Bahia Magdalena to Cabo San Lucas

Rested after two nights strong winds. Off we go to reach the Southern tip of Baja. We left Magdalena bay after swinging our compass to calibrate it. We think we're good to go. On our way out we had the perfect wind, 15-18kts on the beam and we were smoking along at 8-8.5kts heading South. Big and confused seas but our boat was a trooper, never felt unsafe for a moment. Beautiful sunny day with a fresh breeze. We were off the shelf in 3500-5000 ft of deep blue water. It felt like someone dumped dark blue ink in the water, almost surreal.
Remember the AIS? Well, at about sundown I (Tim) see a ship on the horizon, 2-3 miles away, hmmm, it seems to be coming right for us, let's wait a bit. Still, an hour later, we are seeing reg/green lights which means we see both the starboard and port sides of the boat, head on! So I decided to hail them, 4 times. Then they answered to indicate they saw us. I asked for more room as it looked like they were going to pass within 1/2 a mile. They did change course and stated they saw us on the AIS. Pictures below.  
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Sea Days 26-27 11/29-11/30/2016 Bahia Magdalena to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico​

We were so relieved to have a couple days at anchor in Mag Bay. The rest was greatly needed from the incredibly confused seas. When the waves are coming from what feels like every direction and the boat is relentlessly rocking in all directions, pure fatigue from simple movements becomes an issue. A simple potty break can top 20 minutes if you have to remove outer weather clothing and replace it after using the head. Cooking can be nearly impossible. We figured out that sleeping across the V-berth was the best way to go and we were able to get better rest.

The seas coming out of Mag Bay were still pretty confused, but once beyond the shores a ways it was much smoother sailing. Several hours out, glad to be moving towards our meeting point again, Otto had trouble and flashed an error message. Then Tim noticed that Otto’s motor was super hot to touch. Uh oh…that error message meant complete drive failure, Otto was dead. Our options: Claude, the windvane as long as the wind held, or hand steering. We used both methods. Hand steering is very tiring because every wave can take you off course. We had Claude working for us and Tim and I strategized on how we were going to get through the night. We sure hope we can get a replacement in Cabo San Lucas, but chances are slim.

Our strategy was to start resting right away, we would get in the v-berth ready to sleep and set the timer for 2 hours, then get up and put ourselves back together for our next shift. That would have us each on the helm for about 2.5 hours before we had relief, but at the same time we were able to sleep in good chunks. We were still motor sailing for most of this trip.

Tim was pretty tired on the night shift around 0100 so he set up our Watch Commander that alarms every 12 minutes to help you stay awake. (Thanks to Kurt & Katie for telling us about this in Morro Bay.) Tim carries a pretty big load when these kinds of things happen. I don’t have the kind of endurance that he has, but he was on the edge with this run. I was down for a morning sleep between 0800-1000. I awoke to the funniest sight ever of which no pictures exist except the ones in my mind. I thought Tim had totally lost it, or he was desperate for his shift to end…the sight of Tim moving around in the cockpit, stripped down to his underwear happy as a lark, as Claude steered the boat, made me laugh pretty hard. (Tim did have his lifevest and harness on.) The truth was he started the watch in cold weather gear, now it was about 85 degrees!

As we rounded the corner of Cabo Falso and began to see the rocks of Cabo San Lucas, we got camera happy. It put new wind into our physical bodies. The color of the water was amazing! We came into the bay and anchored near Steve and Janny who had already been in Cabo for a whole day plus. We were so very glad to be at anchor again so we could get some real sleep. We could see our anchor on the bottom 18 feet below as the water was so clear! This is quite the place! Cabo baby!