It is nice to be on the seas again! We left San Diego around noon Sunday so that we could get to the Coronado Islands anchorage before sundown. A huge pod of dolphins was active in the San Diego bay – mostly too distant to photo. The Coronado anchorage is a somewhat open and uncomfortable place to spend an evening prior to departing for a morning arrival to our destination. We awoke at 3 AM and threaded our way through unlighted fish pens, then proceeded our uneventful voyage to Ensenada.

Ensenada is a lovely Mexican city (pop 279,000) with many foreign boats and boaters, and hard working Mexicans helping them. Instead of paying the marina to help us with our paperwork, we decided to do it ourselves, which gave us the opportunity to spend a portion of three days practicing Spanish and learning about Mexican paperwork and culture. Our immigration into the country was easy compared to the boat, which needed the previously prepared temporary import permit (TIP), arrival permission, and departure permission. We learned:

• Although Mexicans really like their copies, stamps and paperwork, they’re very polite about it. Those who didn’t speak English were very patient with my attempts to speak Spanish.
• Monday – In order to secure the boat’s arrival, first stop was immigration, then the Capitiano del Puerto (Port Captain) office stamped the form and provided an invoice to take to the bank. At the bank, a receptionist gave us a numbered ticket and we sat with everyone else waiting for our number to be called. At the counter, we learned we could only pay the fee in cash, so… to the ATM, then back to the counter. We returned to the Port office to discover they close at 2:30 PM.
• Tuesday – We returned to the Port office with our receipt, and added that we wanted to depart the next day. Back to immigration, and then return to the Port. We victoriously returned to the marina to present our “completed” paperwork and the marina told us it needed to be signed by the Port Captain (the person). It turns out the Port Captain only comes in from 1-2 PM during the Christmas holiday week.
• Wednesday – We returned to the Port office for a friendly scolding about leaving with our unsigned paperwork. We left the paperwork with the Port office to await the Port Captain’s signature. We planned to return at 3 PM with the hotel’s shuttle, but fortunately the driver spared us (or him?) the trip and brought our signed arrival and departure documents to the marina office.

We enjoyed our walk through Ensenada and have also enjoyed some nice meals during our visit. Costco looks the same, although the signs are in Spanish, and the guards servicing the bank ATM have machine guns.

We’ve met some wonderful new friends at the dock. Bud has adventured on MV (motor vessel – a sacrilege) Reel Dreams for the nine years. Remi & Ann are on a catamaran and hope to make French Polynesia next year, where they can stay as long as they want because of their dual US-French citizenship. Nick and Annie have been on SV Narnia for a couple years, and expressed their sincere appreciation for the help that Nico and Aaron provided at Longship Marine in Poulsbo! It’s a small world.

The prevailing winds along Baja’s west coast come from the Northwest, which over time have created bays and inlets that are protected from the those winds. This week, the winds have been from the south, so we’ve been waiting them out since we don’t want to sail with the wind against us into unprotected anchorages. We’re leaving later today to sails/stops – San Quintin – Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay) – Bahia Magdalena – then around the tip at Cabo.

Merry Christmas to all! We hope that you enjoy the holidays with friends and family. We look forward to 2024!