Trip from HELL .....

One might think that after a 66 hour run, a "short" 24 hour run with the day starting out beautiful and calm, would be a piece of cake.  NOT so much…. 

The morning was quiet as we all got underway from Mag Bay, heading to San Jose del Cabo.  Christine made muffins and we were chugging along enjoying the beautiful day.  Many of the boats were fishing …. And with great success.  Tuna, dorado and even marlin were being caught.

 Just after dinner, the winds originating from storms in the Sea of Cortez, came over the Baja from the La Paz area and slammed the Pacific coast making for a VERY uncomfortable ride through the night.  The fleet arrived in San Jose del Cabo in the morning, feeling a little worse for wear.  (I faired the worst of our crew as I was “sicker than a dog” …..)  All agreed ... NOT A LOT OF FUN !!

The shoreline along the southern end of the Baja from Cabo San Lucas to SJDC is lined with huge resorts and interesting developments tucked into the hillside.  Seeing it from the water gives a unique perspective. 

 

 

 

Some of the resorts are MASSIVE .....

 

 

The famous rock arch at Cabo San Lucas ....

 

We arrived at the beautiful Puerto Los Cabos marina, and after a shower and a rest (and a cleaning of our very salt encrusted boat) we began to feel much more human.  Check in at the marina office was again very smooth thanks to a very organized staff at Puerto Los Cabos. 

The marina is beautiful, with original sculptures scattered around the grounds and along the seawall walk.

 

 

 

The cross is lit up at night with beautiful multi colored lights .....

 

 

 

The marina hosted a BEAUTIFUL “dinner under the stars” the evening of our arrival, complete with entertainment …. A jet boot demonstration and a dolphin show from their Dolphin Education program and live entertainment during dinner.  It was a fabulous dinner and a memorable evening.
 

 

The next day Cam and I went for a walk around the harbor and checked out the nearby hotel at the entrance to the marina harbor – the BEAUTIFUL Hotel El Ganzo with its spectacular sweeping views of the ocean, gorgeous infinity pool with swim up bar and beautiful grounds. 

 

 

 

After breakfast the crew of SL took a “taxi ride” into town for a little retail therapy !!  We ended up catching a ride with one of the dock workers, who offered to take Cam to the marine store in town for some parts … after a stop at the Pemex (gas station) ( … oh ! …. And btw, did we have some pesos for gas ?!?! )
Like we didn’t see THAT coming !!! ….. We got a chuckle over that none too subtle ploy !!  So Ed topped him up and we carried on into Old Town. 

 

Delicious lunch at a street side cafe ....

Flora’s Farm is an AMAZING local, “farm to table” restaurant which came HIGHLY recommended and we (crews of Sea Level and Northern Ranger) managed to get a reservation at for the evening.  It is a magical place with outside seating, twinkle lights strung throughout the grounds , beautiful globe lights hanging from the trees and a fabulous menu of their own farm grown produce.  
 MAGICAL ....

 

SO interesting, that Christine and I plan to return during the day to check it out further .....

 

 

Bahai Santa Maria

We are safely tucked into Bahai Santa Maria but sadly can’t get off the boat because the winds are too wild to run the tenders !!   Winds have gotten up to 31 kn and we are swinging around at anchor like a spinning top.  But thankfully, the Ultra anchor is holding tight !!!  When the winds finally settled, we were able to visit other boats via our tenders and some paddle boarded or kayaked to shore …. There were still some serious rollers hitting the shoreline.

Santa Maria was “home” until Wednesday when we finally hauled anchor and headed to Man of War Cove in Magdalena Bay ….. a 3 hour run.  The seas had settled, making for a very pleasant ride … complete with a whale sighting.

The village which is consists of 57 “buildings”, is tucked along the west bank of Mag Bay.   It is very basic with no running water and no fuel. 

 

 

enjoying the sunshine .....

 

 

changing a light bulb !!  YIKES .....

 

 

The village church .... and a couple of pelicans .....

 

 

the crew of Northern Ranger on their bullfrog, heading to the beach .....

 

If prearranged, 50 gallon drums of fuel are brought down from Puerto San Carlos on large runabouts called pangas, and used to fuel up boats that require fuel. 

 

 

"fuel panga"  as well as garbage pick up ....

