San Jose del Cabo and Puerto Los Cabos Marina

Bahia San Jose del Cabo and Puerto Los Cabos Marina

12/29 -1 /5 

We had a quick motor on calm water to Bahia San Jose del Cabo. ‘Sweet Dreams’ was just ahead of us and ‘Serenity’ was already tucked in there, having left the day before us. We dropped anchor right near ‘Serenity’ on the western end of the bay near the golf course. Saw a small reefy point with a handful of longboarders. Looked pretty fun, about knee to waste high lefts and rights. ‘Sweet Dreams’ had pulled farther down and into the actual harbor to the fuel dock. Claire and I were having lunch, waiting for their intel on the anchor conditions down there. They said it was pretty much the same all around so we pulled up our hook at 14:30 only after being at the west end a few hours. We planned on getting a slip in the morning, we figured we might as well be right outside the breakwall so in the morning we could pull in. We needed to get a slip because Claire had a family emergency and needed to fly home. GranFran isn’t doing too well and it is very important for Claire to be with her family at this time. If you don’t know GranFran, just envision an Angel, that’s her. The good thing with being on the boat, we can pump the brakes when need be, and pause for a moment. We feel more comfortable having the boat in a slip and not on anchor when leaving her unwatched for a long period of time. That night we were invited to a dance party at The Drunken Sailor. ‘Sweet Dreams’ joined us for that one. We had a blast. Good food, good margaritas, good local fun. We met a man named Charlie Moore. 77 years old. Drove his Ford truck down from Pennsylvania with a 14’ O’Day. He is currently living in a tent on a commune style ranch. 12/30 Rainy. Gray day. Glassy clear water. You could see the anchor in the sand as I pulled it up. We moved off the anchorage and got a slip in the marina. It’s weird how things work out with timing. ‘Sweet Dreams’ actually needed to stay put here as well. Noah and Christina are changing paths with Jon and Sara. They are looking for a vehicle to drive back to the states. It works out for me, I don’t have to sit here alone and can hang out with good company. Claire took me on a surprise date to the botanical and succulent garden. We had lunch at The Container, a harborside restaurant. 12/31 we woke up and hopped a bus to the airport. Very sad and hard to see Claire go. Came back and spent New Years eve on ‘Splendid Isolation’ with Noah, Christina, and Rob. Plenty of rum and tequila. We also busted out 2 harmonicas, a kazoo, a maraca, and my fog horn to introduce 2013. WOW...1/1 I spent some time cleaning and organizing the inside of the boat. Then we walked into the downtown area. Very cultural. Definitely california influenced. A lot of the businesses were in pure english. A lot of art shops, culinary arts, craft stores, etc. John and Sara purchased a small inflatable with a mercury outboard. They needed a new ride because Noah and Christina were taking the kayak. Very glad I’m in a slip, it has been extremely windy. 1 /2 I scrubbed the waterline around the boat. It’s crazy how fast it acquires growth in these warm waters. 1 /3 I thought I’d stay productive in the slip so I put new grommets in our boom tent and main sail cover. They were both ripping. Today was also the first time I’ve needed to tilt the solar panel. I noticed the past few days that we were not charging up to regular levels. A lot of bigger sailboats around me were shading my sun. tilting the panel definitely helped. That night I went to Ali’s place with Noah, Christina, and Rob. Local restaurant around the corner. Ali’s restaurant is cabana style. He is quite the retired chef. He’s originally from the Sahara. He speaks 6 languages. French, German, Spanish, English, and 2 Indian type dialects. He has traveled and been a chef all over the world. After a short talk with him about my culinary background and new sailing life. He graciously offered me his restaurant. Thats the second restaurant offered to me in the past 3 months! I have a feeling I will be getting that offer a lot on this voyage. His fish tacos and hamburgers are out of this world. We had a great time drinking too much with him. A few Ali quotes from the evening: “I am what I am. I am Ali of the Sahara!” “ooooh lala” “blub blub blub” “You are to be what you are. To be what you are is nothing else” “wisdom is free to be what you are to be” “lalala, lalale, lalala” After about 4 hours of holding Christina’s hand and mooshing over her, he looks to Noah, “your sister?”  “no. My wife.” “OH!” Me to Ali “Ali can I bring a big jug of red wine here for everyone? Vino rojo?” in his thick accent, “fucking shit, bring it!” it was quite the evening. From smashing glass vases to Ali ending up with no pants on blacked out. That was our queue to leave...BURRACHO. ¡FELIZ Año! 1 /4 I got up with Jon and Sara who had been cleaning their boat for days and told them it was time for a break. We went out to the beach by the SW breakwall. The skim was surprisingly awesome! Very very steep beach. Coming in clear and warm, waste high, chest high sets. Wraps and lines. It’s nice to be skimboarding again, especially on these empty beaches. If you could only see my sweet maneuvers. I even shock myself sometimes. Noah and Christina picked up a Bronco on craigslist for a steal. They packed that thing up with everything they own and are camping out on the beach. 1 /5 I pulled out of the slip and anchored 13:30 on the NE side of the breakwall to save some money. Definitely not as luxurious or comfortable as being in a slip, but we have a tight budget to keep in mind. Hopefully the weather stays nice enough to sit here until Tuesday when Claire returns. I will be getting a slip again for that airport run and her first night back. Once she gets back we should be sailing onward, 30ish miles to Cabo los Frailes.

