Ensenada to Turtle Bay

Josh with his first fish caught, Isla San Martin is just visible in the
background

The Baja Peninsula west coast is a very wild, beautiful and desolate area.  Our first stop on leaving Ensenada was Isla San Martin, a small volcanic island just off the coast.  There is a small area to anchor in the lee of the Island and we followed our friends on Sea Rover II into this little haven.  After 24 hours at sea it was a delightful stop but not a place to linger for too long.  Josh caught a fish just before we arrived so during our short 3 hour stopover we had a chance to clean and cook some wonderful fresh fish.   We also had some local fishermen come by looking to trade some crayfish.   We did not have any beer or cookies which is what they wanted but they seemed to be happy with the apple ciders and rice krispie treats, we were certainly happy with the crayfish! 

These guys were a yummy treat

Down wind sailing on a beautiful day, been dreaming of these moments

We left Ensenad on Dec 7th and arrived in Bahia Tortugas on Dec 10th after 72 hours at sea minus our stop at Isla San Martin.  It is a wonderful large protected bay with a fairly big town and a fascinating look at the Mexico that is not on the tourist map.  We spent 5 days there enjoying the town and recovering from the 300 mile jump from Ensenada.  That was the longest leg for us on the trip down the Baja and Josh was a huge help to us as Scott hurt his back in Ensenada and was not able to stand watches.  Luckily Josh is a quick learner and he was soon able to run the boat on his own.

I am not quite sure what this procession was for, there was
a celebration of some sort happening on the weekend.

Some of the boats anchored out.

I thought this was a funny little townsite outside of town, but it
is the cemetery.  The buildings here are in much better condition
than most of the homes in town.

A closer look at someones final resting spot

The waterfront

The Mexican Navy Base in Bahia Tortugas

We left San Diego with a loosly organized group of boats.
These are the crews from left to right of Adagio, Astraea, Kialoa,
Tappan Zee, Namaste, Searover II and The Red Thread. 

As we were all hailing from the Pacific Northwest we called
our sun seeking group the "Umbrella Dumpers"
It has been alot of fun and the cameraderie and support
has been totally fantastic.

Apparently pvc pipe elbows are only available in 90s in Turtle Bay