[These notes are from Erika, who quit her job in San Francisco to go sailing, starting with the Latitude 38 "Baja Haha" cruise to Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. I think they are a great writeup of what it is really like to be sailing.]

Currently, I am in Cabo San Lucas. I am between boats. I'm staying at a little hotel called Hotel Los Milagros, check it out here: http://losmilagros.com.mx. Enjoying the terre firma and relaxing in the serene hotel gardens. Outside the hotel, Cabo provides most of the amenities I had in San Francisco and at the same prices. Its a crazy-spring-break-all-the-time-town for the over-forty crowd. I am enjoying the luxury and excess of Cabo but I look forwatrd to pulling anchor as soon as possible (probably later this week).

The sail down here from Ensenada was great. I am short on time so instead of composing a blog essay about my experience, I am going to transpose my journal entries below to give you taste of how the journey went. To learn more about the Baja HaHa Rally that the boat that I crewed on was part of, go to: http://www.baja-haha.com/

10/23/04 I made it to mexico! Last night I had a small going away gathering and some friends showed up. It was a good way to spend my last jittery hours in SF. After a few beers, I finally went to sleep on Jeff's boat only to be awakened a few hours later by a wake-up call from mom. I was hung over and needing to get ready and get out. I caught supershuttle at 5am, then my flight, and arrived in san diego in a daze. Skipper Brendon, Baba, and Brad (the Isis crew) picked me up at the airport and we drove to Costco for provisions, and then to safeway for more provisions and then to Ensenada- my first border crossing. Once in ensenada we had the daunting task of unloading and unpacking all of the provisions. I was tired but i maintained and did the best i could. i was finally able to take a shower at the marina and felt much better. I'm still working on 3 hours of sleep, but i can already tell that this is going to be a nice sail. The crew is fantastic so far- very kind and considerate. I aspire to be the same. I chose a berth right above the refridge/freezer motor and when it turns on its cruelly annoying. Time to find a new berth. We went out for dinner, margaritas. I'm exhausted- time to rest.

10/24/04 Day 2 was fun. Exhausted again. slept on fridge generator last night. We went to san diego to run errands, pedicure, HaHa Kick-off party, back to Ensenada, dinner, movie on boat dvd in main saloon. Tired, period, disoriented. Fortunately, my crew is very nice.

10/26/04 We are on Isis, a Santa Cruz 52 skippered by bay area Brendon Busch, sailing about 40 miles off the baja coast to turtle bay, our first anchorage. we threw off the bowlines at 3pm on 10/25 and watched ensenada slowly become smaller and then disappear. So faR SO GOOD. i HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED AND TOTALLY DAZED. i THINK THE DROWSINESS IS A MIX OF MY BRAND OF SEASICKNESS, CULTURE SHOCK, SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND A LITTLE HEAD COLD. i have not been able to do much actual sailing but the boat experience is enough for now. I need to make more of an effort to just wake-up and get involved. I feel like i am too drowsy to do much of anything, but the sleeping feels great. All I want to do is just curl up in the fleece blankets and let the boat rock me to sleep. I have been below cooking and cabin-running b/c i am the only one on-board who does not get nauseous from it. Surrounded by the sea and the sky. warm breeze. sturdy, well-designed boat and well-equiped is Isis- i trust her. we have not flipped on the motor even once since we left ensenada. we're averaging about 7-8 knots in 15-18 knots of wind. brendon is not afraid to change sails when necessary. we've had lovely weather so far. i see rain clouds in the west horizon hopefully it will stay clear of us. later... I'm acclimating to the boat finally. My head cold is even getting better. Brad was kind enough to take my 4-6am shift so i got a full nights sleep. we are are doing 2 hours on watch, 6 hours off at night between the four of us. i've been on deck since 6am, watching the sunrise. head to wind sailing in 11 knots. calm swell. bueno. thurs. 10/28/04 we made it to Turtle Bay yesterday and dropped anchor at about 3pm. There were about 15 boats already anchored (so we timed our jump into the HaHa Rally appropriately). A steady trickle of boats have been arriving ever since we dropped anchor. It rained this morning- we beat the sloppy weather- glad we aren't still sailing in this like most of the other, slower haha boats. when we arrived last night, we almost immediately went swimming. Baba dived to the keel and pulled off a mass of kelp that had wrapped around it. That explains why this fast SC52 was getting passed up at sea by tubby cruisers. The water was cold but we all needed a rinse and some soap after 48 hours at sea. dinner and a movie on board. rocky night on the boat last night, rough sleeping. i took a berth in the main salon with little privacy.

10/29/04 with each day, i get a little more in tune. our first night here in turtle bay there was a total eclipse of the full moon- a spectacular show. last night a beautiful orange moon rose. i woke up this morning with the sunrise and the moon was still bright in the west. The sky was blue and pink with soft clouds. The birds were fishing and flying in the light breeze. all of the 100 or so haha boat anchor lights were twinkling in the dawn light.

