La Paz

Sunday morning early we left Puerto los Cabos (Cabo San Jose) for Muertos Bay. We were supposed to leave at the same time as Venture, Tony Flemmings boat as he had Bob Lane from Passagemaker aboard and he wanted to take some pictures underway. I got a call on the radio as we were just getting up from Bruce Kessler aboard Venture saying that they were just outside the breakwater and had left early, forgetting to let us know. A mad scramble to load the dinghy, make coffee and get underway ensued with all hands participating. It took an hour at 10 knots to catch Venture. We both slowed and I made 2 passes by so the Bob could get some good shots.

Soon after, the wind began to pipe up. It was right on our nose and built to about 18 knots. The whole rest of the trip the chop kept the windshield wipers busy clearing away the salt spray. We heard on the radio that several people were not feeling well, but we were happy as clams. The trip took 9 hours and we anchored about 3pm next to Pacific Escort, Jim Leishman's boat.

There was a grand party planned ashore at the Bahia de los Suenos resort there that evening. When we got ashore, we joined a small group that was getting a tour of the owners home that serves as a showpiece for the development. It is difficult to describe the property so the best way is for you to visit their website: www.bahiadelossuenos.com. It is truly a magnificent spot.

The last day.....Monday we left for La Paz. Bob Lane, our friend and writer for Passagemaker, rode with us for the 5 hour run up to La Paz. The trip was totally uneventful. Calm seas, no wind, and clear, blue skies. We arrived at the CostaBaja Resort and Marina about 12:30 and were soon nestled into our slip in the inner harbor. A grilled hamburger lunch with Bob and then it was siesta time. Monday night we had our final Fubar dinner and had (guess what?) Tacos, beans, etc. I love Mexican food, but I think I have had enough for awhile. While at the dinner, we met some long time cruising friends of mine that live aboard their sailboat here in La Paz. We are joining them for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. It is a cruiser's event with about 250 people attending. It is put on by Club Cruceros at the Palmira marina every year, I am told. It should be fun.

Well, that is about it for the Fubar Odyssey. It was a great event and I hope they do more of them. It demonstrated that power boats can safely travel the Baja coast and hopefully it will encourage more power cruisers to venture south.

We will remain here in La Paz for a couple of weeks preparing Nor'wester to be put on Dockwise for the trip back home. We also hope to visit a few nearby islands as we have been told that the snorkling is great and we haven't had much chance to just kick back and relax.

I will post more information as things unfold.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

We slept in this morning as we didn't need to leave for Cabo San Jose until mid morning. It is a 20-22 hour run depending on sea conditions. The morning was quiet with smooth seas. Some time after noon we saw several marlin jumping in our wake. Oh to have a fishing rod..... A little bit later we saw a school of dolphin off the starboard bow and soon they joined us for a free ride.

First there were 2
Then there were 4

Actually there were a lot more, but these were the only ones I could catch on film.
The day wore on and finally it was time to prepare dinner. I fired up the grill and soon had a pork loin cooking while we were 50 miles offshore. We have some electric candles that we set up at the pilothouse table and we all enjoyed a sumptuous pork dinner. (sorry no wine, we are on watch, you know).
The winds continued to rise slowly throughout the night and we were really rocking and rolling by the time we rounded Cabo San Lucas at 5AM. I am really sorry it was dark and I was unable to capture a photo of the stone arches that are so famous there.
We arrived in Cabo San Jose about 7AM and were greeted by Jim Effers (sp?), the marina manager, on channel 22. The marina is brand new (read, not yet completed) and we were very fortunate to be assigned a slip in the completed area. This is a very modern marina which is going to be one of the central amenities in the Puerto Los Cabos resort area which encompasses over 2000 acres. In addition to the marina are several upscale housing developments as well as 2 golf courses under construction. This is quite the spot.

