Fishin' Omission

Fishin' Omission
Turtle Bay, Baja California South, Mexico
October 31, 2009

In my last entry, I made an omission that must be corrected. The great white hunters have struck again. The "finish" line for this leg was about thirty miles north of Turtle Bay (on US maps as Bartolome Bay or Bahia San Bartolome). We jibed after the finish, but the angle wasn't that conducive to getting to Turtle Bay and so we turned on the engine and pointed at our destination.
During the night, an unlucky squid had jumped out of the water to avoid a predator and landed on the deck of CAPAZ. Bryce decided this was a great opportunity for fashioning a real squid lure. The hand lines went into the water. When, we got within about 5 miles of the entrance, we got a fish on and pulled in a 25ish pound yellowfin tuna. Brad is getting very good at the cleaning and filleting end of things. As the killing and cleaning was happening, I spotted a marlin jumping off in the distance which freaked Brad out as we had thrown one of lines back in the water for cleaning purposes. It didn't catch a marlin, but rather a skip jack tuna which we turned loose. The dolphins that were out harassing the marlin swam over to check us out and played on the bow wake even rubbing their bellies on the bow which happened to moving at about 6 knots. We turned into Turtle Bay and took down the sails and the rest you know about from the preceding entry.

Real Squid Lure

Yesterday was a very busy day. We wanted to get the kids into town, so we did that first thing. They changed some money into pesos and then purchased some chicklets which they asked the clerk for the specific colors in Spanish. At noon, the cruisers starting massing for a traditional Ha-ha Potluck and Beach Party. The Cuffels to whom we had given half out tuna, marinated up what they had left and brought it to be seared on the communal beach fire and shared it as their potluck dish. We decided to move our entire boat closer to where the beach party was happening. Then, we dinghied in and spent a great afternoon, catching up with boats we have met along the way and meeting yet more people from the Pacific Northwest.
Since our boat was now located on the closest side of the fleet to the party, we invited people to make a pit stop on their return to their own boats. As expected, the kid boats stopped by, probably because Brad had brought an entire boatload of kids to boat and their families decided to stop by and retrieve them (after a glass of wine in the cockpit). The Morrisons of Almeda and the boat "Evergreen", the crew of "Jarana", most of the crew of "Albatross", and later, the Dollings of Van BC and the boat "Blackdragon" joined for catching up on trip details.
The Dollings continued on into town, where the residents had decided that their fleet of visitors was a great excuse for moving up their "Dia de los Muertos" celebration up two days. We were just too tired and our move made us a little too far away to make the journey. There was going to be dinghy "trick or treating" here in Turtle Bay, but the town's inclusion of the fleet in their celebration, prompted a decision to postpone that activity until Bahia Santa Maria (or perhaps cancel it altogether as we are not in Kansas anymore).
This morning at 11:00 am, we will set sail for Bahia Santa Maria. The weather forecasts are for a much more seasonal weather pattern than we saw between San Diego and here. We look forward to a great sail, our next stop and beyond.

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Turtle Bay, Mexico

Turtle Bay, Mexico
October 29, 2009

We have heard that our posts are getting through OK. Hopefully, the format is still easy for you all to read. I will work out any of the kinks once I can look at it over an internet connection.
Here we are anchored in Turtle Bay. We were about the 10th boat in yesterday around noon. It is very windy here but the water in the anchorage is pretty darn flat. With not very many boats here yet, we had plenty of time to get anchored and let the realization sink in a little that we are indeed in Mexico now.
I must be getting better at this anchoring thing, because last night with the wind pretty much above 15 knots all night, I only got up once for a look and the rest of my anchor checks consisted of opening one eye and looking out the hatch above my bunk at the stars. If the stars moved during the gust, but stopped moving at some point, I figured we weren't dragging so I went back to sleep. By the way, the stars stopped moving or were stationary at each of these checks.
Those who are concerned about the Baker Boys' education will be happy to know that out at sea, they pretty much kept up with their regular study schedules. Bryce did however use the inability of the adults to goad him the normal amount to not get it all done. The absence of "kid boats" here yet was used to demonstrate to him to about the consequence of this behavior and that catch-up with undivided adult attention may not be the way that he wants to get his work done.
After bacon and egg breakfast, Mary and I caught a panga and went into the town of Turtle Bay this morning. It is much bigger than it looks from the water. While the poverty of most people is apparent by our US standards, the community seems to have what the people need. At the Western Union "office", (Mary was trying to find somewhere to change money), the woman who ran the office had her 3 month old daughter with her at work. The baby was the cutest thing you have ever seen all decked out in pink fleece. It just reminded us of our common humanity - all healthy babies are a joy to behold.

