November 22, 2013  Bahia Magdalena

I was awoken at 5:00 am this morning by a rooster on shore that didn’t realize the moon was still up and not the sun!  Once awake I could hear barking dogs, more roosters and numerous fishermen leaving in their pangas, all before the sun was up.  The villagers of Puerto Magdalena in Man of War Bay were all early risers it seemed.  We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 39 hour passage from Turtle Bay.

The last week has been one of travel, travel, travel.  Originally we thought we would spend a couple of weeks making our way south from Ensenada to the Cabo San Lucas area at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula but we soon realized that the few anchorages there were on the west coast of Baja were very spread out, requiring many overnight passages.  We departed Ensenada last Thursday with our friends David and Margaret from Heart and Soul.  We headed to Isla Todos Santos, just 10 miles away and had a great sail getting there, only to discover that fish pens had taken up most of the anchorage.  We headed to the southern tip of the island and anchored in a rocky and rolly area just off the barren hillside.  We were surrounded by fog and it all looked very foreboding.


Heart and Soul at anchor, Isla Todos Antos

However, we had few options unless we wanted to return to Ensenada, arriving after dark.   We shared dinner with David and Margaret before heading to bed early, knowing we had more than a full day ahead of us as we traveled to San Quintin, which was more than a day away.

Our overnight passages are becoming more routine now.  We take 3 hour watches each and rest or sleep in between times.  I cook light meals and snacks so I’m not in the galley too long. We listen to music and, if conditions permit, read when off watch when we’re not resting.



Morning while under sail, dark threatening clouds that cleared near noon

Sunrise heading for Turtle Bay

 

We surprised these two dozing pelicans, who took off quickly

Once we arrive at our destination we take that day ‘off’ to rest and catch up on sleep then either head out again for take the dinghy to shore to explore.  At San Quintin we didn’t go to shore as there was a considerable surf line and no town except a small hotel so we pushed off Sunday for Turtle Bay, another 27 hours away, leaving at 4:30 a.m.  We did a combination of sailing and motoring until arriving at Turtle Bay near 8:30 a.m Sunday. There’s nothing like seeing the sunrise from your sailboat after a long dark night.  It’s one of my favourite times of the day.

Fishermen at dawn

Rugged arid landscapes along the coast

After resting on Sunday we headed to shore Monday near noon with another cruising couple, Christina and Mike, from S/V Options who were anchored next to us.  David and Margaret from Heart and Soul arrived just before noon so they dinghied to shore and joined the four of us for a walk around town.

Turtle Bay was our first encounter with a Mexican out of the way village that had not been overly influenced by North American culture.  Having said that, the handful of tiny hotels and shoebox size restaurants all advertised WIFI and we saw numerous satellite dishes attached to the plaster sided houses and the local hotel. 


Jim, Christina and Mike near a main intersection of town



Downtown Turtle Bay's 'tourist' area - The Morocco Hotel



This small home was decorated with hanging shells and colourful fence



Bight yellow canaries next to rebar for a house addition that never happened

Roads were dusty and full of potholes and, though small, everyone seemed to drive from one end of town to the other rather than walk.  We meandered away from the ocean up hilly roads, walking by two elementary schools, one fairly well off looking school with young kids in uniforms and one where everything about it seemed to say that it was the poorer of the two for sure.  Kids said ‘Hola’ to us and waved as we passed them.  Houses were either nicely painted plaster or falling apart and rundown.



I wonder what he's thinking...

We knew we wanted to support the local economy and eat lunch out but hadn’t decided on a place when we were approached by a nicely dressed, polite woman who explained that she had a restaurant just around the corner. We figure one of her friends must have spotted us ‘gringo’s’ walking around and gave her a quick call to go and find us.  She gave us her business cards and simply started to walk slowly back up the road.  With the help of Christina speaking on our behalf (she is from Argentina originally) we asked her to wait and told her we would love to have lunch at her restaurant.  We arrived a couple of minutes later at a brightly coloured cinder box building.  Inside was colourful and clean with a tile floor, lots of windows and six long narrow tables covered with plastic table cloths.  An old Sanyo ‘low definition’ TV sat on a chair in one corner featuring a Spanish talk show but the volume was turned down since the ‘guests’ arrived. 

Christina at the head of the table, Tricia, Margaret, David, Jim and Mike

Again, with Christina’s help we determined what Mexican cuisine we wanted to try and our host, with her grown daughter, set about making our many fresh meals.   While chatting I looked over to see a turtle slowly moving across the floor near the back door.  The owner shook her head and put it back outside but we all had a chuckle.  Now I’ve seen cats and dogs in restaurants before but never a turtle!


Maybe the dog was thinking...turtle soup for lunch!

