We made it!

November 10

We said goodbye to Los Cabos at 0710 and hello to La Paz and the Marina Costabaha at 1510.

It has been quite a journey from San Diego.  1000 Nautical Miles to add to our total which is somewhere around 7000 NM. 
So far......


November 19

The Knot Wafflen' will be spending 3 months here in the Sea of  Cortez.  David and Ian are gone and I fly home today.  The Aspen team will be flying in with guests from Passagemaker and Northwest Yachting magazines.  I will be coming back to spend Christmas on the boat with wife Pat, son Garrett and his bff Rachael. David and Sue Ellen will be back in January, perhaps with guests.

The plan then is to take her across the Sea of Cortez early February and turn her over to Aspen in San Carlos to have the fly bridge removed and put on trucks bound for Galveston, TX where she will be put back together and put back in the water so we can resume our journey.

In the mean time we will be cruising the various islands and anchorages of the Sea of Cortez, annoying the fish and trying to not get sunburned. 

Entries until we resume our journey will be picture heavy and less about the travel.

I hope you stay tuned and enjoy!

Nephew Ian at the helm.  Thanks to you for your photos and sense of humor.
You were good company and good crew!

Bird frosting

I see the (Senior) Olympics in his future.

Knot Wafflen'
7000 Nautical Miles and counting!

Till next time........

Trying to get to La Paz

November 8

We put Cabo on our stern and headed to La Paz.  About 30 NM into the trip it became apparent the seas did not look at the same forecast as I did.  We were fighting 3 - 4 foot waves every 3-5 seconds dead on the nose.  Tacking did little to ease the ride and the Captain called for an about face and we headed to Marina Los Cabos. As usual we topped off the fuel tanks and were assigned a slip that we ended up staying in for 2 nights due to the sea state. All in all a very nice facility with none of the noise and tourism of Cabo.

Our next door neighbor.  What are the odds of two Annapolis boats side by side in Los Cabos?!
Cimmarron was crewed by a young California couple who had inherited the boat.
She hasn't seen the Atlantic in quite a while.

Cactus Farm

My favorite place in Los Cabos.  Tacos (sin cebollas), Mojitos and free wifi

Roof from the inside.  Looks nicer from this point of view.

Sundown

Knot Wafflen' all lit up.

The weather looks promising for a Nov. 10 departure for our final leg to La Paz!
Keeping our fingers crossed!

Till next time........

Going South

November 5

We left our anchorage in Turtle Bay for an overnighter to Bahia Santa Maria, a sheltered anchorage on the way to Cabo San Lucas.  Traveling at slower speeds to conserve fuel allowed us to do some more fishing.

Bigeye Tuna! (I think) Can you say Sashimi?

David and a few of his buddies.
Photo by Ian

November 6

We dropped out anchor in Bahia Santa Maria at 1115 after a 235 NM run, right in the middle of the Baja HaHa fleet.  It is an annual cruise of sailboats, as many as 140, from San Diego to Cabo San  Lucas.  We had thought that we would be ahead of them but information somehow got skewed so we were the weird boat without long poles with rags attached to them.
No worries. We would leave them in our wake in the morning.
Of course, since we have no long poles with rags, we need fuel.  We emptied our auxiliary fuel bladders into our tanks, cleaned the boat a bit and had a celebratory rum tasting before dinner and relaxing for the night.

Chef David works with fresh Tuna.

Crew takes a break.

Another beautiful sunset.

Before turning in I did some calculations and navigation and informed the crew we had enough fuel to do our normal 18 knot cruising speed to Cabo instead of another overnighter. Everyone was in favor of an early arrival so we set the alarm for 0300 and got underway at 0330.



November 7

Red sky in the morning is not necessarily an indicator of bad weather

David rounding the point towards Cabo.

Iconic Cabo rock.

We pulled into Marina Cabo San Lucas fuel dock at 1430, got a slip assignment and can't wait to leave.  A little touristy and loud for us. 

Till next time.......

Mexico continued

November 4

Bahia Tortugas, Baja California Sur

Pulling into Turtle Bay for fuel.  Check out the fuel gauges and display. 
Just when you think I am insane, remember we have 125 Gallons strapped to the boat.

Doing business with Ernesto's brother. 
Not a whole lot of room for negotiation - they have the only game in town unless you carry fuel by hand.
Not an option for us.

Jose met us in his panga, helped us tie up to their mooring ball and run a stern line to the pier and then brought out the fuel hose.

We took on 207 Gallons of diesel (capacity is 230).  We pulled away from the pier and dropped anchor for some well deserved rest.

November 5

We pulled the anchor in at 0700 and set course for Bahia Santa Maria, another overnight trip at slow speeds.

Till next time.........

Mexico

October 28 - 30

I flew into San Diego and ubered it to Chula Vista Marina where the Aspen crew had left the Knot Wafflen'.
Nice Marina with a good restaurant/bar but not very much else within walking distance.  It was about a mile to the small West Marine where I picked up the two trolling rods I had ordered and had shipped to the store and some supplies and equipment to do some Pacific Ocean trolling.

