Author: Simply Dog Walk

After leaving the boat to escape very uncomfortable conditions in the anchorage, we came back the next day and were hoping that everything was well aboard Alsager. And the good old lady was just fine, no other boats had broken loose and the Captain did well with setting the second anchor and preparing her the best he could.

We stored away what we had bought to stock up on food and left for one last supper at our favorite BLUE THAI restaurant by the Marina, which is run and Co owned by Amanda (left in photo), a cool British Rockstar-like Power Woman, who we had met together with some other sweet new friends a few days earlier. If we go to Cabo again, we will definitely stop by for some yummy Thai Pho Soup and to enjoy her company.

The night on Alsager was still accompanied by swell, which we hoped would be better in the morning to pack up our dinghy and pull up the anchors. Our buddy Kruiser was still visiting his Cousin in Chihuahua, so it was just the Captain, myself, Mats and dog Noah.

It was still rolly and we made a little video clip to show you, if we have left Cabo….. or not?

KLICK HERE TO FIND OUT

We have been on our sailboat for the past 7 weeks. Cabo is a good spot to fill up on fuel. The Yacht of the delivery the Captain had just been involved with, offered that we could fill up on drinking water off their boat, since the water in Cabo is not drinkable. The Yacht has a water maker. A great luxury and we were thankful. When we were about to dock close to the Yacht so we could run a hose to our tank, we got into an argument with the security people. Even with our Kruiser on board, who tried to calm them in sweet Spanish, they absolutely did not let us get the drinking water. It did not matter to them that we wanted to get fuel afterwards, where they alone charge a docking fee. It also did not matter to know that we are friends of a yacht in there Marina who spends a fair amount of cash every day. Buying jugs from the Marina would be peanuts in comparison.

The security guard said to the Captain, that he is a bad father and husband, because he has a family and no water maker on board. Are you freaking kidding me mentioning that when you can’t drink your own tab water? The Captain ask him, if he owns a boat, to get an idea if he knew what he was talking about. But he didn’t and just for info, it is a luxury on a boat and needs quite some space. Believe me, I would love to have one!  It is odd for us too, that we have to deal with non drinkable tab water and are not happy when our son or anybody else is suffering diarrhea and stomach aches and we don’t know, where it’s coming from. But that is a different story.

With no other choice and a bit upset, we went to the fuel dock and filled up very slowly. During the process, Kruiser carried a jug of 5 Gallons at a time from the yacht to our sailboat back and forth. I tried it once and barely made it. Kruiser is a strong man! He did that about 8 times, sweat dripping, right passed the security people and had the “you dare stop me” look in his face.

We managed to fill up our water tanks almost completely and will certainly value each drop of it. We did not leave that Marina with much positive vibes that day.

It was definitely not the approach we had experienced so far in Mexico.

What a fantastic first day of the Extreme Sailing Series in Cabo. Being able to watch the show close from our anchorage or even use our dinghy to get closer, so enjoyable. Thanks to all those great sailors out there, it was really fun to watch! And great to see SAP is sponsoring such an awesome event.

 

What is it with Cabo? First we could not get there fast enough, so the Captain could take on another job and then, it would not let us go again. We tried several times. Twice we were all ready to go, thought we had the motor fixed, and twice the motor failed on us. Each time it caused a couple days delay, as it was always right in time for the weekend with no mechanics in sight.

And now the weather doesn’t play well, which made things quite difficult for everyone in the anchorage. It started with swell followed by strong winds and being on the boat felt like being inside a washing machine. The constant rolling and up and down made Mats and myself feel motion sick. After a night of no sleep, the Captain packed us up, drove us to shore with the dinghy for an egg breakfast and found a great hotel right by the Marina. And he did that right in time as things got worse. Here a little clip when things were a little bit more mellow again, to give you and idea.

His attempt going back to Alsager almost ended in a disaster and us losing our dinghy. When he tried getting into the channel, a big wave threw the bow upwards and water rushed over the stern into the dinghy. The Captain had to throw himself forward to prevent the dinghy from swamping. He shuffled the water out as best as possible and made a second attempt. He made it to Alsager and while the waves threw the dinghy against the side of the boat, he tried to hold on and find a moment to get onto our sailing vessel. I wasn’t there, but we have done it with a kid and dog on board and even when the situation is not so intense, it is always a moment of adrenaline rush to get everyone from one boat to the other safely. So, very glad he made it ok!

He noticed, that boats around him had all kind of problems, but since he was by himself, he had to attend to the safety of ours first. He immediately started the motor to make sure, he could hold Alsager in place, in case the Anchor would start dragging. Than he got a second anchor out and with the help of a nice neighbor, who assisted in his dinghy, they were able to set a second anchor.

He stayed most of the day on the boat while Mats had fun at the pool and both of our bellies started feeling better. Poor Captain. When he felt good enough about leaving the boat and things around him, he came back and managed to also have a nice spot for Noah in the Hotel. I ordered a well deserved Hamburger and Margarita for him and we all passed out quite early that night. Let’s see, if we make it out of Cabo! 🙂

Our Motor was now fixed and the Extreme Sailing Series was going to start in 2 days. A good time to check out famous town Todos Santos. After a 1 hour bus ride, we reached our destination and had breakfast at this cute place.

We had rented an Airbnb Bungalow which was close to town and the owner was so nice and gave us a lift whenever we needed it. Except the advertised Pool which had no water in it, everything was really great.

The town has many souvenir shops and the famous Hotel California. We had a beer at the bar there just because and checked out some gorgeous boutique Hotels. After we watched the sun settle into the ocean, we got invited by a smart waiter, who praised a 2 for 1 Margarita, which we enjoyed as well as Tortilla Soup and Tacos.

After breakfast our crew Kruiser reached out to us with a possibility to catch a ride with him. His friend had lend him his cool truck and we had a fun ride back to Cabo. A successful little get away. 🙂

Ones the Captain returned from the delivery, Kruiser and him went right at it to try fixing the Motor. And they were successful for about 2 days and we were all in good spirits. And than again, same thing, Motor lost it’s prime again. We luckily found some mechanics over the weekend, who were willing to come out to the anchorage on Monday. They did there magic and now the motor works better than before (knock on wood!) But the whole motor thing was indeed frustrating for the guys, as it seemed fine for days and than…. 😦

So now: 😀 Yippieh!

The weekend before the mechanics were able to come, we had some nice family time. Went snorkeling, had a dip in the pool and enjoyed some really great meals. 🙂

We stayed in Cabo San Lucas way longer than anticipated. One reason was, that the Captain left for a delivery job from San Diego to Cabo on a 100 foot Powerboat for a few days. The next reason was, that we started to have engine problems on our 3 day/night Sail from San Juanico to Cabo San Lucas. Read about it here.

The Captain and Kruiser did a really good job and thought, they had it fixed, after the were sweating away in the small alley which gives access to the motor. Unfortunately the motor did loose it’s prime again. For now, we had to kick back, as we needed to get the Immigration/Customs clearance taken care of first, so that the Captain was able to fly out for the delivery job. It took about half day, but wasn’t really difficult.  We did celebrate our arrival in Cabo with some Margarita’s and I felt very happy and just had a feeling of accomplishment. Wow, we sailed all the way from Sausalito to Cabo San Lucas, MEXICO!

The Captain flew out the next day and Mats and myself enjoyed a dip in the pool, where we had breakfast the day before. We had a fabulous day and lots of fun. The days until the Captain’s return we just spend at the pool, beach, doing laundry in town. We also took the dinghy to Lands End, which is the rock formation with great snorkeling and Lover’s and Divorce Beach. Fun little trip. MOVIE UP TOMORROW!

On our morning ice-stock-up-run to shore before setting sail out of San Juanico/Scorpion Bay, we checked Emails one last time. The Captain got a message, if he was able to take part in a delivery of a 100 foot Power Boat from San Diego to Cabo a few days later. One of there planned crew had cancelled and they were now in need to find a replacement quickly. We brainstormed and even if it seemed pretty odd to fly back to San Diego, where we had just come from, the Captain also didn’t want to let anybody down and it seemed doable. We were getting ready to leave anyway, but now had to do a 3 day/3 night nonstop sail to Cabo. We all know, how much I love that!

After all crew members gave there ok, we headed out. The start was awesome. We had great sailing wind and had a double strike of Yellow Fin Tuna just a couple hours in. Here our Exciting Fishing Experiences between San Diego and Cabo all in a clip:

The Fun Sushi Making Experience was dimmed when Mats woke up and complained about stomach ache. It seems, that after every stop of a few days, the little guy now fights sea sickness, which really sucks. Luckily it is only of short time and he manages to pass it by with eating and drinking apple juice.

The days are going by on those long sails with either sleeping when you can, eating, maybe reading or writing and doing your shifts. We had this fresh Tuna and Kruiser showed us some exceptional cooking skills, making the best Seared Tuna I have ever had in my life! Gourmet kitchen. 🙂

Everything went smooth until the third day, except the start we had to motor most of it.

Talking about motoring, after giving the diesel a short break, checking oil and kind of drifting with barely any wind, the Captain tried to start the motor again and it would not start. Just when the men started going through a check list of things which could be wrong, the Autopilot gave an error message and also wasn’t usable. So, we had Kruiser on the steering wheel, Captain reading his “Marine Diesel Engines” “Be your own diesel mechanic” and myself running around with wide open eyes and taking care of Mats, who just had a good nap and was ready to Rock’N Roll.

The next 2 hours were a bit intense, first trying to get the motor running, me and Mats at the helm keeping the course by compass and the man sweating away in the cabin doing there best. And they really did it! After several times of having the key turned 30 seconds, the last time it jumped after I held the key for 35 seconds. Shortly after we tried to turn on the Autopilot again and voila, it also started.

Happily heading our way with 6 knots, we were wondering what Nr. 3 would hold for us. And it happened just when everyone started to relax. I was with Mats in the Cabin and the Captain and Kruiser were lying down talking in the cockpit, miles and miles off shore. We were meanwhile sailing again and the motor was off. All of a sudden we literally stopped. We had hit a crap pot. The lines had caught the rudder and stopped us from moving forward. All tries getting the lines off, weren’t successful, so Kruiser grabbed a knife and a mask and jumped in and cut the lines to free us! Hero’s on board Alsager!

We made it to Cabo at 2am at night and set anchor close to 3 other sailboats.

School of fish jumping out of the water, escaping bigger ones. Cool to watch from the boat.

is this post. But before it gets postponed and loses its value and after all the whining, I want to mention what a wonderful day we had in Cabo yesterday . Thanks to the Captain and YOU – Jake! Loved every minute. 🙂 We were guests at this amazing resort and had lots of fun in the pool, high above our anchorage.

Cheers!