When lunch arrived it was hot and tasty.  Most of us choose a Mexican combination featuring four traditional treats – tacos, quesadillas, and two other yummy dishes with tomatoes, lettuce, avocado and shredded meat.  Jim and Christina asked for a chicken and potato dish that took longer to prepare but was well worth the wait as well.  Feeling stuffed, we pushed off again and walked back to the fuel dock where our dinghies were tied up. The long pier leading to the fuel dock was made of uneven boards, many with gapping holes in them and they were all covered with bird droppings  and there were no railings to protect us from the 20 foot drop to the ocean.  The ‘staircase’ that we took to the dinghy level was rickety and didn’t even join the docks.  You simply made it to the bottom step that heaved yourself across to the rocking dock beside it.  Such fun!  We all said our goodbyes to each other because we wanted to rest up before leaving at 11:00 p.m. on our next passage.

Turtle Bay looking towards the bay where Falcoon VII was anchored

This fishing panga was the local pelican hang out

Turtle Bay to Magdalena Bay was a 39 hour passage.  In order to arrive at Magdalena Bay during day light we had to calculate our departure time, which meant pulling up anchor in the dark.  We left on schedule at 11:00 Tuesday evening with an almost full moon shining brightly.  Clouds rolled in, obliterating both the moon and stars for most of the night and the next day was overcast but mild none-the-less.  Up until now evenings chill down and I have been forced to continue wearing sweaters and a jacket during my night watches.  Dawn, my favourite time, featured another spectacular sunrise when I was blessed with about 200 dolphins coming from all over to check out Falcon.  Many were jumping right out of the water in their haste to get to the boat and play in the bow wave.

Here comes the welcoming committee!

I headed to the bow, clapping my hands in glee and thanking them for visiting us. By mid morning we were close to land and noticed a change in the scenery.  The arid dry mountains were now green instead.  We had entered another climate where the winds were warmer and so was the water. 

By early afternoon on Thursday we were approaching Man of War Bay and dropping the hook.  We then lowered the dinghy into the water and headed for shore with our official documentation as we had to visit the ‘capitania de puerto’.  It is tradition in Mexico that all cruisers stop and contact the port captain either by radio or in person to ask permission to be there.  It can be very officious, as in Ensenada, or very informal depending on the port captain.  After pulling up the dinghy we climbed the hill to the port captain’s house and introduced ourselves.  He spoke no English and us little Spanish but between us we muddled through and signed the official cruisers port book. Though we had everything with us, he wasn’t the least bit interested in seeing any documentation.  With a wave of the hand we were on our way back to the dinghy, which had become a local tourist attraction for the young kids. Eventually we launched the dinghy and headed back to relax and recover for the rest of the day and evening. 

This morning Options arrived in the anchorage so we all went to shore and had fish tacos at the one and only beachside restaurant “Miro Mar”.  The owner, Jose, and his wife Christina, prepared great fish tacos which they served with nacho chips, coleslaw salad and beans…all for $1 a taco! 

Miro Mar Restaurant, with whale bones
decorating the patio area - great fish tacos

A old pile of whalebones, artfully displayed beside the restaurant

The locals took clay and dirt to make their own cinder blocks for housing

How they make a living is beyond us.  Christina and Mike headed back to rest after lunch while Jim and I wandered about the village, which was considerably smaller than Turtle Bay with only about 50 houses perched along the shoreline. 

The average house was only about 300 – 400 square feet and most were made of plywood and sheet metal scraps, some of cinder block.  The people were poor in terms of dollars but rich in spirit.  Fishnets and pangas lined the beach with the early morning fishermen returning with their catch. 

A wife helps with the fishnet, her husband busy in the panga

It was hard to tell if this church was still in use or not

Though decorated with paper cutouts, there were holes in the
ceiling and pigeon droppings everywhere

Old rusted cars, long since abandoned, sat next to rundown shacks and tiny cinderblock houses.  Kids were out of school at noon so they were all outside playing, sitting on their porches or exploring the rock outcroppings at low tide.  Not a ‘device’ in sight! 

Shells, thousands of years old, were embedded in the
cement-like gravel near the carved out gravel beachside road

Jim chipped away at the 'cement' to extract this very old sand dollar

We delivered two boxes of school supplies to Antonio, the local sheriff and fuel panga operator.  He promised to get them to the teacher on Monday. Our last encounter was with a little boy about 5 years old who came to visit us on the beach. We gave him a bottle of bubbles and showed him how to use them.  It was clear he had never seen bubbles before and he was delighted, eventually waving goodbye and wandering back to his home. 

Such a cute little boy - checking out the bubbles we gave him

 

Jim showing him how to make music, strumming on the
wire and styrofoam block floats on the beach

We pushed the dinghy down to the water’s edge and headed back to Falcon when other cruisers were anchoring.  We were happy that the restaurant had more tourists on their way! 

Turtle Bay in the afternoon sun

The next day was one of fixing a few things on Falcon VII and preparing for one last long overnight passage to Cabo San Lucas.  We will then have completed over 10 overnight passages since leaving BC.  Though the nights underway are long we are comfortable doing them now but will be happy to forego any for sometime once we head north towards La Paz when we will have more and more day hops.  Until then…