rays jumping in the morning

had to of been over 100'

first full rain of the trip!

her secret notes and info for our secret afternoon date

claire's favorite! everything looked like willy wonka and dr. seuss made a garden together.

2 very different bird species on one mast, in the rain.

the nursery we went to

the container. an old shipping container turned into a restaurant.

piña knows when somethings going on... claire's leaving :(

bye bye!!

extremely tall noah making mac and cheese new years eve on our little boat

¡feliz año!

hammock time after many chores!

new blanket and new chain locker covering! surprises for claire when she returns!

i keep a lot of weird supplies on the boat that are dumpster dive treasures from dana point. great for crafts. i used this breathable stuff for the anchor/chain locker which is right above our heads when we sleep.

tilted the solar panel to get better sun in the slip.

grommet gear

new grommets on the mainsail covering

pretty simple to do

puerto los cabos, still under construction.

ali's place. our hang out.

the local quicky mart

the drunken sailor. great food. we went to a dance party here.

ali in his work environment

ali in the past

fresh ground beef burgers. mahi mahi tacos. from scratch french fries.

pesos is divide by 12 or 12.5 to get dollars. these are marina area prices which are still cheaper than the states. up in the uninhabited part of baja stuff was half this or less.

we had a great time.

after hours crew

the anchorage outside the harbor. i spent time here alone while claire was in NC. paying for a slip adds up real quick so i thought i'd save us some money.

christina and ali

cool old stove/artwork

buddha resting weird but at the same time guarding the boat!

all to myself!

possible surf way down there but i was having enough fun without walking. this is zoomed in all the way.

swimming with dolphins for tourists

hatteras yachts in mexico

piña sleeps like this when we are rocking around on anchor for the night.

crazy puffer fish under the dock.

'sweet dreams' ahead

school of puffers

FOOD post

FOOD post!

As per request by my mother. (which must always be fulfilled!) Here is a change from the usual post of 150 pictures and as Claire puts it, “an essay of boring ship’s log stuff that no one cares about.” Well hopefully soon she will be posting her own creative entries and photographs. 

If you haven’t seen our new stove and upgraded galley, you should check out this archived post. <-- click that to view.

and click this to see the stove in action!

Below are examples of meals we have prepared on ‘Splendid Isolation’ and also meals we have enjoyed on land.

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Turkey Noodle Soup

I start with this one because I’m actually enjoying it as I type, and damn is it good. Too bad I’ve been on anchor and in solitude for over 24 hours. I secretly like it when others enjoy my cooking.

