Sunday, February 22, 2015

Written in the sand at low tide


The Terrrapin crew has done a fine job at living out the old adage, "It's not the destination but the journey".  With taking our sweet time to sail down the Baja Peninsula, we've also proven the "golden rule" among cruisers.  

Anyone who sets out cruising has surely heard of the saying (what becomes the golden rule), "Plans while cruising might as well be written in the sand at low tide". With taking almost a month to sail from San Diego to Cabo we've killed any plans we had before setting sail.

Plan: Phil would turn the 40 years old while enjoying a real Mexican meal and cold beers in Turtle Bay.

Reality: Phil would remember his 40th birthday forever as he spent that day in 3 layers of clothes, wet from pouring rain and cold during a 53 hour passage that would only take us as far as San Benito Island, missing Turtle Bay by a day. 

Plan: We wouldn't even think twice about stopping in the over priced town of Cabo San Lucas or so much as consider staying in one of their costly marina slips. No chance. No way!

Reality: Did someone say laundry facilities, hot showers, wifi and cheeseburgers? We are more than happy to pay the over priced marina fee for a night or two 

Plans while cruising are like unicorns. Fun to think about but don't ever expect to actually see them in reality. 

After a week in San Janico we made our way to Santa Maria then Magdalena Bay before cruising into Cabo San Lucas this morning.  Santa Maria is known for its long white sandy beach with more sea shells than any shell shop would have to offer. Further south, Magdalena Bay is where whales gather as it's a huge bay that offers protection from all directions. Plans have once again changed and we are no longer headed to La Paz. We would have to fight the north winds for about 150 miles to make it up there this time of year. After a few days rest here in Cabo we plan to sail across to the mainland and head towards Isla Isabel, Mexico's version of the Galápagos Islands.  From there, we "plan" to head down to Banderas Bay for the rest of the winter, then back up into the Sea of Cortez in late spring when the winds are in our favor.


Santa Maria

Jess never gets tired of running after birds

Santa Maria is littered with sand dollars. If you were to pick one up that wasn't quite perfect just throw it  back and grab a new one 

Emma and her sand dollar "pancake" stack. 

Santa Maria

Santa Maria has an estuary that we kayaked up.  

Kayaking down the estuary from the mangroves. 


Finding shells in the estuary waters 


Catch of the day--- Wahoo!!!  We use hand lines for all our fish. 

Nance style happy hour: homemade ceviche with freshly caught Wahoo and a 40oz of cerveca 

Long beautiful beach all to themselves. 

On the way into Magdelina Bay we saw a pod of 10-15 whales.  Video to follow.  Amazing


Cruising into Cabo San Lucas this morning.  















7 comments:

  1. Absolutely loving your journey!!!!!

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  2. Sweetie, you've got the old adage backwards, but who cares? Your pictures are amazing! what huge sand dollars! Can't wait to talk soon, love, Mom & Dad

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  3. Absolutely amazing! Nice catch Dr Phil

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  4. Hi girls.
    Looks like loads of fun. Were on a boat trip too we've got an Adams 36 called Meander.

    From Katherine

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  5. Looks like you guys are loving your trip so far--I know you'll love Isla Isabel. Be sure to do both hikes. We selfishly hope you make it to La Paz by early April (that's when we take off).

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  6. Talking to you was fabulous! It sounds better now, sleep deprivation will do that to you!

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