Above Bahia Santa Maria:
Emily at the helm:
Ben at the helm with Skipper Mike supervising:
We had a fantastic time aboard Interlude, with an outstanding skipper, a great crew, mostly perfect weather, delicious meals, and plenty of dolphin sitings. The one day bringing intense wind and seas, we were able to tuck into a protected bay for an unplanned anchorage. The rest of the trip brought a steady 15 knots and gentle seas, allowing us to sail and motorsail comfortably, margharita in hand. It also allowed Emily to take the helm and get experience steering the boat down the waves, without danger of catastrophe or spilled cocktails.
We made landings along the way at Bahia Tortuga and Bahia Santa Maria, giving us a chance to spread our legs and join in festivities with the rest of the fleet. The preferred land activity of the Baja Ha Ha sailors is the good old-fashioned Beach Party, complete with cold beers, CCR cover bands, and volleyball. Around dusk, our crew would pile back into our inflatable dinghy and return to Interlude for fresh brownies and evening poker.
Now that we've been thrust into the absurdity of Cabo, the serenity and simplicity of the trip down the coast seems a bit surreal. We've been working, however, on answering some of life's most important questions, namely: ¨Where is the Hard Rock Cafe?¨ Cruise ship passengers are genuinely concerned with getting to the bottom of this immediately upon flooding the city, after which they feel equipped to roam casually through the wilderness of upscale boutiques along ¨Luxury Avenue.¨
Needless to say, we're looking forward to getting back under sail tomorrow evening. This leg has us aboard Ohana, a Gulfstar 47 owned and operated by Tom, freediver and underwater filmographer, and his wife Nicole, who has embraced the cruising lifestyle and has outfitted the boat for their two young children, who will live aboard starting later this month. They have probably the best first mate imaginable - Chris - who runs his own yacht service company in San Diego and has a bottomless supply of cruising stories. Ohana will take us as far as Puerto Vallarta, rumored to be a good passing-through spot for cruising sailboats.
That's all for now! Thanks for all the good wishes.
"Around dusk, our crew would pile back into our inflatable dinghy and return to Interlude for fresh brownies and evening poker."
ReplyDeleteI reccommend that Emily remains wary of any plates of cornbread that happen to be left out in the galley.
"...giving us a chance to spread our legs and join in festivities with the rest of the fleet"
ReplyDeleteGives the false impression that you were still looking for more after your stint in the barrel.
"We had a delicious, bottomless supply of old-fashioned children."
ReplyDeleteI don't know how blogspot lets you get away with writing something like that.
Ben, I'm glad to see that you still have those black OP shorts. I remember snowshoeing on Rainer with you wearing those shorts with long underwear underneath, looking like a goof. Lord knows how long you've had those.
Emily, make sure he doesn't lose them.
Thinking of you both,
Brenden
Breathtaking photo!
ReplyDelete