(November 7, 2021) We have been tacking upwind (Zig Zag sailing) and motoring for more than a week. We left Mainland Mexico at La Cruz, crossed the Sea of Cortez, and arrived near La Paz, Baja California. In the USA, there is the state of California. In Mexico, there is the Baja California Peninsula. Baja means low/drop in Spanish. There are two Mexican States in the Baja California Peninsula: Baja California and Baja California Sur (South).
Sailing from La Cruz, we anchored a night at Punta de Mita and Matanchen Anchorage (San Blas, Mexico), two nights at Isla Isabela, and Bahia de los Muertos. Yesterday, we dropped anchor at Puerto Balandra, about 12 nautical miles away from La Paz. We were grateful that we sailed most of the time, making 470 nautical miles in this trip, averaging 5 miles per hour. We still used 50 gallons of diesel as the wind was very light or inconsistent much of the time.
I often say “Enjoy the Journey.” The journey moves me between high and low depending on the weather: Smooth Sailing or Rough Motoring. Cats hid in the coziest place when the sea was rough or played like a sprinter racer all night at the quiet anchorages. While smooth sailing, the younger cat tried to sneak out on the deck. Our solution was to lock them inside and close the entrance at night.
The boat treated us well. We are sound but without fish in the fridge. (My fault, John wanted to fish, but it makes a heck of a mess and we both sort of decided it wasn’t worth it. This shows how much he listens to me as he likes to fish.) We found 6 suicidal flying fish on the deck. One of cats ate all of them, head to tail including guts. She also found one that had dried up like a cracker and brought it inside and was playing with it, but not trying to eat it. We both wondered for several hours, “Why does the boat smell like a dead fish?” until we found the cat’s “fish cracker”.
One Saturday, the time changed. The next Sunday, it changed again due to daylight saving ended. Even it is only two hours of time-gain, I kind of liked it. Gaining is better than losing. However, I am reminded that I will lose one day when we sail in the Pacific, if the world ever returns to normal and borders open up. We consider ourselves very lucky to be able to come to Mexico. It is open, business is not quite as usual, but the absurdity is kept to a manageable level.
Being here, I noticed no bug problems so far. It is not humid. We are seeing cactus not jungle green trees. During this journey, the color of the mountains changed from Green to Brown. We crossed the “Tropic of Cancer” which lies at latitude 23.5 Degrees on the North of the equator, about 1600 miles from the equator. So far in our trip from Panama to here we have traveled 2000 miles as the crow flies, or roughly 2500 nautical miles as the Bunny moves. It is farther than when we crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
I got up at 5 am today and came out to the cockpit indulging in the crisp air. The sky was black with sparkling stars. Now it is changing to orange to yellow. I looked around. There are 15 boats peacefully around us. No one has Cellular connection from the land. We have not been able to connect to the world for a while… Somewhat in modern meditation state.
