Last Days at Turtle Bay

We are winding up our stay here in Turtle Bay. While we have been here, at least eight boats have come and gone. Most people only stay here for a night or so while on their way south. They stop here long enough to get more fuel and maybe water, and some sleep. There is not really a lot to actually Do here, but the experience of living at anchor with only limited communication and ability to get supplies has been great. I wasn't really worried about it, since we are campers and sued to taht sort of roughing it, but this is more comfortable than I thought it would be. I don't think I am going to always insist on marinas, even when they are available and reasonable. It is nice to be floating out here, away from everyone, rocking on the water and just feeling peaceful and unworried. Simple things become a lot more interesting and significant. The difference between being at anchor and being in a marina is like the difference between a farm house and a condo. I like wakin gup at night and looking out at the lights on shore. And I cannot remember the last time I heard a jet.

I have completely taken over the galley and Mike is eating very well. In fact, we have had a lot less arguments since I started running it. I really think I needed something I was responsible for, something I was in charge of. It was chafing to feel as though I had to ask permission for absolutely everything. It is still a bit strange and a little lonely for me being away from all my friends and coworkers and family. Anyway, I have learned a lot about cooking at sea. I have been using my pressure cooker, and also experimenting with some local ingredients. There are only a few grocery stores here, and they do not have a lot of different things. Meat is sold out of a bucket in a refrigerator. But we bought some of the best homemade chorizo I have ever tasted. All the tortillas we eat are fresh, and most of the vegetables ( a very limited commodity here) look as though they came from someone's backyard. It is really fun, sort of like learning to cook all over again. The tiny galley is actually pretty efficient. I am enjoying this tremendously - this from me, who usually eats almost every meal out!

When we leave here, we are going to spend a night or so about 50 miles south of here, and then continue on down to a place called Bahia Magdalena, or Mag Bay as she is known to boaters. Then we will likely stop in Cabo, and after that, Mazatlan. I'd like to stay there for awhile. There is an anchorage right smack in the middle of town, so that should be fun - the best of both worlds. I have never been to Mazatlan. After that, who knows? Probably Puerto Vallarta to Acapulco, then back up to the Sea of Cortez for the summer to avoid hurricanes. But none of this is carved in stone. We will go where we feel like going when we feel like going there. That is what this is all about.

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Living On The Hook

"Living on the hook" means that the boat is anchored rather than being tied up to a dock. We haven't done that before, because we were always in a marina or on the hard or underway. So this is new, and we like it a lot.

Turtle Bay is a tiny little village in the middle of nowhere, literally. There is a 135 mile dirt road that links it to another tiny town on the only highway running the length of Baja. At one time there was a fish cannery here, and more people, but the cannery is in ruins and I have no idea how the people here live, other than some fishing and dealing with us yatistas (that is what they call us boaters here) that stop here on their way up and down the peninsula. Almost everyone stops here, but most people stay only a day or so. We plan to spend at least a week. There are a couple of tiny grocery stores, a surprising number of auto parts places (maybe not so surprising when one considers that 135 mile dirt road), a couple small eateries and cantinas, a school, a church, and some other things I have not yet identified as well as the people's houses. Some of them are nice, but most are pretty poor by our standards - lots of plywood and concrete blocks and stuff like that. The place looks like the southern desert area near Yuma, only with a beach. The mountains are rugged and different shades of browns, tan and different colors at sunrise and sunset. Everything is about as sere as can be. There is no grass or any green to be seen, unless someone planted it and is tending it.

We had barely dropped our anchor Friday when a panga pulled up and arranged to bring fuel to us the next day. We found out later two companies (read families)are competing as to who will be the top panga service in Turtle Bay. Besides fuel delivery, they run a water taxi service. I guess that would be good if you wanted to hit the cantinas hard - wouldn't be drunk driving your dinghy. When we went to town yesterday (Sunday) we stopped and had some tacos. While we were there the woman running the place told me it would be very cheap for me if I brought her my laundry, and I readily agreed. So that issue is taken care of. We can get water for our tanks, and plan to top those off before we leave here.