Both the BaHaHaHa (the sailboat rally) and the CUBAR (the power boat rally) routinely stop in Mag Bay and the locals host a beach dinner party for all the yatistas (boaters).  Pangas come and pick up the crew from each of the boats and run everyone to shore for a huge fish BarBQ ….. skipjack, yellowfin and dorado are all prepared (either barBQ’d or deep fried) and laid out with tortillas and rice, beans and coleslaw… all the ingredients to make fish tacos !!  And of course, ceviche and cold cervezas !!  YUMMY!!

 

 

arriving by panga ....

 

 

dinner on the beach ....

 

 

children playing .....

 

In anticipation of this year’s rally, the San Diego Yacht Club managed to gather a number of computers and have them refurbished, loaded them with Spanish Language software and presented them to the mayor of the village. 

 

 

presentation of the computers by SDYC .....

 

 It was suggested to all the boaters that any donations we might want to make such as books, school supplies, toys or clothes would be very much appreciated.

Those too, were presented to the people of the village at our beach dinner.  It was a great evening and a delicious dinner and just as the sun was setting, the pangas ran us all back to our boats for the night. 

 

 The plan is to depart the following morning for the LAST of our overnight runs (YAY !!!) … a 24 hour run to Puertos Los Cabos where we will be docked for a couple of days.

KEEP CALM AND CRUISE ON .....

 

KEEP CALM AND CRUISE ON …. Nov 13, 2015

Our first night went very well, although pulling out in the dark and not being able to get visual orientation ON ANYTHING is very discombobulating!  Thank heaven for radar and AIS …..

We carried on through the night, according to our crew schedule of 2 people on for 3 hour shifts, and awoke to a beautiful sunny, calm day !!!   Ed and I had the sunrise watch which was amazing …..

 

 

 I will never tire of these beautiful skies ......

Listening to the radio chatter, we heard that some of the boats are fishing en route  …. AND catching !!! 

THE SMALL CREW landed 4 fish pretty much “all at once” – one of which was a 46# yellowtail. 

COLIBRI caught 2 skipjack tuna !  

DAYBREAK has caught a bunch AND they are willing to share !!  That’s MY kinda fishing !!!  J  A nice bottle of wine … some home baked chocolate chip cookies in trade for a fillet of skipjack !!  Works for me ….  We will do our “exchange” when we get in to Santa Maria.

 

The day is Friday the 13th  … its sunny and warm’ish (20’) ….

Seas are very calm….

and the crew of SL have mellowed out listening to Chris Botti on his sax !!!

And we carry on into another night ....

 

Second Nite of our 66 hour journey ….

Seas were fairly benign but we did have a little “excitement” around 10pm when Cam asked Ed to cover up the controls at the flybridge.  Ed assumed (as would most) that prior to putting the covers over the instruments, one turns the units OFF.  Unfortunately, the system upstairs is not independent of the system in the pilot house; they are integral and when the controls get turned off upstairs, the turn off the systems in the pilot house.  YIKES !!

Black screens inside …. TOTAL BLACKNESS outside and 5 boats following us …. Although with no autopilot, we did a 180’ turn and we were now facing 5 boats !!!  Cam rebooted the system and reinitiated our route and got us turned around while I radioed the boats to let them know we were having issues …. Which they had already figured out as our lights were pirouetting around in the dark.  They scattered to give us lots of room and within 10 minutes we were back on track and running.  It was a little heart stopping, to say the least because in the darkness, there is NO visual frame of reference … the only thing we have are radar signatures on the screen … and those were in the process of rebooting … leaving us with NOTHING BUT DARKNESS .....

Luckily everyone looks out for each other and we run with plenty of space between us (especially at night) …. AND a lesson learned for all of us …. Instructions to crew must be very clear because what’s intuitive to some is not intuitive others  and never turn anything off without asking first !!! 

I did exactly the same thing when we first bought SL !  We were tied to the dock at the time however … “exactly the same, but way, way different” !!!  Easy mistake to make .....

Sunrise was again, magnificent !!

 

Down 2 crew …. Saturday

Chris took a while to get her sea legs (scopolamine patches take 12 hours to get into your system) but once that kicked in she was "fine, but not 100%".   Then Ed went down and Christine joined him … they are thinking it was more of a stomach flu or “tourista” as their symptoms were more flu-like.  NOT a fun trip down so far, for them.

 

 

 

Cam and I ran shifts through the night on Saturday night ....

3 hours on .... 3 hours off ...

