The End of the Earth

Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico

We left Magdalena Bay at first light on Friday morning, around 6:45 AM, leaving the quiet anchorage, anticipating a fast passage to Cabo San Lucas.  Our plan was to make the 170 mile passage with only 1 night at sea, even if we had to motor all the way - I guess we were just anxious to see the end to this seemingly endless coast, something that we had almost begun to think would never happen.  On the way out of Mag Bay, we again passed the pelican lunch stop - still not sure what they are waiting for, but it must be pretty great.

This passage turned out to have what have to be the calmest seas we have seen on the entire trip.  We rarely saw a wind of over 5 knots, only 2 or 3 for much of the time, so we would have been motoring even if we were not trying to keep our speed up.  In case you are wondering, keeping our speed up means trying to average only about 5.5 knots, which is still within what we consider economy cruising (ie: low fuel consumption).  Because the conditions were so very mild, Susanne did not even have a hint of sea-sickness - I think that is a first for an overnight passage for her.  Also, the warmer weather was probably a factor.  The water temperature has risen from the 16 degrees that it had been all the way from Nanaimo to Turtle Bay, to 21 degrees by the time we got to Cabo - this makes a huge difference to the air temperature on the ocean, especially at night.  Just to give some idea of the difference, see the contrast between these two pictures, the first taken on the passage from Turtle Bay to Mag Bay and the second on the passage from Mag Bay to Cabo.  Also note just how tough it is to handle a boat with a reliable auto-pilot.

Approaching Land's End.  Cabo San Lucas harbour is just on the other side of those rocks.

Note: The wind did get up to about 9 knots for a short while early on Saturday morning and I did try to do some sailing, but since it was coming from directly behind us, the best I could get out of the boat was about 3 knots - we need much more wind when sailing downwind than we do when sailing in any other direction.  So, after a pitiful 1/2 hour attempt, we went back to motorsailing (we always have the mainsail up, double-reefed, to improve the side-to-side motion of the boat, and it usually does add a small boost to our speed, saving a little fuel).

On arrival at Cabo San Lucas, right on schedule around noon on Saturday, the winds immediately started blowing at 15 knots and we had lots of fun getting the mainsail down in the midst of all the local boat traffic in the outer harbour.  We were very glad that we had decided not to anchor out, and had called ahead (about two hours before we arrived) to the marina to secure a slip.  Threading our way into the rather tight inner harbour, with lots of mega-yachts, fishing charters, booze-cruise catamarans, glass-bottom boats, whale watching boats, sea-doos, etc. going every which direction, was a bit overwhelming for us, after the last few quiet ports and anchorages.  Somehow we made it into our assigned slip at the Marina Cabo San Lucas with no major mishaps.  We are tied up amongst the endless number of power boats - not many sailboats seem to bother to come into the marina for some reason, most likely because of the ridiculously expensive rates, but we wanted to be where the action is.  Any of you that know us, know what party animals we are.

We managed to negotiate a slightly better rate for staying a full week (pay for 5 days, get 2 for free), so that is what we are doing.  Hopefully, we can get a few of the remaining boat projects done while we are here - much easier to do when tied up to a dock, especially for my main project of trying to mount our new boarding ladder that we bought back in San Diego.

As for the weather, we have finally found some warmth.  Daytime temperatures seem to be running in mid to high 20s, falling to about 17 or 18 at night.  Bright sun and cloudless skies. Very comfortable for us, although the locals find it very cold (it is winter here you know).

Statistics: Total mileage since leaving Nanaimo is 2143 nm.  Total engine hours are 328 (not so good for what is supposed to be a sail boat, huh?).  I will say that the engine has behaved admirably, the only maintenance I have had to do is to replace 3 fuel filters (all before we got 1/3 of the way) and a scheduled oil change that I did in San Diego.

{GMST}22|53.1|N|109|54.617|W|Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico|Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico{GEND}