We were getting low on some grocery items so we grabbed a cab and headed for town and the local Super Mercado. After returning, Bruce and I dinghied around the marina before we all headed over to the evening event at a local outdoor restaurant. Looking to the West

The above picture was taken from the center of the fairway looking at Nor'wester to the west at sunset. Bruce and I just sat and drifted in the dinghy watching the pelicans fishing for dinner for about an hour. They are fascinating to watch.We had yet another Mexican dinner of tacos, rice, and beans (this is getting a bit old). The ambiance was pleasant and being in the company of roughly 200 fellow travelers gave us a lot to talk about. We spent quite a while talking with Bo Larson, the skipper of Cadenza, a Nordhavn 78 that is powered by a Siemens diesel electric power plant. We took dessert "to go" and returned to Nor'wester and had carrot cake and tira missou. Yummy!!!

Sans Souci in the morning sun

The next morning dawned bright and clear. The above picture shows the cross on the hill and another section of the marina. Morning chores and then we got a tour of the resort area and then a reception at the beach club complete with mariachi singers. After the reception, Bruce, Janie, Jan and I went to town for dinner at a local restaurant that caters to gringos. Bruce I had Ahi tuna;Jan had sea bass; while Janie had crab. Yummy again!!
Above is another angle of the marina. This is where most of the Selenes ended up. Unfortunately there was no power or water installed yet.
Tomorrow, off to Muertos Cove......

Man O' War Cove......Mag Bay

On the Way to Mag Bay

It was a quick 3 hour run down to Mag Bay with calm seas and beautiful clear, sunny skies. We were one of the first boats to enter the cove and before we could even get the anchor down, a panga approached with a local fisherman grinning and holding up 4 lobsters that he would gladly sell us for $1 apiece. I only had a $5, so he through in 2 additional smaller ones instead of giving change.Entrance to Mag Bay

Right after that, another panga approached, this time with a better dressed driver who had his briefcase with him. This proved to be the port captain who would board us for our first boarding by a Mexican official. He spoke little English and we even less Spanish but with gestures, smiles, and a few words, we understood that he merely wanted to see our crew list and a copy of our documentation papers. After we signed his official log, we asked him to sign our guest book which he did with a big smile. After many "mucho gracias's" and more smiles, he got back in his panga and headed off to the next arrival who had just anchored.
Word spread fast that there was to be an impromptu potluck dinner ashore that evening. Bruce Kessler had arranged for a local restaurant (read shack that prepares local fish for the locals) to allow us to use their outdoor facilities for our party. Everyone brought wonderful dishes that they had prepared and the restaurant had beer and soda for $1.50 each. Eric Leishman, Jim Leishman's son, had speared a 60lb grouper earlier in the day and restaurant cooked it. (Jim is one of the founders of Nordhavn). Everyone had much to eat and drink and it proved to be one of the best gatherings so far. It seemed that we now all were getting to know one another better and friendships were beginning to form.
We returned back to the boat early as we had not yet cooked the lobster. They had been awaiting their fate in a 5 gallon bucket filled with seawater. I steamed them and we ate half of them with garlic butter and put the other half away for a lobster salad.
Again we retired early because we have another overnight run beginning early the next morning.

Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria. We left at about 7am as the trip should take about 27 hours or so and we want to arrive early Tuesday morning so we might enjoy a day of swimming (if the water is warm enough) The trip was uneventful and we averaged 9 knots as we had a bit of a push by the currents, winds, and waves. We alternated watches and I took the mid watch (midnight to 4). We arrived in Bahia Santa Maria about 8:30am and found a great anchoring spot in 28 feet of water. Bruce decided to put the tender in the water while I completed shutting down the boat’s electronics and setting things up for our 24+ hours here. I heard the davit begin to lift the dinghy followed by a loud “thunk”. I ran up to the boat deck and saw Bruce standing there frowning and muttering to himself. He had inadvertently hit the up button when the cable was already at it’s highest point and the strength of the winch had snapped the cable. Luckily, he had not yet attached the cable to the dinghy or he would have dropped the dinghy. Initially we thought we would be tenderless for the rest of the trip but after some thinking and a radio call, we located two boats who each had a cable clamp aboard. While in San Diego, I had purchased yet another Dremel ( I have 2 at home) and with the grinding wheel, it was simple to cut the stainless cable and by using the 2 cable clamps donated by the 2 boats (Voyager, a Selene 53 and sailboat close by). We were soon able to get the davit working again.

