Howdy from Cabo San Lucas. It was a bit surreal coming into this highly condo' city after 10 days on the ocean. The water is gorgeous, but it's a loud, brash place. We left San Diego with lovely sailing weather and figured out that 2hr watches at night worked well for us. Deb easily slept during her off-watches, Jimbo not so much. Maybe because less experienced Deb woke him up when things got a bit dicey. Which was quite often in her estimation. The wind vane steerer was wonderful, as were the twin jibs in our downwind in big big seas nights. The radio chatter reminded us we weren't alone out there though we seldom saw other boats. Though it was tempting when the wind died, we didn't turn the motor on, even to charge the battery as Bob's most marvelous solar panel got us all the power we needed. After 3 nights and 350 miles, Bahia de Tortolas was a great sight. Plenty of room for 100 boats to anchor. Breaching humpback nearby, the only marine life we saw other than flying fish. Friendly little town, cold beer.
And on to Bahia Santa Maria, another couple of hundred miles downwind, 2 nights with variable conditions. Fast little Brainwaves stayed close to the big boys, passing lots of boats, but when the wind died a few times, we limped along instead of turning the motor on. Does this sound like a Jimbo thing or what?? Those twin jibs did prove to be the ticket when going dead downwind, worked well (maybe better) even with the main reefed or down.  Deb Liked this a lot--what's not to love about little possibility of broaching or unintentional jibes (of which there were plenty in light winds.)
Bahia Santa Maria---Aaaah. Incredible scenery. Gorgeous water. Tiny fishing village in the mangroves. Party there completely imported from La Paz. Super band, fun fun folks.
Last leg was only 1 nighter and was by far the most challenging. Big quartering seas, lumpy, dead downwind, 18-25 kt winds. A very bad time for the wind vane steerer to explode. On Deb's watch, of course. And at night, of course. Not fixable with stuff at hand so we were on 1 hr watches hand steering for 10 hrs at night and all the next day. Whew. And then the wind died within 20 miles of the finish line. Aggghhhh! Still we did not turn the motor on. It was dark by the time we came into the bright lights and tight anchorage in Cabo San Lucas. Very weird--like Vegas on the water. Excellent beach party put on by Ha Ha folks. Participated in the passionate kiss in the surf contest a la From Here To Eternity. Didn't win and spent the rest of the party with sand in my suit, but after many g&t's,  it didn't matter at all.
The boatyard here has been terrific getting a new part welded to not only fix our wind vane steerer, but improve on the design to take more stress without failing. Must have since our other self steering failed (hydraulics) on the 3rd day out.
Have made lots of friends we'll no doubt run into all over this side of Mexico. Especially enjoying terrific couple Grant and David from Portland OR. We are definitely not done with those guys yet!
We're off to Cabo San Jose tomorrow, only 20 miles from here, but nicer Marina, quieter town, good place to provision and hang out until the weather is better to cross over to Nuevo Vallarta.
Cheers!