(Jeff)
Greetings from somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Actually we know exactly where we are at: North 24° 15' 703" by West 111° 57' 550". For those that may be following our progress on a map, that puts us just a shake North of Cabo San Lucas on the West side of the Baja peninsula. In fact, we hope to arrive in Cabo in about 38 hours give or take.
We've been underway now for about nine hours today after having spent a day in a wonderful bay called Bahia Santa Maria which was our last official stop as part of the Baja Ha Ha rally. The next and last stop is Cabo, where we will depart from the fleet and make our way toward mainland Mexico. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here so far, and have met some great people who have been participating in the Baja Ha Ha who are roughly our ages. Two notable ones are Graham and his girlfriend Taryn aboard Water Dragon (cool boat name) and Ethan, his brother Ryan and Kale aboard the boat Brisa. We've consistently hung out with all of them for the past week, but all good things end eventually. Ethan and his crew are staying in Bahia Santa Maria for a few more days (ditching the Ha Ha fleet) and heading down to Cabo en-route for La Paz in a couple weeks. That's the cruising way. People come and go and you're very lucky if you can stay with another boat for more than a few weeks. Everyone has their own agenda and location to which they're heading. With that being said, Water Dragon is still heading south with us and may continue to the mainland where the surfing is reported to be great!
As a side note, Marc and I have noticed that many of the younger folks we have met are high-tech dropouts much like ourselves. Many have taken their savings (if any) and set out on the grand adventure not really knowing when or where they will arrive next. Some have plans of heading to specific locations, while others just plan to head generally one direction and figure it out along the way, vagabond style. It's not as luxurious as it seems on the surface. While there are very beautiful anchorages and bays to wake up to each day, it can be a bit difficult living day to day without the common amenities that everyone takes for granted. Just a simple shower in the morning is something of an extreme luxury. For a few days now we've been a bit salty from swimming and only today decided to break out the sun shower and have a good fresh water shower. Obviously, all of our bathing occurs in the salt water with only a scant fresh water rinse. While we do have a water maker onboard, we need to be miserly about water usage as fresh and potable water in all of Mexico is scarce at best. Today's extra long shower was probably only about 1/2 gallon each but sure felt great!
Our fishing success has been a bit lackluster lately. We caught several little yellowtail tuna, but they were literally too small to eat and only amounted to about 5 lbs each. Granted those were totally edible fish, but their not so distant cousins are significantly bigger weighing in at roughly 30-40lbs. Those are the ones we're really after and the rest are simple catch and release. We did hook something big -- and I mean very big -- the other day. Bear in mind that we are fishing with 300 lb test tuna line with steel leaders on the end. Something we caught the other day broke our swivel connecting the steel leader and line in half! That swivel should be rated at over 250 lbs or more so I can't possibly imagine what struck the line. Unfortunately, we lost two of our best rigs that day to identical hits and identical failures. I've been fishing a long time and have never seen a swivel broken on half a fish strike. Aside from the tuna fishing, we have been trying our hand at spear fishing with lackluster results. About all we've been able to hunt down are some reef fish (groupers, garibaldi and parrotfish), none of which presented a tremendous challenge. We did see lots of lobster, but it is illegal for a gringo to harvest any lobsters since only Mexican fisherman who belong to the fishing co-ops can do so. The fines and penalties could mean seizure of our boat, so it's not worth the risk.
Our stay in Turtle Bay was wonderful and the three day sail to Bahia Santa Maria was worth every second. Santa Maria is a large bay with lots of great snorkeling and mangroves at one end. It borders another larger bay called Bahia Magadalena which is supposed to be stunning, but our trip does not take us in there. From what we understand, the fishing within 'Mag' (Magdalena) Bay is reported to be some of the best in Mexico. Bahia Santa Maria is actually a part time surf camp and part time sport fishing camp. Out near the entrance to the bay are some large tent like structures where local fisherman have set up shop and serve paying customers who either like to fish or surf. Unfortunately, the surf is only good in the summer when the South swell hits and was no good now. Oh well, onward to Cabo and Mainland Mexico for that.
Our outboard motor saga continues: We thought that we had at least some of the problems resolved, but that was only a dream. After spending over 10 hours having a mechanic in turtle bay look at it, we thought that things were on the mend. The story behind the tentative fix was incredible and shows how nice some of the Mexican people can be.
