To join or not to join (the Baja Haha), that was the question we asked ourselves as we started our adventure.  Normally we aren’t “joiners”, but this trip is also about broadening ourselves, not just from the challenges of living on the boat and traveling to other countries, but to get out of our comfort zone and say yes to the the scarey, the cheesy and god forbid the small talk.  So we signed up and joined in on the reindeer games.   And guess what, we survived LOL.

The one thing they say about the Baja Haha rally is it gets you going, and boy did it do that.  It was time to stop all the putzing around and start this trip we’d been planning forever.   We sailed from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas at the bottom of the Baja peninsula  (about 800 miles) in 11 days, with two stops along the way.   For those of you who don’t sail, that is A LOT of sailing in a short amount of time.

About 130 boats left San Diego on a foggy, rainy and chilly morning.

Apart from the crappy weather everyone was in good spirits and ready to roll.   Happily our friends Mark and Lori joined us on this adventure.

We stopped in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria for some rest and aforementioned group activities  😉    Turtle Bay is a tiny dusty town in the middle of no where full of friendly folks.   We arrived on Halloween and the local kids trick-or-treated by just saying “candy” and were thrilled to get candy or better yet money from the gringos.

The Haha also set up a baseball game for all the sailors and the locals (who are actually excellent at baseball) and a good time was had by all.

Lucy was THRILLED to hit terra firma and fit right in with the local dogs, just like the good old days in Belize.

Next stop was beautiful Bahia Santa Maria.   The opposite of Turtle Bay’s desert-like landscape, here the hills were alive and green and looked more like Ireland than the Mexican coast.   There are only a few fisherman and the lighthouse keeper and his family who live here, but they were ready to host a party, complete with band (who drove 400 miles for this), food

and of course cerveza.  We did a little exploring in the tide pools, kayaking and Peter went up the mast to repair a shackle that sent our spinnaker into the ocean during leg 2 of the sail.

Finally we arrived in the big city.  Cabo is exactly what you think or know it is (Disney, Vegas, Fort Lauderdale and Bourbon Street rolled up into one Mexican-accented frat party.)   Don’t get me wrong, the locals are extremely nice, but did we really come all this way for Señor Frogs, jets skis and 2-for-1 Coronas?  (Ok, maybe the 2-for-1’s)  But, we also needed to clear immigrations, check in with the port captain and wait out some bad weather before moving on.    We said goodbye to our fearless crew and yes, even attended the Haha closing ceremonies where we came in 3rd in our division (more photos)

If you have only cleared into a country through the airport, never complain about long customs lines again.  The immigration office is about a 15 minute walk from the harbor, where you wait on line, pray you have the proper paper work, then walk another 10 blocks to the port captains office to let him know you are here and who is on your boat, pay a fee and blah, blah, blah.   Long story short, computers were down, so credit cards didn’t work, they won’t accept cash and after 3 hours of waiting we have to go back on Monday.  Ahhh, the beginning of not sweating the small stuff.  We’ve got nowhere to go and plenty of time to get there.

So, as I type this entry -after a long warm day of swimming, and fixing the boat – the good and the bad of this life, Peter and I settle down with a cocktail to watch yet another gorgeous sunset and to quietly reflect on the day and the trip. The ice cubes clink and the surf breaks and we hear the approaching roar of a power boat towing a giant inflatable banana and the rider’s war cry, “Cabo, bitches!!”

Cabo, bitches indeed…