Ophelia Offshore

We cast off the dock lines in Ensenada and headed back out into the open ocean – This time for a ~300nm motor-sail to Tortuga Bay. The weather was uneventful but chilly overnight. We pulled into Tortuga bay 24 hours later and dropped the anchor – our first real anchorage of the trip!

We were so excited to be at our first real anchorage we got the paddle boards out and explored, even though there wasn’t much to see. The main event of Tortuga Bay is a place stop and rest with access to diesel about half way down the Pacific side of the Baja coast. A huge group of dolphins lives in the bay, and they swam through the anchorage multiple times a day. Every time we got the dingy out to explore somewhere in the bay, we had a dolphin escort. Followed by the pelicans. And then the aggressive seals who thought we must have fish like the pangas. One seal got so close he jumped up over the dingy motor and scared the hell out of us, upset we weren’t throwing fish overboard.

For us, the best part was meeting some of the other cruisers on the “late train” and swapping stories about where we came from, and where we’re headed. Most everyone was headed out on the start of their trip, and the excitement for what’s to come after so long preparing was palpable. We’re almost there, but not quite yet!