0200 Local (Baja Ha Ha time - we have not yet changed our clocks for daylight savings or Mexico). The rally left this morning with a lengthy "rolling start" (ie motoring with light winds expected most of the day). Following the example of a few other kid boats, we elected to stay another day in Bahia Santa Maria. It was a bit surreal to radio over to the event organizers last evening to say that Fluenta would be a late start today - in the military if the start time is 0700, then you leave at 0700!
It was lovely to sit in the cockpit in the dawn stillness and see the last of the fleet slipping out of the bay while drinking coffee and looking at Victoria's shells from yesterday's trip to the beach. We launched our dingy, successfully landed it on the beach through the surf, and gave the kids a day to look for shells & sand dollars. In a convoy with three other dingys, we explored the estuary up towards Laguna Santa Maria, and hiked to the top of a ridge from where we could see to the surf on the other side. Supposedly there is a ship wreck and a whale skeleton over there, but it was too late in the day for us to explore any further. All in all a beautiful day, and well worth a slightly later arrival in Cabo San Lucas (Fri am vice Thus pm).
We arrived back on the boat in the late afternoon, hoping for a pre-sunset departure. By the time our dingy was on the davits and the boat was ready, it was 1830 and *very* dark as we left Bahia Santa Maria (to quote Max: "never again"). Suffice to say that we'll enter and leave Mexican bays in the daylight from now on! There are fishermen all along this coast, and fishing boats can be a bit unpredictable. Once we got out of the bay, we sailed for a bit, but we are motoring now in light winds (2-5 kts).
After an early evening nap in the cabin, Victoria woke to help with the watch and is now sleeping in the cockpit. It's warm enough on the night watches that I can leave her there. We only need light jackets this evening. The water temp has risen to over 26 celsius. We'll officially be in the tropical latitudes tomorrow. Foulies haven't been necessary since Day 1 of Leg 2.
The best news of all -- our autopilot has been reliably autopiloting us all evening :) We have been hand-steering since early in Leg 1 (hard work physically and mentally - as an aside, I'd be curious to know if others have experienced hand numbness with lengthy stints at the wheel - talking to a nurse yesterday, it seems that hands do not appreciate the constant vibrations that come through the steering column). Max worked with an electronics guru on one of the other boats in both Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria, and it has been doing its thing for the last six hours. What a difference this makes!
All is well. Here is to some good fishing tomorrow :)
~Liz
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At 04/11/2012 23:21 (utc) our position was 25°44.32'N 113°06.09'W
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