First off I started with boiling water for the pasta, any shape or size will do. I almost grabbed bow-ties, but the small elbows were easier to dig out. I made enough for two people, I guess out of habit. But, I can also eat for two so it’s working out. Once the water boiled I threw in 2 handfuls of pasta. I also added salt, pepper, ground thyme, garlic salt, oregano, and chicken bouillon. I figured I’d let these flavors make love together as the pasta cooks. When the pasta was almost al dente, maybe 2 minutes out, I added the carrots. Once the carrots were almost done (taste, taste, taste!) I added the celery and garlic. Then I added sliced deli turkey, parsley, savory, and a few red pepper flakes for good measure. I let everything simmer for a few more minutes. In about 20 minutes tops I had fresh and delicious soup, healthy too, besides the bouillon I guess. Ideally I would have used a classic mirepoix, 50% onion, 25% carrot, and 25% celerey. Not having an onion onboard, and me being on anchor a few hundred yards from shore, I decided not to worry about it. It also gets me inside that I’m sitting here eating freshly made soup with a silver spoon (seriously, whoops musta came from a former workplace) while most people in boats anchored beside me are probably eating canned soup with a plastic spoon.

notice the swing of the stove as i bob on anchor.

serrano pepper jam and cream cheese canapes that claire made! 

Aquachiles

"Aquachile is essentially a very spicy version of ceviche typically made with shrimp (camarones in Spanish). Aguachile is best served cold."

butteryfly and clean shrimp. in a blender mix serranos, onion, cilantro, limes, salt, pepper, and maybe a little water. strain that over your shrimp and let them marinate until opaque. serve with tostada chips and avocado.

whole wheat, oats, and flaxseed yogurt. so good.

fresh brownie and icecream of course.

We bake our own bread. It’s tastier and we get to know the exact ingredients we are devouring. Plus it’s super easy. We have 2 recipes. One is a basic lean dough recipe I got from google. My culinary books from school are all in exact, to the gram, measurement. Also, huge yields for many loaves. This recipe makes one perfect loaf.

Lean Dough

5 ⅓ cup AP flour

2tsp. Salt

2tsp. Dry active yeast (we have a huge costco peanut butter jar full of this stuff)

2 ¼ cup lukewarm water

First off, we usually start making this right after breakfast. One, so it has time to rise all day in good humidity. Two, we use our leftover teapot water as the lukewarm water. Mix the yeast into the lukewarm water. Do this in a container big enough to dump your flour into also. Stir around gently and let sit for a little while so it can literally make love. If you see it get foamy and smell like delicious beer or fresh bread, thats good. Add the salt whenever. Then mix in your flour. I use a fork. Stir around like the hook attachment on a Kitchen-Aid. This comes together into a sticky blob. Dump that blob onto a clean surface. Wood is ideal. A clean counter top or stainless steal table also works. With bread (and pasta/gnocchi) you always need extra flour than a recipe calls for. Sprinkle flour as kneaded (how many times has that pun been used?wow) well, just sprinkle flour and knead the dough over itself and I do circular motions as I go. Now that you have this blob you want it to elastic. When you poke it, it should be firm, yet slowly bounce back. That is gluten. (if you know my feelings towards “gluten free” people, laugh hard now). Take that blob and gently smother it with cooking oil. Now put that in a well greased bread pan or shape into a ball or a loaf. Put that inside of a plastic grocery or trash bag. It’s like a little green house. Now depending on humidity and how well you worked the dough it can be anywhere from and hour all the way to overnight for it to rise. If we make it after breakfast, its usually risen by the mid afternoon and we can bake it when we make dinner. I wont give you a temperature to bake it at because my oven only does ON...just bake it till its golden brown, smells great, and is so soft you want to cradle it. Timing works out great with all of this because the oven heats up our cosy little home at night, plus we get to wake up to fresh toast and eggs!

One day I will post the saltwater bread recipe! (yes it uses the water that which we travel upon)

Ham and Turkey Melt

Pretty simple. I took the bread we make. Sliced it. Smeared goat cheese on one side and those little baby bells on the other side. Seared my ham and turkey in leftover bacon fat. Caramelized a red onion. Then proceeded to put all of this stacked together in a skillet with butter. Butter and bacon fat? You’re a fool if you think thats bad for you. Its totally natural and it’s what humans have eaten on a regular basis since the beginning of time because nothing else was invented…(think about that). And a piece of advice I have in the kitchen…”does it make you happy?” [yes] “ok, well then it’s healthy.”

strawberry yogurt, fresh local kiwi, granola, almonds, and raisons.