 

This has been a loooooooong run (certainly the longest WE have done) and getting in to Bahai Santa Maria tomorrow and being anchored will help with the motion sickness.  We will likely spend 3 days there as the weather may keep us from carrying on until Wed or Thursday.

Northern Ranger and another boat, ALAMO, pulled into Turtle Bay and I think will be staying put until the weather passes.  They go a bit slower and cannot outrun this storm. 

We arrived at  Santa Maria mid afternoon  on Sunday.  Bahai Santa Maria is an enormous bay just north of Magdalena Bay …. We dropped anchor and were immediately visited by Jerome from DAYBREAK, bringing us 2 large fillets of fresh tuna!! As promised, we exchanged a batch of cookies and a bottle of wine !!! 

Fresh tuna on the BBQ for dinner … delicious !!!

As it turns out, NORTHERN RANGER and ALAMO left Turtle Bay almost immediately.  They were not wanting to be stuck for a number of days and be that far behind the group.  They arrived in Santa Maria about 4am !

 

Monday in Bahai Santa Maria

We are safely tucked into Bahai Santa Maria but sadly can’t get off the boat because the winds are too wild to run the tenders !!   Winds have gotten up to 31kn and we are swinging around at anchor like a spinning top.  But the Ultra anchor is holding tight !!!

COLIBRI opted to move around to Mag Bay .... and it was apparently quite choppy !

NO KIDDING ......

  We will hold up here until the weather simmers down.... forecast for tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

CUBAR begins ....

Pulling out of San Diego

Nov 11, 2015 @ 6am

The CUBAR's official start and we all leave San Diego Harbor ...

 

 

First stop .... Ensenada

 

Travelling to and Arriving at Ensenada – Nov 11, 2015

The trip from San Diego to Ensenada went fairly well… the weather cooperated and the seas were generally smooth. 

Our early (6am) start began a bit swelly (technical term! ) and we were slewing around …. nothing SL and most of her crew couldn’t handle !!  It was a good first run, which allowed some instruction on running the boat, and for those who needed it, a chance to get their sea legs!!  Christine is finding, that being in open ocean is quite different than being up in the air.  Her patch has not quite kicked in yet.

The CUBAR committee had arranged PRE-clearance into Mexico and so the final paperwork upon our arrival in Ensenada went VERY smoothly.  We are now “cleared in and good to go” !!!  Phew ….

The evening was ours and the crews of SL, Northern Ranger, Colibri and Duet (14 of us) went out to a restaurant recommended in Christopher’s travel book (The Lonely Planet) called Manzanilla and we enjoyed a beautiful dinner in a very funky (sorry David !) restaurant !!!  We had wine, appies, a delicious dinner AND dessert … all for $66 USD per couple !!!  Fantastic meal and such a deal !!

 

 

 

 

I like Mexico so far !!

On our first full day in Ensenada, the (amazing) organizers of CUBAR arranged for a tour of 2 local wineries in the Guadalupe Valley.  We hit Santos Tomas Winery and Vineyard Lechuza (which is Mexico’s version of Burrowing Owl).

 

 

LT loves his red !!

 

 

Beautiful tasting room at Santos Tomas (above)

 

 

 

 

Wine tasting at Lechuza

 

 

The evening was a Welcome to Mexico gala dinner complete with a Mariachi band, again, organized by the CUBAR committee (just can’t give them enough kudos for doing SUCH a fantastic job of this rally !!). 

 

 

Our original plan was to stay another night in Ensenada, but very snotty weather (another technical term) was coming down from the north (as I am sure the Vancouverites have experienced already !) and the thinking was to pull out at 2 am and head for Turtle Bay – 282 NM – a 35 hour run and our first “overniter”.    

However …..

After much weather consultation, the group agreed to forgo our second night (no se admiten devoluciones ….. Spanish for NO REFUND !!)  and we pulled out right after our dinner,  at 7pm ….in the dark ! ….. with the current thinking being to bypass Turtle Bay & carry on through to Bahia Santa Maria … a bay well protected from northerly winds.  We hope to stay well ahead of the snotty weather.  Some of the boats will pull into Turtle Bay and refuel with the plan to head right out and carry on to Santa Maria.  We are projected to arrive in Santa Maria Bay by mid-day Saturday at which point we could hold up if necessary to let bad weather pass through .... we could be there until as late as Wednesday !!

