The night of the Dorado

We have experienced smooth sailing, blue skies, and great company in the ports of Turtle Bay, Bahia Santa Maria, and Cabo San Lucas. The Baja Haha sailing community is a great group of people and we have made many friends thus far. Heidi, a crew member on the boat Hoya, decided to hop on the Broken Compass as a guest for the last two legs ending here in Cabo San Lucas.
After hearing of the multitudes of fish caught by other sailors down to Turtle Bay, our fishing egos were humbled. Chad and I made the decision that the Baja Haha was no longer a sailing race. I thought to myself, “We might not be the best sailors in the fleet, but we should at least be able to catch more fish than these hand liners.” In Bahia Santa Maria, we began to execute our strategy. As everyone else left at dawn to begin the third leg, we hung back in the bay and slipped on our spearfishing gear.



We had a ponga set up (through drinking games on the Broken Compass with Mexicans the night before) to pick us up and take us to some local spots. No fish, but an assortment of abalone, lobster, conch, and sea urchin provided for a good departure meal. We stopped sailing a few times to chase schools of fish and drift for grouper, but ended the first day with only one nice sized Sierra for shashimi. Night fell and the water lit up under a full moon and clear skies as our trolling rigs were set (two rods with feathers, and a plug on a hand line) when the first fish sent the reel screaming. We ended up catching 7 dorado on Thursday night, with hits almost like clockwork every hour. Satisfied that we can actually catch food for ourselves out at sea, we sailed the rest of the way to Cabo.



We spent two days and one night in Cabo which fulfilled all of our expectations of the town. Baja Haha had a beach party in the day which extended into the night. We parted with a group of survivors to hit the town. Attending Squid Row and Cabo Wabo one party member consumed enough Mexican tequila and needed to relieve himself on the streets of the city. In the back of a paddy wagon for his intoxicated act, some stellar negotiating from two local Cabo girls and a $50 bribe aided in his evasion of prison. In an effort to pursue the path less traveled, we are off again to cross the sea of Cortez and looking forward to meeting up with family in Mazatlan.

... I had to add a pic of Makai enjoying the fish: