We pulled into Turtle Bay just before midnight on the 26th…there were a bunch of boats milling about outside the harbor planning on making a daylight entrance but with radar and a good chart plotter I figured it was a no brainer to get in and set the hook…so we became the pied piper…there were already about 30-40 boats anchored before us…all in a bunch close to the old commercial pier, which also serves as the dingy landing spot (unless you want to land on the beach). By the time we headed to the beach in the afternoon another 50-60 boats had entered…I think there are about 140 some boats actually participating in the rally (of the 172 who signed up).
We got the hook down well away from the rest of the fleet…(the bay is huge…at least ten times the size of Glorietta Bay…) in order to avoid the noise and wakes of everyone else's dingys going to and frow. After getting everything shipshape we adjourned to the cockpit and quickly consume the bottle of "Fighter Pilot" red wine that Herb Zoerher had given us on the morning of our departure...it was fantastico. If you have a chance, send Herb a copy of this so he knows that he hit a home run with that wine and that at 0100 on 27 October, 2011 we all saluted him and toasted to his good health!
This morning the wind came up so strongly that it blew a dust cloud across the desert and into the bay…the wind also made the dingy ride to the beach a real slog. Latitude 38 had tried to organize a "softball" game of sorts with the various members of the Ha Ha fleet and some local kids but some wires must have gotten crossed because only about half a dozen local kids showed up. Richard Spindler (the publisher of Latitude 38 and founding organizer for the Baja Ha Ha is really tireless in his efforts to build goodwill with the locals at all locations…) pitched the entire time and did his utmost to get people involved and having fun…he seems to be a very good guy…and works tirelessly to try to insure that everyone gets involved and has a good time…his commitment is quite impressive.
Turtle Bay is an awesome anchorage with a surreal desert background. There is literally nothing green in sight. If you can imagine a bay in the middle of the desert with surrounding hills you'll get the picture. ..I found it breathtaking in its beauty, wildlife and simplicity…The down is a mixture of derelict industrial buildings, dirt roads laid out in a grid with well kept homes next to decaying remains of homes…new trucks and trucks that look like they were imported from Cuba. Fords clearly outnumber Toyota…something I found interesting.
This was a school day and after school got out we sat in one of the local restaurants that overlooks the beach and pier and watched the local kids play on the beach…looking for octopi and other local critters…dogs, kids all playing with no adult supervision and clearly having a great time…several young kids (probably about 8-10 years old) jumped into one of the tide pools fully clothed and stayed their playing with each other (in their drenched school clothes) for at least an hour…and this is not tropical water…it was like watching something from the past (or another planet).
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