Ophelia Offshore

It was time to take off for Cabo babe! The sail took us ~30 hours and we covered ~180nms mostly motor sailing with minimal waves.

When it’s just Jesse and I aboard, we’ve settled into a watch system of 6on/6off at night and then just taking whatever turns we want on watch during the day without a formal system. Jesse has a coffee after dinner and I go to bed pretty much once the sun sets a bit after 7pm. This is ideal for both of us. Jesse then wakes me up either when he’s getting too tired or it’s been six hours, and he usually always makes it to the six hour mark unless the weather is bad (ie, drizzling rain and cold and he wants to come inside). If the weather is really bad (ie, monster waves and punishing wind) he just keeps going because he knows he’s better at steering the boat through that than me. In the latter case, do know I am not sleeping soundly below while Jesse suffers in the cockpit – I am also suffering below listening to the horrible noises and carrying the anticipation for the team that every wave that lifts us up will flip us over. It is a heavy burden to carry. When the swearing in the cockpit gets loud enough, I pop my head out and help do whatever sail adjustment is needed before resuming my position of deck hand cowering below.

I digress though, none of this happened on this calm motor sail to Cabo (See: Asunción for storm action and some upcoming future posts if you like to hear about our sufferings…). On my morning watch, it hit me that this was the final stretch of the North American coast we would sail past, having made it ~2,000nms from Seattle to the tip of Baja. A major achievement that was easy to overlook when we were focused on preparing for what was coming next (limited time in the Sea of Cortez, more boat projects before the Pacific crossing, the PACIFIC CROSSING). It was nice to take a moment and reflect on the incredible journey we’d made so far. I took many poor cell phone photos of the sunrise, of which I will burden you with only one.

The shoreline into Cabo is spectacular in many ways – rocky bluffs begin building up out of the rolling hills and resorts line the beaches while villas are wedged in every nook and cranny. We saw many whales playing along the coast line, including two having a tail slap off in front of the resort our friends got married at last year. Tour boats were lined up to see the famous arch once we made it around the corner.

Cabo babe! We pulled into the anchorage which we knew would be busy, but it was comically busy. Rental jet skis ripping through the boats, booze cruise catamarans with passengers dangling off the decks, sight seeing pangas packed full like cans of sardines in matching orange like jackets, and a few other cruising sailboats just trying to get their provisions and get out.

Cabo is the is not enjoyed by most cruisers. It’s the lowest rated anchorage I’ve seen on noforeignland (yelp for cruisers). But Jesse and I were feeling a little smug. We know Cabo. We’ve been to Cabo. And when in Cabo, you have to Cabo, and then it wouldn’t be that bad. We ripped the dingy into town, dodging fishing boats and jumping wakes, got margaritas in giant sculpted glasses, went shopping at the mall for flip flops, bought a guitar with a howling wolf emblazoned on it, and went to the same restaurant twice because they had decent wings. Most iconically though, Jesse crumbled to the peer pressure of the lizard lady instantly and we both now have lovely portraits with a lizard.

We also checked in with the Port Captain, which you’re supposed to do, but they always seem somewhat confused when we show up at their offices trying to check in, so it’s unclear to us if everyone is actually checking in and out of all the ports they go to. This time, they did the paperwork to check us in, but the Port Captain himself was in a meeting so we had to leave and come back the next day to pick up the final signed off paperwork. We dropped off laundry, had another round of overpriced tropical drinks, provisioned, and made plans for our quick escape from Cabo.

Back at the boat, as we were putting away the provisions, the imported jar of marinara sauce that was the biggest splurge from the grocery store slid off the table during a particularly violent roll and shattered. Marinara on the settee cushions, the white carpet, my cream fleece, the oyster throw pillow. It hit everything white we had on board. After 30min of cleaning, we were ready to leave our 1 star review of the anchorage, no longer feeling so smug about our expertise in navigating Cabo.