Walter Crampton and crew helped deliver an ultrasound machine, donated by a SoCal hospital to a hospital in San Blas, Mexico.
Tuesday, November 24 Recap from Swede Dreams
By John and Cindy Lake, Swede Dreams
We departed Magdalena Bay on Sunday after a relaxing day at anchor for an overnight passage to Los Cabos. The weather was calm with 10 - 12 knot winds out of the NW and 3-4 foot swell from the same direction. The swell was not sufficient to spill the hot tub, so that was operational in the evening for the crew underway; we really are roughing it.
We arrived at the arch of Cabo San Lucas about dawn for some excellent photos and anchored off the beach from Cabo for breakfast and swimming in about 74 degree water with visibility to bottom in 50 ft. of water. Swede Dreams arrived at the new Marina of Puerto Los Cabos at about noon. The Marina and the surrounding development is beautiful, although not completely finished. The docks are world class, but so far without power for about 75% of our fleet.
The Marina itself was dredged from an estuary that Cindy and I recall from the 70s and we were gratified to see that the village of La Playa has been preserved in the middle of the development as a tribute to the Mexicans who originally settled the area. We did not recognize the restaurant where we used to eat at 30 or 40 years ago, but were delighted to see it still there. We went to the beach front cabana and pool area of Marina Los Cabos, surrounded by acres of new housing development for a wonderful dinner with hosted bar.
The medical crew was busy after the party with laceration repair on one and skin tear work on another participant, so you can see that a good time was held by most all.
Today is a quiet day in the Marina, with perhaps a trip to town or a trip to the Gordo Banks for the fishing boats, several of which have already left.
Tonight we are into the town of San Jose del Cabo for a late afternoon cocktail party and buffet dinner. Tomorrow we head on to Muertos; sorry - Bahia de los Suenos. It will be interesting to see, as I only recall a trailer home on the beach that would serve Pizza if you were lucky enough to be there at the right time. I wonder if that has been preserved as part of the heritage of Muertos; probably not.
John & Cindy Lake
Saturday, November 21 Recap from Swede Dreams
By John and Cindy Lake, Swede Dreams
I saw Bob Vincent at the party last night and he has been banned from the single sideband radio on Sun Break because of radio frequency interference problems; apparently the autopilot loses track, the stabilizers turn off and the lights flash when the HF radio is turned on. He asked that I send a report on.
We are at anchor in Santa Maria after a smooth overnight crossing from Turtle Bay. We had lots of good fishing reports from the fleet on the way down: bluefin, yellowfin, dorado, wahoo and who knows what else. We have 5 bluefin aboard. Cindy and I are aboard Swede Dreams. Burnt Sand caught the first Marlin, I believe it was in the 200 pound range.
The boats from the Pacific Northwest are going through a climate adaptation. The weather in Santa Maria has finally turned tropical with a high of 90 degrees. Until then we had temperatures much the same as San Diego with the water 61 degrees. In Santa Maria the water temperature is 67 outside and 71 in the bay.
Langusta trading is good; we received 15 lobsters for a hat, T-shirt and some children's school materials. Steak and lobster dinner hit the spot in Turtle Bay. Brown Eyed Girl traded lobsters for fuel with Merlin.
In Turtle, Anabelle's panga fuel service managed to refuel all who requested fuel, maybe 30 or 40 percent of the fleet. I did not see one boat use the fuel dock. She did a great job and we all had a dinner and party at her casita on the beach. The camaraderie was great, but I recommend the steak and lobster.
Pat Rains officiated at the Dinghy Poker Run in Turtle; fun was had by all and we now have a new standard for dinghy poker runs to meet.
We lost Summer Song the first night out. Apparently something in the steering system failed, so they worked their way into San Carlos for a night's sleep and from there were going to progress back to San Diego for repairs.
Aboard Swede Dreams we briefly lost our main engine and turned sideways to the swell while we got it going again. I believe this marriage of diesel engines and computers is deserving of a divorce. Merlin has capability of towing us and even turned around to come back while we worked things out. We also noted that the lawyers responded rapidly and Dos Abogados and Moana Hale were promptly right by our side. Did they say something about salvage rights??
The cruise ship Sapphire Princess has a special place in all of our log books for steaming thru the fleet in the middle of the night. Our watch stander finally got thru on the VHF to inquire regarding passage, port to port or starboard to starboard and was told, "What's the matter, can't you see me?" Kachina noted that the AIS designator for Koumba Bang was run right over by the AIS indicator for the Sapphire Princess on their computer display and with great relief accertained that they were still afloat at morning roll call.
Anyway, it's about 0730 and I see that Pax Nautica already has a swimming crew over board in the 71 degree water. We are off shortly to Magdalena Bay, just a short hop, for another party and a good night's sleep in a quiet anchorage. We have an experienced fisherman aboard who hopes to add more to the freezer and for the party tonight where we all are supplying the Catch Of the Day.
