The second and third legs of the Ha-ha took us from Turtle Bay, to Bahia Santa Maria, to Cabo San Lucas.
Spanish pronunciation mnemonic 1: “a” and “i” in Spanish are pronounced like in Maria, so Bahia Santa Maria rhymes very nicely.
As we go on a leg out into the (potentially hostile) ocean, it’s comforting having other boats nearby. When we start, you can see the other boats on our AIS display, as shown below. In the middle of the circles is our boat. All the little, sperm-like thingies are the other boats.
AIS only shows nearby boats, so as the leg progresses, boats disappear, one by one, exactly as if a giant sea monster were picking them off, one by one. We assume not.
At night, you can see the lights for the very near boats. On the first leg, we were surrounded by what Suzana called a “circle of lights” following us through the night.
In Bahia Santa Maria, there is virtually nothing at all, yet somehow, magically, there were more pangas to take us to another big party on shore.
Here are our friends from the boat Ramble On Rose:
There was a very good live band, who got trucked in from far, far away. I’m told, but haven’t verified, that the lead singer was the winner of the Mexican TV series “The Voice.” They played for tips — and I’ll bet they did OK.
The normal schedule for the last leg of the Ha-ha, from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas had us leaving early in the morning, and getting in late the following day, possibly after dark. As we hate entering a new port after sunset, we took off the night before, sailed over two nights, and arrived in the morning.
Here’s the entry to Cabo:
Cabo downtown is a very noisy place. From our slip, we could hear four or five bars attempting to attract patrons by blasting loud music into the night. If you’re into atonal music, it’s great. And then at 6 in the morning, the sport fishing boats go out, after loudly getting ready. But we were so tired from the trip and the heat, we slept through it all.
And, it wouldn’t be the Ha-ha without another party in Cabo, at Squid Roe, which the guide books describe as the heart of the Cabo night life.
If Suzana looks a little blurry, that’s just because it was that sort of place.
The next day, there was an awards ceremony, where we won second place in our division, and chattiest boat. Getting second place was partly because of Suzana’s experience with racing and her advice: just show up. I’m sure we’d have won even if all the other boats had submitted their time sheets as well.
