SVSoulsticeAdventures: Turtle Bay, Bahia Asuncion and Bahia Santa Maria

What has happened since we left Ensenada?

Behind on blogging due to no internet but finally catching up:)

Well the last time I posted we had just left Ensenada. It has been a really fun last couple of weeks. Stephen and I made the big passage to Bahia San Bartolome (Turtle Bay) 367 nm in one passage. Sailing was fantastic and we barely used the engine. We were thinking that this is how it is supposed to be!! No motoring and sailing in 10-15 knots with some warmer weather! yahoo!

To get us even more excited, we caught 2 big eye tuna at the same time on each hand line, shortly after we were offshore. Wow!! This handline fishing is easy - they just bite and we pull them in on the line. We threw one back and kept one. Sustainable fishing. Our 1st fish taco from fish we caught! How exciting! We made fish tacos, poke, fish and eggs. Now we can feed ourselves - perfect.

When we arrived in Turtle Bay we only stopped for the night and then made a shorter passage of 48nm to Bahia de la Asuncion. Again, we had fabulous sailing and actually right before we got in there was really BIG swell and we were cruising at 8-11 knots. The hydrovane was starting to get squirrelly and we knew it was too much for our electric autopilot so we decided to hand steer. We had not had big conditions like that since Neah Bay. It was fun but also the fine line of we didn’t want it any bigger. We came into the anchorage in the dark and we were greeted by a large family of seals dancing in the phosphorescence as well as flying fish and squid that even landed on top of our deck. I was on the bow with a spotlight to make sure there were no obstacles or dangers for us setting anchor. I had a spectacular show of the marine nightlife for sure. It was magical.

We had never had so many seals surround our boat and stay with us for the entire ride in. These seals continued with their curious visiting every morning and EVERY night. It was routine that at night they would gather around our boat doing barrel rolls, popping their heads up and darting back and forth on the circumference of Soulstice. I have some video but have given up on uploading a video with blogger. They like to play with the anchor chain and I got used to hearing them breathe at night because I like to keep the port light open next to where I sleep. It is this pushing and pulling of air in and out of their mouths you hear each time they hit the water’s surface and I missed it when we left. They would frolick under the boat and blow large bubbles that you could hear all night long. It became a noise I looked forward to actually at night. Like we had night time guardians of the boat.

Although, these little mischievous creatures did decide to steal our manta hook!!! somehow… they managed to get the shackle off. This is a device we have attached to our snubber line which is a line used to help take the stress off the windless and absorb any shock load in higher winds. It is a nice tool so I don’t have to tie a knot with a very thick line, about 1 1/2 inches thick that gets very difficult to untie when I retrieve it after being anchored out for some time. I did not find them as cute after this because they added some work for me again when anchoring.

Stephen and I were hesitant to take our dinghy to shore as there was a good surf break daily. We got the number for an expat named Shari Bondy who we telephoned and she said, “sure!” to everything we requested. This was a ride into shore with a provisioning and fuel stop. She also said we should stop at her favorite shrimp taco place. Juan, her husband, picked us up in his panga and brought us to shore. We got some shopping done, filled 2 jerry cans of diesel and then had a great afternoon talking to locals and enjoying shrimp tacos. They had these pickled carrots as a side for the tacos that were delicious. Shari took us to her place which is a home adjacent to a bufadoro. It is a magnificent piece of property that sits on a point that has crashing waves and would be a home costing millions in the States. She had many skeletal decorations from great beach finds decorating her rock wall and large whale bones that glorified the entrance to her house. We had a beer and hung out with Juan, his friend Gabriel, who was a blind accordion player ( he lost his vision to diabetic retinopathy) and a Canadian hitchhiker who was staying at Shari’s campground down the road. When we went back to the Soulstice we both agreed we truly were enjoying Mexico and we might extend our stay for 2 cruising seasons here.

One night we got a big surprise as Nanatuk, our Yukon Canadian friends, Heather and Mike arrived in Asuncion. They left before us in Ensenada but made stops to Isla San Martin and Isla Cedros. We were so excited to hang out with them. We did venture to shore the next day with their dinghy and definitely had a wet exit:) The shore landings are a skill in progress! We had a great walk in town, had some local food at a restaurant called Marias and a nice long walk on the beach. Dan, a gentleman we met the day before with Shari, originally from San Diego but moved to Asuncion, kindly gifted us some fish that was sweet like crab and made fabulous fish tacos. We think it was cod? The crazy thing is we are NEVER tired of fish tacos - ha! Stephen bought a lot of tortillas in Asuncion and initially I did say, “ do we really need that many tortillas?” and I was grateful later we stocked up.

