Turtle Bay (Bahía de Tortugas), B.C.S., Mexico

---

Meteors and Smooth Sailing

Exploring the bay with Michael & Sara

We made the hop from San Diego to Turtle Bay with our friends Michael and Sara on Pelican (left). The trip took a little over 3 days nonstop. En route we saw dolphins and whales and a spectacular meteor show! At 0230 on Tuesday 19 November, there was predicted to be what will be the best meteor shower to be seen for the next 200 years.

We can't say much about what's to come in the next 200 years, but it made for a very interesting night watch and was a show that we both enjoyed. At the height of the meteor shower, if you had wanted to make a wish on every "falling star" that you saw, you wouldn't have been able to make up wishes fast enough! It was very beautiful and a great way to enjoy a night watch at sea. Angela was very lucky to have had her watch span the hours of midnight to 3 AM, during peak show! Eric woke up a little early to catch some of the best viewing... though it was a tough choice between that and the back of his eyelids at 2:30 in the morning!

Big City Life

Colorful laundry

Bahía de Tortugas is a thriving town of 1500 people. There are no paved roads, but everybody has a car. When you walk around town, you can readily see where priorities lie.

1 of many political signs

Schools, churches and cemeteries are immaculate, while homes and other buildings are in various states of disrepair. There are at least 6 different schools within walking distance from the harbor.

The people

Our rental car!

in the town are exceedingly friendly and have much patience with our broken Spanish. Most store owners speak enough English to do business, but few people speak much more. This was excellent as it gave us an opportunity to practice - which we greatly need!

Due to the dry climate

Catholic Church

and dirt roads, much of the town was very dusty, giving it even more of a wild west look. Everywhere we went, there were vibrant colors amidst the various shades of browns from the dust and ground. There was very little foliage in places that were not watered daily. However, most places had shallow ditches in place that urged the water on to plants or trees in the vicinity. Even a dirt median in the middle of a two-way dirt road had a faucet that poured out into a little ditch that watered the

"Live w/o drugs"

trees in that section. Much care was taken everywhere.

Some highlights

Dry garden

in the town are several of the magnificent panaderias (bakeries) sprinkled throughout. The pastries and breads are not like anything that we had ever purchased in the states. They were very dry but airy and delicious. It was excellent! Our other favorite was a purchase of flour tortillas that can absolutely not be beat! They were sold out of a woman's home... they kept for days, tasted unbelievable and were very inexpensive. We used them exclusively for the next two weeks in place of any other type of bread.

Another Day at the Beach

Eric is just finishing

Sean & Eric supervise

his coursework in Naval Architecture and needed a quiet place to get down to business. Turtle Bay definitely fit the bill, so we decided to stay

Michael flying kite

a while and allot some time for his work. Our friends on Pelican, Waking Dream and Kula were planning to head further south, so we decided to take the dinghies around to the nearby beach to enjoy some fun in the sun before they left. We all brought our toys and had a blast.

Sean, from Waking Dream, and Eric made sure to supervise the activities in their lawn chairs (above left).

Ben brought a 4-string stunt kite that we all had a chance to play with. Michael (right) gave it

Fun at the beach

a go for a while and really got a hang of it.

All in all, eleven of us showed up to enjoy some kite-flying, frisbee and paddle-ball:

Ben & Lisa from Waking Dream, Sara & Michael from Pelican

(photo left from left to right) Ben & Lisa (Waking Dream), Michael (Pelican), Jim (Kula), Alan & Becky (Zebede), Christine (Kula), Sara (Pelican), Sean (taking photo) and the two of us.

We all brought food for a potluck and grilled some Albacore Tuna that Waking Dream had caught on their leg down from San Diego. There was a little dugout fire pit and a bar to set food up on right on the beach that was perfect for our festivities. We were told that this is the location that the Baja Haha has a cookout event when they come through town.

< Baja Mexico : Turtle Bay : Thanksgiving Magic >