The wind and swell has died a little bit and we dove an exposed pinnacle on the North West side of the Island called the “Boiler”. It is the signature dive at the islands here including a bronze plaque celebrating the creation of the marine preserve.
Sarah is really coming along having completed her 22nd dive today and is extremely comfortable in the water and is a very aware diver. That’s good as we keep an eye on the animals and each other. Unfortunately, I think she’s now ruined and will be bored seeing the pretty little fish… 🙂
This is truly a magical place and possibly the only time we will be here due to the remoteness of the islands and changing fees/laws for visitor. We are trying to enjoy every moment in this special place!
As always, we miss you at home and it makes us feel less isolated to read your emails, so don’t be shy!
We are anchored in beautiful San Benedicto next to a dormant volcano along with two other cruising boats (Migration & Strange Byrds). Since arriving the conditions have calmed down a bit and Perspective is no longer rolling to the point of crew insanity. We had a quick passage from La Cruz (320nm) taking about 52 hours with only 8 hours spent motoring. The wind was mostly on the beam or a little forward as we made our way to the island. It’s a comfortable and fast point of sail for Perspective and it doesn’t take much wind to keep her going.
Yesterday we had our first encounter with manta rays that inhabit the area. We went along with our buddy boats to a spot called the Manta Bommie. It’s about 100 yards from where Perspective is anchored. The Bommie is a rock formation that comes up straight up from the sea floor and the top remains about 20ft under water. True to it’s nickname, we did see Mantas there! Being a new diver I was nervous about how I’d handle seeing such large creatures in the water. Would I be scared? Would I panic? The reaction that ensued caught me completely off guard. Tears began forming behind my mask as I watched this beautiful creature soar over us. Did Brad put onions in my mask while I wasn’t looking?! I watched in complete awe! We ended up seeing two different mantas on this particular dive. Alene on Migration LOVES mantas and isn’t afraid to show it. She and I did a happy dance under water to celebrate our encounters.
Also in the area there are plenty of beautiful fish, all larger than we normally see due to the area being protected. We did see several sharks too! There were white tipped reef sharks that are small and completely cute, next up in size is the silky shark followed by the hammerhead that we saw lurking around the corner. The sharks didn’t seem to be interested in us and I’m OK with that. We’ve been told to do plenty of 360 degree checks and swivels as we dive the area so we aren’t caught off guard by a nearby shark.
We plan to stay here for a bit longer and eventually we will move the boat to Isla Socorro for a change of scenery. Until then we will continue to enjoy the various dive sites in our backyard. We hope each of you are doing great and have a wonderful weekend!
Perspective is on the move again and we will start actively posting on boat projects which have consumed us for the past couple of months. We arrived at Isla Isabel (21 50.832’N by 105 52.722’W) yesterday at mid day, and on the way in hooked and ‘landed’ our first marlin. She was 5-6 feet, and after bringing her along side the boat we released her back to the wild. We briefly thought of bringing her onboard, but that much fish was a bit overwhelming!!!
We plan to depart Isla Isabel tomorrow headed for Bahia De Los Muertos, then continue to La Paz. Chat with everyone soon!
We spent a great two days in Bahia Santa Maria on the 6th and 7th of November. The 6th was a day filled with beach activities and boat chores. The pups are loving the beach, however Sydney doesn’t seem to trust her humans as we power the Dinghy through the waves when exiting the beach. I’m sure she will get more comfortable over time.
We finished the day installing wheels on our Dinghy in 30 knots of wind on the foredeck. Lots of lessons learned about patience for both Jesper and I. This project is still ongoing with some required tweaking needed to have them deploy correctly.
The 7th started with a trip up the mangroves in the Dinghy. Sydney came along and we left Zorra on the boat to rest. It was very beautiful and we are eager to post pictures once we get bandwidth again in Cabo!
Every year for the rally, the residents host a beach party with tacos and beer with a rock and roll band. This is quite a feat as Bahia Santa Maria is a remote fishing village. The band comes all the way from La Paz, which is an 8-12 hour trip. It was a great day and spectacular food. We finished the day preparing the boat for passage to Cabo.
It’s now been 9 days that we’ve been out of the US and we are having a great time and learning both fun and hard lessons. It still feels like a holiday… I am curious when it will sink in that this will be our life for at least the next two years.
We arrived tonight into Bahia Santa Maria. Looking forward to tie days in the beach before continuing down to Cabo! (Also testing email based posting, so excuse the lack of pictures) Brad, Sarah and Jesper.
Or at least plan to…. Â Lots can go wrong, but realistically not much will stop us from making our trip South. Â That’s right, we will be quitting our jobs at the end of the month, and heading South with the dogs on October 30th!
These adventures always start with a foolish question:
Foolish question #1: Â It all started with Sarah and I a couple of years ago with the question of “Would you like to be on a boat with a few strangers, or have a romantic time with just the two of us?” Â That question cost me several thousand dollars in the short term. Â We were looking to join a charter to the BVI with our sailing club and had our eye on a Beneteau 42.3. Â I had dreams of cruising and wanted to try a bigger boat than our current Beneteau 34. Â Long story short, we both fell in love; Â Certainly with cruising, and more so with each other.
Foolish question #2: Â “What are your thoughts of quitting our jobs and cruising for a couple of years?” Â I asked Sarah that question two years ago fully expecting that she would scoff at the idea. Â This is the girl that worked two jobs for 7 years to stay busy. Â I was blown away when, without hesitation, she said “sure!” with a smirk. Â What have I gotten myself into…
And so the not-so-foolish journey begins!!! Â We sold our Beneteau in March of 2016. Â We purchased perspective in June of 2016. Â In July we signed up for the Baja-haha rally. Â Now the clock is ticking. Â 38 days to go.
Where are we going? Â That’s a great question that has a lot of variables. Â We know we are going to start by sailing in the Baja-haha rally which will take us to Cabo San Lucas. Â From there, we expect to spend several months in Mexico, largely Puerto Vallarta and up into the Sea of Cortez.
By March we will need to make a decision. Â While we have our eye on the South Pacific, we don’t know if we(Sarah, Sydney and Zorra and I) will want to make a 3,000 mile, 25 day passage. Â If we don’t, it will be either staying in the Sea of Cortez or heading South to avoid the hurricane belt.
Now that the cat is out of the bag, we will talk more of our travel plans as the date nears.
Below is a good visual of the route to Cabo. Â The rally has scheduled stops in Bahia Tortugas and Bahia Santa Maria.
Revitalizing and re-galvanizing our anchor chain. We mark it every 50 feet and use a clever mnemonic; Rub Your Body With Grease representing Red @ 50′, Yellow @ 100′, Blue @ 150′, White @ 200′ and Green @ 250′ and then red/yellow/red @ 300′ which represents an imminent dive to recover the chain. Much fun is had by replacing ‘Body’ with your favorite word starting with ‘B’.