PJ waving from the boat

Ha Ha Fleet Beach Potluck at Turtle Bay

Thoughts from Brad

October 27, 2009

I have to admit I like the challenge of a multiple day passage. There are few things that are better than being at sea. In past Vic-Maui races I have commented on the blogs we kept during those races, talking about how wonderful and real it is out here. You tend to lose the moment until you go out again. Last night or perhaps I should say this morning on the 4am to 7am watch I had one of those perfect moments. I had just shut off the engine as the wind had filled to 12 knots on the beam (that's about 15 mph coming from the side of the boat for you land lubbers out there). After getting the the sails set and trimmed properly I took a moment to relax and listen to my Ipod. In honor of my good friend Tom Huseby, I played Southern Cross by Crosby Stills and Nash. Tom happened to be in San Diego and he treated us to brunch Sunday morning. Tom had received an email a week or two earlier from me relating what a good life this is. I guess it made him feel a bit down, but when he got into his car Southern Cross was on the radio. He told me he took it as a sign. For the rest of you out there who think you may want to do something like this someday. This crusing thing really, really doesn't suck in a big way.

Well I'm in the cockpit It's about 10:30am PDT. The wind is blowing 15-20 on a broad reach. We should make Turtle Bay sometime tomorrow morning. You see, yesterday we left San Diego heading for Mexico in the cruiser's rally called the Baha ha ha. We didn't leave San Diego a minute to soon. If we'd stayed there much longer I think we would have spent our entire cruising budget right there. San Diego is a cruisers provisioning and passage preparation paradise. All the services and stuff you need is right there. In San Diego, we purchased Dinghy Wheels, more engine spares a new AIS receiver, new laptop computer for PJ (happy birthday PJ!) not to mention taking the kids to Lego Land and the San Diego Zoo. The money flowed out of our pockets. The trip from Seattle and all the stops in between we managed to keep spending under fairly good control. That all changed in San Diego. Ah well things needed doing and we got them done.

I feel very good about our boat preparation. we do have some week links but on the whole I believe we are pretty darn well prepared. Capaz is indeed a capable vessel, and I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this little ships ability to deliver us safely. On that note the forecast is for the wind to increase through tonight perhaps reaching 25 to 30 knots with possible higher gusts. The waves are also supposed to build perhaps to as high as 15 feet. The next scheduled stop is Turtle pay. Many of the Ha ha participants are going to hole up for the night tonight in one of the many anchorages that line the coast. We are going to continue on. Capaz is one of the faster boats in the fleet and we should will make good time to Turtle bay. Right now Turtle bay is about 140 miles away, which is less than 24 hours travel. The timing should be good bringing us into the bay in daylight tomorrow morning. I like the daylight part since None of us have been into Turtle Bay before and I don't relish the idea of sailing into an anchorage that I haven't been to befor at night.

PJ has pretty much kept you all up to date on the happenings here on Capaz. It really has been a fantastic trip so far and we haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet. That will soon change though. I'd have to say the highlight of the trip for me so far was San Simeon. I'll never forget the time we spent anchored there. It is a very rugged place, vibrant with life. It was absolutely amazing to watch the thousands of sea birds that were following the bait balls through our anchorage with Pelicans and other types of birds plunge diving right next to the boat and actually swimming under the boat. The seals followed the food as well massing where the birds were. It was like watching the nature channel only not on TV but just off the back step of our house. The Hearst Castle was also an unexpected delight. Other highlights include snorkeling with the kids in Catalina Harbozr on Catalina Island. I believe Bryce wrote a piece on that for the next Capaz Chronicle.

I turned on the radar to see if I could tell how far away a sailboat is that is crossing behind our stern. I couldn't see the sailboat on radar but found a large target about 9 miles dead ahead. I picked up visual confirmation. It's a larger ship. I'm going to sign off now and go check AIS to see if I can figure out where this guy is headed. Cheers!

Brad

On Our Way to Turtle Bay

The Parade just prior to the start of
the 2009 Sweet 16th Baja Ha Ha Cruiser Rally

31* 47.7' N
117* 12.4' W
October 26, 2009

I must first apologize if this post ends up in some weird format. It the first time that we are trying a new feature which allows us to email a post directly to the blog and we are emailing it over the SSB email which is also new to us.
At 11:00 this more Capaz and her crew crossed the starting line for the 2009 Baja Ha Ha Cruiser Rally under spinnaker (in very light air) winning the crew a free pizza upon arrival in Cabo San Lucas. Bryce, who was manning the VHF radio, was so excited when they called out our spinnaker colors that he could hardly get our name to the Committee, finally having to spell it out to them. He was going to make darn sure they had it right to lay claim to that pizza.
We were able to sail until 4:01 this afternoon when we put the boat in gear and pointed it at Turtle Bay which put the sea swell more behind us and gave the boat a much more comfortable motion. It feels great to be on our way again. The sunset tonight was gorgeous and in the late afternoon, we sighted several flying fish. These were solitary big ones, not like the schools of smaller sized fish we have seen going to Hawaii.
We are anxious to see if this new set-up works, so I am keeping this entry short.
Hasta Manana!

