Travels of TICA

Getting ready for Mexico

TICA is a Cabo Rico '38 sailboat. The owners, Will & JoAnn Gallant are going to sail down the Baja coastline from San Diego, California to La Paz and into the Sea of Cortez. The departure date will be sometime mid-November. The trip may take a month or more. We took a month and a half to sail from Portland Oregon to San Diego.

As we encounter Internet Cafes along the way we will update this page.

If all goes well we may see Costa Rica and go through the Panama canal in 2001.

NEW:Life in (Cabo) San Lucas

If you are forced to spend any time in Cabo San Lucas here are a few things that we found out that may save you some time.

Anchoring: Don't approach the harbor at night if you can help it. Clear the famous arched rock point by about 1/2 mile. There is plenty of water but there may be small tour boats plying the shoreline with divers, snorkelers and glass bottom boat viewing. Forget trying to go into the inner harbor, its full. Head for the anchor balls just North of the harbor jetty close to the beach. Circle around and wait for a panga from the Hacienda Hotel to direct you to a float. If you grab one don't get to settled, you may have to move to one meant for your sized boat. There will be a large loop hanging below the float. Loop your own line through it or bring it aboard. A mooring ball is $10 US per day. A panga will come out and collect or you can pay at the lobby in the hotel. Also bring earplugs. The beach music is extremely loud most nights. The alternative is to anchor out 1/2 to 3/4 mile North of the floats. It's a fast drop off though good sand. Some boats have not held because the tide and wind twists and pops an anchor off the sloping bottom.

Clearing in and out: No cost, except for a $5 port tax, but a long walk. With papers (and duplicates) in hand dinghy into the harbor, keep to the right, watch out for mooring lines in front of stern tied small boats. Heading due North in the harbor look for a sloping boat ramp and travel lift rail adjacent. Just to the right is a dinghy dock. Its never closed and there is no charge, despite the sign and steel gate. Don't park on the back side if extra low tides is expected. There is a faucet on the dinghy dock for water but I cannot speak for its quality. Its good for hand washing though. (The desalination plant is a block away, producing 40,000 GPD). The marina office is above the dinghy dock. No business here but there may be a weather fax posted on the window.

Follow the travel lift cobble stone street up to the main double wide street. Take your life in your hands and attempt to cross. Go right. In a few feet you will pass Latitude 22, best American food in town at fair prices. As you pass corners look up to see a Best Western Hotel sign. When you see it you will have the street, and be within 100 yards of a good bakery. In a few blocks you will see a McDonalds on the right side of the street. Keep going, on the left side, and watch for a small white building set back behind a fence and trees. This is Migracion. If you see a sign for a laundry you went 50 feet to far but you have found the laundry. (20 pesos per load or for 5 pesos more they will wash and fold). Next stop is Capitan de Puerto. Most government business seems to conducted between 9 AM and 2 PM. Some may be open Saturday but not all. Start early.

Ask for directions or back track about 3 blocks and follow 16th of September Street West about 6 or 7 blocks. The street ahead appears to T at a school yard but the office is just before the school yard. The office is a two story white building with blue letters. You may even notice direction signs about 5 blocks before you get there.

The next day plan on stopping at the API to pay the port tax and have your papers stamped (again). Have small bills, pesos, so you have correct change. The API is just inside the harbor on the left. Try taking your dinghy around and behind the dock servicing boats moored in front of a "marina store". There is a gate but you might get lucky. Walk right (West) around the coast guard compound to a two story building. The API office is inside closest to the water. Some souvenir vendor stands are out front. The cruise ship water taxis unload here too. You can walk here from the North dinghy dock but its quite a hike.

Upon checking out, go to the API to have six copies of your departing crew list initialed (why? Who knows?). Have receipts for mooring fees handy, if asked. Then go to Migration, then the Port Capitan. Then hang around till the weather looks good for a run up the coast or across the sea.

Fuel: No permits, papers etc., are required. Bring jerry jugs or motor into the fuel dock in the middle of the marina. Its well marked. Water is available for a small fee. Small enough that it's worth washing down the boat. The dust gets thick in a few days. Diesel and gas are available. Cash, credit or debit cards are accepted. There is a chandlery in the building up from the fuel dock, though blocked by a locked gate. When you walk around from the dinghy dock look for a dive shop. The chandlery and a (good but more expensive) laundry is next door, inside. The other chandlery is at the dinghy dock.

Necessaries: Just up the cobble stone street a half block from the dinghy dock is an ATM machine and Mail Boxes Etcetera. A Mexican post office is near McDonalds on the same side of the street. At the main street up from the dinghy dock, look left. In a block is a Hard Rock Café ( a tad expensive, but satisfying hambergers). Across the street from the HRC you can see a (pseudo) information booth. Behind the booth is a parking lot serving a good supermarket and internet café. The café has the only yellow pages for Cabo that I found. The information booths have free maps and a free sales pitch for time share condos.

North 75 feet from the internet café is a street corner with a payphone that seems to have volume. Buy 5 min Latadel phone cards from most money change booths. 5 min = 5 $ US. Dial 001 the area code and number. The minutes count down in the phones display. East a half block from this corner is a pretty good hardware store. There are several automotive parts stores within a few blocks of this part of town.

Eating out: All but a few restaurants on the main drag and around the marina are owned by the Anderson Group. They tend to hold their prices up to US standards. Get off the main drag a block or two and tacos with fixins are a dollar and Coke is 80 cents. If you use the mooring balls, run by the Hacienda Hotel, you may use their (cold) pool and outdoor shower just below the pool at the retaining wall. We tended to meet at 5pm at the patio of the hotels Cosmic Bar for happy hour, after sitting by the pool in the afternoon.

Travels of TICA

Getting ready for Mexico

The boat

Communications