Ensenada to San Quitin and Cedros Island

11/18 - 11/24

hey everybody. we're safe. we're making new sailing friends everyday. we've been through hell and back as well. we left ensenada sunday 11/18 at 4am. we followed chewys info on our charts. the swell started picking up so we pulled the dinghy we were towing on board. then the wind picked up so we dropped the main sail. then it started gettin nasty so we dropped the jib and planned on putting up our storm jib, which was practically impossible. so we left the motor on and sailed bare poles through hell at 7-8kts. all night. full gale. 40+knots wind and 20+foot seas from all directions.  as my dad says "it was BAD" but we prayed in every religion, hoped, wished on every shooting star and made it. i remember saying "90 push - 150 pull" all night. which translates to my hands on the tiller and my eyes on the compass and when we would get smashed to 90 degrees pull that tiller hard and 150 degrees push hard. we made it through the whole night and early morning. we pulled into San Quitin at 2:3-pm which is a safe anchorage. we sat there for a few days and waited for the heavy winds and swells to pass by. we took the dinghy to shore in 3ft. surf. my first time surfing the dinghy in, we almost flipped but it was kinda just like a giant boogie board. we hitched a ride into town to get gas, but of course got stuck in the fresh soft sand on the beach from all the wind. the landscape was beautiful. cultivated with greenhouses for tomatoes, strawberries, agave, and of course marijuana. we had to launch the dinghy back out into the building surf now 3-5ft. sets. we waded it out about waste deep heavy now full of gas cans. waited for the biggest set to break, dove in, and floored it out of there. we left San Quitin 11/22 we were a little gun-shy from our last open ocean experience but calmed down as we got out there because the ocean was calming. it was actually a beautiful night sail. we kept up on our 4 hours shifts. 11/23 we had Cedros island in view after 150 miles of no land sailing. hit 8kts sailing all night. which helped save on gas big time. dolphins have been swimming with us and rubbing on the bow. we decided to play it safe after our good luck and pull into a small breakwallled fishing harbor off Cedros Island instead of chance weaving through the shoals and islands at night to get to turtle bay. Cedros Island was beautiful 22 miles long of cliffs, mountains, rocks, texture and terrain colors. Woke up with the sun and set out for Turtle bay. dad immediately caught a small skipjack outside the harbor, we decided to throw it back and as soon as we did BAM a bull dorado (mahi mahi) hit. we had pineapple saffron rice with mahi for breakfast. sailed 6 kts. to turtle bay, got another female dorado outside turtle bay. gave that as gifts to all the boats that have been helping us with info on the VHF radio. met up with our new friends on "sweet dreams" and had dinner with them last night. now we're in turtle bay, checking the weather and getting more supplies. Ascuncion should be next, then another stop or 2 before we hit Cabo. the spot has been randomly shutting off...i guess we have to deal with that for now. but keep tracking us! we should be leaving turtle bay tomorrow or the next day.

two at a time

i called this an alligator skate. it had a huge muscley back that it would arc with spikes down it.

caught over a dozen of these and made fishcakes with sirracha mayo for thanksgiving

jealous mom?

fresh banana nut muffins

thanksgiving dinner

dolphins love us. cedros island on the horizon

cedar trees grow at the very top of those granite mountains

good girl

cedros village

first time attempting to gaff our mahi

dad teaching

"i've never seen a fish this big!"-claire

dinner for dozens

pineapple saffron rice with FRESH mahi

my new contraption for filming under the boat. pics wouldnt upload, too many. i'll add to next one.

too many photos to upload. it won't except anymore file space. we will add them to the next upload.