Oh God Mac

I’ll keep this short and simple. Large elbow mac. Crema (the mexican sour cream that isnt sour). A baby bell. 2 spoonfulls of goat cheese. ⅓ a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom. Garlic powder. Salt. Pepper. Parsley. Tiny splash of water.

Our eggs down here in Baja

First of all they are not refrigerated at any store, not even the big chain grocery stores. They are sold on the 5x6 pallets that restaurants use in the U.S. (30eggs). You can take off and buy however many you want though. I do not trust them to be washed, as they would be heavily sanitized in the states. My sister and Johnny would know about all this more than me because his family has chicken coops and produces their own eggs. I’m not sure what they do or did, but this is what we do. We wash them in water with a tiny touch of bleach. Dry them clean and white with a paper towel. Then they go into our sweet little egg holders and into our ice chest. i don’t mind that they are not stored cold in the store, and we probably would just leave them out. But on the boat it’s wise to have them protected in their little cases and tucked in the icebox.

Goat and Dill scramble

Pretty simple. Our own bread, skillet toasted in bacon fat and butter. Scramble 3 eggs in a bowl with dill pollen (thanks sister), salt, pepper, and goat cheese. Now that the skillet is ripping hot and greased up from the toast. Dump the egg mixture in and scramble with a heat proof rubber spatula. I had no sticking, you shouldn’t either. Serve with a full cup of black coffee.

Our Dishwasher is a 5 gallon bucket. When we are underway we put all of our dishes in a bucket with saltwater and a splash of bleach. As we slosh around in the sea, so do the dishes. We find that this works as a slow pace dishwasher, by breaking down all the thick stuff. Once we get to an anchorage we wash again in bleachy saltwater and soap. If we’re roughing it, which we usually are, we rinse in saltwater too. You actually can’t tell except in the cups, which need to be wiped real well or there’s salt crystals at the bottom. The water here is clear and clean. No big town run off. Most places we pass by are uninhabited. The water is clear to the sandy bottom. It’s a rare luxury to be at a dock in a marina so we always wash extra well with the hose. For big messes we boil freshwater in the teapot. We have a 40 gallon holding tank in the v-berth for hose water and four 6 gallon jerry jugs for bottle drinking water. We also cook with the saltwater. We have a saltwater bread recipe. We also boil our pasta, shrimp, and lobster in salt water. I was always taught in a professional kitchen “the water should taste that of the sea.” it’s been a couple months of this now and we’re not getting sick. I would definitely never do any of this in populated areas.

The Drunken Sailor Shrimp and Chips (San Jose del Cabo)

The owners are a local male and his wife from santa barbara. They’ve got a sweet place with a good vibe. We were invited to a killer dance party here one night. The DJ was up-to-date and la bomba. Their margaritas damn good too. (I’m becoming a connoisseur) 9 of these big fried shrimp, basket of freshly cut french fries, and three dipping sauces for $65 pesos. That’s about $5.40. That’s expensive for here, but cheap for the states! I got the recipe for that black sauce. I haven’t made it yet, but damn was it good. Burnt chile de arbol?, soy sauce, and lime. I’ll post that when I figure it out. But the breading is what makes it so damn good. I got her secret ingredient after a little persuasion. The breading is panko, sesame seeds, and amaranth. <--click that to read about amaranth. The breading was super crispy crunchy, but not greasy. the shrimp inside were as fresh and soft as could be.

Banana Bread with granola and raisons

Well I had 2 bananas sitting on the counter for well over a week. Knowledge from my mother and grandmother tell me to never throw that away, bake it! Sorry this can’t be a real recipe with measurements but I’m sure you can process it. I took a bowl and plopped those mooshy, sugary bad boys in there. 2 eggs. Some sugar. Some brown sugar. More just add water pancake mix than the sugars. ¼ tsp of baking soda. A handful of raisons and 2 handfuls of granola. I mixed that all up with our new whisk from Auntie Em! Added more pancake mix til I got to a batter consistency. Scraped all that into a greased bread pan and baked til it was done. The battle wound on top is only a side-affect of being in a sloshy anchorage…

