Southbound off the Baja Mexico coast

If offshore voyaging ever had its own tourist brochure, the 5-day passage we just completed from Ensenada to Puerto Bartholome (Turtle Bay) would be on the cover. Though the first 4 days were plagued with calms, our light air sails kept pulling us along, and between San Diego and here we used only 8 gallons of diesel. It would be hard to overstate the beauty out at sea; green meteors with firey red tails streaking under a starry night sky reflected on the water like a mirror; pale-skinned dolphins jumping the bow wave under the red and green running lights; WARM-ish fog (a first); sailing wing-and-wing on seas so calm it was like a lake; more green flashes, and so many other things to report.

Wouldn't it be great if we could teleport our friends (one at a time) to join us in the cockpit each evening for sunset, emergence of the stars, conversation, and, best of all, to listen to the sounds of whales breathing. You would be amazed. To hear a huge whale (possibly another blue by the sound of its breathing)just a few yards away, quietly resting at the surface between breaths as deep as the ocean, or to be surrounded by a pod of curious pilot whales not once but twice, and hear their breathy sighs and snorts only ten feet away on all three sides of the cockpit, well, this will give you an idea of the magic.

This morning we leave for Bahia de Magdalena, about 250 miles away, weather permitting. While we're offshore you can see a map of our position on the "Where is Sockdolager Now" special page on the left. We're sending this via Ham radio, so no photos this post, and we can't access our email right now, so either check the blog periodically or sign up to follow.