We put the tender in the water and Jan and I went exploring. We went up to the fishing village (just a few old shacks on the beach) and negotiated our way through the surf line and into the lagoon. We dinghied up the lagoon for about a mile until we started to “dredge” the bottom with the motor. We turned around and started out the lagoon and cross the surf line again. This time I was not as good (or lucky) and we caught a breaking wave over the side of the dinghy. Again, I was drenched, but the Bullfrog dinghy proved itself very stable and able to handle the approximate 20-30 gallons or so of water that came aboard. I turned on the bilge pump and we were soon pumped out. That’s when Jan pointed out that perhaps we should have tried to exit the lagoon a bit more to the left, where the surf wasn’t as large. Oh well, I learned a lesson.....

There was a party scheduled on the beach tonight, but after watching the pangas trying to negotiate the entrance to the lagoon at about 2 hours before low tide, we decided to stay aboard and do our own thing. We had a delicious dinner of blue cheese burgers and salad and then watched 2 episodes of “Planet Earth”, the marvelous production done by the BBC. Early to bed for a good night’s sleep.

Sunday In Turtle Bay

Sunday….a day of rest before the next long leg tomorrow. We took a dinghy ride again, this time with all four of us. Bruce was in the bow and got a bit wet. We went in to the town dock, but when we saw the rickety ladder we had to climb to get ashore, we opted not to. We cruised down the beach a bit but decided that we would not land there either as there were several Federalies with machine guns patrolling the beach and they did not look too friendly. Back to the boat for a grilled steak dinner and an evening watching ‘The Full Monty”.

Turtle Bay

Bahia de Tortugas (Turtle Bay) We are anchored in the northwest part of the bay, just off the small fishing village. The fleet is split into two groups, one here and one just off the beach where we will party tonight. We launched the dingy and explored the anchorage, stopping to say hi to anyone out on deck. We are starting to get to know some of the other cruisers and they in turn, us. It is great to hear all of the positive comments about Nor’wester. While most of those in the fleet are aboard very nice boats, they still want to know all about the Northwest 42.

We are busy hosing off the salt on the boat and organizing after the 30 plus hour cruise here from Ensenada. The water is getting warmer, but at 68 degrees, it is still a little too chilly for swimming.

This is Tony Flemings Fleming 65, Venture. We spent a delightful hour chatting with him at the party and learned the history (and future) of Flemings. Tony is truly a gentleman. His plan is to cruise the Baja area for a short time then take Venture down the coast, through the Panama Canal and up the East Coast to eventually spend time cruising the St. Lawrence Seaway. It was great to get to know such an icon in the boating industry.

Later……We arrived back from the party…..what a hoot!!! We were picked up in a panga (Mexican skiff about 16-20 foot long) and whisked to shore. The surf was just a bit too high with the party going till after dark, it was recommended that we not use our own tenders. We had salsa and chips, margaritas, cervezas, tamales, taquitos and beans as our Mexican “gourmet” meal. The most interesting part was the trip home. The combination of the surf, the number of people who wanted to return at the same time, and low tide made getting off the shore a slapstick comedy event. I ended up having to wade out to waist deep water while helping to push the panga off the shore. I got soaked. Then, in the dark, we couldn’t find Nor’wester as I had neglected to properly turn on the anchor light and to conserve power; we had only limited lights illuminated. We eventually found her (how else could I be writing this) and spent a peaceful night sleeping aboard.

A Gourmet Breakfast

Ensenada Cruise Ship
Hamming It Up With Bruce
Jan and Janie's Fashion Show

It’s a bit past 4AM on Saturday morning. I am alone in the pilothouse, vigilantly on watch as I write this. I am totally typing by feel and will go back and spell check later before I post.

The soft lights of the instruments glow just bright enough to be seen but not so bright as to destroy the night vision.

We left Ensenada yesterday morning at 5AM. It was still dark and we followed two other boats out of the narrow entrance to the marina and into the main harbor. Soon we could see the lights (and radar returns) of more than a dozen other boats that all were leaving at the same time. Dawn broke some time around six am under, you guessed it, gray, murky skies.

Shortly after we rounded Cabo Punta Banda, just south of Ensenada, we were greeted by a large gray whale and her (we assumed it to be the mother) baby lazily going in the other direction.

