Blog Post 17 – San Quintin to Turtle Bay

11/7/15

27:41.07 S  114:53.49 W

Looking back, this was one of the most amazing days and nights of our trip south. The day began early as we got up to a beautiful day and got started at 4AM.  It was warm and sunny and the seas were flat and the winds were at 10 knots from the SE. Nico and I were no longer sea sick, all that was behind us. Jirig was at the helm and we set our course for Turtle Bay. It would    be a 182 nautical mile trip for a total of 30.5 hours.

During the day we kept ourselves busy playing games, fooling around on deck and reading. The highlight of the day was when Jirig decided that he had had enough of his hair. It is really hard to keep your hair together on a sailing boat and his just kept sticking straight up. We kept teasing him and telling him he looked like the mad professor.The only way I keep mine together is to keep it tied back in a tight bun. He went and got the head shaver tool and told Daniel to shave it off to a number 3. That is about a quarter of an inch. It looked so much better after he cut it and he loves it. He looks kind of like a refugee but once it grows out a little bit it will be fine.

We have settled into a night watch schedule. We have split up in pairs. We all keep watch during the day. Mostly Jirig is in charge but we all take turns. Around 9PM Jirig and I go to bed and Daniel and Nico take the watch from

9PM-2AM. Nico is usually asleep by midnight. It is a lot easier to have someone with you to help and keep you company. Jirig and I get up a 2AM and take the watch until 9AM when the kids get up. I make sure the coffee is flowing for everyone. Jirig will nap and I will watch and vise versa. It works well and everyone gets some rest.

That night at sea was one of the most incredible nights of the trip. There was a small moon out, the skies were clear and the stars were hanging over us like a blanket. It felt like you could reach out and touch them. We were sitting around playing Cards Against Humanity when Daniel yelled “what is that?” We all looked up and saw what looked like a giant tear in the sky. All of a sudden this giant ball of white light with a blue and green streaking tail came barreling toward us. It was huge and took up almost ½ of the western sky. We were freaked out as it appeared to be coming right to us albeit at a distance. Jirig ordered us all to put on our life jackets when all of a sudden it exploded. This huge cloud of debris swelled up around it. We thought the debris was going to hit the water and cause a tsunami or at least a huge wave. The next day when we had internet access I looked it up and it appears it was a Trident II Ballistic missile fired from a submarine off the coast of Pt. Magu, near Vandenberg AFB. We were sure it was a meteor or a comet. About 30 minutes later the kids and I had resumed our game when all of a sudden we heard this thwap against the pilot house window. We went outside to investigate and there was a 7 inch squid sitting on the deck. How in the hell did that get there? Our deck is at least 8 feet high and the pilot house window was another 4. How does a squid hurl itself out of the water like that? 2 more showed up over night. I read later that it is quite a common occurrence at sea. We stayed inside after that. We would freak out if one of us got hit in the face with a squid. We saved them for bait for the next day. 

The next morning we had a 12 knot wind coming from behind us. Perfect weather for using the gennicker sail. It is a very light and very huge sail that billows out like a parachute in front and to the left side of the boat. Jirig and Daniel set it up and as it billowed out and filled with wind it added 2-3 knots to our speed. We had it up for about 1 hour when all of a sudden there was a loud snapping sound. The halyard line (the line of rope that is threaded through the mast that hold up the sail) broke. The sail immediately deflated and fell in the water. It is dangerous to have the sail in the water at it can get fouled in the propellers at the back of the boat. Daniel, Nico and I ran to the front of the boat to try to retrieve it out of the water. Not an easy task. Jirig put the engines in neutral and tried to control the boat. When the seas are choppy and you stop forward propulsion the boat rocks like a SOB. Daniel started pulling the wet sail back on board while Nico and I sat on it to keep it from blowing away. We are not sure if we put the sail up wrong (we are not expert sailors…yet) or if the rope had been chaffing inside the mast and just wore through. Needless to say it was exciting and a little scary. Chalk that up to experience for the future. Never a dull moment…..

We sailed all night and got to Turtle Bay at 10:30AM. The weather was noticeably balmier and warmer. We immediately prepared to go ashore. We all wanted off the boat and to put our legs on terra firma.

Turtle Bay is about 1/3 of the way down the Baja Peninsula and it is a very safe and large bay that is a common place for cruisers heading south to stop. It is the only place on the Pacific side of Baja where you can provision and get gas. Gas is not an issue for us as we have an 1100 gallon fuel tank but for small sailboats, it is a crucial stop.  The only way ashore is to either beach the dingy through the waves or to tie up to a large, rickety and very dangerous pier. We opted to beach the dinghy. We all got in without getting wet.

Turtle Bay is a small town of about 2000 people. There are no paved roads only well worn dirt. Almost all of the inhabitants are fishermen and their families and the businesses that support them. There are about 10 small restaurants in the town, mostly for the visiting cruisers. We asked around and finally chose the El Morocco. We were the only people there.They had a huge picture of John Wayne on the wall. We had an ok meal. It was nice to eat a meal for a change that I did not have to cook and clean up after!

We walked around the town a bit and visited the beautiful little church. It is amazing that such a small, impoverished fishing village would have such an amazing church. I read in my cruising guide that about 45 years ago 2 injured American sailors limped into the bay after their boat was almost completely destroyed in a storm. The local fishermen rescued them and nursed them back to health. When they recovered the townspeople all donated money for the bus trip back to the US for the both of them. The sailors were so grateful that they raised money in the states to build the town a church. That church started out as a small chapel built with the sailors’ money. And the town just kept adding to it until you see it as it is today. Pretty cool story we think. 

We realized that we were out of beer so we planned another trip back to town. While wandering-around looking for a store we heard a baseball game being broadcast over a  loud PA system. We followed the sound and found ourselves looking at the finest little league field we had ever seen. It had astro turf for the field, stands and even a refreshment stand. All the players had on professional looking uniforms and the game was very competitive. Who would have thought that this tiny little town would have such a thing? I guess baseball is a big deal here. We continued our search for beer and came upon the town square. Every town in Mexico seems to have one. Right along the square was a small sushi restaurant! The wonders never cease!

We had a routing decision to make. We could either leave that night and travel 2 nights and a day to Magdalena Bay or we could get a good nights rest and sail for 2 days and a night. We opted for only one night at sea. In order to do that we would spend the night in Turtle Bay and head 50 miles south to the small town of Asuncion, we would spend the night there and then make the long 180 mile slog to Mag Bay.