Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Cutting our teeth on our first passage

Our first big passage is in the books and it was a doozy!  We left Ensenada around noon on January 30th expecting clearing skies and moderate winds.  The skies did clear, but only after 24 hours of rain, 10 foot lumpy seas, and some nasty wind. Emma was seasick, Jessica was terrified and we were all wondering if we were cut out for longer passages (I know, 3 days is not long for most, but we are greenhorns).  Fortunately, things did calm down and we had some great sailing and nice weather.  Out of the 60+ hour total passage, we only ran the engine about 11 hours.  Around the second day, the crew began to wear down a bit after seeing nothing but water for 48 hours.  This was also Phil's 40th birthday, which we decided to postpone the celebrations until we reached Turtle Bay.  We pushed through and were able to make it to a nice calm anchorage in the San Benito Islands before sunset.  Although we were only 50 miles from Turtle Bay, we opted for a good nights sleep rather than pushing on.  We were out the next day by 5am and reached Turtle Bay before 4pm, just in time to go ashore for Phil's belated birthday celebration, which consisted of some excellent mexican food and cold cervezas.  Now that we are here, the weather is absolutely perfect and we will stay for a few days to fish, kayak, explore and relax.  For the next leg to Magdelena Bay, we've decided that we will break it up into 3 or 4 day trips, rather than one big push.  We will probably leave around the end of the week, depending on weather and how everyone is feeling.  For now, we all feel great knowing that we pulled off our first multi-day passage and made it safe and sound!




Calm before the storm. First 24 hours of our passage were rough, cold and rainy. 
        

First Mate looking glamorous on watch. 

Sunset on Phil's 40th birthday. 

After 53 hours we opted to anchor off San Benito and get much needed sleep. 

Jessica catches the first fish of our trip. 


Beautiful anchorage in San Benito Island. 

After a short 12 hour stay we were off before sunrise.  Murphy loves a good sunrise.  

Captain Phil looking 40 years old!

Almost to  Turtle Bay and it's finally warm!

Happy to be in Turtle Bay for a few days. 


2 comments:

  1. Congrats on the safe passage Nances!! Greenhorns no longer!! Nice catch Jessica!!! Looks like a female sheephead, if so they make great ceviche!! Pictures are gorgeous!!

    -The Albertsons

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  2. That sounds like a gnarly first leg, glad you made it safe and are able to chill for a bit.

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