Yesterday brought fair skies and a sweet breeze, so we pulled up the anchor and set sail for Magdalena Bay. If we’re lucky we’ll see baby gray whales nuzzling their mothers in this protected body of water. As we sailed out of Turtle Bay, whales spouted close in shore, the telltale sign of mothers and babies heading north. Hopefully a few late starters will be in the bay to greet us when we arrive (ETA before sunset on Wednesday).

We’ve had 24 hours of sailing, a mixture of “champagne sailing” in gentle rollers and a sweet, steady breeze, followed by long periods of harnessing the variable winds in confused seas (in the dark of the night, of course). An hour ago the sails started to slat and we started to wallow, so on went Mr. Perkins (as we fondly call our Perkins 4108 diesel engine) to power us through the confused seas and light wind. He’s loud, but a steady and reliable crew member since we had him rebuilt a few years back. (He had developed quite a drinking problem, leading to an unexpected refueling stop in San Simeon. Picture breakers, dinghy, fuel cans – not a pretty sight.)

I’m about to download the latest weather to see what the forecasters have to say about the chances of a sailing breeze. Ultimately we get what we get. The air is finally getting a bit warmer, so we can start to taste the promised land!