Bryce and Mary share a Cup o Noodles moment

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Let's Go

San Diego, CA

I am ready to go. I am not sure that everything is checked off my list, in fact I am pretty sure that there are a few things left, but nothing that we can’t live without. The pace of life that is this weird hybrid of everyday existence and vacation that is what being in port while cruising entails is exhausting.
We were very lucky during our 10 days here in San Diego to have a vehicle loaned to us. It made it much easier to get more things done and logistically simpler to visit a couple of the sights here. The other side of the coin is that we have packed every day completely full and have been too tired at the end of the day to have any patience for flukely wi fi connections to post pictures or write in our blog.
We have been provisioning at Costco, Target, Vons (California Safeway), Trader Joe’s, and the pharmacy, stowing said provisions, sightseeing at the San Diego Zoo and Legoland (each an all day affair), maintaining the boat which requires multiple trips to West Marine and Downwind Marine, doing two big laundries, giving haircuts, and dining out with friends local and from Seattle. We also have a fifth person aboard – our crew to Cabo, Mary.
The boys have t-shirts that our friends, Tolands, gave them before leaving Seattle that say, “Eat, Sleep, Sail”. I ready to do just that for a few days. We are also very excited to finally meet up with our buddy boat, Totem. We have been talking about cruising with the Giffords for about 15 years. In that time, Jamie and Behan got married and between us we have had 5 children. I can’t wait to have it all come to fruition.

Baker Family

Legoland, Carlsbad, WA

Boys and Bionicles

Baker Boys on the Lego Technic Coaster

Mary looks on as PJ finishes Austin's haircut

Baker Family

Polar Bear Sculpture, San Diego Zoo

Something So Right

San Diego, CA

We must be doing something right! I pretty have forgotten what it was like to stress out over something . . . . . . I remembered last night!
We have been totally into this playing-it-by-ear lifestyle. Until . . . . San Diego . . . . we are on a schedule with places to go and people to see. It's just so different. We didn't have a cheap/free anchoring option, so all of the sudden we had to have an actual place to be. Thank goodness that we have some friends who have the ability to take good care of us (B&H-you are the best). They got 5 out of the 10 days taken care of and we managed to secure 3 more days ourselves. The stress came with those last two nights. First come, first served is not what I wanted to hear at 7:30 this morning, followed by several no room at the inn answers. Finally, we were saved by the friendly dockmaster right here where we are. Since I couldn't talk to any of these people at 3:00am, I got a good dose of worrying last night.
I had almost forgotten what it was like to be all stressed out over something. We must be doing something right. When you have the ability to pretty much forget what being stressed out feels like, well, isn't that the point of this whole adventure.

Teachable Moments

Dana Point, CA
October 14, 2009

“Teachable moments” is a phrase that is well-loved by preschool teachers. It simply means taking the opportunities provided by everyday life and most of the time just merely pointing out things to kids. They usually take it from there.
So far, this trip has bee full of teachable moments. Today, I got one that was in my favorite subject area: geology. The boys and I went to explore what was on the other side of the breakwater behind which we have been anchored. I have observed that the nice walking path went around the Ocean Teaching Center and toward where the breakwater meets the base of a bluff. I was hoping that there might be a beach just on the other side.
Not only was there a beach, but the sun beginning to break through today’s overcast (which had earlier been raining on us) coincided with our exploratory mission. Luckily, Brad had strongly suggested swimsuits for the boys. They played in the water building sand castles for the waves to take out for awhile and I read.
At some point I realized the bluff behind me had great sedimentary deposits clearly showing the sorting that goes on as the depositional environment changes. On closer look, farther up more toward the top of the bluff I saw a great example of an unconformity. I went in for a closer look and literally stumbled (or squished) into clay that had run down off the bluff and was deposited at the base from the last couple of nights’ rain storms. The clay got the kids’ attention – they found that there were two different types being washed out of two different deposits. They played with it for a few minutes and then I went through the observations that I had made earlier. Bryce took them a step further noting some “faults” in the bluff where the “stripes” didn’t match up anymore.
Next time, I will be prepared with my rock hammer and identification charts for classifying rocks that we find!!!

The osprey on our masthead did NOT

break our instrument array to Brad's relief!

Can you see the layers and the unconformity?

Geology lesson beach