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Turtle Bay Schools Get Supplies From FUBAR Boaters
By: Capt. Pat Rains | Friday, December 14, 2007 12:00:00 AM
Last updated: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 3:55:00 PM

BAHIA TORTUGAS, Mexico — "Muchismo gracias!" said Lic. Silvia Arce, principal of Turtle Bay's elementary school, when she received about 1,000 pounds of school supplies donated Nov. 10 in this remote town halfway down the Baja California Peninsula.


   
Photo by: Pat Rains photo

Boaters Pitch In — Donna Grubbs of Dana Point collected school supplies for Turtle Bay students from fellow FUBAR cruisers anchored in the remote bay. The project netted nearly half a ton of gear for students ages 3 to 12 who attend the town's three schools.
 
For months, Donna and Haskell Grubbs of Dana Point collected cartons of pencils and crayons, student bookpacks, notebooks and other school supplies from their church members. While preparing Live Wire, their 46-foot Bertram, for the FUBAR powerboat rally, the Grubbs invited fellow powerboaters to contribute school items, too, rather than money.

"A lot of the FUBAR boaters are teachers or educators, so they really understood the needs of students in such a remote spot as Turtle Bay," Donna Grubbs said. "Some of these kids have to travel 20 miles just to get to the town, and the schools themselves have so little." She said the response to her first-time donation drive was excellent, netting almost a half-ton of badly needed school supplies.

Enrique's Fuel Dock volunteered its panga water-taxi to help gather the school gear from Live Wire and other anchored FUBAR boats. Russ and Isabel Harford of San Diego, owners of El Tortugo Tackle Shop in Turtle Bay, helped boaters offload the huge catch to El Tortugo's pickup truck on the beach. It being Sunday, the school custodian with the keys was out fishing, so El Tortugo temporarily stored the supplies in its warehouse next door to the elementary school.

Turtle Bay has three schools that educate children ages 3 to 12: kindergarten, elementary and primary. Principal Arce sent Grubbs an e-mail thanking the boaters for their generous gifts to the students, confirming they were shared among children at all three schools.

If you organize donations of school supplies for Turtle Bay and need to know how to deliver them in person, contact Russ or Isabel Harford at El Tortugo Tackle Shop in Turtle Bay; phone (011 52) 619-717-6839 or e-mail them at eltortugo_com@yahoo.com.

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This article first appeared in the December 2007 issue of The Log Newspaper. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.