This one is long but I tried to put a lot of pictures, it is from the 3 day sail from Ensenada to Turtle Bay (which is where we are now). I also put more pictures on the last blog from what we saw and where we stayed in Ensenada.

1/25/15

We went to check the weather in the morning and it looked good so we left around 1130am. 

Sailing has been uneventful mostly. We saw quite a few dolphins but nothing else. I put Oliver to sleep around 8 and woke up at 1045pm to take over watch. We use a red light at night to see since it doesn't affect your night vision but it is also kind of creepy. 

The light pollution coming from the US is shocking. I know that has to be what it is since I have seen it from Catalina Island and I do not see any of it from Mexico, well bits and pieces here and there but nothing like from the US, it almost looks like the sun is going to rise but it is midnight. I am a little more afraid tonight. I guess because we are a lot further from the shore and can't see any lights where there were a lot more lights on shore going from San Diego to Ensenada. 

The picture below is what we look at while we sail at night. The green screen is the radar that tells us if anything is within a 2 mile radius, it also will alarm in case we miss it. The computer has the little red boat and line which shows us where to stay so we adjust the autopilot accordingly to stay on course. We also check to make sure the engine isn't overheating if it's on. I usually do all of those things every 15 minutes depending on the conditions, the time goes by surprisingly fast. 

It blows my mind to think of doing this without any instruments. There are many times I just have to remind myself to trust the instruments because it gets really, really dark and you can't see much ahead. I guess it's the same kind of thing as flying at night. My biggest fear and Paul's too is hitting a container that has fallen off of a container ship, like in the movie All is Lost. If you haven't seen it a guy hits one while he is sailing (I guess those containers fall off of those big container ships in storms, who knows if they float or sink) and has to abandon his boat and almost dies…yes we watched that movie and still left:)

1/26/15

I was on watch for 5 hours last night while Paul got some sleep. Then I woke up at 8am to Paul turning the engine off and all of the dishes drying on the counter flying onto the floor because the boat heeled and Paul had forgot to secure everything. Among the dishes was a knife…can you imagine Oliver or even Paul or I getting stabbed by a knife flying across the boat. Ahh, I was not happy and I don't think either one of us will make that mistake again. After that I thought that it was good we were getting some wind since we had been motoring for some 20 hours and when we sail it is (usually) so peaceful. Well it was a lot of wind and it brought big waves. We have been bobbing up and down for the last 3 hours and we only had the wind for 2 hours. So now we are jumping up and down and the engine is on. Double bummer.

The boys are taking a nap. The sun has finally appeared and the seas have calmed down. I just wish we could have some wind. Paul said the wind this morning was up around 26 knots which is a lot. I could hear it but was busy keeping Oliver busy and trying not to think about how uncomfortable it was. Now it is 4 knots. It was nice to have the engine off if only for a few hours, I hope the wind picks up and we can sail more today. I don't mind the engine so much at night since I hate to have to fuss with the lines at night but during the day it sucks. It is hard to believe we have 2 more days of this. I guess it is going by ok but I miss running to Target to buy crap I don't need haha.

We did get more wind and only had to have the engine on for a lit bit today. I think we sailed at least half of it. I made some supper and we just hung out listening to music and playing until bed. It turned out to be a great day minus this rough morning.

1/27/15

I am at watch now it is midnight. Paul's 32 birthday is today. I think he is so happy to be spending it out on the water, I am happy for him. I brought some stuff to make a cake but we may wait until Turtle Bay. I have a quiche we will have for breakfast. The night has been easy. We had to turn the engine on at the beginning of my watch the wind was gone and we were barely moving. I am ok with that. Paul says the engine noise drives him crazy but to me it just becomes white noise. I do like the quiet of sailing more though. 

The ocean is like a glassy lake right now, reminds me of good water skiing conditions. When I woke up the moon was so big, I could only see half of it but it looked like a planet all red and orange. It 'set' only an hour or so after my watch started, I was sad to see it go, it was so bright and beautiful. I tried to get a pic of the moon before it went down but the picture, as usual, doesn't do it justice. The stars are again amazing. It is hard to find the big dipper there are so many.

