One of the most frequently asked questions we received in California* is “Are you doing the Baja Haha?”. For the non-boaters, this is a group of boats that leaves San Diego and loosely travels together to 3 set anchorages in a relatively fast pace to get to Cabo San Lucas (the 3rd and last anchorage). We have friends who are part of this rally and can think of lots of good reasons to go.
We give a lot of polite answers but our main reasons for not going are that we like to sail and consequently we like to pick our weather so that we can sail** AND we didn’t want to move so fast down the coast only hitting 3 stops. As it turns out, we’ve been booking down the coast. Not as fast as the Haha but faster than intended because we wanted warmth all day, sunshine, and warmer waters.
Despite not attending, it was very fun to sail overnight from San Quintin to Cedros Island in the company of the Haha boats. Why? Because we are shameless eavesdroppers. We keep our radio on scan when we are surrounded by boats which means that whenever someone starts chatting our radio stops on that channel and we can listen in. The old telephone “party line” is a part of life in modern cruising because of the use of VHF and HF radios.
We arrived in Turtle Bay the day the Haha left this anchorage and would like to dispel the myth that they use up all of the provisions. The stores here have plenty of food. There is fuel. There is beer. I will say that we have found out that the prices, particularly of beer, but also of panga (boat taxi) rides go down when the Haha’ers leave. But, unfortunately, so do some of the small food stands that open just for their business.
*Incidentally, the most common question we get from Canadian cruisers is whether we are BCA (Bluewater Cruising Association) members. We are not although we’ve attended some of their talks.
**Carol and I have been percolating a post on setting ourselves up for sailing. To be written.
We give a lot of polite answers but our main reasons for not going are that we like to sail and consequently we like to pick our weather so that we can sail** AND we didn’t want to move so fast down the coast only hitting 3 stops. As it turns out, we’ve been booking down the coast. Not as fast as the Haha but faster than intended because we wanted warmth all day, sunshine, and warmer waters.
Despite not attending, it was very fun to sail overnight from San Quintin to Cedros Island in the company of the Haha boats. Why? Because we are shameless eavesdroppers. We keep our radio on scan when we are surrounded by boats which means that whenever someone starts chatting our radio stops on that channel and we can listen in. The old telephone “party line” is a part of life in modern cruising because of the use of VHF and HF radios.
We arrived in Turtle Bay the day the Haha left this anchorage and would like to dispel the myth that they use up all of the provisions. The stores here have plenty of food. There is fuel. There is beer. I will say that we have found out that the prices, particularly of beer, but also of panga (boat taxi) rides go down when the Haha’ers leave. But, unfortunately, so do some of the small food stands that open just for their business.
*Incidentally, the most common question we get from Canadian cruisers is whether we are BCA (Bluewater Cruising Association) members. We are not although we’ve attended some of their talks.
**Carol and I have been percolating a post on setting ourselves up for sailing. To be written.
Did you hear any of the "Set Me Free, Set Me Free this is Knot Tied Down?" talk? When they switched to another channel they changed to "Set Me Free" and "Tie Me Up" and were quite a riot to listen in on. That's what I did with my free time.
ReplyDeleteI *wish*. Sounds funny.
ReplyDeleteI'm still detoxing from my first Baja Ha Ha. It can only be described as "An Amazing Race". It's more than an event; it is a living example of true community.
ReplyDeletewrite yourself a note to do it at least once before you die.
CaptainHoward
Glad you enjoyed it and we've heard a lot of positive things about the community.
ReplyDeleteDon't think we'll add it to our life list though.
Thanks for this post! It was really helpful. We are leaning towards the "not going with" folks as well. We aren't interested in going that quickly and we aren't huge fans of massive groups of cruisers. But there is still an allure that has us considering joining... right down to the last minute. Cut off is in four days. Cheers, Kara
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