Friday November 2, 2012
We woke to a beautiful day in Bahia Tortugas. Lawrence/Andrew/Kevin took the dinghy to town and Mark/liz/Amanda took a panga ride to the potluck beach party. We brought burgers and deviled eggs to share. Amanda enjoyed playing with her new friend Sophia and her brother Harlan. We enjoyed $3 cold beers and people watching. Kevin joined us and walked along the beach river to contemplate the water source. The Mexican military patrolled the perimeter in full uniforms with weapons. The kids enjoyed the silly games led by Richard, the head honcho. Our return panga ride to BLUEWATER coincided with Lawrence/Andrew's return. For the next leg of the trip we decided to add an extra fishing stop so chose to depart this evening instead of getting up early to depart with the fleet in the morning. With a 240 nautical mile leg ahead of us, we departed Turtle Bay about 7:30pm into the night and started another 24 hour watch rotation. Lawrence and I had the late night / early morning shift and gybed 3 times to avoid a large frigate bearing down on us. We have many theories about the stealth nature of the encounter but it was not comfortable when it turned off all its lights and was only visible on radar.
Saturday November 3, 2012
The morning greeted us with the beautiful open ocean for another day at sea. Congestion struck a few of us, particularly Mark. In the morning we explored the fishing around Isla Ascension and had good luck. While I was keeping track, we caught (2) calico bass, (2) barracuda, and (3) Benito. Then we tempted fate and swam near a huge bunch of sea lions. Lawrence met a particularly ardent and amorous member of the bunch, but eventually convinced the sea lion that they should just be good friends. Later, we enjoyed more fish tacos before Kevin hooked into our first dorado. As day turned into night, we saw zillions of stars and the Milky Way clearly before the moon rose. We also started feeling warmer breezes. Again day turned into night. On our midnight shift, Mark and I watched an albatross hovering over the mast.
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| Calico Bass |
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| More fish |
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| Another Calico Bass |
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| Waving to the sea lions |
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| Sea lions |
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| Lawrence's sea lions |
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| Stretching sea lion |
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| Liz and Amanda - in wet suits |
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| Andrew and BLUEWATER |
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| Amanda lounging |
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| Andrew snorkeling |
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| Lawrence working |
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| Kevin's bonito |
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| Kevin's dorado |
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| Amanda stretching |
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| Another beautiful sunset at sea |
Sunday November 4, 2012
Night turned into day again and we are still sailing and heading toward Bahia Santa Maria. Andrew made fish tacos for breakfast. Today we are 50 miles off the coast and Amanda is writing a poem with Andrew in the hot hot sun. Lawrence caught a big yellowfin tuna which was fun. We had burgers for dinner. Amanda asked when we'll see Grandma and Grandpa again (about 2 weeks!). We continued sailing into the night and anchored in Bahia Santa Maria around midnight in a stiff 15 knot wind.
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| Chef Lawrence making pancakes on the barbie |
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| Amanda extending her birthday for weeks (pancakes) |
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| Lawrence's big yellowfin tuna |
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| Joshing |
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| Reading |
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| Sun setting over the ocean again |
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| More reading |
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| Captain Lawrence |
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| 2 skippers and an orange sky |
Monday November 5, 2012
We woke up in Bahia Santa Maria and started our day with pancakes and oatmeal. Early on we took the dinghy and surfboard to shore. We all explored the rocky landscape. Amanda got to play on a beach and take a hike through butterfly canyon. A fun day but we went to bed early and it was blowing 20-25 knots at night in the anchorage.
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| Amanda playing in her cabin |
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| Good morning Daddy! |
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| Bahia Santa Maria |
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| Beauty everywhere |
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| View of the anchorage from the cliffs |
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| Lawrence and Andrew snorkeling on left, BLUEWATER on right |
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| View of Mark and Amanda on the beach from the cliff |
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| Butterfly canyon - Mark, Amanda, Liz |
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| Mark swimming (checking the anchor) beyond Amanda |
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| Liz/Amanda/Mark and the setting sun |
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| It keeps getting oranger |
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| View of other boats (mast lights) and the moon with the wind blowing 20-25 knots in Santa Maria anchorage at night |
Tuesday November 6, 2012
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