Thursday, November 4, 2010

Baja Ha Ha 2010






















The Baja Ha Ha is a rally of sail boats from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. There were about 150 boats who signed up this year. The magazine Latitude 38 sponsors the event each year. It is a fun way for a bunch of boats to go down to Mexico. Many of the boats are here for a season or two, or like us who are going on to the Pacific or further south.


The rally is in 3 legs. San Diego to Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay to Bahina Santa Maria. And last, Bahina Santa Maria to Cabo.


The first leg we completed in about 48 hours. We have a crew with us. Al and Frank. So we share watches, 4 hours on, 4 off. We had fantastic sailing out about 30-50 miles from shore.


The rally sponsors events at each anchorage. In Turtle Bay we had a locals - v- yachties baseball game. Baseball is HUGE in Turtle Bay, so the whole town comes out for it. Lots of folks also bring baseball equipment to donate to the town.

The pictures of a town are Turtle Bay. It is a very remote village on the Baja peninsula. There is a big bay that we all anchor in and the panga's will come to your boat to ferry you in (for 2.00 a head). This weekend for them is one of their biggest money makers for them with all the crazy gringos spending money.

There was a beach pot-luck partythat was a lot of fun.


People here live a very simple life, mostly fishing. But I did see many newer cars, but as you can see the houses are very simple.


Our next leg is to Bahina Santa Maria which is even more remote. They too depend on fishing. They put on a lunch for the rally which is a huge fundraiser for the villiage. We also bring school supplies, clothes etc. to donate. They bring in a rock and roll band and mucho cerveza! and as you all may know I love to dance, so I got my exercise that afternoon.

Several boats have kids aboard so one night it was anounced that there will be trick or treating, if you have any treats turn on your boat lights. Families came by dingy with their kids, in costumes to the boats. We had 4 boats come by. We had brought candy for the kids in Turtle Bay and Santa Maria, so I had lots. It was very fun to carry on the tradition even in this most unusual way.

The beaches are beautiful, the people are nice, and we are meeting lots of fellow sailors, that I am sure we will meet up with again and again as we travel through Mexico.


We have had the best sailing since we left Seattle. The boat is fantastic. It sails well and is very comfortable. We havebeen lucky enough to see whales, dolphins, seals, etc.


One of the highlights of the trip was my first fish. I caught a 28" Dorado. We troll with hand lines, so I am glad it was not tooo big. It made a great dinner for the 4 of us..


Attached are various pictures of the trip down and of course the fish.

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