November 15, 2012, Thursday,  Los Frailes Bay, Baja California

This was a wonderful lazy day, the first day that actually felt like the dream  We slept late and had pancakes for breakfast, Trader Joe’s pumpkin pancakes.  Puttered around the boat for a bit and then rowed over to the beach to do some snorkeling.  We had heard that there is a coral reef on the other side of the headland and we had considered walking over here but a quick hike up the dunes changed our mind.  It was going to be a walk through the scrub brush of at least an hour in the hot sun.  So we just swam around the rocky point of this bay.  It was beautiful,. The water is clear and warm, so warm.  The fish are so tame that I swan right through a school of them and they did not even scatter, just drifted off.  I am sorry I don’t know the names of any of them.  Guess I need to get a book on mexican fish.  Little yellow stripped ones in schools, bright blue ones about as big as a quarter, always alone and close to the bottom.  A sea snake, not an eel, black with white stripes around his body snaking in and out of holes in the rocks.  A broken fan palm branch hanging in the water is home to dozens of tiny transparent fish hiding in the folds of the leaf.  Lots of variations on grey/brown with yellow heads, yellow tails, yellow spots, etc.

Eventually we swam back to the beach, had a picnic and slept on the hot sand.  For the first time in my life, I am not trying to get a tan.  We are both quite tan enough, thank you and have  gotten very little  sunburn.  The worst problem is Alan’s bald spot.  He keeps forgetting to put lotion on it since he can’t see it.  There is a cluster of huts up the beach and fishermen bringing their boats in and out but it does not seem worth the energy to walk up there and investigate.  After a while we drag the dingy back down to the water and row to the boat.  It is truly the most beautiful boat here.  A number of other sailors come by in their dingys and comment on how beautiful she is. 

Back on board Alan finally gets a haircut.  This is my first time using the electric clippers but we figure however it turns out it will be fine.  There is no one we are trying to impress any more.  On a side note, I am loving my short, short hair and getting envious looks from some of the other women who are struggling with blow dryers and conditioners and various hair clips.  I have even gotten compliments from some of the men.  Maybe I will start a new trend.  Anyway, back to Alan’s haircut.  Here we go.  Clippers in hand, I start at the back of the neck.  Within moments there are long pieces of beautiful red hair blowing al over the deck.  Break.  We should have cleared everything away and closed the lazaret first.  OK, back to work.  It goes smoothly for the first few buzzes and then won’t cut. Oh, you did not say I have to stop and clean out the hair.  One half is done and I am just getting the swing of it when the clippers stop again.  Not caught hair this time.  The battery is running low.  He looks pretty crazy with half short and half long hair.  Guess I can’t stop now.  Time for the scissors.  Time to find my good sewing scissors.  (Maybe I will find the flags while I am at it)  I settle on a technique of cutting a patch and then banging the clippers to make them work for a minute to clean it up.  Works pretty well and eventually it is done.  Nice neat short hair, with just a few uneven patches. 

Alan decides it is time for a nap after all that hard work.  I hang out on deck and  haul up buckets of water to clean off all the hair.  As I am finishing I hear lout smacks on the water, like something hitting it hard.  I can’t see anything that would be causing such a noise, no racing dingys, no one playing football.  Then I see it, a manta ray leaps out of the water and lands with a loud splat, once more, wings flapping, splat.  Two jumps and it is gone.  I see it a few minutes later way across the bay.  But then there is another one right here, and another.    For about half and hour I am entertained by leaping rays.

When Alan gets up, we haul up the dingy, fold it flat and lash it to the deck.  It actually folds up quickly and easily.  It is the unfolding that is difficult.  We plan on heading out early tomorrow and sailing straight through to La Paz so everything is picked up or tied down tightly.  Dinner is from some more of the rusty cans.  After dinner we get out charts and plot a course with possible variations depending on the wind.  It is predicted to be moderate and from the NE.  That should give us a nice course with a few long tacks.

Early to bed, but what’s new about that.  When it gets dark it really gets dark and there is no where to go and nothing to do.  Looks like there is a party on one of the other boats but we already put the dingy away.