Our power sources are working well. It has been really windy here, so the wind generator has proven to be worth the costs. Our solar panels are also contributing, although we are planning to rewire them today and see if we can get them to produce even more. We have been able to use the computers and the SSB radio, the coffee maker, the microwave, and all the lights we want to, as well as the stereo. I am really enjoying life now. There are a couple other boats here, but we have seen 5 or 6 come and go just since Friday. It is warm and sunny, and we are wearing shorts. No more space heater either. I can hardly wait to do some painting - there is a little cluster of multicolored tumbledown homes set apart from all the others and nestled in the brown hills that looks intriguing. I can set up right on the deck!

I made chili last night in the pressure cooker and it was great. SO now we will be eating chili for two more days because there is really no room for leftovers in this small frig. My goal as a chef is to learn how to not make too much food. Mike has graciously granted me free rein with the galley (kitchen) and I am ecstatic. Finally, a job of my own! SOme real responsibility! It was getting depressing not to have any say over anything. But this is just what I have been looking for. I might not let MIke go to the store with me. It will be fun to ...

This post was interupted by a holding tank emergency - Mike notices the toilet is not flushing properly and guess what! A tank fix was in order, and the floor needed to be washed anyway. Now it is not only clean, it is sanitized!

I think this is a sign that it is time to end this post and get back to what needs to be done!

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The Second Voyage

We left Ensenada for Turtle Bay at about 9:30 am on Tuesday morning. I was sort of sorry to leave Ensenada, as I had a really good time the six weeks we were there. I liked the pace, and felt I could settle in quite nicely. But we were eager to get underway and start heading south.

Magda Jean motored out of the harbor, and by noon we had all three sails flying and were sailing along happily. The wind and solar power generators easily kept up with our needs and wants, one of which was our autopilot, which kept us on course with no need for hand steering. We sat in the cockpit, just enjoying the ride. It was chilly though - and for most of the trip we wore long underwear, pants, then slicker pants for the periodic wetness, three shirts, and our foul weather jackets. At night we wore caps as well. It was not unpleasant with the proper gear. We had to reef the main sail and the jib in order to stay in control. The seas were sort of rough, and the boat got knocked around a lot. Later, we lost the wind, which was a bummer because the seas were sort of high. There was a LOT of yawing around, but except for the fact that slatting sails and a slamming boom are bad for the boat, we were fine and happy. Our first dinner was pretty miserable, but we waited too long until it was dark. While of course we have lights, we did not feel comfortable enough yet to leave the cockpit unattended to eat dinner inside. While I slept, Mike sailed and his log reports indicate it was cold but the sailing was good. There was a lot of rolling around from side to side, but I was able to sleep.

Wednesday dawned with Mike sleeping (only a bit - getting enough sleep for him remains a challenge) and me on watch. I loved every minute of it. The autopilot kept us on course, and I watched the sun come up. There is always something to check on while on watch, and believe me, it is not boring. It is also absolutely wonderful just to be alone with my own thoughts. I would find myself in this state that I think is a meditative state - something I have heard about but never been able to achieve before. It was like I was asleep but hyperaware at the same time, but also somewhere else mentally altogether. We also decided to change our course and go further offshore and tack, because the winds were getting us nowhere. Sailing is not like driving - since you cannot go directly into the wind, you have to get places sometimes indirectly. Like you can't get there from here. You have to go somewhere else first, and then cut back. It can actually take less time to go more miles, and that is a concept I have had a hard time dealing with. When my destination is southeast, it is very hard to watch myself on the gps track going west southwest. But the course change did make for wonderful sailing, with less wear and tear on the boat. I fixed spaghetti for dinner. Our stove is on gimbals so it moves back and forth as the boat rocks. And I have these metal things with thumbscrews that attach to the stove and keep the pots and pans settled down even with rough seas. It was fantastic. The boat is rocking so much that I have top brace myself in order to stand up, but the pot of boiling pasta water was as steady as if it were on my stove on Wing Street. I washed the dishes in salt water with a fresh water rinse. I had an evening watch, and discovered to my absolute delight that I could read onboard even in a rocking boat. The winds died down, and we turned the engines on, because if not, the combination of no wind and rough seas caused the sails to slat and the boom to slam around. (Not only do I hate that condition because it is very uncomfortable, it is also very bad for the boat.) While the engine was going, I changed course to a more southerly direction. Mike was asleep and I made the decision to do that on my own. (It was a constant issue for Mike to get any sleep. A lot of that had to do with things happening that he needed to be there for, but truthfully, some of it is due to his own personality. He thinks he has to do everything himself in order for things to go properly. Even though I stood a perfectly fine watch, it was hard to get him to go to sleep, and even then he jumped out of bed every time the boat shifted.) When Mike took over and I went to bed, he experimented with trying to sail, but it wasn't working very well. The boat took some really hard rolls. He finally broke down and turned the engine on. It is hard to sleep with the boat rolling round, but if you can not worry and just sort of relax into it, it can almost be pleasant. I identified all the noises and diagnosed the sources finding the threat factor to be low, and then everything was fine.

