Current Position, anchored in Cabo San Lucas Bay. The last couple of days have been spectacular. They have included great sailing, warm weather, dancing with Dorado, and winning our division in the Ha Ha!

It was a great sail from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. Overall it took 33 hours with limited motoring, most of the time sailing wing on wing. Recently I added straps to our whisker pole so that we can hook up our spinnaker topping lift and down haul. In rolling seas this stops our pole from bashing around. The day before reaching Cabo was probably my favorite day at sea ever. Sailing downwind with the sun awning up over the cockpit, perfect blue sky and Tramonto charging along through some of the bluest water I've ever seen. The wind started fading in the late afternoon so we sparked up the iron jenny around 4 or 5 o'clock. We had been sailing along most of the day doing 4 to 5 knots.

While sailing we troll two hand lines off of the stern of the boat. It wasn't turning out to be a very productive day for fishing due to our speed, and I was starting to worry that we might not catch anything during this leg. Seconds after starting the motor and bringing the boat up to speed we had fish on!! We broke our gaff hook on the last fish we caught so getting this one on board was going to be an issue. After formulating what we thought was a good plan, we flung the fish into the cockpit. Now, this very unhappy fish proceeds to start flapping all around the cockpit. Lands on the throttle and bumps it up to maximum revs, doing 7 knots. I begin wrestling with the slimy beast and finally get him pinned down and the boat back to a normal running speed. While holding him, Jeff pours copious amounts of rum down his gills. This seems to put a little smile on his face and ends the struggle. Jeff and I take a look around and not only are we covered in scales and blood, but a good 15 ft radius of the cockpit is also. That night we had pepper crusted Mahi Mahi wrapped and baked in cabbage leaves. Topped with an amazing salsa that Jeff made. The next few hours were spent lounging in the cockpit complaining about how much we ate.

We sailed into Cabo around 4 a.m. the next morning. As we rounded the point it seemed only appropriate that I begin reading Steinbeck's Log from the Sea of Cortez. We carry a lot of books on board and go through them very fast. Luckily so do most other cruisers so we're able to trade and keep a fresh steady supply. We dropped hook on the outside of the boat and caught a couple hours of sleep. During daylight we weighed anchor and went looking for a spot closer to the beach since we are still rowing our dingy. Cabo is one crowded bay and all of the Ha Ha boats make it jam packed. We've spent the last day and a half exploring Cabo and making numerous trips to the boat and hardware stores. During the last leg we managed to break our tiller pilot, whisker pole, and one companionway board. Cruising really is just fixing your boat in exotic ports.

Well, with the Ha Ha over I'm really looking forward to getting started with the next phase of the trip. So far we really haven't had much time to settle in and get to know a place. And of course I'm looking forward to getting some serious surf time in.

So, from the latitude where both the air and the water are 80 degrees, Adios Take a look at the slideshow of the Baja Ha Ha!