Bahia Magdalena

Hola from Mag Bay. We are currently anchored in Man-of-War Cove off the little fishing village of Puerto Magdalena. We all got a shower, hot meal, and a good night's sleep. So, all is well on Jean Marie.

We motored out of Turtle Bay early Wednesday morning in light wind and fog. After 8 hours of listening to the drone of the engine I pulled out the spinnaker bag and hoisted the chute for the rest of the day. We made some good miles broad-reaching under sunny skies.

By sunset the wind was beginning to fill in and stayed with us almost all the way down to Mag Bay. We sailed into the bay yesterday morning and I threw out a lure as we tacked up to the anchorage. A few minutes later I reeled in a beautiful mackerel. I'm still waiting for that first mahi or tuna strike.

Yesterday I took a 20-minute panga ride to the port of San Carlos for a provision run with some people from the other boats here. As we work our way down the coast we're sharing the anchorages with some very interesting and friendly people, many of which we've already met.

One of the benefits of this lifestyle is the comraderie that develops with other boats along the way, and the sharing of information and telling of sea tales. There are some real characters out here but, for the most part, there are some genuinely hospitable and competent sailors. We've enjoyed many of these encounters and are looking forward to meeting the same boats again down south.

Our plan was to spend a day catching up on rest and getting the boat ready for the 2-day passage to Cabo San Lucas but, once again, we're forced to duck an early winter storm working it's way toward us. These storms seem to be following us down the coast. I thought we'd be clear of these low pressure systems once we got south of Turtle Bay, but here we are again waiting for a weather window. We're expecting this system to blow through on Tuesday and Wednesday and hope to get out on Thursday. Fingers are crossed.