf -- sailing up the west side of Espiritu Santo Island to anchor in Ensenada Grande for tonight. It may seem crazy to stay in a place we know so well, but tomorrow, I FINALLY get to do the long hike.
~ Michelle

Lunar eclipse tonight

February 20, 2008 Cabo San Lucas

After the solitude of the past week and a half, we were more than a little nervous about coming into Cabo. However, we needed diesel and a calm place for Mark to do a little mechanical work, so we rounded the Cape and prepared for madness... but we never found it. It was about 11 a.m. and the fuel dock was totally quiet, so we filled the tank (at the miraculously low price of $2.54 per gallon!), bought some more lube oil and were out of there in under 20 minutes. Wow. Then we called the Marina for our slip assignment, and headed to G-25. While I went up to register and do a few loads of laundry, Mark started on the projects. Our beautiful old engine has some leaky seals, and running it for about 150 hours over the past two weeks put a fair bit of lube oil in the drain pan, so clean up was in order. Although this marina is ridiculously expensive, it’s got great facilities and it was really nice to clean up a bit. We spent the afternoon cleaning the boat top to bottom, then enjoyed some amazing water pressure at the marina showers. Shortly before sunset, we headed up to the Whale Watcher Bar at the Hotel Finisterra (remember Cinco de Mayo 2001?) for a margarita, and watched the Sea Bird head north to Magdalena Bay. Dinner was delicious, and we were sound asleep by 8 p.m. Not your typical Cabo visitor...

We’re planning to leave around noon, and head north into the Gulf. It sounds like the seas should be calm, and the winds light for the next few days. Our Astronomical Calendar says that there’s supposed to be a total lunar eclipse tonight, so I’m really looking forward to watching it from sea. Check out NASA’s Lunar Eclipse website (in the Links list to the right), for the eclipse times in your part of the world. It’s between sunset and midnight for most of North America, so most of you should be able to see at least a little of it. Plus, it’s the last total lunar eclipse until December 2010... so check it out.

We’re still formulating our plan for the next few days, depending on what we find for sea conditions around the corner, but tonight will be our last overnight passage. I’ll miss the stars, sunrises and solitude, but not the lack of sleep! I've added some photos to our earlier posts, so you might want to go back and look at them again -- especially the Fish On! post.
~ Michelle

Crossing into the tropics

It was hard to get motivated for at 0430 for Cabo San Lucas this morning. Especially after three days of exploring and relaxing in Magdalena Bay. But we did it and followed Scorpio south to La Entrada. Mid morning, off of Pta. Tosca we came across an enormous bochinche. Hundreds of dolphins, dozens of sea lions and thousands of seabirds were all engaged in a feeding frenzy and we sailed into the midst of it. The wind has been light and from variable directions so the engine has been going most of
the day but we are making good speed. Lots of other wildlife including cavorting grey whales (cue Barry White) and a pair of blue whales heading north. We probably have at least 100 pictures of bow riding dolphins at this point so we'll be sorting these later. If all goes well we'll make it into Cabo around mid day tomorrow, take on fuel and then grab a slip for the night. Our current position puts us about 33 nautical miles from the Tropic of Cancer and tropical waters. We will make that boundary
sometime this evening. Mark and Michelle

Last Day in Mag Bay

Yesterday was a very social day for us. We were running low on fruits and veggies, the Sea Lion was going to be in the area so we called in a few favors and got some items added to their order. The problem was that we were a good 15 miles from the Sea Lion's location and it would take us a good 6 hours to get there and back to our anchorage via Cheers. The Sea Lion's bos'n Nikki Chatelain offered to deliver the goods and she brought Singyn Hunter (executive chef) and Ryan Foley (sous chef) along for the ride. It was great to see them all and we had a great visit in the cockpit aboard Cheers. I have to admit it was a bit surreal to have fresh produce delivered to us in the middle of nowhere by good friends. After our rendezvous with the Sea Lion crowd we made contact with the sailboat Pangaea with Ben and Shawn aboard. We met them in Turtle Bay and they arrived just a day behind us into Magdalena Bay. The produce order was split in two, bagged and then delivered in that they were right next door in the anchorage. We agreed on dinner together aboard Cheers and Michelle prepared a great meal with what was left of our fresh bonito. It was great to get to visit with Ben and Shawn again.

