Turtle Bay

I'll start by saying that Turtle Bay was not our first stop. The weather was rougher than any other point in the previous 15 Ha Has.

One boat sank, which is a first in all of the Ha Ha's history. It was the boat J World, captained by Eugenie Russell that sunk after striking a whale. The boat was making 9 knots of speed and surfing down a large wave with a humpback whale at the bottom and the boat came to an abrupt halt as though they had hit a rock. Eugenie believes the whale lashed it's tail as a result of the collision and this drove the rudder post upward holeing the boat. It took 45 minutes for the boat to sink completely from the time the boat was holed "until the masthead Windex indicator passed 18 inches in front of Eugenie's face on it's way to the bottom." [Source: Latitude 38 online] She had both inexperienced students and old salts alike on the boat. She repeated over and over the roles that each person would play in an emergency unknowing that these instructions would actually come into play later.

The crew was forced into the life raft that became swamped with water. They used boots and hats to bail out the raft. Part of the emergency gear was lost but the EPRIB and VHF radio were among the items that were saved and the Captain was able the set off the emergency beacon and radio a Mayday call. Although no one heard the Mayday on VHF, the Coast Guard, responded to the EPRIB beacon. They recovered the entire crew after 3 plus hours calling Capt. Eugenie Russell a hero for saving the lives of her crew.

This will give you an idea of the choppy wind waves. (This is a 38 foot Catalina named "Risk Taker)."

We decided to stop at San Quentin (pronounced kin-teen) due to the weather. We came into the anchorage at night and anchored pretty far out as none of us had ever been there. We thought that it would give everyone a breather from the nasty weather and we would all be able to sleep at the same time. However, it was very bumpy in the anchorage and none of us slept well. (When I got up the next morning I felt like a zombie again).

We pushed on to Turtle Bay first thing in the morning. Michael handed out Stugeron (a European motion sickness medication) for the ladies. I did some stowing and cleaning while everyone else got us going and then napped until I was good for something. After the nap I was finally on track again. (I am used to handling some rough waves and weather without being quesy unless I am ridiculously tired). After a nap Judy felt better too so the whole crew was finally in the groove (or as we sailors like to say, "the slot").

Sunset as we came into Turtle Bay. Cue the bird. Yay, we made it to the first official stop!

Time to party on the beach after a great night's sleep.




Arleen (white top and jeans) on portion control duty for the pot luck.


These are all the savages Arleen had to keep under control. Of course I can sense a buffet starting before it actually forms a line and was one of the first off the mark so I could take this picture before tucking in.

The Catalina Morgan 440 reunion!

(Left to right) Al and Allie from Fly Aweigh, Orlando (and Linda, not pictured) from Cuba Libre III, Steve from Current Affair (crewed with Cuba Libre III for the Ha Ha)...

and of course Jesse and I.

(Linda, lower right is in this one).

Michael and Judy hanging with the 440 crowd.

Miniature Catalina 42 reunion, Michael and Judy have a 42 back in Alameda as well as Roger (right).

I lost half of my beer getting Michael to wave for the photo. I had the camera in one hand and the beer in the other and well, I waved. Jesse who was next to me got soaked as well. :)

Michael's view from the hill.

Shopping at the local mall.


Views of the desert and bay.

"I love you guys." Judy and Michael make a new friend.

Dingy row. We took the ponga (water taxi) at $3 a head to avoid dealing with the dangerous surf when there was an audience.

Nice shorts, Alan! Alan (red shorts white tee) is the harbor master of Alameda's Marina Village and moved us into our favorite dock, Dock 11 in 2006.

Jesse with Carol from Evergreen.

There's trouble, watch out guys they're plotting something.

Judy and Michael's trip to shore.

This is the sight that greeted Judy and Michael going in. It is quite an improvement over last year. The randomly ending stairs weren't there, just the rustiest, backward leaning ladder complete with a hole at the end of the dock that you had to dodge as the dock floated in a not so peaceful zig zag. Oh, and there was a moving rope that threatened to scrape you off the ladder as you climbed. Funny stuff. See the 2008 Ha Ha blog.

Later in the day, gasoline for the dingy and generator was delivered to our boat and Judy gave a pink scarf (part of her Halloween costume) to the lovely little girl who had accompanied her father.

Time for Mexican Train Dominos and then some.

At Sea

It was a hell of a day at sea, sir! Rough weather and fish! That pretty much sums it up. Judy and I were a little queasy and spent a fair amount of time napping to over come it. Jesse and Michael stayed up in the cockpit fishing/sailing. Jesse caught the first fish, a nice Skip Jack tuna.

Shortly after Michael caught a Dorado (Mahi Mahi).

I am the "Fish Killer." I have always been the "heavy" and attempted to do the fish in quickly and completely. There was advice from others that cheap vodka poured inside the gills works instantly. While at Trader Joe's I purchased cheap rot gut vodka and was ready to wade into the fray for some fish killing.

36", which is the most common size for a Dorado.



While messing about with the Dorado Michael tossed the hand line out to get it out of the way and you guessed it, "Fish On!" He pulled in a nice Bonita tuna.

I expected the cat to be interested in the live fish, turns out he likes the canned kind and not so much the jumping kind.

The local marine life heard a rumor that Judy was coming through and this little guy sacrificed himself so she could have fresh calamari. He actually jumped on deck for the honor.

Blurry picture, I know, but it's all I have for this part of the adventure. That evening while the day's catches were fresh, I cooked them up to sample. Yummy!
Thanks Judy for providing almost all of the photos for this entry (and for a fair share of the other photos in other entries as well), my inventory was spotty at best for this part of the journey.