On the third day, I read during my morning watch and just thought about things. I considered getting the computer and doing some writing, but didn't feel confident enough to have it in the cockpit where it might get knocked over. That will come later. I sipped my coffee and thought about how it seemed to be getting warmer. It was. We shed layers of clothing and never did have to put quite as much back on. The winds came and went, and because we wanted to make some progress towards Turtle Bay and warmer weather, we used the engine. We don't like to, but at times it makes life much easier. I made smoked marlin ceviche tostadas for dinner. My evening watch was a lot of fun, because we were sailing along nicely with a lot of roll in the seas. It was very exciting and a complete adrenaline rush. I would have let Mike sleep longer but he woke up and insisted on taking over. SO I went to bed and slept nicely even with the pitching.

We were sailing when I took over the watch, but the wind died down and again we turned the engine on. It was getting warmer and before I knew it, I had on only one shirt, one pair of pants, no socks, and no jacket. I saw a jumping fish, and would have thrown out a line except for the fact that Mike was finally getting some uninterrupted sleep, and it takes one to handle the fish and one to handle the boat. Our final afternoon was beautiful, and we anchored in Turtle Bay exactly at sunset. After securing our anchor so as to ensure it would not drag, we went to bed and slept well.

That brings us current. We are anchored in Turtle Bay, just off a nice little village. The winds are so strong today that some of the boats dragged anchor, but not us. Our expensive top of the line anchor was a sound investment. Our wind generator and solar panels are easily keeping up with and exceeding our power needs, including a coffee maker and this computer. We haven't had to run the engine to charge the batteries all day. Once the wind dies down, we plan to take the dinghy to shore to explore this little village and send regular emails in an internet cafe. I will try and post pictures in my next blog post. Finally, I feel like a real sailor.

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Finally - Leaving Tomorrow

I am not going to pretend that I am not a bit apprehensive about leaving Ensenada and heading south.  After what happened on the way down here with the flood and the rough seas and the winds the weatherman lied about, I have almost forgotten why I wanted to sail in the first place.  And I am afraid of getting sick again.  When that happens, I am no good whatsoever and all the work falls on Mike.  Couple that with my lousy helming skills and Mike will get no sleep at all.  I desperately want to pull my weight on this trip.   But that was the only time I have ever been seasick, and I got some medication down here that the other cruisers swear by.  I have also been told that ginger is good, so I plan to mix powdered ginger in hot water with a little honey if my stomach starts to get rocky.  I have ginger candy, but last time that was not strong enough - or, more likely, I waited too long before I started in with it.

Additionally, bad things have happened to some people heading that way from here over the last couple of weeks.  One boat was dismasted and another was driven up on some rocks and destroyed.  We actually met the people with the ruined boat before their accident and they were very experienced sailors.  Their boat was an absolutely beautiful - solid teak and 50 years old.  They had been sailing her for eleven years and had even taken her around Cape Horn, which is like climbing Mt. Everest for sailors.  If someone with that kind of experience can have bad things happen, so can we.  But the weather window looks great and we plan to stay way off shore (which is safer, you are more likely to have a land based problem than a water based problem).  There are at least four other boats leaving from here around the same time we do, so we can all stay in radio contact.  It might be kind of nice knowing we are not alone out there.