With all this socializing we did not have time to go ashore so today we took full advantage of our last day in Magdalena Bay. First on our list was an exploration via dinghy of Howland's lagoon. This small mangrove lined estuary was right off our bow but we had to get moving early before the tide dropped too far and the lagoon cut off until tomorrow's high tide. We saw loads of good shore birds and the channel went on much further than we had expected. Eventually we ran out of water and had to get "out of dodge" before the tide dropped much lower. After exiting the lagoon we made our way back to the beach and spent some time exploring the dunes and the shoreline before we head out for Cabo tomorrow. It will be an early call to get moving bay 0430. We hope to make good time and arrive into Cabo San Lucas sometime on Tuesday, fill up our fuel tank and then get a slip for the night. If all goes well we should make it up the islands near La Paz sometime on the 21st. Mark

Fish on!

Right after our last posting, Mark laid down to take a short nap before his 5-9 watch, and I blissed out on deck. Just at the moment I was settling into complacency about our daily routines, I noticed that the snubber on our fishing line was stretched taut. I ran below and woke Mark with a shout of "fish on!". After years of practice going from sleep to being absolutely awake, he didn't waste a minute. We hauled in a beautiful 10 lb. striped bonito, and put it to death with an amazing technique I'd
read about in a cookbook my friend Debbie gave us for a wedding gift. Vodka. Yes, it's true, a healthy squirt of inexpensive vodka to the gills of this fish, and she never knew what hit her. It was so much more civilized and humane than the usual bludgeoning. Bonito is in the same family as tunas, so the meat is delicious. We had seared fillets for dinner that night, ceviche yesterday and tonight's dinner is a Sicilian recipe for slow-roasted tuna with tomatoes and spices. I was very grateful for
this beautiful fish, and I'll post a picture when we get to an internet connection.

We arrived in Bahia Magdalena yesterday afternoon, anchoring around 3 p.m. We saw a number of gray whales, both outside and inside the bay. We found a spot to ourselves, a little to the north of Puerto Magdalena, in 15 feet of water, looking at the dunes of Isla Magdalena. It was great to turn off the engine, and get a good night's sleep last night. Today, we inflated the dinghy and went ashore. It felt glorious to walk, so we spent a few hours on land, hiking across the dunes to Bahia Santa Maria,
and back. We had two coyotes come near, got incredibly close looks at a peregrine falcon and savored the absolute peace and quiet. Tomorrow we're planning to explore Howland's Lagoon in the dinghy at high tide. It looks interesting on the chart, and from the water with binoculars.

~ Michelle

Roadtripping at 5 knots

It's as if you were driving to a far distant destination in a large car at a very slow rate of speed. You have your music, your snacks, you swap out driving, take naps but you just do it all at about 6 mph. Of course you're taking your home with you, things move a lot more and then throw in some beautiful coastline, some marine mammals, loads of seabird and you've got it.
We are a little more than half way between Turtle Bay and Magdalena Bay. Early this morning we passed Pta. Abreojos and San Ignacio Lagoon off in the distance to the East. For the most part we have been motor sailing but during the morning we had enough wind to just sail and secure the engine for about an hour. It was a nice respite from the noise. Sometime around noon we passed into 'blue water' with depths dropping off to 3,000 feet beneath the hull. Since our departure from Turtle Bay we have
seen nary a soul or vessel save one. The Spirit of Nantucket, formerly the Nantucket Clipper and soon to be the Spirit of Glacier Bay passed us close by on their way north to Seattle. It's odd that this would be our one contact for the day in that this was the first ship that I sailed on as a deckhand back in 1986, go figure. The weather forecast continues to be fair so it should stay pretty smooth from here until our arrival in Magdalena Bay tomorrow afternoon (knock on wood). We plan to stay in
Mag Bay at anchor near Puerto Magdalena for a few days. If all goes well we should cross paths with the Sea Lion before we depart for Cabo. Mark and Michelle

