Bahia San Quintin aborted….1.11.08

We headed out of Ensenada harbor around 12:30 and headed toward Bahia San Quintin expecting an early morning arrival but there was a big swell & wind that was pushing us down the coast quicker than we had expected. We were already at Ben's Rock (Roca Ben), right around the corner of the harbor by about midnight which would have put us in an unfamiliar anchorage about 2am in the pitch dark…so we decided to continue on to Turtle Bay (Bahia de Tortugas). Turtle Bay is a cruiser favorite and is about
½ way down the coast.

The seas were decent for our crossing - the swells were probably 5-7ft with about 3ft wind chop at the worst of it. It was above 20knots of wind most of the day and was coming from our aft. We motorsailed the entire time and were clipping around about 8 ½ to 9 ½ knots. Chad put out a hand line but didn't catch anything. A hand line is a fishing lure that's attached to a 150pound fishing line that just gets tossed into the ocean and is attached to the back of the boat around a cleat. The lure
follows behind the boat and hopefully catches something! We've been told there's good tuna & seabass and we are craving sushi!! We brought enough wasabi for lots of fresh fish and can't WAIT to catch our first one!

Last night it was COOOLLLLDDDD!!! Freezing fricking cold I'd say. It was only in the 50's the entire afternoon & evening. The fog rolled in around 2am and warmed it up a bit, to maybe 51 or so. I've been becoming a master at layering clothes and thank goodness I purchased my foul weather gear before losing weight! Last night I had 3 shirts, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of sweats & my foulie pants, warm fuzzy socks & ugg boots, gloves, a scarf double wrapped around my neck & two beanies on my head. Finally
I was warm enough to last the two hours on watch without shivering to death. We held watches every two hours - we were up on deck for two hours and then were off for two hours for sleep, but I certainly had the best deal as we overlapped shifts so I was with Michael the 1st hour and Chad the 2nd hour. Michael & Chad had one hour with me and one hour alone. We started the shifts at 7pm - Chad slept first & Michael & I were on until 8pm. My shifts were 7-9, 11-1, 3-5, & 7-9. Chad was nice enough
to take another hour of Michael's watch so that gave me two extra hours of sleep after 5am. We saw only about 5 other ships the entire evening but before the fog rolled in, the sky was crystal clear and the stars were magnificent. I identified a couple constellations - my favorite is Orion. There was also some phosphorescence in the water which was lighting up as we stirred up the water. I can't wait to see creatures swimming around in the phosphorescence!

I read recently in the "lubber's dictionary" a word that describes our boat to a tee…Shipshape. A boat is said to be shipshape when every object that is likely to contribute to the easy handling of the vessel or the comfort of the crew has been put in a place from which it cannot be retrieved in less than 30 minutes. Yep, that's our boat most times. I remembered we have a tub full of granola bars that I thought was just under the settee….but it had been moved to the very back and took forever
to dig it out! It seems that's what Michael is doing a lot of the time….pulling out tubs to get to those items we weren't expecting to use. Luckily though, he has every tub on board catalogued with what's included in each tub, and where each tub is located. I call him sick….he says it's organized.

I was starvin marvin each time I woke up for a shift and ate little things to keep me satisfied but decided to make a nice warm breakfast this morning. I started at 9:15 and we finally ate at 10:45…I must work on my timeliness!! I cut up some potatoes, peppers, & onions and baked them while also frying some eggs. I also made up tuna, celery, & hard boiled eggs for tunafish sandwiches for lunch. Cooking under way is….well….interesting! I don't know how I can explain it other than imagine trying
to cook while riding the tilt-a-whirl ride at your local amusement park! You either gotta hold on with one hand (one had for yourself, one hand for the boat…that's the rule) and do everything else with the other hand. Or if you're really feeling up to it….can do a lot of knee bends, just one leg at a time, as the boat moves from side to side letting you have both hands for about 3 seconds at a time. Sounds easy, huh? Just remember you're also dealing with a hot stove & oven! I'm getting better
and better at it and just need to figure out how to wedge stuff a little better to keep it from sliding from one side of the sink/counter to another. I've never been a wiz in the kitchen and will only get better, I'm sure. I have a good friend who's an expert at cooking under way that I may be able to see in March and I look forward to getting tips from her!

We continue to motorsail (that means the motor is on, but the sails are up as well) down the coast at about 7-8 knots right now. We have about another 100 miles as of right now. If everything works out, we should be in to Turtle Bay early morning. It's sunshiny, 65 degrees, & we've seen about 3 cruise ships & 4 large tanker ships with lots of cargo. We're enjoying the sunshine, eating tuna fish sandwiches, & having a beer (hey, we're in Mexico...we're allowed!). We have two handlines out trolling
for fish…wish us luck! I'll write more later…
Rene