We had dinner with our friends Margo and Tony last night, and we all had a great time.  They are wonderful friends and I am sad to be leaving them.  We all plan to meet up later this year in La Paz and I see no reason why that will not happen.  They are waiting out the winter here in Ensenada and plan to head south in March or so.  That is one thing about this lifestyle - meeting people then leaving them just as you are really getting to like each other.  But we are all headed for points south, and there is not telling who one will meet up with at what time.  It is also one of the fun parts.   

Our plans are to head south and stop eventually in Mazatlan, with some stops along the way.  We might have to stay in Cabo San Lucas for a couple of weeks due to mail issues,  but I think that will be okay, even though Cabo is not my favorite place.  It is still pretty nice.  I have heard that marina slips are outrageously expensive there, but we can anchor for little or nothing. 

Ensenada has been wonderful and in a lot of ways I don't want to leave.  We have made some friends here, and not just other gringos.  In spite of the obvious toll the economic problems have had on the city, it is still very vibrant and lively.  There is a sense of optimism I do not see in the US.  Despite all the economic problems, no one sits around bitching about the government or blaming everyone else for their problems.  They are wonderful hosts who actually seem to enjoy having guests, and it is not just about the tourist money.  The drug wars have not affected this area, and I am here to tell anyone who is willing to listen that it is not as bad down here as the US media would have one believe.  I would not be in a hurry to go to Ciudad Juarez or Nuevo Laredo, but here in Baja, all is peaceful and calm.  Everyone is busy going to school, working, and just being alive in this wonderful place.  They love helping me with my Spanish.  In fact, the last person who was even the slightest bit unpleasant was a US customs officer! 

The first leg of this trip should take about three days, depending on the weather.  That will take us to Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay), which is about halfway down the Baja penninsula.  It is a tiny little bay that has no marina, but has a fuel dock, water, and a good anchorage.  We plan to spend a couple weeks there, practicing some sailing skills and just kicking back enjoying being on the water.  Our next stop is about 100 miles south of that, at a place called Bahia Magdalena (Mag Bay to us cruisers).  There is a cove just outside the bay where we plan to anchor, and depending on how we feel, we will stay there for days or maybe a week or so.  Then comes Cabo, where we hope to get some more charts and stock up on stuff like food.  After that, we plan to shoot across to the mainland, and Mazatlan.  But all of that is subject to change at any time.  Who knows where we will end up and when?  We never planned to spend six weeks here, but I am glad we did. 

I am hoping to be able to do a blog post while we are underway.  I know how to do it using my SSB (marine short wave) radio, but I have no idea if typing will make me feel sick or not.  Otherwise, there might not be an update here for at least a week, not that THAT is anything new.  But I will try.  I want to share as much as I can with all of you, and the closer in time the posting is to the events, the more real it will be.  And less edited, especially if I am all het up about something.  I won't have a chance to sanitize things.   

Well, here is hoping there are no floods and that the seas are at least somewhat calm.  Wish me luck! 

Weather Window Wait

The brightwork (woodwork) is finally done and it looks beautiful and lusterous just as we had hoped it would.  The beginning of this new year has been - well, I'm at a loss for what word to use. 

It was beginning to get frustrating not being able to leave for points south even though I really like Ensenada.  We were on a week-by-week basis as far as the work because of the rain.  So it was kind of hard to get really ensconced in the group of people who are living here on boats like we are.  Some are here permanently, some are seasonal, and some are transient like we are.  And although I am very outgoing and friendly, Mike is not, and neither of us are much for small talk.  We have made some really good friends here, and the community is so small we will all keep running into each other.  But it was hard to bond with people just to leave them at a moment's notice.  I know that sounds possibly ridiculous, but it is how I feel.   However, I will from now on be living at the whim of the weather.  This means I don't always get to choose when, where, or how I get somewhere.  Getting stuck in a nice vibrant city like Ensenada is easy.  But there will be times when we are stuck all alone ina tiny anchorage waint out a storm for four days, with no internet access.  This is my life now.  New challenges.  But it can be hard to make that sort of adjustment.  It feels like a real fundamental shift somehow in how I look at life itself.