Chula Vista sunset

David arrived October 30 with our nephew Ian who is going to crew with us to La Paz, our soon to be home in Mexico.

October 31

Our plan was to depart November 1 however when I called the Marina in Ensenada Oct.30 to verify our slip reservation  I was told  Customs, Immigration and Port Authority would be closed Nov. 1 - 3 for Dia de los Muertos and we would not be able to check in.
Quick crew meeting and we made the boat ready in record time and got under way a day early, destination Ensenada, MX, 77 NM south.

We had a nice run and tied up in Marina Coral and upon check in were told that the authorities had decided not to shut down the port office, but to shorten the hours. Oh well, it got us into Mexico a day early.
It took two days to check in to the country and have the various forms stamped, signed, copied and whatever else they were doing.  Luckily we had Juan on our side.  Juan works for the marina and his job is to help tourists get all the documentation done and he was a big help. I just stood back at each station in the port office with my hat off and a smile and a muchos gracias for everyone.
Meanwhile David and Ian were making the boat ready for the long journeys ahead.

Nephew Ian strapping down fuel bladders (125 gallons extra fuel) with the
 Mexican flag flying, showing we had cleared into the country.

While at the Marina Coral we ran into James on the Pendana, a 62' Nordhavn who is doing a world cruise with his wife Claire and their two daughters. Turns out he has a strong following in the Nordhavn community with his blog, www.pendanablog.com and wanted an interview with David about our adventures and the Aspen C120.
It is scheduled to be published 1 December and I will include a link here when it is.
Most know I have a soft spot in my head- I mean heart for Nordhavns and James gave me a little tour of the Pendana.  Awesome boat!

November 2

The next leg of our journey has us motoring slowly to conserve fuel. There is only one legitimate fuel stop between Ensenada and Cabo san Lucas, so we were unable to do our usual 16 -18 knot cruising speed.
We left at 0600 and cruised slowly towards our first stop, an anchorage off San Martin Island.  We had the anchor down at 1700 after 93.8 miles and 53 gallons of fuel. Not a recommended anchorage - very bumpy all night.

Moon rise.

Morning in the mountains

Of course we did some fishing (it was bigger that it looks)

The boys relaxing on calm seas.

November 3

Up and underway at 0530 for the beginning of our first overnight passage - Next stop to be Bahia de Tortugas for fuel.

Ian enjoying a quiet moment on the bow.

Team Waffle sticking another skipjack 

The overnight came and went and we pulled in to Turtle Bay for fuel at 1530 for fuel.

More about that later.

Till next time...........

End of West Coast Cruise

October 4

David took us out of San Francisco Bay and it was a little bumpy but nothing to worry about. We headed south going with the swells and enjoying the view.
Cruised in to Monterey after an almost leisurely 6 hour run.  I just love low winds and following seas.

Warning: Some readers may find some of the following images disturbing (Jessica Eder).

Stinging Nettles.  Only invade the Bay with cooler water temperatures.
 Stopped up the intake for the Monterey Aquarium.

They yelp all...... night ......long!

Glad she can sleep

One day before full.

October 5

We headed for our next stop, Morro Bay, another 100 NM run.  We again had following seas and low winds however the current was against us and the run was a little sportier than yesterday.
Morro Bay has one fuel dock and it was, by far, the worst one we have used on our trip.  It is a fixed dock and we arrived at low, low tide (full moon), which meant nasty, barnacle covered pilings.  David quickly rigged up fenders to protect the boat and, as (bad) luck would have it, the winds picked up to about 25 knots.  We were able to fuel up without damaging the boat and then traveled the .5 NM to the Morro Bay Yacht Club, complete with floating dock, and tied up for the night. Very nice facility.

Setting Morro Bay Harvest Moon

October 6

Next stop Santa Barbara, another 109 NM.

Whales & Oil Platforms

October 7

Santa Barbara to Marina del Rey, a quick run to end  the Anacortes to Los Angeles leg of our journey.

Along the way Songways,  Aspen C90-18,  owned by Nelson Schulman left port in Ventura to meet us out at sea.

Very recognizable hull coming our way.

Songways   Aspen C90-18

Upon our arrival in Marina del Rey we were contacted by Alita and Curt Rethmeyer, owners of Aspen C90 Catalita, went to dinner and had great conversations about Aspens, weather and other boating topics.
Alita has been a great help getting us situated in Marina del Rey and the Rethmeyers are keeping the tradition of "only great people own Aspen Power Catamarans" alive and well.

Alita

Summary of west coast cruise-

We departed Anacortes September 22 and arrived Marina del Rey 16 days later, with a one day layover in Crescent City and a 4 day weather delay in Sausalito and San Francisco.

The Knot Wafflen' added 1,250 NM to the 10,000 Mile tour.

David and I will be leaving the boat here and returning home for a bit. David is excited to meet his new granddaughter Lilly. The Aspen crew will be flying down to take over the Knot Wafflen' for some cruising and promotions and will leave the boat in San Diego where David and I will be joined by our nephew Ian Jenkins for our long trip to La Paz Mexico.

The plan is to leave November 1- we will be resuming the blog at that time.
I hope you are enjoying it and please feel free to share with friends and family.