Rounding Cabo San Lucas

We had an uneventful afternoon with good wind and enough warmth for Arnold to spend several hours in the cockpit wearing shorts and T-shirt. We were happy to see that we were well east of the shipping lane and in fact there was surprisingly little traffic of any sort around.

The wind started to die down shortly after I went to bed and at 9 PM Arnold gave up and lay the boat ahull, wheel lashed to one side, double reefed mainsail still up, jib rolled in. Arnold reported that the boat did slow circle drifting south at an average of about 1 knot. At about 11 PM there was wind again and soon Arnold had the boat moving NE parallel to the coast 5 nm away. We rounded Cabo San Lucas at about midnight.

At 1 AM Arnold woke me for my watch and he suggested that I have a look at the scene outside. What a splendid sea it was: the lights of Cabo San Lucas under a canopy of stars and the moon illuminating the calm ocean from te west. This reminded me of our approach to Honolulu that night 14 months ago. Except that things are different now: the boat is better equipped, we are more experienced and confident, and we are much less fatigued.

Soon I saw a ship all lit up traveling south in the shipping late. That had to be a cruise ship. AIS reported it as the "Carnival Spirit", bound for Acapulco. I had see that ship very recently, either in Ensenada or San Diego.

The wind started to die again and soon we were creeping along at 1 knot from a 4 kt wind. From the east was coming another cruise ship, the "Sapphire Princess" bound for Cabo San Lucas. At 2.30 AM I was forced to lie ahull. After some thought I woke Arnold and told him that I was about to start the engine and not be concerned. Rather than losing ground at 1 kt I preferred to be gaining ground at 4 or 5 kt. Besides, running the radar constantly on standby had taken toll on our battery supply. We had 12.1 volts and would probably be OK until we dropped anchor but it was going to be nice to top up the batteries and not have to worry.

After an hour of motoring the wind was back, though right on the nose. I set up on a port tack on almost a reciprocal course to that of Sapphire Princess, two miles to our port side. Then the wind veered enough to force me to tack which put me on a heading to meet the coast 35 sea miles from our proposed anchorage at Cabo Frailes. We would not be able to tack that far in light winds before the next nightfall. If the wind did not improve during the coming day we would use the engine.

Just after dawn AIS reported a 73-ft "Passenger" ship named "Red Rooster III) south of Cabo San Lucas headed NE and bound for San Diego. Either the captain had forgotten to update his AIS data or he was going to get a rude shock when he got to the northern end of the Sea of Cortez 600 miles away. Oops and there was another cruise ship "Crystal Symphony" headed for Cabo San Lucas. That small resort town was going to be very crowded this day.

The wind started to die so I decided to shake out the reef and raise the entire mainsail. The cranking got harder and harder. I stopped several times and carefully looked at all of the potential problem spots but everything was in order. So I cranked yet harder and harder. Then I saw pieces of the halyard cover falling on the cockpit floor and realized too late that I was working against a bad crossover and the sheer force of the cranking had peeled off a section of the cover. If that section of the halyard cannot be re-covered then I'm up for a new one. In my years of sailing I have never mangled a line with a crossover but today was the first time and a hard probably and probably expensive lesson was learned. That was a beautiful new halyard that I got in Port Townsend.

The wind died and I motored for an hour until it came back. However, it got weaker and weaker and well before noon Arnold and I agreed that we'd better use the engine if we hoped to make the anchorage that night. Thus we motored about 30 miles.

We saw our first two whales shortly after starting the engine. Arnold and I heard something from behind the boat, we turned around just in time to see a pair of whales doing their rolling dive maybe 50 meters from the boat. They were much bigger than the Orcas and were colored either blue or brown, and I don't recall seeing a dorsal fin. Arnold and I rushed for our cameras but this pair did not reveal themselves again. An hour later Arnold noticed what looked like a whale show on the horizon - lots of blowing and jumping out of the water.

Later I saw another pair not more than 30 meters off our starboard but they dived before Arnold could make it with his camera. We did manage to take videos of whale a couple of hundred meters off our port side but have yet to review them. ... Zoom shots off pitching decks are a real challenge.

With three hours to go the wind came back, this time from the north. Before long we were punching our way into a 25 knot head wind and things got very unpleasant. Fortunately the wind moderated somewhat as we approached the anchorage and we made our entrance into Bahia Los Frailes and dropped anchor in 10 meters of water and 3.30 PM. The bay is formed by a headland that curves to the east yielding good protection from northerly winds in particular. We found the beach fairly well organized as though it has official support. There are beach shacks and to the left modest holiday homes. The cruising guide states that there on the western shore of the bay is a hotel that will serve meals to visiting yachties if they make reservations. Further down is Quito's restaurant. Arnold and I planned to spend at least one full day exploring the place and very likely having dinner out.

Shortly after dropping anchor (at 23N22.8, 109W25.6) Arnold and I celebrated by sharing the last beer on board. Soon we had the boarding ladder out and I went for a very enjoyable swim. The water was chilly but not cold. However, it was murky. In the cockpit I shampooed my hair in fresh water and completely rinsed myself in fresh water. It was great to be clean again. Arnold went in after I did but found the water cold.

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