We finally went back in the water on Wednesday.  This happened after Mike discovered a leak in the fuel tank, which could really spell disaster for us because it is horrendously expensive to replace and we don't have that kind of money.  He immediately went to work to try and stop it, and after awhile it seemed to have stopped.  We were really happy and went out and drank too much beer and had a wonderful dinner and went to bed excited to "splash" on Wednesday.

Mike opened the door to the engine room right away to see how the fix was holding while I drowsed in bed under the nice warm blankets.  That did not last.  Mike hollered out "Fuck!" which well he should have because not only did the fix not hold, the leak was worse.  It was small, but sort of shooting out.  Mike hollered that it was "pissing on me."  So for four hours Mike worked on that leak while I handed him tools and prayed.  One of those "No atheists in a foxhole" type things.  As I write this, it again seems to be holding.  The leak kept getting smaller and smaller, going from a stream to a dribble to a drip to an almost imperceptible weep.  Mike is optimistic it can be fixed altogether.  Still, it was VERY stressful.

Then we "splashed" - that is, went back in the water.  There is this big lifter that lifts and carries the boat with big bands around the hull.  We had to be in the boat when they did it, and it was terrifying up there hanging from those bands.  And because the shipyard opens out onto a malecon (boardwalk type place) there was an audience, so I had to act nonchalant.  But we got back in the water and all is well on that front. 

Now if all goes well and the weather cooperates, we will leave here on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Here's hoping!                  

Pigeons and More

Both Mike and I have been sick - some sort of flu-y or cold type thing.  He had it first and just as he was getting better, I got it.  I just wanted to be well (or at least well on the mend) by New Years Eve and I think I will make it.  At least we got sick now and not just before leaving.  Of course, once we are underway we are not likely to get sick since you have to be exposed to other sick people in order to get that way yourself.

We discovered that in Mexico, Christmas Eve is a big celebration with people shooting off fireworks that cumulate at midnight.  Christmas day is quieter, but there were still lots of restaurants and shops open, especially since Christmas fell on a Saturday, which is one of the days the cruise ships dock for the day.  The Carnival cruise comes here every Wednesday and Saturday.  Those are big days for the merchants and restaurants here.  There are some other cruise ships that come less regularly, like Holland America and one other.  The sidewalk vendors are starting to recognize Mike and me and no longer try to get us to buy their stuff, they just say hello.  We are known in our favorite restaurants, and some of them now know automatically not to put cheese on any of my food.  One woman who works at our favorite breakfast place brought to our table the other morning tamales she made at home.  She had brought them for her coworkers and us.  None of the other restaurant patrons got any.  I felt really honored and special.  Mexican people have a way of making you feel special.  I think that is one of the reasons I like it here.

We are spending New Years Eve with some friends we have made down here, Margo and Tony.  They live in another marina in their Catalina 36 and we had dinner on their boat.  It is more homey than ours,  but truthfully interior design has been put on our back burner since there are plenty of more necessary things to do.   We all spent the day together on Monday, just having coffee and talking and walking around and I had a great time.  So we made plans to spend NYE together, and the first stop will be a casino.  Now, that is not our first choice by a longshot, but we are open minded and it should be fun, if for no other reason than it will be something new.  I haven't gone out and celebrated a New Year since 1999-2000. 

The work on Magda Jean is almost done, and were it not for the rain that is expected later tonight, we would be back in the water this weekend.  Oh well - I think we will be out of here and on our way south sometime this next week.  I hope so, anyway.  As much as I like it here, we need to move on.  I am tired of being cold (with apologies to anyone reading this who has snow and ice) and want to start wearing my shorts and bathing suit instead of my jeans and sweatshirts.  We are going to start preparing our charts for the trip south, and although our plan is to go straight to Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) which is a three day trip, we will also set alternate routes along the coast so we could stop and anchor at night if we want to.  I also discovered two possible seasickness remedies from some other cruisers, so I plan to stock up just in case.  I usually don't get seasick, but I sure did coming down when the seas were rough.  I want to be able to pull my weight, and being seasick does nothing to further that goal.  There are so many sailing skills that I need to acquire, that I find it sort of overwhelming at times and I get scared I will not measure up.  Then all the work will fall on Mike, and that can't be sustained for any amount of time.  I am a terrible helmsman.  I can't hold the course to save my life.  I believe it will come with practice - to tell the truth, it took me a long time to learn to drive.  I even flunked the behind-the-wheel portion of drivers ed and had to take it a second time.  I think maybe I am starting to get the hang of it - famous last words! 

