The watch schedule had me at the helm from 6:00am until 9:00am which lined up perfectly with our arrival into Cabo.
Sunrise on the last day of the passage
The first sign we were close were the massive stream of fishing charter boats coming out to greet us. Then the resorts dotting the pacific coast, and finally we came to the world famous Cabo arch (El Arco de Cabo San Lucas). It is hard to imagine a better ending to 400 plus mile, nearly 70 hour passage.
Blazing to the fishing grounds
I may have been a bit excited
Pulling around the point we found the bay empty of other sailboats leaving us our choice of anchorages. Reading the cruising guide’s recommendation we planted our anchor further out past the gap in the hotels, which was a bit outside of the major hubbub of party central. Firmly set, we took to cleaning up a bit before I dove the anchor to confirm it was well set.
Janis and Vicki swimming to shore
Janis and Vicki swam to shore while I stayed aboard to confirm we wouldn’t have any anchor issues. Once they returned, I took my leave with a swim to shore to check out the beach. It seem appropriate to give the nearest hotel the once over. Being a gringo does have its privileges and I was able to slide past the security and into the pool area of a very nice resort. In my exploration, a long way from the pool area, I found a hot tub with a stack of towels. Bingo, I was golden. Working my way back to the pool I now had a towel to solidify my “belonging” at the resort and nabbed a lounge chair to get some relaxation time. I mixed in some swimming and people watching made for a chill afternoon.
Figuring it was time to check in with the crew, I swam back out to the boat to see what they had be up to and take care of some neglected chores. We stayed aboard the first night and enjoyed a great dinner and part of the Bourne Identity. Well, actually Vicki watched the entire movie, while Janis and I crashed early on – this became a theme for the trip.
The next morning Vicki and I dropped the dinghy and motored over to the dingy dock to get some internet and work out the flight schedules for Jean and for Jean’s sister Julie (Janis’s mom). We also tried to drop off our laundry but after a bit of a search found that being Sunday, there would be no laundry today.
Halloween decorations
Monday was Halloween and Janis’s friend Harrison would be arriving so at 3:00 we loaded into the dingy to met our new crew mate. It also gave us a chance to pick up our new freshly washed and folded laundry. Living large in Mexico for sure.
After getting Harrison settled in we returned to Cabo for dinner and to check out the Halloween festivities. We had Vicki to thank for thinking ahead and buying masks for us to wear.
While not fully costumed, we fit in much better with all the ghosts, princesses, and various injured people – who knew that Mexicians were incredibly good at makeup showing various items protruding from one’s head, whether it be glass fragments, nails, or even hammers. Seriously, these were impressive.
Free candy!
We had dinner at a great outdoor restaurant that was about a half mile away, so while still a bit touristy it wasn’t full throttle Senor Frogs.
Cruisers costumes
After dinner we did more people watching and stumbled onto a group, literally a group, of Pippi Longstockings. It was highly entertaining but our eyes were still heavy and by 9:00 we were back aboard for a good night’s sleep. Plus tomorrow was a big day.
To this point our snorkeling had involved checking the anchor, we changed that by piling into the kayaks (found that three people could fit on a two person kayak) and worked our way out near the arch and the snorkeling grounds. Once there with the kayaks secured, we joined the masses of tourists who were carted out in pangas to get some beach time and snorkeling in. Not one to obey the rules we all checked out the underwater sites at our own pace and outside of the protected swim areas. Vicki established her swimming superiority by swimming a long distance to the edge of land before a panga driver suggested she might be safer closer in.
Regrouping on the beach we loaded back into the kayaks and paddled closer to town for the second spot. The first location had nice fish but not in huge volumes. This location had a wider variety of species plus just more fish in general. I enjoyed some free diving down to about 25-30 feet to explore the coral and drop offs while checking out the scuba divers.
Getting hungry and a bit fatigued, we started the mile long paddle back to Strikhedonia where we ate, and napped, and played games. It was a great day on the water but bedtime came earlier than normal. Plus the next day we would be moving on to San Jose de Cabo.
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