The day started early for the long trip to San José del Cabo, near Cabo San Lewis. We decided on San José del Cabo as it is not so busy and noisy as Cabo yet still close to the Costco and Wal-Mart in Cabo.
This is the longest trip so far 170 nm (nautical miles). We are leaving at 0600 (6:00am) and won’t arrive until 1245 (12:45pm) the next day. 30+ hours in all. The weather looks good for now but if we wait a day then the weather is suppose to turn bad for at least a week. We have enough fuel to motor the whole way with about 24 hours of fuel in the main tank and another 24 hours of reserve fuel in the auxiliary tank. We pull anchor in a calm sea with no wind and set out for San José del Cabo.
The voyage starts out nice. We are in the Bahia. There are pangas everywhere fishing. There are a couple of big fishing boats coming in.
We spy a sea lion with “fins up” sunning himself.
Passing the last anchorage in the Bahia, Belchers Point, we start to transition from the bay to the open ocean. The swells come up but they are 4 feet or so with about 15+ seconds between them. We put the jib and mizzen sails up and everything is nice. Time to settle in for the long trip.
We have a small pleasure craft pass us soon after we get in the open ocean. I don’t know how people can have such a small boat.
We finally get to the end of the Bahia where there is a little lighthouse. From here on out it is open ocean until we get to Cabo San Lucas.
As we watch the sun go down we are presented with another spectacular sunset.
I had the first watch from 1800 (6:00pm) to 2100 (9:00pm). Lisa was trying to take a nap so she would be fresh for her watch. As it got closer to 2100 the wind had picked up. I was expecting some increase in wind but not this much. I let Lisa continue to sleep hoping that later the wind would die down as it was suppose to. Well it rolls around to midnight and the wind is still going strong. Constant 15 knots and gusting to 20+ knots 20 degrees off off starboard. FatDash is handling it well. Lisa isn’t comfortable taking the helm so I continue a while longer. About 0100 (1:00am) I’m needing some rest. Lisa says she can take the helm and takes over so I can have some much needed rest. I’m asleep for about 30 minutes when I awake to the jib luffing. The wind had changed and now we are direct downwind. FatDash doesn’t do downwind well since we don’t have a whisker pole set up yet. We pull the jib and I again take the helm. Now the seas are confused but as it is pitch black out I can’t really tell exactly what the swell directions are. This goes on until sunrise at about 0530 (5:00am). Now I could see the swells and I really didn’t like what I saw. I knew it was going to be rough up until we can make the corner at Cabo San Lucas.
Finally we are at Cabo Falso Lighthouse and going around the point.
We pass by the famous Land’s End Arches.
We are at Cabo San Lucas. Now it on to San José del Cabo. Lisa has the helm and I’m just resting. We see whales spouting and breaching. Lots of fishing boats are going by. We call the marina and get a slip next to our friends on Sail La Vie. By 0900 (9:00am) we are tied up and we can relax.
We have traveled for 27½ hours, 185.06 nm, with a average speed of 6.27 knots. Sometime we actually got up to 9.43 knots.
All of this is on our 3rd wedding anniversary.