While staying in Turtle Bay I decided to attempt to find someone who could work on our motor since being without one is proving to be crippling. We have had to literally beg, barter and whine for rides around the anchorages. Our little Zodiac inflatable dinghy is not at all designed for rowing; it's more like trying to row a flexible bathtub. If there is any wind whatsoever, we are lucky to make forward progress and occasionally have to row like hell to get back to the boat and abandon our efforts. So to make a long story longer, I walked into town to find a mechanic and was referred to a gentleman who was reported to be one of the best mechanics around. After hunting to find his shop on the outskirts of town, I spoke with his father who directed me to find him at a local hall where he was setting up for his daughter's birthday party. Now this may seem an insignificant detail, however it is Friday morning and he is not working that day. He asked me to bring him the motor at 10:00 the next day, and that I did. Early the next morning, I rowed the dinghy to shore and carried the 40 lb motor about a mile to his shop promptly at 10:00, however Chavo (the mechanic) was nowhere to be found. Everyone in Mexico works on Mexico time so he finally showed up about 25 minutes later. I explained the symptoms and dropped the motor off to be picked up roughly two hours later.
After spending a little time in town buying groceries and getting diesel in jerry jugs, I headed back to find out how Chavo was doing. Upon arrival he had a sour look on his face, which I could only interpret as bad news. He was still having problems determining why water was leaking into the cylinders. He wanted to investigate it further so I sat there and chatted as best I could in broken Spanish with his father and brother while he worked. At about 3:30 he thought he had the problem licked, but needed a little more time to check the carburetor since the engine was running terribly. He stated two more hours and since I was already late for a Ha Ha beach party, I decided to depart and he stated that he would have it read b 6:00. Now you have to understand that Chavo speaks no English and my Spanish skills are very rusty. Well at 6:00 sharp I showed up to find a dark building with nobody home. It appeared that Chavo decided to take a siesta from work so I figured he would return shortly as agreed upon. After 45 minutes of waiting I was decidedly unhappy and since we were scheduled to leave at 6:00 am the next morning (Sundae), I was petrified. How on Earth would I get the motor back before we left, running or not?
Just at that moment, a car pulled up in front of Chavo's shop and his mother (whom I'd met earlier) walked out to get something from her store, which was adjacent to Chavo's. I inquired about Chavo's whereabouts and explained that he had our motor and was supposed to have it repaired. The look on her face explained it all, and she told me that he was at home and she would run and get him for me. After 15 anxious minutes, Chavo arrived and explained to me that he would have the engine read manana (tomorrow) in typical Mexican style. I tried to explain that we needed to leave the bay, but he assured me that he would have it fixed and ready by eight or nine the next morning. With a great sigh, I left and frantically tried to figure out how to explain to Marc why it wasn't ready and why we would be leaving late. Suffice to say I was disappointed and a little upset about the whole thing.
Early in the morning, Marc and I headed out for Chavo's shop. Marc wanted to be there to see if it was working, and to meet Chavo and apply a little more pressure. When we arrived at 8:00 Chavo was nowhere to be found so we went and made a few phone calls and returned about 45 minutes later to find him working away on it. Within about an hour, he had it all reassembled and ready for testing. Alas, it still had problems but did run (sort of). He wanted a few more hours to work on it (he was working hard on it), but we told him that we really needed to leave since the rest of the fleet had left 3 hours earlier. Being very apologetic, he shrugged and offered us a ride back to the beach so we wouldn't have to walk.
The most amazing part of the whole story is when I inquired how much we owed him, he once again shrugged and said nothing. Both Marc and I were stunned. He had worked on this motor on both Saturday and Sunday and wanted nothing, because he was unable to get it running properly. We felt it necessary to give him something for his efforts, which we did, and thanked him profusely. He wouldn't accept much, but we were able to give him 400 pesos ($40), which he accepted and off we went back to the boat. Chavo really was a true to heart kind of person, and while he wasn't able to get the motor running, we both had the utmost respect for him.
The story doesn't quite end there unfortunately. Since we were leaving Turtle Bay, we never quite got a chance to really test out the engine. Upon arrival in Bahia Santa Maria, we loaded the engine on the dinghy and tooled around the neighboring boats for a little while, then headed off to find some good snorkeling grounds. After about 20 minutes, the motor once again began to sputter and we knew we were in trouble. Sure enough, it had died again with the same symptoms. Drats! After this much time and effort working on it, we are both of the conclusion that this engine is worth nothing more than a dead weight anchor and pretty much unrepairable. Since being dingyless presents extreme issues, I am going to go hunting in Cabo for a substitute and maybe someone wants this engine for spare parts. Such is life sometimes when you take a chance on older equipment. So that has been the saga of our travels and hopefully things will improve for the better. New outboards are too costly so a used one is about all we can hope for.
Well the sun is rising and my shift will be over in about an hour, so I will log off here and give my regards to all that may read this. Overall after a couple weeks at sea, we are having a good time and enjoying the sunny weather, although it has been a tad chilly at night sometimes. Tonight was actually one of the first nights that I hadn't worn polypro while on watch. Soon enough, the water and air temp should improve dramatically and we are still in search of a surfable wave.
Take a look at the slideshow of the Baja Ha Ha!
