San Jose del Cabo…..land of luxury!

We arrived in San Jose del Cabo on Thursday June 14th at about 11 am after 4 days and 3 nights, about 411 nautical miles at sea.

Originally we were going to break up the passage from Turtle Bay to Cabo with a stop at Magdelina Bay, only about 243 nautical miles from Turtle Bay but after reading our cruising guides, we decided that “Mag Bay” didn’t seem that inviting and we had a great weather window for the next few days so we decided to go all the way around the Baja point and into the Sea of Cortez, officially.

Our first 2 days we sailed with good wind and good wind angle (Trevor’s previous post).  The next 2 days, there was zero wind (5 knots, not enough to push this heavy girl). The Pacific Ocean looked like glass. The bad news: we had to motor with just the mizzen up.  The good news: we could see for miles which meant seeing sea turtles sun themselves at the surface and witness dolphins feeding and playing (we have video but the internet connection won’t let us upload to the blog…maybe Facebook?).  The dolphins were jumping 15 or so feet into the air, it was like Sea World but much better!!!  We even saw a reef shark swim past our boat and how lucky we were that the sun was hitting at the right angle for us to see it.

All in all the trip was a success and without incident, Trevor’s meals were superb with the fresh fish and BBQ chicken we bought in Turtle Bay, and we finally made it to the Sea of Cortez, a total of about 800 nautical miles form Ensenada MX.

We are here at the Marina Puerto San Cabo, which is about 15-20 miles east of Cabo San Lucas, resting up, doing some small projects, cleaning, laundry, and visiting the town.  We decided to rent a car for $60 USD rather than pay a cab into Cabo San Lucas for $50 USD one way trip.  This allowed us to explore both Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo as we wished and make stops at little stores we drove by walk the markets selling traditional Mexican blankets, jewelry, hats, etc.  Additionally we were able to go to Home Depot and get parts for our projects (insulate the freezer, add water lines/connection from our water maker to our other water holding tank, buy more stainless steel bolts/nuts/washers, other misc. supplies).

The marina itself is brand new and though we didn’t know it when we arrived, it turns out this is a Ritz-Carlton property…go figure. Moorage is about $87 USD per night for short term, the only laundry available is a service that charges $8 per load (decided not to wash the sheets), and pump out our holding tank is only available by service only which was about $30. We have no idea if it is cheaper here rather than Cabo San Lucas but we liked the idea of a sleepier town, less night clubs, and possibly more culture…but really this is luxury compared to Turtle Bay where we just left just 4 days ago.

We headed out on our bikes (Thank you Phil and Tammera for the bikes) and went to a local establishment to soak in some culture and food.

Trevor and I splurged on bottle of Mexican wine (Sauvignon Blanc made in Guadalajara) and cheese and meat plate at a local restaurant…..Pepe, our server complemented us on our use of “espanol”..though I highly doubt he was serious as we struggle though every transaction.

We plan to leave tomorrow morning and anchor just 30 or so miles up the Sea of Cortez.  We plan to make an additional stop another 45 miles, then make our final passage to La Paz, another 60 miles.  La Paz is the capital of the Baja and we hope to stay there for a few weeks to ground ourselves and to connect with other cruisers before we head farther north.