SUMMER IN THE SOUTH
The big photo above is of the outer harbor and beautiful downtown Cabo San Lucas, gateway to cruising in Baja. Last February, Max Zenobi and his wife, Vera, left Sausalito in their Bounty II yawl. Maverick, bound for points south and perhaps Italy where Max’s father lives. By the end of February, Max and Vera arrived at Cabo San Lucas and entered Baja. It’s 8 months later, and they still haven’t found their way out yet. Rather than sail halfway around the world, they kicked into ‘cruising speed’ and sailed halfway up Baja. Late in the summer, Vera and Max
took turns coming back to San Fran¬ cisco, getting their visas renewed, work¬ ing a little for some cruising money, and getting grossed out by city life. Max was a little jumpy while he was up here; because it was hurricane season in Baja and Vera would be alone with the boat. He needn’t have worried. Although Vera is under 5-ft. tall and weighs less than 100 lbs., the former floor broker on the Pacific Coast Ex¬ change had really taken to the boat. After it had rained 16 inches in one day and the anchorage got sloppy, Vera simply singlehanded the boat up thg
coast to another anchorage. She chang¬ ed the oil and replaced the spark plugs, too. The photo at right is of Max and a yellow fin tuna (Max is the one wearing the baseball cap.) It’s at Puerto Escon¬ dido, which means ‘hidden harbor’ in Spanish. It’s an appropriate name since the anchorage is hard to find, but for sailors in the summer, finding it is well worth the trouble. Summer is the hur¬ ricane season ‘in Baja, and Puerto Escondido is reputed to be among the most secure hurricane harbors. Paradoxically, hurricane season is the
