The Vortex Voyage

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Videos - Ensenada to La Paz

Monday, November 14, 2011

We did it! We sailed (well, motor-sailed really) all the way from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas.
We left around noon on Oct 24th, sailed for three days and two nights until we arrived at Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortugas). The trip was mostly uneventful. We had 11-foot swells the first night, but that was mostly during Jesus's watch, so we slept through most of it. We caught our first yellowtail. Not a bad size fish, probably around 6 pounds. We made sushi with some of it, but it was too much and we ended up throwing the rest out.
During the day, a tiny little yellow bird flew onto the boat. He stayed with us into the night, even going into the cabin and spending about a hour or so walking around and checking out the v-berth. Funny thing, the cats never knew it was there. It was so cute, we think it was too tired to fly to shore. He was gone the next morning, so he must have eventually made it.
We didn't see much of the BaJa HaHa fleet until just before we arrived at our first stop.
There was a baseball game the day after we arrived. Many of the boats didn't get there until the day after we did. The following day was the famous pot luck beach party. There were around 500 or so sailors and their crew and families (for some). The food and company was great and fun was had by all. There was lots of fish, as most boats caught something, and something large at that. Someone caught Marlin, but had to let it go, too big. Someone caught a 61 inch Wahoo.
During the next leg of the trip, we saw some great sun rises. We also experienced something call the "green flash" during one of the sunsets. Kind of neat, just before the sun set, it turned green.
This time we caught our first Durado, or Mahi Mahi. What a beautiful fish! This one was about 3 feet long or so. Jesus made us some ceviche, which was delicious. We later marinated some filets in teriyaki sauce and grilled it. Also delish. We still had too much and had to throw some out.
We saw dolphins many times, playing in our bow wave. The water was so clear, it was awesome to watch them. We could hear their squeaks too.
During one night, many baby squid jumped onto the deck. We heard one sailor say that one even hit him in the face! During another night, some flying fish got on deck.
Our next stop at Bahia Santa Maria was a little different than the first stop. There was not a thing there. But amazingly, for our beach party, a band showed up and meals were also cooked for everyone. We hear that this little "town" magically appears once a year, during the BaJa HaHa.
The last leg, to Cabo was the shortest and the easiest. The first night there was a "I can't believe we cheated death once again" party. We ran into some engine problems and missed the beach party, but we made the awards ceremony the next night, where we won 3rd place. (Everyone got 3rd place unless they got 2nd or first.)
We think our engine problems are fixed, so we're now headed to La Paz. More on that once we arrive.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Checking in from Cabo San Lucas

Well, we arrived safely with the head of the fleet. Currently, we have some major engine problems that are preventing us from leaving for La Paz. Just as well as we've been advised to wait until Friday (today is Saturday) anyway due to a strong northern wind.

We found a mechanic with the fleet who is willing to help us if he is able. We're having breakfast in a local restaurant with WiFi so we thought we should provide a brief update.

We have lots to report, but will wait until we have some time.

So far, it's been quite awesome even with the problems. It's so cool to jump off the boat into to the 84 degree water.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Leaving Ensenada

We're just making our last minute adjustments - putting our steps and bikes, etc on board. We're fueled up, our water tanks are full and so are the fridge and freezer.

We'll be leaving within the hour.

Next update, from somewhere else.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Red Tide, Glowing Fish and A Wet Security Guard

Hi all,
We thouht we'd make a quick posting as we have a few moments.

We've been busy making all our last minute repairs and stocking up (lots) before we take off.

Things have been interesting around here. For the past week or so, there've been these "Red Tides". At first the water just got sort of cloudy. Then it turned red. It's neat, for some reason it's making some of the fish phosflorscent (not spelled correctly). At night, there are these little glowing trails in the water as fish swim close to the surface. It some kind of natural phenomenom, too many microscopic organisms or something like that. Alas, it is poisonous. It's killing a lot of fish and birds. It's really starting to stink.

The other morning, Sharon got up for her usual trip to the facilities. It was early and still dark. There was a man in the water in the slip across from us. Turned out that one of the security guards fell in. Sharon couldn't get him out so quickly ran up to the security station for help. Bit of a mystery there, poor guy. I think he was in there for a while.

The hotel/marina is hosting what looks like a beauty pageant here this weekend. Could be interesting except that they make us move our cars whenever they have an event like this.

We hope to make one more post before we leave on Oct 24. Boy it's coming quickly,

Friday, October 14, 2011

October 14, 2011- Preparing for the BaJa HaHa

Its nice to be back in Ensenada. The weather has gotten a little colder. Normal daytime temp is around 20C, but we've been up to 25C. Nighttime cools off quickly. We hit the dewpoint right after sundown and things stay wet until sunrise again.

We're leaving in10 days! It is exciting and a little scary thinking about it.
It took us a while to get moving after we arrived. Somehow, our power was turned off long enough to have thawed everything in the freezer. It took us all day to clean it up. Then Neil got sick. We also discovered that water got into one of our food storage areas. That was a hell of mess (and stink) to clear up. The smell was so bad, we're not sure we'll ever get it out of our heads. Hopefully all the bleach and vinegar we used did the job well. We're learning a lot!

We've been busy, as usual. We have a few minor things to take care of before we leave. We've been getting updated Mexican papers. We're working with a nice lady and she says once we're done, we can drive our car in Mexico (we couldn't get it licenced in Canada anymore). We will also get free medical care. We need to make some minor adjustments to the dinghy setup. And we have a new loadhailer speaker to install. We need to install new wires for our steaming lights. We have a second anchor holder for the bow coming that needs to be installed. No skidding material has been installed, for the most part on the parts of the deck that didn't have it (the house). We'll probably finish it today.

Neil is learning a bit about scuba. We've got all the equipment and he's been trying it out in the pool. (Sharon has her license.)

We're not sure where we'll end up in La Paz. There are many marinas there and some beautiful anchorages. We're planning on using the time there to decide how we prefer to journey - via the marina/city life/car, etc way, or via the free and natural way, on the hook.

Everything is under control. We're almost ready for the big trip.

Monday, October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011- LA

Hi everyone,
This is just a quick note to let everyone know that we once again had trouble getting into the US.

When we left Ensenada we decided to go via Tecate instead of our usual border crossing near San Diego. There was a major construction accident at the border that crushed 50 or so cars and sent many people to the hospital. As a result, many of the gates were closed and we weren't sure we'd be able to get across in time for our flight.

Though the line up at Tecate was short, they held us there for 7 hours, with their nonsense again. I tell you, there are a bunch of idiots on power trips manning the US border. The officer handling us was so stupid, he thought our file stated that we are NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE the US!?!?!? He also had his days all mixed up and thought we had crossed the border the day before. We left a day early and its a good thing or we would have missed our flight for sure.

Coming back was also a nightmare. We got to the airport 4 hours ahead of our flight, but Customs dragged their asses and made us miss our flight again. So, here we are in LA, the only flight we could get. We're leaving soon to catch a train to San Diego where our friend Bert is picking us up.

I don't think we're ever going to try getting into the US ever again. We leave for La Paz at the end of October, so we'll be able to catch our flights back home directly from Cabo San Lucas to Toronto. NO MORE US BORDERS!!!!!