Next time I'm not calling in sick, I'm calling in gone!!

This was the title to a song we heard earlier and it seems appropriate for the kind of day we had. We woke up leisurely in turtle bay and after fueling up ourselves and the boat took to the northward path. We motored for a few hours observing copious amounts of sea life including whales, dolphins, pelicans, seals, etc. Right before the Isla de Natividad we set the main sail and motor sailed our way over to Cedros Island. We followed the coast of Cedros from point to point and I must say it was by far one of the most dramatic experiences I have had on this trip (both on the way down and now back up!) It is such a rugged remote island with colonies of Sea Elephants barking at you almost the whole way. The water is as blue as I have ever seen and the peaks ascend dramatically upwards similar to the Hawaiian Islands or maybe even the Galapagos. It is for sure a place I would love to return to to spend days mingling and exploring the beaches and inlets, climbing deeper and deeper into the mountain ranges above.
The only scary part of the day was bath time when three whiter than white men showered themselves off the back of the boat with joy dishsoap and pots of water warmed on the stove as no one would brave the "icy" cold 62 degree water. I don't know who was more upset, barry by the cold water or the elephant seals at the sight of the three men bathing on the back of an otherwise beautiful yacht!! As for me, I hid safely below till the show was over. Anyways, at least 3/4 of our crew arguably smell better...being too modest I of course made do with our Costco sized package of baby wipes! We have left the calm lee of cedros and have now pointed Cipango northward with a refilled tank of gas across the open channel aimed at Isla San Geronimo. It is a bit choppy but not bad with the wind speed hovering around 15 knots. Our current position as I type is 28 32.047N / 115 15.949W. Depending on how much we get set tonight we may have to avoid the Sacramento reef by adjusting our course for Punta San Carlos - known to some as a world class kitesurfing / windsurfing / and surf spot. According to Robin the Sacramento Reef is named after a US Mail ship of that name that left San Francisco and broke up on the reef en route to Panama. I am not sure if it was part of that same voyage but apparently there was a bunch of gold dumped at the reef that has never been discovered...maybe we'll get lucky!! I might send Scott down to take a peek! Apparently depending on wind & waves it can be quite a dramatic site. If my calculations are correct we will be passing it sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning depending on how you look at it. We just had a fantastic meal of pasta with tomato sauce and mushrooms and sauted onions preceded by a delicious cabbage salad. I just polished off the dishes, Scott is up on watch, Robin is crawling into his bunk and I am about to head aft and jump in mine to leave Barry our chef extrordinaire and technical guru to zap this off to anyone who is actually reading this. As Robin says it best "Goodnight John Boy, goodnight Mary Ellen."

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