Turtle Bay

Yesterday we awoke to hundreds of Xantus' Murrelets in the water around the boat. We were underway from Islas San Benito at first light with many other odd sounds coming from the darkness (elephant seals from the beach, assorted seabirds and a dog barking from the fishing boat next to us). We had a sail up for most of the day but still had to use the motor due to light winds. The seas remain pretty calm and it was a good ride all the way to Turtle Bay. During the day we passed a dozen grey whales
heading south as well as thousands of shearwaters (seabirds)in the area. We pulled into Turtle Bay before sunset. Two enterprising young men in a fuel panga pulled up as soon as our anchor was set to provide us with diesel, took our trash and told Michelle that she spoke like a "pura Mexicana". This made her very happy. Shortly thereafter we had an invitation to dinner with Wayne (Moonduster) and Ben and Shawn (Pangaea). We took them up on this and it was nice to visit with them and swap sea
stories. Today we ventured into town, did some local purchasing and will soon be on our way for Magdalena Bay. It's a 267 nautical mile run to our next anchorage so it will be a bit of a haul. The weather forecast continues to be fair so we don't want to dally. Mark

360 Degree Stargazing

February 10, Islas San Benito

Until we were passed by a cruise ship at 8:30 this morning, we'd seen no other evidence of humanity, and virtually no sight of land for more than 24 hours. No planes, no boats, not even any floating debris. I feel so grateful to be reminded that there are still places on the planet were I can get some good "crazy alone time" (as Mark calls it).

Enough philosophizing, now back to the reportage. The only mammals we saw yesterday were each other, but I did get a few good pelagic bird sightings (Northern Fulmars, several species of shearwaters and Xantus's murrelets). I searched for albatross for hours, with no luck. The big excitement, though, was spotting a group of 4-6 small ocean sunfish, easing up to them and watching them jump out of the water several times before they dove. I know, I know, ocean sunfish are solitary, and I've sure never
heard of them breaching, but I have a couple of blurry photos to prove it.

The fog rolled in again at sunset, but was gone by the time I came on watch at 9 p.m. The stars were amazing for the entire night! With no light pollution, and a 360 degree view, I found stars and constellations I've rarely seen. Back on watch at 5 a.m., I watched Isla Cedros appear on the southeastern horizon at first light, with Venus, Jupiter and all of Scorpio bright above it.

We arrived and anchored at Isla San Benito Oeste at 11:30 this morning, and have been enjoying a little less motion for the past few hours. I bought a few spiny lobsters from the local fishermen for a bottle of "Two-buck Chuck", so we're looking forward to dinner at anchor, and then a full night's sleep. We can hear the California sea lions, and a few juvenile elephant seals around the corner. We're planning to leave at first light tomorrow, and be anchored in Bahia Tortuga by dinner time. Life is
good.
Saludos, Michelle

Skipping San Quintin

Last nights' run was so smooth and the weather outlook was too good to pass up so we opted to keep on going. We passed Isla San Martin and Cabo San Quintin in the early morning hours then pointed the bow for the San Benito Islands. At our current speed we should arrive there sometime between noon and 2pm local time tomorrow (2/09). The stars last night were fabulous. The big and little dipper, Sirius, Taurus and Orion kept us company until about 11pm and then the fog set in. We were motoring
along in our own little 100' diameter world until about 10 am today when it began to clear. Not many critters yet today except that Michelle was very excited to spot a school of Humboldt Squid feeding at the surface at first light. It's just after noon and we're about to cross 30 degrees north and get into the 20's. We're 14 miles offshore and about to cross Bahia Vizcaino from Pta. Baja across the north end of Isla Cedros. The winds are less than 10 knots from the WNW and the seas are pretty
flat except for the low but broad swell that has kept us company since San Diego.
Mark