Yikes it's 4am and I hear the radar going off and sure enough something is on there. I quickly look to where it says the thing is and there is a boat. Yikes, that freaked me out, I did not see that coming. Crazy to think there are other people out here, they were going the opposite way though and about a mile away so we just watched them pass.

Man it is 330pm and still not much wind. It gets old having the engine run all the time, I thought we would for sure get another break this afternoon. We still could I suppose. I want to make Paul a bday cake or some brownies but he said he didn't feel like it. We did just see our first whales. I have to admit I don't look too much since I usually read on watch or am playing with Oliver. They were pretty far away so no telling exactly which kinds but we were told we would see grey whales so probably safe to assume. There were at least 3 that we saw blow at one time. It is crazy, kind of looks like puffs of smoke, especially as they get further away. One breeched too, not crazy high but definitely saw the body come up and just above the surface with a splash back down. As much as I would love to get close they could do serious damage to our boat so better they be far away. We also saw 2 more ships today, container ships just where we saw the other last night, it must be a shipping route.

Finally got some wind around 430pm, we are going fast now (that means 6-7 knots which is basically mph). I think Paul said the wind is 10-15 knots and the ride is no too bad however I feel sea sick. After all this time on the water with none I feel it now. Weird. If we can keep this wind we will get there in the late morning! If we lose the wind it could take us another 12 hours and that would mean getting there after dark which means we would have to tool around waiting for the sun to come up which would suck big time. Lets hope we keep the wind tonight. 

1/28/15

The wind kept up all night, it stayed between 11-15 knots, until we got to Turtle Bay around 11am. I am so happy we got here. Almost 72 hours exactly it took us. Paul stayed up most of the night since the wind was blowing so hard and Oliver wanted me to sleep with him, it was a lot rougher than usual otherwise he usually sleeps great on the boat. I did give Paul a few 1-2 hour naps throughout the night but it was not enough I know he is tired. We plan on anchoring and then he can nap and Oliver will too then we will go to town and try to find some laundry and showers…showers for sure. We've been seeing tons of whales too, I think our count is 11 right now.

You can barely see the back of the whale but it's there. They can go under for like 15 minutes so it's hard to get a picture and we are rocking around constantly

This place is very small and rustic. As you can see from the pictures it is not a touristy place. The few 'restaurants' I have seen are peoples homes who have converted part of it which is very cool. I saw two markets but they are more like scarcely stocked convenience stores and none of it is on any sort of main street we just found it by walking around. It is funny that they are at least 100 miles from any other town but there is wifi all over the place that you can pay to use. It's also much cleaner than Ensenada which is nice, at least from there not being trash in the water and the water is clear. 

We are just pumped. We got to have some beers with some other cruisers (about 8 of them) at this little hole in the wall 'bar' that was right on the water overlooking the boats or we never would've found them. It was nice to talk to everyone about where they are headed and what their experience is. Then we paid $12 to shower at a motel, it felt amazing, it was a week today not touching water. I have never gone so long not even jumping in the ocean or anything, we were disgusting. 

Sunrise while on watch...not too bad

Strip of houses

Main dock

More houses,we get beers at the house on the far right

1/29/15

Rained all day. Stuck on the boat. We just played games and read a lot. The kindle broke, I am so bummed, will have to figure out a way to get a new one. We sat up after Oliver went to bed and looked over where else we want to go along the coast, we think we will leave for Punta Pequena, which has one of the longest rights called Scorpion Bay (for surfing) in the world if I am correct, tomorrow or possibly the next day. We both brought our surf boards so it would be fun to get those in the water. We must get off the boat tomorrow rain or shine!

1/30/15
So far we walked to their biggest supermarket, which is like a nice gas station store. We got eggs, milk, fresh tortillas and the like. We walked and it was super muddy from the rain yesterday, Oliver slipped it was funny. I took some pictures of their muddy streets, it is so strange to not have anything paved, but I forgot the camera.  I have been teasing Paul thanking him for this luxurious vacation. Will try to put them up later.

Just one of the many muddy streets

I am now calling Paul, Yusuf (after Cat Stevens)

1/31/5

We leave today. Hopefully will get wind and swell so we can surf. Will check in later. I hope you all are well!!