Compared to our last 2 ports coming down the Baja peninsula, Cabo seems like a big city with lots of tourists arriving by cruise ships. It’s also a big sports fishing town. We spent the first few days anchored out in the bay and used the dinghy to get to shore for the Baja Ha Ha beach party. We also snorkeled around the boat in 30’ of crystal clear water. I noticed some of the zincs were gone so I used the Hooka system (tankless diving) to dive down and replace them. It was only 5 months since I last replaced them but being in quite a few marinas and salt water shortens their life.
Formalities—Cabo is the first port of entry for immigration check-in. We spent about 4 hours walking from place to place—first the immigration office to hand in paperwork, then to a bank to exchange dollars for pesos, then to the port captain office for importing the boat, then to a bank to pay the fee, then back to the port captain to finalize the paperwork and show the receipt. Aside from finding the various offices and the long walks, everything went well. We could have paid an agent 750 pesos to do it but we figured we better get used to it since we’ll be checking into lots of countries over the next year. We celebrated the accomplishment with a nice lunch along the marina.
Hurricane Odile, which went through Cabo in September, was a powerful Category 3 hurricane–the largest ever to hit Cabo. The damage was evident everywhere we went, from the marina with quite a few damaged docks and boats, to hotels with missing windows and roof tiles, to banged up cars on the streets and damage to houses.
Highlights: Getting our first real shower in 2 weeks (we used our solar showers after salt water rinses). Finding some great Mexican restaurants. Enjoying 2-for-1 Margaritas. The Baja Ha Ha beach party. Finishing in 3rd place for the 750-mile Baja Ha Ha rally (all boats that finished were awarded 3rd place except for the 1st and 2nd place boats!!). Watching the Seahawks stomp on the Giants from a Cabo bar. Relaxing for a few days without any sailing.
Jacintha’s Blog: Beach Party at Bahia Santa Maria!!!!! I was going to a beach party in a dinghy. When we got there I found my friend and we jumped in small puddles along the beach, then we jumped in a puddle that had a crab in it! After that we found shells, pointy ones flat ones bumpy ones and even colorful ones! Then it was lunch time. I had some prawns, then my mom found a hermit crab and we found three more crabs! Then we let them go and found sand dollars and then we made a (crab sized ) maze and put a crab in it . It just ran into a dead end so we trapped it and we put water in it. Then we put a dead fish in it but it just pushed it away! Then it was time to go home. THE END!
