Turtle Bay

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Pelican boat Turtle Bay

Puerto San Carlos, Mexico

Sorry for the delay in this communication but we have had spotty internet connection. The first two days after leaving San Diego were a bit rough. I have already shared part of our adventures but it wasn’t until we were in Turtle Bay that we learned of others in our fleet. Some boats lost their sails. Some lost their engines. Another boat had their boom broken completely in half. One boat lost both its sails and engine and was missing for a number of days. The Coast Guard participated in the search. Last I heard, they were found and I understand to be in good spirits. But on the second night, a 41′ Newport, crashed into the rocks during the night, just a short distance from Turtle Bay. A rescue attempt was made by some of the organizers of the event but the seas were too rough. Apparently a successful attempt was made by land and the folks were taken to the local hospital. One person noted that “there wasn’t enough Ha-Ha yet, in the Baja Ha-Ha!” But that is changing. We meet most mornings by radio and go over any issues. There is developing a sense of community with the fleet. They go over any injuries, attendance and repairs. People request parts or tools. We were able to help out a fellow who had his spinnaker pole damaged. He needed a pop rivet gun, 3/16″ rivets, a punch, hammer and a drill. I had all he needed and he made the repaired, in his dinghy tied to our boat. There was a community baseball game that included us “yachtistas” and the locals. Turtle Bay is a small poor fishing village. With the Baja Ha-Ha fleet showing up annually , it is like Christmas for them. Rather than taxis, you take pangas to town. They come to your boat and for a couple of dollars take you to town. We even had fuel delivered by a panga. He had a large plastic cube with markings on it. We told him we wanted 60 gallons and he eyed the container and repeated my request in liters. He marked it with his finger and started to pump away. I used my fuel gauge to verify and it was pretty accurate if not a little fat, in my favor. Our sailing shifts are in three hours. Three hours on watch then three hours on the helm and finally a much needed three hours of rest. There are always two people in the cockpit, the person doing watch and the one at the helm. The third person tries to sleep and then after three hours is back at it. Some have asked about Zelda, Vickie’s Boston Terrier. She is doing great. She will snuggle up to whoever is resting if not in the cockpit with Vickie. When needed we slow the boat down and take her up front where she does her business. She does get distracted by a number of small squid that have landed on the boat and even in the sails! Not quite sure how they get there but they are there every mornings while we are sailing. It is now Sunday and we left Turtle Bay yesterday morning. We sailed through the night and expect to arrive at Bahia Santa Maria by 21:00 tonight. Michael said he heard over the radio that one of our boats, that is further ahead, was met by a local fishing boat and they were given 5 lobster! I’ll let you know if we are so lucky when we arrive! Closing now… The Crew of the Windhorse.