Towards Cabo San Lucas 5-7 February 2012

Its two weeks since we left San Diego and what was to be a 5-7 day trip to Cabo has turned into 14 days sailing and probably 2 more to go before we arrive. I am learning to be patient... We are after all at the mercy of the weather gods and they will dictate our schedule, not us. So far, despite the lag of wind the weather has been kind- we have had no rain since San Diego, only sun, which gets hotter by the day, and cold clear nights with the occasional foggy morning. Everyone is changing colour- but some are going more red than brown...

Mexico has been kind to us so far, and has shown us some of her natural beauties - the land may be dry and desolate here in southern Baja California but the fertility of the ocean and lagoons is incredible. We have seen billions of baby red crayfish floating past (the whole ocean was red for over an hour), every evening we see thousands of cormorants streaming past on their way to their roosting areas on shore, and we see large flocks of California gulls and Brown Pelicans out fishing every day. The frigatebirds birds seem to be drawn to us - they often come and rest on the mast and leave gifts behind on deck before they leave...(I am told it is good luck to have such gifts from our avian friends, but it seems a bit disrespectful to me...)!

And of course the Gray Whales that we are here to film and that we have seen every day for the past 5 days or so. Yesterday we almost ran over a boisterous lovemaking couple who seemed oblivious to our presence... We have now got the film footage we needed so we can start moving on to Cabo San Lucas.

The wildlife here indicate that the ocean here is still rich. However there are threats and they are increasing. For the past 2 nights we have moored at a small fishing hamlet of perhaps 20 hardy souls who make their living from shark finning- for the Chinese they say... We found dead shark remains strewn all over the beach area- Mako, Goblin, Hammerhead and other shark species we couldn't recognise...What is clear seeing the shacks people live in that life is tough here. Despite that, the local people are very friendly and have given us free fish and always wave as they go by in their fishing boats. They are keen to trade too- yesterday we bought lobster and huge shrimps for our dinner served by our onboard chef Lole (and I thought I was going to lose weight on this trip...). John our onboard master fisherman has also been successful at catching mackerel; sadly my fishing skills aren't up to it yet.

So, as I write the wind has dropped off again. However, we are all happy and in good spirits. We are looking forward to a nice shower and a cold beer in Cabo in 2 days time. We plan to be in Cabo for 4 or 5 days to provision and then we are off to Cocos island (1800 nm SE- 14 days sailing if we have wind).

With lots of alofa from James Atherton and the Gaualofa crew