We each took turns on watch throughout the day and Bruce and I are sharing the nighttime watches. About 8 last night we started to hear a loud grinding noise coming from the lower passageway. Upon investigation, we discovered that we had picked up something on the starboard stabilizer and it was making an awful sound every time the stabilizer turned outward. I cycled the stabilizers and even turned the starboard side off for awhile, but the noise persisted. Finally, after about an hour or so, whatever it was that was snagged either dropped off or was cut by the stainless knife blade that is just in front of the stabilizer fin. Whew!!

Looking around, I can see the running lights of 16 boats and the radar shows 7 boats within 3 miles of us. Sans Souci, a Nordhavn 60 something has sort of taken over as the mother hen and we all seem to be flocking behind her. We have an AIS receiver aboard that allows us to see the names of other boats (and ships) that are transmitting their information. We also see their course, speed, destination, length, beam, type of craft, closest point of approach and a bunch of other useful information.

Jan is up and the dawn is beginning to break so I am going to stop writing for a bit……

We saw a lot of whales today but as luck would have it, this was the only picture I was able to get. There was a baby and a mother together.
Here is Sans Souci, a Nordhavn that is part of our fleet, as we pass Cedros Island. This picture was taken just after we came out from under the clouds that have persisted since we arrived in San Diego.

Entering Turtle Bay

FUBAR Day 1 or San Diego to Margaritaville

From Ensenada….. This past week is somewhat a blur. Or maybe I should say a “murk”. When we arrived in San Diego, the first day or two were very nice but then I think the weather directors thought it was June as June gloom set in and it became murky. It is even gloomy here in Ensenada as I write this. Hopefully by Turtle Bay we will see some sunshine.

Steve and Tom departed for home on Saturday the 27th and I was left to straighten up and clean (the ''guys" mess) for when Jan would arrive on Tuesday. The fires in Southern California left a coating of ash on all the docks and ramps so every time I left the boat and then re-boarded, I left gray footprints. I solved part of this by washing the dock areas on all of the approached to the boat. This took time, but did keep the boat a bit cleaner in the long run.

Jan arrived on Tuesday and we set about shopping, stowing and generally preparing for the beginning of FUBAR. I visited the West Marine store about twice a day on average and I think if you check their stock prices, they must have gone up last week. I am sure that now that we have left, there will be massive layoffs at West Marine. There were so many things that I never realized that we needed. A dinghy anchor, dinghy anchor rode, new CO2 cartridges for the PFDs, wash buckets, scrub brushes, letters to mark the dinghy: T/T Nor’wester and then there were the numbers to place the documentation numbers in the engine room. We had just received the new official number and I had not yet marked the boat. The Coast Guard wants it to be in 3” numbers and in a manner that it would be very apparent if the numbers were altered or removed. I thought that the best way to do this would be to use the vinyl numbers and then to put a single layer of glass and resin over it so that it was still readable, but protected against altering. Well, can you believe that at West Marine I was able to get all of the letters and numbers I needed except for the number “5”. I could not find a number 5 anywhere that I went. West Marine was back ordered on that number and the other marine stores I visited didn’t have one either. I did find one in white color but that doesn’t do me any good as the rest of the numbers are black and it is going to be placed on a white stringer and wouldn’t be seen. Well, I finally settled for getting a couple of other letters that could be cut and a 5 could be made from them. I bought a white number 5 to use as a pattern. I decided to just put the numbers on the boat and let our fiberglass experts cover them when the boat returns as I think they would do a much neater job than I could do. I hope the Coast Guard will understand.

Saturday we went to Fiddlers to get checked in and receive our participants’ packet. Representatives from Cruiseport (Ensenada) were there to help us with Mexican immigration papers and it was a smooth process to get checked in. They provided us with a Fubar bag that was loaded with goodies including a spiral bound set of Mexican charts. We have Nobeltec with all of the charts installed, but the addition of the paper charts is comforting if the computer crashes.

Before we had left Anacortes, we had tested the BAT drive get home system and found that while it worked great, we were only able to get 2.5 knots out of it; hardly enough to make much difference if we had an engine failure in any sea state other than flat calm. It was determined that the hydraulic motor that was installed required too much hydraulic oil flow for what the pump on the genset was able to produce so the pressures would drop and the speed would then suffer. We had a motor air freighted in and found Viking Marine to install it. The motor is located under the main shaft at the aft part of the engine room. Numerous hydraulic hoses, valves, and a corner of the genset complicate things further. Joe and Kane both looked at where the motor had to go and soon decided that reinforcements had to be brought in. Kane called his daughter, Sydney, who is very petite and she was soon crawling under the engine and all the way to the back of the bilge.

This reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the wicked witch's feet are sticking out from beneath the house that has fallen on her.

Between Joe, Kane, and Sydney they got the motor changed and when we tested the BAT drive, we were able to achieve the 4 knots that we had expected. Sydney deserves a medal.

Bruce and Janie Hinds, our dear friends and the couple that introduced me to Jan, arrived on Saturday night and are our honored crew for FUBAR. We always enjoy their company and have spent many wonderful times with them in the past, but never a boat trip of this length. Bruce is so excited to be doing an offshore trip as this has been his dream for many years. Janie just hopes she doesn’t get seasick.

Sunday we had breakfast at “Point Break”, a great little restaurant just off Shelter Island. Then we did a little sight seeing that took us to San Diego “Old Town”. I had not been there for years, but my memories of great margaritas a one of the restaurants there had us making a beeline. Unfortunately, it was too chilly (remember the gloomy weather) for us to sit outside so we opted to go back to Shelter Island and have an early dinner at Miguel’s. Yum!!!

Last Monday night was the get acquainted party that was held at the Portuguese Hall on Shelter Island. The food, beer, wine and camaraderie was wonderful. For the first time we met many of the other skippers and crews, all of whom were as anxious as we were to be underway. We saw our friends Natalie Friton and Amy Pinter from Passagemaker Magazine and met Bob Jones of Ocean Nav that had provided us with the excellent weather routing on our trip down from Anacortes. Bruce Kessler and his all volunteer crew from the Del Rey Yacht Club did a great job of organizing the event.

Tuesday was for last minute provisioning and stowing of “stuff”. I made a quick stop at the Village Marine office to make sure I had a complete understanding of how the watermaker works. I met Gary Foster who was very helpful and he explained the operation of the watermaker much better than the instruction manual did. I also learned that Gary was a retired navy chief sonar tech and also a submariner. As I had spent 4 years in the sub services as a sonar tech, we had much to talk about. He was about 8 years behind me, but the equipment and ops drills that we did were the same. I had not talked “sonar” to anyone in many years and it was a bit of nostalgia.

Wednesday morning dawned, guess what…….gloomy. We left at 7am and fell into line with several other FUBAR boats. We had 2 large Nordhavns ahead of us and 2 small Nordhavns behind us. The trip down to Ensenada was very uneventful. Seas were calm, wind was nil, and visibility never got above about 3 miles.

We arrived at Cruiseport Marina at 3pm and found that this marina has the same problems with dirt as we had in San Diego, though this time it is the soot from the generators on the cruise ships that make the docks filthy. So we did the same drill as before,,,,,wash the boat, then scrub the docks around the boat. Our slip is along, what I call, Nordhavn Row. There are 5 Nordhavns next to us; (3) 43's and (2) 40's. With the addition of the FUBAR Nordhavns, they have cornered the market here. (I think it is appropriate for us to be here.) We walked ashore to town and had a fabulous dinner at Mahi Mahi, a local favorite restaurant. Bruce and I had the garlic swordfish, Jan had the garlic mahi mahi, and Janie had the Mahi Mahi shrimp, a coconut crusted shrimp dish. Yummy!!!!

Today we will go ashore and search for yet another coffee grinder. I had replaced the previously reported failed grinder with a similar one thinking that lightening never strikes twice in the same place and this morning when Bruce went to grind the beans, it didn’t work. Sniffing the bottom revealed a strong burned electric smell so I guess that there must be an inherent problem with the Mr. Coffee grinder. Luckily there is a Costco and Walmart here in Ensenada so replacing it should be easy. (We won't be buying another Mr. Coffee)

The weather is still gloomy but our spirits are high. Here are Jan, Janie and Bruce at our breakfast table aboard. Jan made a scrumptious scrambled egg, bacon, english muffin and oranges breakfast. Tonight is another party here at the marina. I will report again tomorrow, assuming I still have internet access. If not, then at the next opportunity.