Check the log: after leaving Bahia Santa Maria we sailed for 25 hours straight, motored for two, sailed for five, hove-to for one, and motored for eight. Through big swells and moderate air, we used every possible sail combination except for the storm sails. What a great ride! On the second day the seas flattened out enough to fish and bake cookies. How was the fishing, you ask? Well, we ate a lot of fresh cookies that day. . .

After 46 hours travel time, we turned the corner around Lands’ End at dawn, a fine time to make the traverse. The white rock formations soak up the days ’new colors, and the radio makes for entertaining, enlightening listening as all the fishing craft check in with the Port Captain. We also had to check in via radio, and after listening to a couple of dozen calls, I finally made my attempt. Success! We stopped at the inner harbor for fuel and water (only used 30 gallons of diesel from San Diego), then went back out to drop our hook. Only two other vessels were anchored off the main beach, so we found our spot and settled in for the Cabo San Lucas ride.

An underwater canyon splits Lucas Bay in two, and deep water runs close to the beach, so anchoring there is not for the faint-hearted. We motored in close to the float-marked swimming area, dropped the anchor in 25 feet of water, and backed out to fifty feet pretty soon after. It took us two tries, but with 120 feet of heavy chain dragging on the sand we finally felt secure enough to call it time for French toast and orange juice.

And the show begins. We were prepared to really dislike Cabo, but we were genuinely entertained the first day and a half by all the watersport craziness and the near-constant DJ patter from the two beach cantinas that poured out 1980s music and orchestrated mass-drinking games from about 10am until the late (or early) hours.

On our second day, we went ashore for a walk-around town and a so-so dinner.  No thank-you, no brochures for timeshare condos. No thanks, no silver jewelry or hats or jetski rides or fishing trips or parasailing or sailboat tours! Thank-you, we have already eaten. Thanks very much, but we don’t have any money at all. Our pockets are empty. No gracias. Smile.

Day three and we finally got out the kayak for the first time this trip. Too bad we chose Sunday, because on top of the cruise ship crowds that arrived the night before, the locals also seem to go to the little beach at Lands’ End on the day of rest.

It was a crazy scene, the pangas heaving in on the steep shore, loading and unloading passengers, sometimes four boats at a time. We hung out on the beach, walked all around and climbed on rocks, ate lunch, watched people.

Neptune’s Finger. Wait a minute, whose finger?

The mile-long kayak ride back to Pelican Moon was quite an adventure. The daily fishing fleet was returning, with swarms of pelicans, gulls, and big bull sea lions all trailing the wake looking for a handout. Add to that the continuous stream of glass-bottomed taxi boats, dive boats, and small fishing pangas, and the swells were as confused as anything we’ve ever seen. Sometimes the waves just spun us 90 or 100 degrees willy-nilly.

Instead of going straight back to the boat, we decided to paddle ashore and take a walk through the wild side – the stretch of beachfront where the cantinas, jetski rentals, taxis, paragliders, paddleboards, and all the other gear comes and goes. A couple of miles later, we were through with Cabo, except for the provisioning run the next day.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We took the city bus to Costco anyway. Got a few of the familiar foods, had a hot dog, and that was all. Wade rowed the stash back to the boat while Carla walked all through the residential neighborhoods off the main drag, following one locals’ advice after another, searching for the tortilleria, hoping to also find a small store for the fruits and veggies we were needing. I found the place for fresh tortillas all right. But you know where all the locals sent me for groceries?  WalMart. Instead, I walked another mile down the main highway to the City Club, where I paid about 25 pesos ($2 US) for a day pass to shop in a Mexican version of Costco. At least they had normal-sized portions available in the meat department.

Washing, rinsing, bleaching, rinsing: all vegetables are abused in this manner before we store them.

That night, the boat really rocked around, swerving wildly back and forth, side to side as some confused, large swells rolled into the bay. I guess we could have guessed what the conditions would be when we left the next morning, but it didn’t matter, anyway. We were ready to leave San Lucas in our wake.