Author: Scott
We took a few days off from journaling, and since our last entry we had a chance to see our first movie outside of the United States (Alfie) . The movie was in English but had Spanish subtitles. We also had a chance to relax and enjoy Cabo a little, eating at a few of Scott’s favorite restaurants. You can find the best homemade lasagna at La Dolce! We also had some time to work on the website and send email to friends.
On Monday evening we hoisted our anchor and left Cabo astern to head around the east cape into the Sea of Cortez. We ran our engine for a few hours to feed our batteries that are still not fully charged after the Turtle Bay situation. We decided on a two hours on and two hours off watch, with two watches each to get us through the night We have seemed to settle into a variation of two and three hour watches when we make passages. If we can hold to a three hour watch cycle, we find we stay well rested. We always time our watch schedule so we are both awake for landfalls. Unfortunately, our ambitious plan to arrive early in the morning was thwarted by winds in our face most of the night. We were only able to sail for about three hours and our maximum speed was 4.8 knots. After we made the turn north we had winds of twelve knots right on the nose, with no hope of sailing. At least our batteries got lots of juice, and our engine performed like a champ!
We are now anchored at Los Fralies in 22’ of very blue water. Los Fralies is 42 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas. There is a massive 755’ rocky headland that makes up the northern wall of the south anchorage. As you approach, the edges of the shale slabs are what looked to early explorers like friars climbing at an angle (see scrapbook).
When we arrived our first order of business was to get wet. We had already changed into swim suits prior to arrival and as soon as the anchor was set, and the swim ladder was placed on deck, we were in the cool water. We should mention here that in addition to birds, Pam gets a little nervous when swimming in tropical waters (Jaws and stinging things…). No sooner had we taken a few strokes towards shore when Pam was stung by something. A few more strokes and Scott got stung too. It turns out the water here is swarming with these little jellyfish creatures, and to swim you must wear a wetsuit.
We quickly swam to shore and crawled up on the rocky beach inspecting our stings. Now what, we knew we had to swim back and we weren’t looking forward to it. We walked along the rocky sand among the local fishing pangas and the big birds waiting for fish treats. Sitting on a four wheel drive quad was a man staring to sea looking at the new sailboat arrivals. Pam asked him if he lived here. His name is Vern and he lives here in a trailer on a local’s ranch six months of the year. He is from Northern Canada. He told us the grocery truck comes three times a week, but sadly the beer truck no longer comes, the one hotel owner doesn’t like anyone and it has only rained twice in the last year or so. He has a 180 gallon water tank in the back of his truck and drives up to another ranch with a well to fetch water, but he did offhandedly mention the well only has four feet of water at this time and if it dries up the cattle will be in danger. Also, apparently the daughters of the ranch owner where he lives have never left Los Frailes and one of them at 42 has never had a boyfriend. Scott secretly thinks Vern has his eye on her. This was all from a ten minute conversation, it seems like even the most remote places have their share of gossip and drama.
After hightailing it back to Tournesol without further encounters with the stingy things and taking a bug shower we got a call on the VHF from Eleytheria asking if we wanted some fresh red snapper from the fisherman on shore. Considering our lack of fresh food on board, that was an adamant yes. The fish purchase turned into a pot luck plan on Eleytheria. We dined in yummy BBQ snapper, rice and bell pepper salad with Abe and Amy, Diane and Mark (AKA Isabelle and Ricardo) from Con Te Partiro and Pat and Jean from Chalet Mer. It was probably the first of many meals shared with the wonderful people sharing the cruising life.
Pam has now added another vehicle to her short list of motor vehicles she has driven, she is now up two. Scott gave her a dinghy driving lesson this afternoon. It won’t be long before she wants to be in the driver’s seat all of the time, since it can be the drier spot. It wasn’t Scott’s driest ride, but that may have been a little intentional.
As we sit here completing this journal entry we are preparing to go to the hotel on the beach (to meet the owner who doesn’t like anybody) and try the fabled strong and delicious margaritas. We will be setting sail for Bahia de los Muertos tomorrow at sunrise, 47 miles W of Los Frailes.
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