Anyway - that is what is happening to us these days.  I got Mike a nice hat with earflaps as his watch cap blew off his head on the way down.  This hat has ties under the chin so it won't blow away.  The number of hats, particularly  baseball-type caps that Mike has lost in the ocean is astonomical. I make fun of him about it.  A good present to get Mike will always be some sort of baseball type cap as he always needs new ones.

One very interesting thing has happened - I spotted a pigeon with pink markings on his otherwise white feathers.  I have seen many pigeons in my life, but never a pink one.  The pink is peptobismol pink, and he has a magenta racing stripe across his forehead.  I look for him every day because I know where he hangs out, and I have pictures.  If I ever learn how to post pictures on here, his will be one of the first.  I like pigeons anyway, and this one is spectacular.  Nothing like him in the States!      

Christmas Eve Eve

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  The town is decorated up real nicely - the palm trees have white lights strung around the trunks with green spotlight-type lights shining up under the fronds.  It is fun to paint here because everything is so colorful.  There are also creches everywhere you turn, and I like that.  I am as strong a supporter of separation of church and state as anyone could possibly be, but (with apologies to all the druids and such) without the whole Jesus-being-born-thing there would really be no Christmas as we know it today.  Obviously it has evolved into a cultural experience as well, with Santa and shopping and trees and all that, but isn't it kind of stupid to pretend it has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity?  It's not like nobody knows.     

We lost a week's worth of work because of all the rain, so we aren't likely to get out of here before the new year.  And because it is up on stilts in the shipyard, we have been staying in hotels.  Patience, patience.  This will not be the first time we are at the mercy of the weather.  Even had we been ready to leave, we would likely have been here anyway, waiting for a weather window.  A bunch of Canadians left today, because there is not supposed to be anymore rain until maybe Sunday.  I'd sure rather wait out a storm than be all wet and miserable at sea if it is avoidable.  By the way, the woodwork that has been done looks really good.  The wind generator appears to be working well, and we are dying to check out the new performance of the solar panels since Mike changed most of the connection points.  He did all the work while it was rainy and overcast, so we haven't been able to test it out.  But interestingly, it was showing some generation even while it was overcast.  We had not noticed this in the past.  So now we are eager to see how much it generates since the repairs once the sun comes out. 

Being as energy independent as possible is one of our biggest goals.  We can always charge our batteries by running the engine, or hooking up to shore power, or even using the gas generator we have on board.  But none of that makes us really independent, because of the reliance on diesel or gas.  We enjoy our creature comforts (like the refrigerator, the stereo, the computer, hot water,and so on), and some of those use a lot of power.  There are a number of people who sail without all that stuff, even some who sail around the world engineless, and while I admire that, I want things more comfortable.  At the same time, I am looking forward to long stretches at sea without being able to get more diesel or gas or some marina slip's shore power cord.  The solar and wind will be great when we are at sea or at anchor, the frequency of which I am really hoping with improve shortly!

It is sort of strange to be away from everyone during Christmas.  It isn't like I was always surrounded by family in past Christmases, but it is strange to be completely on our own, not even going back to work in a couple days to familiar faces or waiting for my son to come home from his father's house. He will be spending Christmas with his girlfriend and her family - he now celebrates almost all his solidays with them.  He needs to get a passport to come and see me - I have told him I will pay for it but he is not getting that done - is he trying to tell me something?  Now I really am ridiculous, ha ha ha.  I am not lonely here, but it is unsettling a bit. There have been so many changes this year, I almost wish I could take a couple days from my life just to take a breath and review the whole thing.  Less than six months ago I was employed with a house and a car and everything that goes with a so-called normal life. That is a lot of change to absorb. 

Just one last note about life here in Mexico - and the great food.  Last night I had quail in rose petel sauce - the recipe from Like Water For Chocolate.  I would not have minded dying at that moment, it was that good.  And just for the record:  hotels are nice but I miss my snug cozy boat!