Bahia Tortuga

Sightseeing at  "La Bufadora", The Blow Hole

Jay's Post: Typically, our offshore passages have been day hops of forty to sixty miles. This takes us approximately nine to thirteen hours to complete. There have been exceptions, like when we rounded Point Conception, California, which took us twenty-two hours and the sail from Bahia San Carlos to Bahia Tortugas, which took us twenty-nine hours. These long overnight passages tend to wear us out, as one of us is on watch at all times to ensure we remain on coarse, and more importantly we run into nothing and nothing runs into us. Our routine is to spend three hours on watch and three hours off watch. While off watch we read, relax or sleep. For meals we try to eat food that is easy to prepare, like sandwiches, burritos, peanut butter crackers, etc. These offshore meals are eaten when we get hungry, with no fixed schedule. Most of our energy goes into sailing “Little Lara”. As Peggy says, “sailing is hard work, very hard work”. It also can be very tiring.

Sunset at Santo Tomas

All of this changes, however, when we are at anchorage. Then we get a full nights sleep and eat regularly prepared meals. We also enjoy going ashore and seeing the sights and meeting people. With the onset of winter, the days are growing shorter and the nights are growing longer. Once our evening meal is over and the dishes are washed and put away, Peggy frequently asks if it is time for bed. I have to inform her it is only 6:30 PM. If we go to bed to early, then we tend to wake up well before sunrise. Plus, in almost every Mexican town we have visited, there seems to be a band that starts playing music from 7:00 until 10:00 PM. With these bands there is much pounding of drums and blowing of trumpets. This is followed by all kinds of shouting. A lively party of some kind? All this noise makes it difficult to sleep, but it does peaks our curiosity as to what possibly could be going on.

Fish On

Amongst cruisers 9:00 PM is frequently referred to as “Cruiser's Midnight” while at anchor. That is because most cruisers go to bed then. Perhaps it is because they, like us, are tired after the day's activities, or because after sundown there is not much to do on a sailboat, or because you are trying to conserve electricity. Perhaps it is all the hard work that goes into sailing the boat, shopping for provisions, or obtaining fuel. Whatever the reason, not even the Mexican bands prevent sailors from hitting their bunks at “Cruiser's Midnight”.

Barbecued Clams "La Bufadora" 

Peggy's Post: Jay continues to win the fishing contest! After he lost my favorite squid lure (on purpose?), he put a cedar plug lure on the line and almost immediately caught a blue fin tuna. We had a struggle getting the 24” fish into the boat as it didn't fit into our net. But we did enjoy three meals of tuna steaks and fish tacos.

"Turtle Bay"

We are currently anchored in Turtle Bay waiting for some forecasted weather to pass. We have been disappointed the past couple of anchorages to learn that we were unable to attend church because they were several hours away. But we appreciate being able to hold church on the boat. We have scriptures, church manuals and the Ensign on our tablet so we have 'talks' and lessons... but you should hear us singing the hymns! No, you probably should be glad you can't.

When we take the dinghy ashore into little fishing villages, we meet wonderful people who are so happy to help in any way they can. Yesterday, for example, we asked a young man if he knew if there was a church here (we heard that there might be a small branch). He excitedly told us he knew where it was and had seen the missionaries. He gave us a ride to see the church, but we had to disappoint him by letting him know that it was another church.

Dodging rocks, ships and crab pots

The 'gringos' on other boats have been very friendly as well. We just met a family today who have a 2 ½ year old on their boat. They rigged up a 'captain's' seat (looks like a toddler swing) for her hanging in the cockpit. They plan to sail to the South Pacific after they spend some time in Mexico. No, we don't plan on joining them! We still plan to be back home for the summer and after that... maybe a mission.