Bahia Santa Maria

Monday, November 6
If you are reading this, it means that we were successful in posting to our blog by using the single-sideband radio. I can get cell phone coverage here, but it is pricey, so the radio is the best way. Unfortunately, I can't upload photos and we've got some great ones.

We are now in Bahia Santa Maria, just around the corner from Magdalena Bay. The sail down was a mixed bag from a sailing standpoint. It was warm - tee shirts worn on the night watches. The winds were lighter than we would have liked and directly from behind us. Non-sailors would think that wind behind us would be the best place for it to be, but it turns out that it works better out on the side. Anyway, we used the engine quite a bit on this leg, but ate well and enjoyed ourselves. There was some terrific sailing at times with a full moon and warm wind. Eat your hearts out! The water is 78 degrees, so swimming is great.

Yesterday, we caught our first dorado - this is a Mexican relative to the mahi-mahi. It was more than 30" long and when pulled up from the deep, was a brilliant chartreuse (sp?). An hour of filleting later, it made fabulous sashimi and the rest went into the freezer. We don't fish unless we really need some seafood, so we put our lines away until we eat the leftovers. We catch these guys by just dragging some lures behind the boat, spooling the line directly off the reel with no rod at all. We aren't fishing for sport, so we use heavy line and hope that we can get the boat stopped before the fish has taken all the line.

Bahia Santa Maria is a very remote spot and has few permanent inhabitants. However, Mexican entrepreneurs cannot ignore 700 "rich" Americans, so tomorrow there will be a big lobster feed on the beach. The fleet has been great. Everyone is friendly and helps each other with parts and equipment breakdowns. Fortunately, we haven't had any of those yet, having left with almost all new equipment.

It is super-beautiful with the full moon. The mountains around this bay have some green growing on them. Baja is usually like a lunar landscape, but green is pretty. I wish we could send photos. Oh, well, we are happy and well and hope you're all the same.