Hola from Ensenada!

You have no idea how weird and crazy saying the title to this blog is to me! Jeff is probably getting tired of me doing a little dance and saying "I can't believe we did this!".

We left Oceanside and had a bashing good time (not!) heading to San Diego. What a long day... 15-20 kts of wind directly on our nose and steep wind waves. Now, they were nothing compared to the WA and OR coast but we were now lulled into the SoCal weather - warm, soft winds etc... Not that day. We only made about 4 kts/hour by motor of the 40 mile trip. Yes, that calculates out to 10 hours. And, lets not forget the GIGANTIC kelp bed around Pt. Loma that stopped our boat in its tracks. Surrounded by crab pots and kelp it took a bit to get out of the area.

Just as we entered the SD shipping channel, along comes the USCG joyriding in their fast moving inflatable. I kept driving and Jeff chatted with them. Which consisted of:
Coastie: where you coming from?
Jeff: Tacoma, Washington
Coastie: Cool. Where you going?
Jeff: Eventually New Zealand
Coastie: Really cool!
And, that was that - have a nice day.  Just when we thought we passed all the obstacles of the day, we were greeted by another US Navy inflatable with big guns! Apparently a sub was coming out and we had to stay away. Duh! Why don't those subs just go in and out underwater - isn't what they do?

Anyways, we kept motoring through the busy San Diego Bay, past the many, really cool Navy ships, across a shoal area with only 5' below our keel and ended up at Coronado Cays Yacht Club around 6pm. A long day but the greeting on the dock from my brother, Charlie and his wife, Darleen, was so worth it! I remember telling him 2 years prior that we would stop by and see them on the way down to Mexico. And, here we were!

The next 5 days were a fantastic mix of Charlie showing us the beauty of the SD area, running around and getting our boat chores done, eating in fantastic restaurants and spending great time with both of them. They were so super helpful to us by driving us around to all the stores as we provisioned for the upcoming weeks. We had a blast at the SD Zoo, The Hotel Del, Balboa Park, The Mission and San Diego Yacht Club. Charlie has been stationed around the world for most of my adulthood - he retired 4 years ago as a 3 Star Admiral. This was a really special time that Jeff and I had with both of them. Thanks so much guys!

We left SD Bay for Ensenada for an easy overnight sail. The light winds died after a bit and we slowly motored south. Slow was key as we wanted to arrive in daylight. We entered Ensenada at Marina Coral at 7:20am and made our way to the fuel dock. As we were almost there, out of the fairway barrels a big 60' powerboat that nearly hits us as he cuts us off to rush to the fuel dock ahead of us. Yes, assholes are in in all countries (he was from Marina Del Mar, US). We docked and made our way to the office. Jesus was super confirming that we had all the paperwork already sent to them for clearing customs. A fee of $60 is well worth having local assistance with the process. We both agreed that a bit of money helps ease us into the ways of entering and exiting foreign countries.

There are a few boats here from the Baja Haha (160 boats that travel together to Cabo San Lucas) but its a fairly quiet marina. Until 10 pm that is, when the kinda weird "outdoor nightclub" on the rock jetty gets rolling.I was dancing in the cockpit to their jams as Jeff just shook his head. But, I couldn't dance all that long and we retreated to bed finally with earplugs. Today we explored downtown Ensenada and picked up a few last groceries. A nice relaxing day before the push down the coast.

Tomorrow, at 8 am, we head for customs to do the bureaucratic dance! Then a 300 mile, 3 night passage to Turtle Bay. From there, its 250 miles to Bahia Magdalena then another 220 to Puertos Los Cabos (20 miles past Cabo San Lucas). That will probably be the next time I get enough good cell coverage to add another post.

Hasta La Vista!
Fran and Jeff