Turning Point
Two days before Christmas, I’m on deck watching the striated desert mountains slip past the slate blue water, just ruffles by the six knot breeze. Donna is below, taking a nap, or listening to her podcast.
Looking back over the last month, since we landed in Cabo, it’s clear we’ve reached a turning point.
We always expected Cabo to be that point, not only as the southernmost point on the way to the Sea of Cortez, but also as the end of the Baja Ha Ha. The Ha Ha is a huge push through 750 nautical miles in roughly a week, with two stops between San Diego and Cabo, a party in every stop. The Ha Ha was always a means for us though, helping us get to an end: that day we reached Cabo and started our cruising “for real.”
Our first days in Cabo were taken up with arrival, saying hello to friends and checking in with the port captain. Then there were the final parties for the Ha Ha, followed by a couple days with Lynn and Sue. Finally, after a day trip to Cabo San Jose and a day or two on our own, having had a chance to catch our breath, and take care of a few chores, like getting our laundry done, we were ready to pick up anchor and start cruising “for real.”
But first, we had to turn the corner. Cabo being at the southernmost end of the Baja peninsula, we needed to literally round the southeastern corner to get up into the sea of Cortez. We planned to make two stops on the way: Los Frailes, and Los Muertos — the friars, and the dead. The first is named after a couple of rocks that look like fat monks, and the second is where a nineteenth century silver mine discarded the dead bodies of their indigenous workers after they had been worked to death. A real estate development there in the last twenty years or so tried rebranding the area as Bahia de Los Sueños, or Bay of Dreams. Which would it be for us?
We chose our weather windows well, and anchored in Frailes along with the other boats moving north, staying for a couple beautiful days. We had dinner with our friends Tom and Patti, on their boat, then ours the next night. We bought a very nice snapper from the fishermen on the beach the second night, and then it was time to go. Tom and Patti headed out across the sea to the mainland, and we continued on to Muertos.
Two more beautiful days in Muertos, eating at the quiet nice resort restaurant on the beach, swimming in the 87°F water, and generally relaxing around the boat, and just as we were starting to settle in, the phone rang, delivering the news that would determine the course of the next month for us.
The routine diagnostic imaging Donna had done in San Diego before we left was inconclusive, and they had concerns about cancer. They wanted to repeat the imaging. And just like that, we rounded another turning point, one we weren’t even aware was on the horizon.
We finished our trip to La Paz, stopping in Puerto Balandra for a night, meeting Yan from Ilmatar, and walking on the beautiful sand beaches there. Then we cruised down the long entrance channel into La Paz Cove, and anchored among the many cruising boats there.
The last month has been fairly difficult, trying to sort through both local health care options, various dead ends and the difficulties of traveling and leaving the boat. (Where do you store it? All the marinas are booked through March!)
To bring a long story to a quick conclusion, we did finally work out our travel arrangements, and spent a week with our friends Safy and Marina in San Diego, where Donna was able to get through two separate appointments to find out that, no, it’s not likely to be cancer, but that yes, they want to remove it.
There will be more to come, as there is a consultation in Jan and the procedure sometime later, but now, we’ve finally managed to head north and start cruising again.
The next couple of weeks will be a bit unusual, in that we have friends flying down from San Francisco to visit, with AirBnB’s rented, so we’ll be staying on land a bit, and leaving the boat on a mooring. We’re looking forward to seeing some of our friends again soon, and we’re thinking of the rest of you!
We wish everyone happy holidays, and to make the most of the time you have, because you never know what’s just around the corner!
Wonderful photographs and wonderful commentary. May Donna welcome the new year with good health.
Sippican Harbor in Marion --- some day!
Have a lovely holidays season.