The Baja Haha

November 9, 2010

Sitting in the Air New Zealand lounge at LA airport and sipping a glass of Kiwi Cabernet Sauvignon it is time to collect my thoughts and make sense of the whirlwind last two weeks. 

It all started with a phone call from Don and Kathi inviting me to sail on their wooden 35 ft sailing sloop Wild Rose  from San Diego to Cabo in Mexico at the southern tip of the Sea of Cortez. They promised me a gentle tail wind, slight seas and warmth. It turned out to be very cold and the sea was boisterous at the best of times. In the ten days we dropped 13 degrees of latitude or some 800 nautical miles.

Thankfully Kathi is an excellent cook and managed to provide us, sometimes heroically, from a waltzing galley with delicious meals and continually kept us topped up with hot drinks, often laced with a tot of rhum to keep us warm during our night watches.

I loved it all: the dolphins greeting us each morning showing off their agility in the bow wave, sailing past Cedros island in the moonlight, the friendliness of the Mexicans at Bahia Tortugas, Bahia Santa Maria and Cabo and, even if, at the time I could have quite happily murdered her I now need to smile at the memory of Lady Gaga bellowing till the small hours from the Pink Kitty nightclub adjacent to our mooring at Los Cabos.

It was ironic that the United Airbus just took less than 3 hours for the return journey, but trust me; that’s not the way to travel.

The night at a luxurious hotel in Playa del Rey overlooking protected wetlands from the balcony not only provided me with copious running hot water for a well needed bath but reminded me of my job and the promise of more adventures in the future.

While there I got to read my daughter’s blog www.rosiesblog.co.uk  and it reminded me that I have a family and colleagues to go back to and I so look forward to that.

Isn’t life great!

My thanks go to Don and Kathi. You are wonderful friends!

Vincent van Walt

Nov 2010