11/21/09 – We made it to Cabo San Lucas, the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, almost 800 NM (nautical miles) in the past two weeks (at the speed of a fast walk). What a dramatic contrast Cabo is to the Pacific coast of Baja we’ve been sailing down the last two weeks. The Baja peninsula (at least the western side) is a rather dry, desolate place with only the occasional tiny village. While there are a number of anchorages down the coast, there are only two that are relatively safe in all wind directions, so we didn’t really tarry anywhere. For the most part, the villages had few services and almost no provisions. While the villages look rather poor, everyone looked happy and well fed plus there were fairly nice trucks and jeeps in evidence (a sturdy truck is necessary when the nearest town is hundreds of miles away over dirt roads). The main income for these villages is fishing and dodging lobster pots all the way down the coast kept us on our toes.

Getting the dingy down and functional is a hassle, so we usually just stayed on the boat. The water is still pretty chilly but we did go swimming a few times (also our shower is being used for storage so jumping overboard is the easiest way to get relatively clean).

On the last leg we sailed by Russ and Heidi on Tillicum 1. We first met them in Newport and later in San Diego. We exchanged pictures of our boats sailing, this is the first picture we have of Sunny underway! You can see in the background how dry the land is.

Here’s Tillicum 1
The last leg from Magdalena Bay to Cabo was an overnight sail and as we got closer we started to see the hotels and condos lining the coast.

Rounded the famous rocks guarding Cabo and soon we were tied up in the marina.

Cabo is surreal. Around the point of Baja is some of the world’s best Marlin and other sport fishing and this marina is grand central. Some of the sport boats are multi-storied affairs with seats perched way up high and dozens of satellite and other antennas, all to catch a fish :-)

There are fancy shops and dining.

And even Burger King, Hard Rock Cafe, and Dominos pizza!

Russ, Heidi and I took a taxi out to the Walmart to provision, just like at home :-) Cabo is very touristy though and I’m getting tired of the constant “buy this” and “have I got a deal for you”. This afternoon we’re getting out of the very expensive marina and will anchor off the beach for a day or so, then continue around the point towards La Paz. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

-Carolynn

(From Tom)

From time to time there will be bits of information that has been observed along the way, they will be labeled NOTES FROM THE BILGE (NFB)

NFB note1. Before leaving we were advised to purhase a strong magnet and some line so we could retrive the items that would periodically fall overboard, hopefully when in a marina or at anchor. This seemed to make sense and we aquired the said equipment. Now after several items have gone by the board and never been seen again I have rethought the idea. There is one major problem in this system, most items that are suitable for use on a boat are made of either bronze, nickle or stainless steel. None of which are magnetic!!! The only thing the magnet accomplishes is to stamp the lost item deeper into the mud / sand so even if you finally go diving for it it will be impossible to find.

NFB note2. The people who build Marinas are smart and understand that most sailors like wind. Since most boats are sold in or very near a Marina wind is a desirable feature for being able to demonstrate the boats sailing features without having to go miles from the dock. After traveling for hours and hours offshore with only 5mph winds we are frequently amazed that the wind in the marina always seems to be at least 20mph, and often going in the direction that makes docking most challenging.