At anchor, Cabo San Lucas

Date: Dec 10, 2013, Time: 2pm MST
22° 53' N 109° 53' W
Barometer: 1037, Water Temp: 78f
Log: 10348

I rounded 8nm south of Cabo Falso yesterday morning, which is the cape just south of Cabo San Lucas, at 5:45am PST. This is pretty much the end of this leg of the passage, which makes it a 6 day trip - 9:30am on Dec 3rd I left Ensenada and 5:45am on Dec 9th I was within a few hours south of Cabo. It was a nice passage, downwind for all but the first few hours and sailed all but a few hours as well.

As I rounded the cape I wanted to try to get north to Muertos and anchor there. This is roughly a 110 nm route from where I was to the anchorage (shorter if you stay closer to shore.) The winds at the cape had fallen off to the point I couldn't sail in the waves, which is what the GRIB (weather) files had led me to expect. This wasn't just a cape effect, it was in a wider region. After bobbing around until 11am I got fed up and started motoring NE for 40 minutes until some wind found me. This wind was strong enough, and from the NE that if I had been a little more patient it would have found me bobbing where I was before I started motoring. Oh well.

The wind picked up but the seas were fairly flat for a while. Then the wind picked up some more as did the seas. By 3pm I was only 6nm away from Cabo, headed upwind into 16 knot winds looking at 30 or more hours of sailing until my destination. I weighed the choices. Head back to Cabo and anchor for a night, get a nice long sleep, prepare some food for the passage and leave the following evening. Or alternatively, continue bashing north from where I was. Going upwind is a harder than downwind. Its harder to move around the boat, harder to prepare food, harder to sleep, harder to make miles toward your destination.

I decided to turn around and prepare myself a little better for the bash north. By now, I've had my rest, had a swim, prepared some food for the following two days, read a little, rested some more. I'll leave this evening for my way north.

There is a norther blowing further north in the Sea, but it looks like I have a short weather window to make some way north. If I can pull into Muertos on my conservative schedule, and the weather agrees to follow its forecast, I'll get there and then stay for a few days for the winds to die down. If something changes, I have a few alternatives for anchorages.

s/v Discovery left La Paz this morning and came over for a chat, I hadn't seen them since Seattle. We are both headed to La Paz so I will see them there if not in some anchorage north of Cabo before then.

The folks from API, the port authority, came by a few moments ago collecting their 200 peso's for a single night of anchoring. Luckness is the only cruising boat at anchor in the anchorage, and its a big anchorage. They charge 200 peso's or $18 per night. I was paying around that while at Oxnard, in a nice marina, with facilities. The clearly don't want cruising boat off the beach here, better for the tourists to have a view toward the ocean I guess.

I'm in the tropics now! La Paz is north of the Tropic of Cancer, the line is at 22° 30' N, so this tropical stay will be a short one.

While coming down the coast from Seattle you keep passing capes along the way. A lot of them are known for something. Beware the storms at this cape, beware the fog at that cape, at some other cape it suddenly becomes warm. A lot of those things may or may not be true. Well, as you round Cape Falso, if you weren't already wearing short pants and had stowed your fleece you will here. Its beautiful. Coming down from Ensenada I was wearing a jacket, t-shirt and long sleeved shirt, sweats and foul weather pants. A swim suit is good enough here at anchor and I'll be wearing less than I was when arriving when I leave later tonight.

All is well. Later eh.

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