Los Frailes to Turtle Bay

Passage to Los Frailes            

Our initial plan was to sail up to Chacala, anchor for a short night of sleep, and head out again the next morning.  Once out on the ocean, we saw the conditions were perfect for a crossing, so we skipped Chacala and kept going to Los Frailes.  It took about 2.5 days to get there.  Along the way we were entertained with dolphins swimming alongside, whales fluking and breeching completely out of the water, eagle rays jumping and flipping, and turtles floating everywhere.

A typical day on passage in Mexico.  Sydney's reading, Annie's playing, Salty is on watch, and Bob is at the helm.

Los Frailes

Los Frailes was beautiful.  We were very sad to not be sailing north into the Sea of Cortez.  The sand is crystal white here, the water so clear.  Oh well, I guess we’ll have to come back!

Beautiful Los Frailes

The jagged granite hill at Los Frailes is very impressive.

Passage to Turtle Bay

When our weather window opened, we were off again, this time south to San Jose del Cabo for a quick night of rest and refueling, and then around Cabo San Lucas and North to Turtle Bay.  On the third day of our passage the fish started biting.  Using cedar plugs and rapalas, we were catching Bonita faster than we could fillet them, often two at a time, and ended up releasing a couple because we didn’t need any more.  This did not stop them.  We could still see them trailing us in our wake in the crystal clear waters.  Ravenous little buggers with sharp teeth! 

The passage ended up taking us 3.5 days.  We were pretty tired by the time we arrived in Turtle Bay so we snored the day away.

Bob's prize catch

Once we got to Turtle Bay, Salty made sure the dinghy wasn't going anywhere without him.

On our passage to Turtle Bay it was a bit overcast, but truly beautiful.

Turtle Bay 

There’s not a whole lot going on in Bahia Tortugas (it’s a dusty little fishing village).  We weren’t planning on spending much time here, but the weather just was not cooperating.

The view of Turtle Bay from the church courtyard.

One of the local tiendas in town.

Shari with our friend and laundry lady, Dolores, along with her grandson.  The people here blew us away with their kindness.

A few times a week a supply boat (from remote villages) comes into the bay and the locals fill their pangas with massive amounts of goods to take out to it at anchor.  This panga shown has permenantly mounted wheels to make launching and beaching easier.  Bob was trying to help the locals get this panga over a rock.  Luckily they never spilled a box in all the craziness.

The lovely dock at Turtle Bay.