Southbound from Ensenada

This morning we wrapped things up in Ensenada and got ready to head out. We were full of water, diesel and food as we headed out of Ensenada harbor around 11 am this morning. Since then it's been a motor boat ride with smooth seas (4' WNW swell) and winds less than 10 knots. Bad weather for sailing but good for wildlife sightings. We passed some bottlenose dolphins on our way out of Todos Santos bay then it was on to some groups of common dolphins further south and a group of 5 grey whales.
We'll be underway all night to arrive at our anchorage in San Quintin tomorrow morning. The weather outlook for the next few days is looking pretty good.
Mark

Finally in Mexico

February 7, 2008
Ensenada, Baja California Norte, Mexico

We finally made it past the border! Although we’d planned to leave San Diego on Tuesday, Feb. 5th, the “High Surf Warning” and buoy reports of 13-foot seas just offshore kept us in the slip for one more day. So, at 0430 on Wednesday, Feb. 6th, we took off from Sun Harbor Marina, and headed for Ensenada. Although there was a good westerly swell running, the wind only blew 5 – 15 knots for most of the day. We motor-sailed almost the entire 63 nm from Pt. Loma to Ensenada, in order to be sure and arrive at Marina Baja Naval before 7:00 p.m. We actually made great time, and were secure in the slip by 4:30. During the day, we had some great marine mammal sightings, including a couple of very cooperative bowriding Pacific white-sided dolphins. We also saw 6 California gray whales, and several groups of fast-moving common dolphins. No pelagic birds of note, but we were never more than 4 miles offshore.

Today we took care of business, clearing customs, immigration and paying for a “temporary import permit” for the boat. Now we’re legal. I made Mark push the button at customs, since I almost always get the red light. His luck held, and I breathed a sigh of relief when the green “PASE” lit up. I really didn’t want the Customs officials to come down and see how much wine we have stored!

We’re leaving tomorrow around 1000 for an overnight run to Bahía San Quintín. We plan to anchor there for Saturday night, then continue to either Cedros, or San Benito Islands. We’ll try and post via an email over the SSB radio, but that technology may be more than we can handle. Enjoy these photos, and know that we’re thinking of you.

Ready, Set, Go

February 1, 2008
San Diego, California

We’re just a few days away from sailing out of the U.S., and prepping like crazy. After multiple trips to Trader Joe’s and Target, I finally feel like we’re well stocked – both for the trip itself, and for being out of the U.S. until June. God forbid I should run out of my Tom’s all-natural toothpaste!

Now we’re on to final details... Mark’s checking all the lights, rigging and lines, while I file our taxes, plan menus and optimize stowage below decks. Today we filled up with diesel and gasoline for the dinghy. At $3.80 and $4.15 per gallon, we’re highly motivated to sail as much as possible down the coast.

We consult multiple weather websites daily, searching for the perfect window. Right now, it looks like we’ll leave early Tuesday morning. We’ll sail to Ensenada and spend two nights there, taking care of all our customs and immigration paperwork. Then we go south.

Our current voyage plan has us sailing from Ensenada to La Paz, with possible stops in San Quintín, San Benito or Cedro Islands, Bahía Tortuga, Punta Abreojos, Bahía Magdalena, San Jose del Cabo, Los Frailes and one, or more, of the beautiful anchorages on Espiritu Santo Island. Mark will try and post our position daily via the SSB radio, so you can check the link in the upper right corner of this blog (Where is Cheers?) to see where we actually end up. Once we arrive in La Paz, we’ll post some pictures and fill in the details of the trip. We’re hoping for good sailing conditions, some good pelagic bird sightings, and maybe a marine mammal or two.