10/30/04 we left our anchorage at bahia tortugas this morning along wiht the 147 other haha boats. we're sailing in 20-25 knots wiht the small kite up. it will be dark soon so we will take down the kite for the jib sail. this will decrease our current speeds of 10-13 knots. still, we will be at the next anchorage tomorrow morning if all goes as planned- well ahead of the rest of the fleet. bahia torugas was an intersting place. its in the middle of "no-where" on the baja coast on the edge of a Mexican Biological Reserve. the reserve is a desert- an amazing landscape that reminds me of the south dakota badlands. we did some hiking in the eroding hills, along cliffs and along the beach. the beach was totally uninhabited and the backdrop was the immense desert landscape, buttes and all. i did some yoga on the desolate beach- felt good. later in the day, the haha rally had a big party on the beach- music, potluck, games, drinks. everyone brought there dinghies to the beach- it was fun!

10/31/04 12:30am i'm on watch and how lucky i am. this is just how imagined it! full moon, bright enough for me to write this, clear skies and stars! wind at 20-25 knots and boat speed at 8-14knots as we surf down 6 foot waves. the air is getting warmer so that i only need a wool turtle neck, hat, and only foulie bibs- no jacket. there is a cargo ship in the distance- (port 10 oclock) that i am keeping my eye on. the orion constellation is above. brad is resting on the other deck bench. he is a bit unnerved by the conditions. i am not afraid at all b/c brendon is an excellent captain but mostly b/c this boat seems to love these conditions. autopilot is giving us an amazingly sweet ride. tonight at sunset we all had cocktails adn listened to Eminem. I felt a wave of serene happiness flow over me. I feel comfortable with this crew and i could not have asked for a better situation. brendon is an impeccable sailor and very safety-conscious. i feel confident about his skippery. he runs a tight ship. i have been able to learn a bit from him but not as much as i hoped. he is very busy running this show and i don't want to be annoying. he has let me off the hook for the delivery back to ensenada and he has not asked me to do much work on the boat. this is very kind of him. baba (a fantastic fellow female crewmate) and i have been learning about provisioning together. i think i have learned more about cooking, caring for crew, and provisioning than sailing. brad is the jokster and he keeps the humor in everything- an invaluable crew member. the other night while at anchor in turtle bay, baba, brad and i went into town to a haha party at a local bar. the locals were having these crazy dance contest dance-offs. brad jumped on the dance floor and did this hilarious dance spoof that included the worm and the shopping cart. i haven't laughed so hard this entire trip- it was genuis.

10/31/04 we made it to bahia santa maria at 2pm today. we were the first ones in the fleet to get to this desolate bay! i knew i picked the fastest boat. so the boat is definitely feeling smaller and everyone is getting on each other's nerves a bit. this is a new experience for us all- the cruising lifestyle and the pick-up crew world. i look forward ot getting off the boat but i am still having a blast with this great crew. the winds calmed down last night for our day sail. we had pods of dolphins play in our bow wake- how delightful! once we got into the anchorage, i did laundry, shaved my legs, baked banana bread and finished a movie with brad. now i am sitting in the cockpit watching the last light form the sun go out. i can't believe how utterly amzaing this experience and lifestyle this is. its everything i'd hoped for- beautiful landscapes, exotic ports, new friends, excellent sailing, learning, exploring, great food, fun, sun, exercise, relaxing.

11/1/04 Bahia Santa Maria is like a huge natural playground- there's surf, huills to hike, lagoon to kayak, beach, sanddunes, tons of haha boats and good people. the haha people all help each other out so much- if anyone needs anything there is always someone to lend a hand. i really like this spirit. tensions are runninghigh on the boat. its just a small space for 4 people to live on. so we are all having some alone time. i started hiking up a large hill with brad but decided to stay here on the first little peak while he climbed further. i need the alone time. i sketched, took photos, listened to my ipod and then hiked down to the fisherman;s huts where a haha fiesta was happening. other than a few fishermans huts this bay is totally uninhabited.

11/3/04 i'm sitting on the lashed down dinghy on Isis' foredeck. we underway to cabo. beautiful sunny day sparkling on the Pacific, grateful dead on the stereo, haha boats all aruond us in the distance, cruise ship at port stern. i saw a sea turtle in the water this morning. isis is on autopilot wiht the super large pinnaker flying and i am the only one awake. one more night at sea and then we hit cabp where i begin my transition to my next leg of this journey. i'm full from a yummy lunch. this is a good lifestyle- i'm glad thta i went for it. baba taught me how to surf a couple of days ago in santa maria. i'm hooked. i was on very small waves and only stood up twice for a few seconds but the feeling of catching a wavw is truly exhilarating. they are announcing over the net (vhf radio net) that Bush has won the election. i'm glad that i left- guess i am an ex-pat for the time being. my life is changing drastically but i am taking it in stride and have not felt many growing pains yet.

11/6/04 we hit cabo early this morning. cbao is an americanized town. there is a sport fishing tournament in town this weekend and as we were sailing into the bay the fishing boats came streaming out at the start of their tournament. there were so many power boats it was like a highway during rush hour. not really my kind of a place. i jumped off of Isis and i am prepping for my next leg. i am planning to join the Angel crew- a Cheoy Le 47 owned by Alameda-based Scott Morris. an old SF aquaintance of mine, christian buhl, is the first mate and a first rate sailor. star sailor, eva pummel, will also be on board, and maybe another pick-up crew. we plan to head out of cabo wednesday and head to La Paz to dock for a couple of days and do some repairs, then onto some islands in the sea of cortez, mazatlan, isla isabela, Puerto vallarta- this is the tenatative route that other boats from the HaHa fleet will be taking so we will likely see many familair faces along the way. but then who knows where we will end up- you never know where the wind will take you when sailing.