The La Paz Malecon is a special place. I enjoyed a few runs there, and I noticed that it is not just a tourist attraction. Most of the pictures here were taken during the day, but especially in the evenings, the Malecon is alive with locals enjoying their waterfront.
The boatyard was just a little ways further down the channel than where we were anchoredWe hauled out on rails
We were on the hard for 3 days, and there was hard work done by all, but mostly by Tim. They brought Exodus out of the water on a sled on rails. (We hauled out 2 more times; once by a lift in La Cruz and then again on a sled pulled up a ramp by a tractor in Tonga. By far this set up in La Paz was easiest and safest.)
Time to go back in the water!
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I hitched a ride in a panga to get back to the boat
We were fortunate to be able to spend 2 weeks on Exodus with the previous owners (John and Sherry) before we officially took ownership. The Baja Ha Ha is an annual boat rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, and it’s known for being an initiation for novice cruisers looking to spend the cruising season in Mexico before making the jump across The Pacific.
It was an informative trip, but also a lot of fun. Joe and Cole rounded out the crew, and with Joe’s sailing and boat knowledge and Cole’s culinary talents, we learned a lot. We had mostly calm weather and mostly NW winds, which meant a lot of motoring and some spinnaker sailing. We had mixed feelings not taking the kids, but overall I think it was best that our focus was on learning as much as we could.
Tim is at the bow while getting ready to leave San Diego Harbor. We had really cal, sunny weather at the start.Raising the mainsail. Tim is helping it out of the stack pack while Cole looks on. Raising and lowering the mainsail on Exodus is easiest with at least 3 people. One person at the helm to steer Exodus into the wind, one person on the controls for the electric winch (when raising) or tailing the halyard (when lowering), and then a third person up top guiding the sail in or out of the stack pack. When needed, the person at the helm can pull double duty and work the winch as well.The fleet all lined up and ready to go. Some boats have their colorful spinnakers flying already.Cole and Sherry relaxing on the net at the bow..Flat seas so far, so the beers and cocktails are already flowing.The fog rolled in shortly after leaving San Diego. It just happened to be during my watch, so I got a lesson in using the radar to detect other vessels in low visibility.Our first sunset at sea. The boats in the rally have all spread out, but there are still several nearby.The first catch was a Dorado, as they are known in Mexico. Later, when we got to the South Pacific we switched to calling them Mahi Mahi. They’re called Dolphin Fish in English, but who calls them that?Fresh sushi rolls.The second catch was a yellowfin tuna!Our first of two stops was Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay). It’s a large bay with a small town.A friendly game of cruisers baseball with some of the local kids at Turtle Bay. That’s Deanne heading for third base.Tim takes a turn on the stand-up paddle board in Turtle Bay.Getting ready to leave Turtle Bay. Another beautiful morning.The spinnakers come out.Look out, Deanne’s at the helm.Getting a lesson in trimming the spinnaker.The marlin that got away.The dolphin show.Cruising along with a fellow catamaran – sunset behind S/V Vakasa.The view of Exodus from S/V Vakasa.Exodus’s glorious blue spinnaker is not necessarily a light wind sail. It works best with at least 10 knots of wind and is rated up to 25 knots. We tested it a few times over the years.A view of Exodus’s spinnaker from the front. Catamarans sail very well dead downwind because they don’t need the mainsail for stabilization.Our second stop was Bahia Santa Maria, which is a small bay just outside of the much larger Bahia Magdalena (aka Mag Bay). I walked up to the ridge with Cole to take in the view of the bay.Exodus at anchor at Bahia Santa Maria.Panorama of the beach at Bahia Santa Maria.Skurfing = part water skiing, part surfing. This would become a favorite pastime for Alex and Brenden and their cruising friends over the years. Here on the Baja Ha-Ha it was a favorite pastime for the men.At Bahia Santa Maria, the dinghy beach landing could be quite treacherous, so the locals would give you a ride to shore in a panga (for a small fee)Many people still brought their dinghies to shore (including us, that’s Exodus’s dinghy at the bottom). We expertly navigated the surf to safely make it to shore. We did spend a few minutes ahead of time discussing what to do if the dinghy capsized, just in case.We played a lot of volleyball, including a few high stakes games for beers.Sunset at Bahia Santa Maria.Another Dorado (Mahi Mahi).We made it to Cabo! In this photo you can see El Arco (The Arch), which is the distinctive rock formation at the tip of Cabo.Safe arrival cocktails! This would become our Exodus tradition after every passage, not matter how long or how short.We also did safe arrival cannonballs off of the bow, and even Deanne jumped in!After a couple days in Cabo we said goodbye to Exodus
It was a great trip, and we learned a lot. We weren’t quite the new owners yet, but we hired Joe to bring Exodus back up to San Diego where we would eventually take possession and then sail to Marina del Rey for final outfitting and preparations. This was getting real…
Gresham Family Exodus