After some weather passed, Nanatuk and Soulstice decided to venture to Bahia Santa Maria. We had friends ( SV Luego and SV Arctos) who had been in Bahia San Juanico for over a week, surfing and hanging out. They were going to move onto Bahia Santa Maria. We decided to skip San Juanico and meet up with them. This was another 200 nm journey and unfortunately no wind. We did wait out some weather in Asuncion and then found ourselves with a LONG motor to Santa Maria - uggh! One great event though was catching a Bonita early that morning on the Dude ( an improvised lure made from a smoke jumpers parachute steering toggle and written with Sharpie “ the Dude” on it with a fish hook. Bonita have lots of sharp teeth - see below). I also caught my first yellowfin tuna shortly before getting to the anchorage.

After arriving to Bahia Santa Maria, we were ready to stay for a while! This was a great playground with mountains to hike, fishing to be done, an estuary with mangroves to explore and some surfing! Yep, we surfed with our paddleboards and had a blast. There were many other boats in the anchorage and all young couples with similar itineraries of just have fun and no serious plans. One day, 12 of us enjoyed a day of surfing in some very gentle waves. I really had a good time and look forward to surfing elsewhere. We snorkeled and hiked! Happy hour on the beach and potlucks were happening on different boats. Fishing off the dinghy with a proud reward of 2 shad that made again some more delicious fish tacos. Everyone had fish and was willing to share! We all had tuna and shared ideas of tuna casserole and tuna fish sandwiches as other ways to utilize your tuna - ha! Our Nanatuk friends got some clams on the beach and made us a delicious clam pasta with alfredo sauce for our last night there- soooo good!

We met some new couples and some others we met from previous anchorages and marinas - SV Madrone ( Angie and Mike), SV Reunion ( Joel and Sara) and SV (? forgot their name) ( Tris and Mel from Ventura). We are all hopscotching down the coast. For being on the hook so long we still had plenty of water, plenty of fuel and food. The beer count was low to None - YIKES but we had whiskey and rum - pheew and I had some wine left from my Guadalupe Valley wine visit. Others had tequila and margaritas were still being made! By the way, the limes of Mexico are so much more savory then the States I might add. We all agreed this lifestyle was really fun but to enjoy it with so many other like-minded folks really made it special!

We are off now to San Jose del Cabo which is another 200 nm where we will head to a marina. Some dreaded chores await like laundry but Beer will be replenished and hopefully we catch some fish on the way. We are getting into Dorado territory and marlin territory. Not really looking for a Marlin… but Dorado would be great!

- This blog is belated and I will do another post as we are in San Jose del Cabo and the gang meets up again. More fun to be had and no laundromat ( had to pay for my laundry to be washed and folded for me- darn👍).

Hello Big Eye Tuna!

Fishing in Ascuncion!

Soulstice in Bahia Asuncion

Shari's camp in Asuncion

Shari's entrance to her house- WOW! this is her Front Yard so to speak

Whale bone vertebrae as decoration - She studies the whale population

My best attempt at getting a shot of the blow hole - was 3 -4 times that height

I was memorized by her corner lot;)

Gabriel can play a mean accordion

Juan and Jose going to paddle to Panga

Nanatuk arrived just before sunset

Mike and Heather - The Yukon couple we have come to know and love! Super fun and big hearts

This is actually Nanatuk the morning we buddy boated to Bahia Santa Maria

Bonita!!!

Yikes!! watch your fingers

Yep a bit of strained face holding my flopping around tuna for the pic:) he wasn't that strong but I felt bad holding him down. Even though I love to eat fish and even game meat - I struggle with the murder part - and in truth did not do the deed. I ask Stephen do the deed. We do thank each fish for their life - we really do as we are grateful.

Everyone sharing their tuna - This is Dave and Kelly's tuna on SV Arctos - having once again some fish tacos. SOOOO Good!

Stephen enjoying his sky chair in Bahia

Bahia Santa Maria

Hard working Fisherman - These guys are up at sunrise and come home at sundown

Potluck on Soulstice! finally remembering to get pics of these events- learn to take pic before too many cocktails- we did a thai green curry with fish as main dish ( mike and heather SV Nanatuk on far left , followed by Brad and Sonni SV Luego and Kelly and Dave (blocked out by Stephen's happy face) on SV Arctos).

Stephen may have had too many drinks that night? Ha!

Stephen and Brad and Pip the dog from SV Luego - Bahia Santa Maria group hike day

Pip and Mac are SV Luego's dogs - Sonni - on the far right - dog mom - was a former equestrian veternarian in Idaho -

It is always fun to see a barren mountain side and then to find some hidden gem - not sure what kind of cactus plant but beautiful.

Bahia Santa Maria- picture from inside the estuary with the Mangroves

Fishing camp inside the Estuary. These folks work really hard- they are Very limited with resources - the other sailboats including us gifted peanut butter, cookies, soccer balls to the kids, batteries and coloring books/pens. What we did notice was everyone smiling, the kids laughing and playing outside. It doesn't take much to be happy. I just

Inside the estuary - the clarity of the water was amazing. We saw soo many fish in here and the local fisherman had nets on the perimeters of the estuary.