We rounded Cape Scott on Vancouver Island BC on July 6, 2007. About 40 miles later, in the first fjord at anchor, some cruiser asked me if I was going on the Baja HaHa. So it proceeded down the coast – about the fourth time this happened I realized that the HaHa was an event that sucked up all boats southbound to Mexico. We had always talked about going on the HaHa – for a lot of folks it may be the best choice to get south, if they have some concerns about the distances and night passages offshore. – it did not work out for us though, and I started answering the question – are you HaHa’ing, in a more kind and gentle manner.…..
We chose to spend the month of October in Ensenada at Marina Coral – this let us stay at a very nice marina resort, wait out the hurricane season, and gain access to the Mexican culture – though somewhat bastardized by its proximity to the norteamericanos coming down from So Cal. Still – if you get off of Gringo Gulch (the tourist strip where the cruise ship passengers shop – all 3.5 million of them on a yearly basis) the area can be rewarding. As said in a previous post we spent time in the wine region shopping for Mexican wine – the Guadalupe Valley – and ended up buying three cases on two separate trips. We enjoyed a seafood fest at the old gambling hall – now a culture center – and made some new friends on the dock. It was a great stay.
On November 1 our one month rent was up and we headed south. The water was flat, and the wind calm as we motored for the first three hours. Then it picked up to 13 – 15 -18…By the middle of the afternoon we were reefed down and flying a 100 percent jib headed downwind. The wind kept increasing as we changed watches off and on. At 0200 we tucked in the second reef and shorted the jib to 80 percent with the wind blowing 24 knots. At this time we realized that we needed to jibe – this was our first night offshore under sail, under this much wind, and we were riding the back of a whirlwind (at least for us) as the boat rocketed along at 7.5 knots in 25 – 27 knots of wind. (We had traveled 1100 miles down the west coast – but under very light winds, fog, and engine power mostly) The auto pilot was handing it well and we decided to jibe at first light at 0600.
We took our position then and were 65 miles offshore – a wee bit of a detour – but what a ride. We jibed the boat and headed back in. Our second night was a bit more under control as we set two hour watches and jibed the boat every two hours. After dark we had a minor run in with a powerboat that got a bit too close – 200 meters – and a sailboat that was motoring, on autopilot, and with no watch or VHF on (as we later found out). We maneuvered around these obstacles, – still in about 23-25 knots – and dawn found us 20 miles from the San Benito Islands – our first anchorage in Mexico.
We had sailed about 300 miles in 54 hours for a rhumb line destination of 250 miles – not bad for a couple of rookies. We had never before had the opportunity to test the Malo in such conditions – a few hours or half a day downwind is all the sailing you usually manage to find in Puget Sound. The boat is a stellar performer, steady, fast, and easy to control. The crew? Not so fast or easy to control.
The San Benito Islands are a relatively remote anchorage with a small fishing outpost on the western island. We anchored in 40 feet behind the kelp for two days, traded with the fisherman for some lobster, and generally enjoyed the area – although it was a bit overcast and cold for Mexico. [MS: The Islas San Benito is a group of three small volcanic islands featuring a beach that elephant seals favor, a rocky anchorage behind a kelp forest, and a small fishing village on shore. After we were settled in at anchor a couple of fishermen came by in their panga (a small, 18-to-20-foot aluminum open skiff powered by 4-stroke Honda outboard motor). We traded our now-illegal-in-Mexico* Canadian crab trap for two fine spiny lobsters (langostas); one poor guy had been in the lobster trap long enough for passing fish to have eaten off all his legs. 
(One of our guide books notes that lobster legs are like candy to fish – oh dear.) We had no choice but to help end this poor fellow’s life. The fishermen (pangueros) told us how to do it right and do it quick, and within minutes we had a tasty lobster dinner for two. Awesome. Also, the guide books say the pangueros in these island fishing villages do not want cash but trade lobster for things they really need at the moment, like clothing in good condition, tools, school supplies for their kids, something nice for the wives. We did not believe it and thought everyone could use cash. We were wrong. If you come down Baja and anchor in all the wonderful places the HaHa does not go, bring something useful for the pangueros and their families (screwdriver sets, LED flashlights, new decks of playing cards – use your imagination) – we saw one sport fishing boat give the San Benito pangueros four large bags of good stuff, including some pretty cool-looking work boots. Help these guys out – they and their families are at these remote island villages for months at a time. Now, back to GB.]
At 0700 we headed for Cedros Island – 30 miles away. The wind was still up and we sailed the entire way. When we hit the wide south portion of the island where the anchorage was – it was blowing about 25 – making dropping the sail a bit challenging while dodging the lobster pot floats. 
We had no trouble though and motored over to an anchorage between two rocks awash with surf and behind a large kelp bed and spent a calm night in 18 knots of wind – Right! – at least the wind generator kept us in power. MS, though, really liked this anchorage and thought it was the best anchorage down the whole Pacific coast of Baja. [MS: The exposed rocks on either side of the entrance to this anchorage on the SW side of Cedros are about 1/8 mile apart – not very close together and a fairly easy entrance if you’re used to the tight rocky entrances in places like Prideaux Haven or Malibu Rapids. The panga trail through the kelp forest is easy to follow. And at night, the breakers on the exposed rocks that bookend this SW Cedros anchorage glow faintly greenish with bioluminescence. This is one very cool place. The Rains guide has the best photo of the approach to the anchorage, but we always combine Rains’s information with Charlie’s Charts to get a better perspective.** Back to GB.]
The next day we headed for Turtle Bay 30 miles distant – site of a Baja HaHa party of a couple days earlier. I had been reading about Turtle Bay for many years in Latitude 38- it was nice to get there but a bit anticlimactic. [MS: it was a big “meh.”] We imagined what the wide, shallow bay would look like with 175 boats in there – there were about 10 when we arrived. 
We were greeted by Enrique the Fuel Overlord – who promised to deliver the 15 gallons of diesel we needed to our boat the next day – and settled down for the night. During the next day we waited for fuel, watched a least six giant powerboats come in and fuel up at the very awkward 20-foot-high fuel pier, and did a couple of minor projects. At about 1700 hours (shortly before sunset) a couple of teenagers drove out with our 15 gallons – we plugged their panga into our inverter and transferred the fuel with a pump connecting a hose to a 55-gallon drum of fuel. [MS: good thing nobody was smoking.] We tipped the boys 50 pesos each (about five bucks) but paid Enrique US$3.77 per gallon for the fuel. (We understand the prices vary according to Enrique’s mood.) The next morning we left at dawn for our next destination – Bahia de Asuncion 50 miles away as the crow flies; about 60 miles if you’re sailing. The trip actually ended at a little over 60 miles and we had about 4 engine hours – we had a great sail in a 20 knots of wind, arriving fairly late in the day.
* Illegal for non-Mexicans, that is. A foreigner’s recreational fishing license extends only to fin fish. Get caught with shellfish or crustaceans, or the gear to capture them, and kiss yer boat goodbye.
** In prevailing northwest conditions, that is. Heh.
Leave a Reply