Ensenada to Santa Maria is a long run …. 66 hours  non stop…. Our longest yet.
 

 

Christine at the helm

 

Dinner on board while underway

 

 

Checking the night crew schedule

 

 

 

A Plan was hatched .... 5 years in the making

A Plan was Hatched ….

Five years ago, while attending Trawlerfest in San Diego (a boat show focusing on trawler-style boats and passagemaking ), we heard a presentation about FUBAR (Fleet Underway Baha Rally) describing a rally for powerboats organized by various San Diego yacht clubs, to travel from San Diego to La Paz, Mexico.  We decided then, that we would work towards someday, doing this rally !! 

Cameron (being the researcher he is)  had decided that, based on what he had read and for where we were wanting to travel, a NORDHAVN would be THE boat to do it in … Beautifully built, large fuel capacity,  heavy and safe , with a proven track record !!

It was the beginning of a dream that we have been focused on (or consumed with if you ask our friends and  family) for the last 5 years !!

From the inception of this dream 5 years ago, to our commitment over a year ago to the now renamed CUBAR (Cruisers Underway Baha Rally), we have focused on getting familiar with our N60 by extensively cruising the Pacific Northwest, getting some open ocean experience (circumnavigating Vancouver Island) and finally bringing Sea Level down to San Diego this summer in anticipation of CUBAR 2015 …. Leaving Wednesday, November 11^th. 

 

Preparations for this rally have been extensive and a year long process.  Cam put the entire process on an Excel spreadsheet (gotta love an engineer ) and we have been working to cross off every item  on it. 

It is 5 pages long !! 

With very tiny printing  !! …. 

Route and Crew information…. Maintenance and equipment   …. Health care issues and checklist … safety equipment checklist … General Planning and Provisioning….

Specific jobs we’ve done to get ready have included replacing the entire set of house batteries, we purchased a porta-boat and motor, replaced the bilge pump housing, fixed the Tankwatch (holding tank) monitors, done a myriad of engine maintenance jobs (changed fluids, replaced impellors, belts, filters etc) downloaded all the electronic charts for the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Central America, got a Direct TV installed , purchased “about a million” spare replacement parts & filters, made marina reservations, ordered boat shirts, got phones and communication systems (inReach) organized so family can track us, got medications and prescriptions in order, got first aid kits ordered and organized, waded through the paperwork for bringing Sea Level and her crew into Mexico ….

Endless …. 

We flew down in October and attended a number of CUBAR seminars on travelling to Mexico, started the onerous task of Mexican paperwork …. (FMM’s, TIP’s, Crew lists – endless - as you might imagine ) and fuelled up. The San Diego Yacht Club has done an amazing job of organizing the rally this year!  The seminars they have put on, were an invaluable source of information …. Topics such as getting your boat through customs, provisioning, safety at sea, what to do in a medical emergency,  fishing in Mexico, and what do if you are “suddenly in command” (ie your captain becomes incapacitated ) etc.  LOTS of great information …. Very well organized ….

With GREAT giveaways ….

 

Just after arriving on Nov 4th, we took the boat out with a very savvy electronics tech and we believe we successfully (and we HOPE finally ) have dealt with the autopilot issue.  It seemed to have been a combination of poor wire connections (discovered by the tech) and the uploading of the most current software.   Fingers crossed that the problem with the autopilot are all behind us !!  We have had ongoing issues with it and luckily it ended up being a relatively “easy fix” - we were getting to the point of having to replace the entire system and  THAT would have been a “major fix”. 

One more thing crossed off the never-ending “to do” list….

A run to Trader Joe’s, Ralphs and Costco ensured we have enough provisions …. No room in our fridge for even one more carrot stick !!!

 

Endless lists ....  (MY version of Excel) .....

 

A VERY full fridge .....

 

 

It hasn’t been ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, however.  We have managed a few fun evenings with our good friends …. Dinner and lots of singing …. Crazy fun times !!

 

 

 

 

And there have been social events put on by the yacht club and the Nordhavn Owners Group .... 

Cam with Jerome, owner of Daybreak - another N60 doing the CUBAR

 

 

We have asked friends Christine and Ed Theobald to crew for this leg of the adventure and they will join us Sunday so we can spend a few days getting them familiar with things about the boat, and meeting the other cruisers doing the rally – 37 boats in total !! 

Its going to be a very unique experience and one we hope turns out to be as much fun doing it, as it has been preparing for it ….