11/09/2001: "Well, we are finally here, at Cabo San Lucas, the first major destination on our trip South.

We arrived yesterday morning, after a beautiful night of sailing and some motoring, due to light winds. But the wind came up for a triumphant approach to Cabo Falso, right next to the real Cabo San Lucas, the southernmost point of the Baja Peninsula de California.

We first anchored off the beach hotels, notably the Hotel La Hacienda. But later in the morning, we got a call on VHF radio, informing us that we could have a marina slip if we wanted it (at $75/day, US!!). We decided to take it, since we had crew that needed to unload their belongings, and we have a party tonight, to celebrate the conclusion of the Baja Haha event. Moreover, we was not comfortable leaving the boat anchored by itself, without anybody on board, right off the beach. We were not going to enjoy the Baja Haha events while our boat was hanging on the hook.

So we came into the dock, the fuel dock, actually. This is all that was left for us to tie to for the afternoon and the night. We tied up near the Haha sailboat Quantum, skippered by Russ, a good friend from our old marina in Alameda, in the Bay Area. As it turned out, we were able to watch the most incredible show as all the sport fishing boats from a big fishing tournament in Cabo were returning with their catches to the fuel dock, to fuel up for today's final opportunity to land the big one. Fishing in this area is well-known world-wide, and we can now see why. 

There were over 100 fishing yachts of all kinds and sizes, and virtually all of them came back with many flags on their outriggers. Each flag, of a different type and color, signifies the catch of a marlin or other billfish, a dorado, or a tuna. Wow! Lots of fish on display everywhere. And we noted the way all these boats maneuvered in close quarters, to get fuel at the fuel dock or to weight their catch, at a speed that would give you reason to predict several collisions, which never happened. It was like a dance of sport fishing boats. We wish we would have filmed it with our video camera.

We walked around to see the town, after we arranged for an agent to do all the entry paperwork into Mexico, with all the visas and passports and boat papers. This proved to me a wise decision.

We visited the hotels on the beach, while the Baja sailors were hosting a barbeque on a palapa off one of the hotels.        

We also took the dinghy to Lover's Beach, at the point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez in the Baja Peninsula.   

 Among the friends we met were Tom and Norma Ling, on the Beneteau 39 SAILING, with their cute dog Madison. They are headed for Mazatlán, so we will catch up with them down the calendar.

Last night, after a delicious Mexican dinner, we visited SQUID ROE, the most famous bar in Cabo. It is like Sloppy Joe's in Key West, where Hemingway used to hang out many years ago. We danced and we hollered to the loud music, under the direction of a very good master of ceremonies, who made sure the party showed no signs of letting down. Many of the Baja Haha fleet sailors were in attendance, and a good time was had by all.

Today is the wrap-up celebration event for the Baja Haha. Excellent chronicles on the event, and top-notch professional pictures too, will be published in Latitude 38's web page: www.latitude38.com, if they have not been published already. Take a look. A prize was given by Richard Spindler, the publisher of Latitude 38 and chief organizer of the Baja Haha (the grand PoohBah) to an 89 year-old sailor who sailed the Baja Haha. We also had our own Captain Ron in the fleet, who, together with his dummy companion  Betty, (yes, a real dummy), was next leaving for the Marquesas in the South Pacific, single-handing his small sailboat, the Olson 30 "STILL CRAZY"! Coincidentally, Ron Corbin's home port is Miami. Our friends Volker and Mai Dolch were there for the awards ceremony, and are shown below. Richard gave out first, second and third place awards to the fleet. There were a lot of boats tied for third place in each division. In fact, as it turned out, every boat in the Haha was a winner, getting at least a third-place award. This was done in the true spirit of the Haha....we were all there to have a good time. And a good time we did have...in no small part due to Richard Spindler, and the crew of PROFLIGATE, the Latitude 38 lead boat in the fleet. They all worked at keeping things going at just the right pace. In particular, Richard demonstrated an uncanny talent for keeping everything balanced, going along with the flow, and yet providing just the right amount of direction...Richard, we take our hats of to you and your Haha spirit. May there be many many more...

In retrospect, it was great for us. Although we would have liked to stop in other places along the Pacific coast, and taken a slower pace, the Baja forced us to be ready to leave when we did. And we felt in good company as we undertook our first offshore trip in foreign waters, testing all the new equipment on the boat. And all of the equipment has worked extremely well.

Now it is time for us to change our pace. Hank and Sid are leaving for the Bay Area tomorrow, and Gary is staying with us on our easy-going trip to La Paz, slightly over 100 miles from Cabo. We have met many sailors, and we have found that quite a few of them are headed for La Paz, our next destination. But we plan to take three days, with night stops in beautiful secluded anchorages, to travel just over 100 miles! We are going to start really relaxing more from now on, taking it easy! 

We will follow up with more on Baja later. But we wanted to send this to let you all know we are doing well, and having a very good time. We welcome your emails. We always look forward to hearing from you.

Ed and Daisy, aboard the sailing vessel SIESTA, in Cabo San Lucas"