Playa Santa Maria

12/28

We got a tip about a “secret” cove a few miles up from Cabo San Lucas. We heard that it could fit 2 or 3 boats on anchor and that it was where the locals took the tourists for snorkeling. After exploring Cabo we saw a few post cards with Playa Santa Maria on them and decided it looked worth a stop. We left Cabo San Lucas with enough time to stop at Playa Santa Maria and if it didn’t work out we could still make it to Cabo San Jose in the daylight. We’re cruising up the coastline and see a huge Catamaran disappear into the bluffs. Comparing that with my GPS coordinates we decide that’s got to be the spot. We change course to head in and notice a few big powerboats pulling out. We get in view of the opening and what is actually going on. there are 4 Catamarans and 2 powerboats tucked in there. And they’re big, double decker, party boat style. ‘Sweet Dreams’ is hot on our trail hoping to fit in the little cove too. So we do a few loops outside the tiny cove, scoping it out. Then claire and I decide to venture in there, being the smallest of our convoy. We sneak in between all the party boats and do a few laps. The cove is actually bigger than it looks and we do like the locals do and drop anchor right ontop of everyone else. ‘sweet dreams’ rolls in and does the same. Not too bad and the party boats leave about a half our later. Then our new friends on (red) ‘serenity’ (I say red because we also know a green serenity) show up and the three of us anchor comfortably for a night in a perfect triangle. The water was crystal clear to the anchor on the bottom with many different fish species swimming around. One of the guy working on the snorkel boat told me there are huge grouper on the far side and I want to say he said carp? was abundant. Not sure if that sounds right but his accent was thick and shouting over anchor chains and motors doesn’t help either. I caught a few fish as soon as we got in. We hiked to the top of one of the bluffs and watched one of the best sunsets so far on this trip, not to mention the full moon. From up on the cliff you could see whales all over, tails and all coming out of the water. The next morning claire and I got up at 7am and decided to pull up anchor and move. We thought it’d be best to claim prime turf before the party boats came in for another days work. We moved over to the side and closer to shore, throwing out a bow and stern anchor. This locks the boat in a solid positioning. Rather than just a bow anchor where we do 180 or 360 turns all days with the tides and winds. Bow to stern can be dangerous but in such a small anchorage it’s acceptable. It’s almost like our own mooring set up. Plus it keeps the swell, that is squeezing through the bluffs, breaking along the bow. Which is a lot more comfortable in a tight area than it slapping the side of the boat and causing it to heave side to. We did the same set up in little harbor on catalina island. After we set this up we noticed the water wasn’t as nearly as clear as the day before. I talked to the first boat that came in that morning and he said that the little arroyo must have bled out last night causing sediment. What a bummer because we were excited to spend a day playing, snorkeling, and spear fishing. Well we made up for it by playing with our latest attraction. Our spare halyard makes a great rope swing. Later that day after all the party boats were departing ‘sweet dreams’ had a great time playing tug of war. One of the party boats actually dropped anchor perfectly ontop of their anchor, snagging it and creating a huge headache. They had to untangle everything and fully re-set up their bow and stern anchors. 12/29 pulled anchor up at 10:30. Clear water has returned. Tons of fish feeding and manta rays jumping. We got a bad news phone call. Claire’s grandmother, GranFran isn’t doing too well. Claire needs to go home ASAP to be with her and her family in time of need. After a few talks and navigation calculations we decide our best plan of action is to head straight to Cabo San Jose to anchor for the night. About 11 miles away. The airport is in there and she can easily depart.

looking back towards Cabo San Lucas

there we are! (red) serenity, splendid isolation, and sweet dreams

most outrageous sunset yet. photos do no justice.

looking to the backdrop of purples, blues, teals, turquoise, clear water, red hills, cream sand, bright full moon. photos still do no justice to the palate of three dimensional colors.

swinging way too close for comfort. 

one snorkeler was actually tugging on my anchor line? dumb. he got cussed out.

this is what happens in haste and over crowding. amazing how it perfectly locked anchors. none of us had seen that before.

our new solar shower. hangs perfectly from the boom into the galley. we can shower in privacy with fresh, warm water. it all just gets sucked up and drained out the bilge pump. please, savor your luxury at home in your full bathroom. you'd be surprised that not much of the rest of the world knows how that is.

get 'em!

on night watch slaughtering moths

aerial view from google

something spectacular

this is what was on all the postcards in town.