THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
This is the fifth in a series of six posts I am publishing every day since Sunday, with the daily highlights of our non-stop passage from Ensenada to San Jose Del Cabo. Click here to see the previous post.
(Tuesday, April 14th) We were now 500 miles into the trip, and had had excellent progress all through the night – great sailing.
The wind died a bit when day broke, but filled in again with gusto in the middle of the morning, blowing at the same direction we were headed. We took the opportunity to set the spinnaker again. The physical demand, size, color and added speed associated to this sail raised everyone’s spirits, and we had a glorious day of sailing. Even the kids, who stay mostly inside the cabin during passages, chose to stay a long time outside with us. They were also very engaged both when we set the spinnaker, and when we took it down afterwards.
In the afternoon, while sailing 25 miles offshore from Isla Santa Margarita, we were surprised to see fishing lines and their balls on 1,500 ft of water. The deepest waters where we had seen fishing lines up to now had been 300 feet. These fishermen here are die-hards!
We had great sailing for all day, and took the spinnaker down reluctantly at sundown for we were making great progress. But, again, we were greeted by a fresher wind with nightfall, and with our mainsail and genoa up on a broad reach, proceeded at a good speed.
I was a little anxious though, for we would be sailing now on shallower water – around 1,500 ft – and might have to avoid small fishing craft, or get the propeller or rudder fouled by a fishing line.
And then, there was still the mystery associated to our time of landfall – it looked like we might be able to get to Cabo San Lucas before nightfall on the next day, but to cover the additional 12 miles to our final destination – San Jose Del Cabo – under daylight was still quite a stretch, and we might need to stay overnight in San Lucas.
During the night, we sailed past La Paz, some 50-60 miles away to the East, and on the other side of the Baja peninsula. There were a few clouds over it though and we could see the city lights reflected against them – it was heartwarming.
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Pesto rocks!