After three nights in Bahia Santa Maria, a 3-day weather window opened up to continue our journey south. The only other anchorage between Bahia Santa Maria Cabo San Lucas is Magdalena Bay, which was about 20 nautical miles away. Mag Bay has the option of getting fuel via jerry cans sent off with a panga to the closest town, so we had to really assess our fuel situation onboard to ensure had enough to motor the entire 200 nautical mile trip, if need be. After a little number crunching, it was concluded that we’d have just enough, but that we really needed to sail as much as possible- even if it meant going slow sometimes!
We left Bahia Santa Maria in the late afternoon, Dec 4th. It would be a two-night sail to get to Cabo San Lucas the morning of Dec 6th. Luckily, we sailed for close to half of the entire 40 hour trip. It was great! We did get some uncomfortable, rolling seas around 23 43’05 N / 110 54’38. We had swell hitting us on both sides of our stern and it was not that fun. (Unless you like the corkscrew motion!) We had this for about 5 hours, which made for a tough night (read: hard to sleep!). After a long journey, the crew was extremely excited to see Cabo up ahead.
Lisa’s Grandma was there at her place and was watching us come in from her balcony, while on the phone to Lisa’s Mum and Dad, giving them a play by play. Very exciting! Lots of fishing boats were heading out for their daily trips and zoomed past. We hugged Cabo Falso close to shore and rounded the corner into the chaos that is Cabo. We decided to stay in the marina here and treat ourselves to some dock time and all of the luxuries that it offers. Marina Cabo San Lucas was $80/night USD but offered potable water, shore power, nice showers, laundry, a pool and fantastic WiFi (we could stream! we could download!). It would also allow us to walk off the boat and explore the town easily without having to inflate our dinghy. The anchorage in Cabo is also an option, but from our observations and feedback from other cruisers, is extremely rolly!
We had heard from a lot of other cruisers with regards to Cabo to “get in and get out” because it is so expensive. However, we really enjoyed our time here! We stayed 5 nights and found that the people were fabulous and the food was to die for. We sampled from the many restaurants, including one fave that we went to twice. The name slips our minds, but it is right in the heart of town and has a massive huge patio with a huge playground in it that is someone’s yard. They only serve breakfast, but they serve it all day and it is NOM NOM. We spent some wonderful time with Lisa’s Gramma (AKA Gramma O) and enjoyed some snorkeling, beach time, shopping and eating. We really enjoyed our time in this hopping city!