The Baja Haha is annual boat rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. I think I first learned about
it over 20 years ago, when reading my Latitude 38 magazine (I subscribed even though it was mostly about San Francisco). We are not USUALLY the type for big planned activities. But we've made an exception to join this fleet of over 100 boats heading to Mexico. The day be fore the rally commenced we had a 2 hour skippers meeting, followed by an afternoon costume party. It was all good fun. We thought our costume was very 'mexico' themed (and easy) but alas, there were others that were much much better than ours.
Leaving San Diego was a really cool event, we had the navy, harbor police and many local boats escort us out of the bay (probably with relief!).
Due to light winds we had a rolling start which meant that the clock didn't start until the Rally committee said 'go'.
The first leg is to Bahai Tortugas (Turtle Bay). Its about 360 or so miles (more on our stats later). We had some great sailing once the wind picked up outside of San Diego.
It was great to see all the sailboats with their spinnakers up. Most of the boats have crew of 3+. There are only a handful of us that are sailing pairs.
We had some great days sailing. The seas were calm, the winds were a bit too light for our liking, but it was WARM!!! We need about 15 or so knots to make this heavy boat move. Most of the time we had 5-8 knots.
We ended up motoring about 60% of the trip. But the sailing that we did do was AWESOME. And the cat even came out of her hidey-hole for those moments.
The camaraderie of joining a rally like this is great. On the VHF cruisers got kudos for catching fish, for making good speed and for fixing problems as they arose. Our watch scheduled was 3 hours on, 3 hours off at night. Its a bit of adjustment to get used to sleeping in small increments, but the stars, the full moon, the dolphins dancing in the moonlight, all make it amazing and awe inspiring. Words really can't describe.
Pulling into Turtle Bay was an amazing feeling. THIS is what we've been waiting for! Turtle Bay is a large bay. You could fit 1000 boats in here! We pulled in 20 minutes before dark -- just. There were about 20 boats here already.
Throughout the night we heard boats come in and anchor chains dropping around us. In the morning, the were another 50. Dan was joking that it was like the scene in star wars where all the spaceships show up after leaving light speed. Boom.
Hello small town, here are 400 Gringos, just like that! And the warmth. The water is warm, the air is warm and dry. It is a dream.
This afternoon was the annual Baja Haha Cruisers vs. Locals baseball game at the local baseball field. This event has occurred for ~26 years.
The rules are a bit 'loose'. All the sailors are in the outfield and the kids and cruisers rotate hitting. Women and girls never get out. The cruisers play the outfield. And after the game all the baseball equipment is donated to the community.
Everyone had fun. It was cool to see the entire community show up and play.
Leia was not super thrilled with being at sea for 48+ hours. However, she has been happy since we arrived. So much wildlife for her to watch. Dolphins, seals, pelicans are prolific and fun to watch.
Loved our trip down in 2020, though then it was a small group called Nada Ha Ha. Gary and I too were just us as a couple.