December 23, 2022: We finally made it to Mexico, so close to Christmas and so far away from home.
Exploring Ensenada, provisioning, and treating ourselves to a delicious seafood dinner were on top of our things to do. The local fish market offered a huge selection of fresh goodies of which some of them ended up to be our Christmas Eve dinner.
Fortitude X was all decked out with bright Moravian stars, Christmas music was playing, our little wooden nativity scene was placed in the salon, and we exchanged little gifts and wishes before walking to church that night.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral
The morning came early on Christmas Day. We departed for our longest stretch so far: 336 Nautical Miles (NM) to Ascuncion, 3 days and two nights sailing south. We are working shifts on long passages, each of us taking the helm for three or four hours before switching and trying to get some sleep. You have lots of time thinking about anything and everything when you are by yourself standing watch just being surrounded by water. I certainly had my moment of melancholy, reviewing the past year and thinking about our families and friends and what the future will be holding for all of us. It was then when I saw the ocean boiling in the distance. I called for Torsten. As the geyser came closer, we found ourselves presented with the most amazing scene: hundreds of dolphins playing around Fortitude X, joyfully jumping in and out of the water, leaving us breathless and humbled. The perfect Christmas gift!
Playground Pacific Ocean
With no expectations or preconceptions of this beautiful country and its people, we were excited to have our first contacts with native Mexicans visiting the secluded Baja villages of Hipolito, Abreojos, and Puerto Magdalena. Our Spanish is very poor – we are working on it – and hardly anybody speaks English in these communities. We all know the fun, desperation, and sometimes missed conversations if you can’t express yourself and we experienced all of them. We were overwhelmed by the friendliness, floored by the hardship in this particular stretch of the country, and amazed by the zest for life showcased in the Mexican music traveling from the shores into the cockpit of our boat at night.
Meals on board on our way down to Cabo San Luca always included one stable ingredient: fresh fish. We barbecued, baked, blackened, braised and “ceviched” Wahoos, Mahi-Mahis, Bonitos, Crevalle Jacks caught en route and became really inventive using the spices and fresh produces and whatever was left in the provision box; let’s say most combinations turned out to be delicious, some were filed under “learning experience”.
Mahi Mahi (Dorado)
Crevalle Jack
Lobster Dinner
Mahi Mahi for Lunch
Cabo hit us like a storm, and we were prepared for it. After the solitude of Baja California, we were now in the middle of tourist craziness in this resort city on the southern tip of the Baja peninsula. We anchored way out in the rolling waves of the bay, often dwarfed by numerous cruise ships, and annoyed by first timers on seadoos coming way too close for our taste.
Still – we liked it. If you embrace the madness instead of fighting it, it’s tolerable. We enjoyed catching up with our boating friends Kendra & Dan, bummer that our broken dinghy engine propeller prevented us from paying them more visits. We took Uber to the local Costco and Walmart for reprovisioning, got our laundry done, and not less important: one of us finally paid a visit to a hair salon to receive a haircut. Bonus!
Crossing the Sea of Cortez in a 34 hour cruise to Pacific Mexico was a blast with sails up and sun out. We dropped anchor at Isla de la Piedra, and reconnected with the crews of Oz and Naida, enjoying some Mexican beers and live music at one of the local palapas. To get onshore is a different story. Dinghy surf landings – and departures – are a spectator sport. It takes technique, resilience, and an “I don’t care if I make a fool of myself” attitude to successfully take your dingy to and off the beach.
Impossible to stay dry
All by myself
The last week of January was a hoot, hooking up with our Edmonton friends Lyle & Lidia at their beautiful condo right on the beach in Mazatlan. It was almost like walking down memory lane, watching Oilers games, talking about the weather, well snow in Alberta, cooking together, and catching up on almost 10 years since we moved away from the neighborhood.
Malecon
Friends
We left Mazatlan in the afternoon of January 29th with a course on Isla Isabella. We had an encounter with a Mexican Navy vessel, approaching us at stealth mode at night to blast their lights at us, wondering if we needed help. Torsten’s response must have left them speechless as they just wished us a safe journey after listening to him telling them that “Everything is ok, we are just sailing with 3 knots”.
Smile, breath and go slowly – as long as you do not stop! That’s what traveling at your own pace is all about.
Isla Venados
12 Comments
Michael King
Fair sailing in 2023. Jealously reading your post in rainy Terrace. What great experiences you’ve been having.
Stefanie Schulz
We are truly enjoying our journey, fully aware of how lucky we are.
Duncan and Maggie
Wow, you guys have the afterburners on now, we enjoy living thru your adventures, sail safe and have fun
Stefanie Schulz
Thanks guys; hope to catch up when visiting AB in September.
Lars
Whow!!!!what a wonderful trip. so nice to be online with you crazy guys
Stefanie Schulz
So good to hear from you; hope all is well with the two of you.
Hans-Joerg Domhardt
Hallo Ihr beiden Glücklichen,
Eure Berichte zu verfolgen macht richtig Spass und die Eindrücke aus Mexico, das Ihr ja erst zu einem kleinen Teil erkundet habt, sind sehr, sehr imposant! Euch wünschen wir weiterhin viel Erfolg in den kommenden Wochen und immer ausreichend Wasser unter dem Kiel:-).
Hier in Trippstadt ist das Wetter halt “februarmäßig”, also nicht sehr erbaulich, aber das Frühjahr naht mit gewaltigen Schritten.
Wir haben nun ein Grundstück und auch schon den Vertrag mit der Baufirma unterzeichnet. Ende 2024 sollte alles erfolgreich abgeschlossen sein und wir im neuen Bungalow sitzen. Mal sehen, ob alles reibungslos geht.
Alles Gute im warmen Mexico
Domi und Christel
Stefanie Schulz
Danke Ihr Lieben , und Gratulation zum Grundstück. Da habt Ihr ja Euer eigenes Abenteuer in Aussicht. Lasst uns mal wieder telefonieren.
Walley
Another great chapter in your journey! The dolphins’ photo is spectacular and must have been so amazing to be there to experience.
I am also very impressed with the fish you have caught and those meals.
Take good care and safe travels always.
Stefanie Schulz
Thanks Walley, I miss our chats and can’t wait seeing you next time we’ll be in YVR.
Patrick Williams
Looks awesome
Trip of a lifetime enjoy
Stefanie Schulz
We are enjoying every day, fully aware of how lucky we are.