Avalon to Ensenada

Welcome to Ensenada! That's what the sign said as we motored into the harbor on Tuesday afternoon. It was a bright sunny and warm day. We'd left Avalon, on Catalina Island, 10:45 am on Monday. It was completely calm as we left the harbor. Barely a ripple on the water, but as we cleared the breakers we decided to raise the jib to see if we could get a little extra pull, and we did. We jump up about half a knot. Scott had that look in his eye and suggested we put up the main to see what happens. It would be the first time we used the main. Coming down the coast in 2011 was a motor sail. We never were under sail alone, except once and that was because we had engine trouble, but it was only for about 15 minutes or so and then only with the jib. This time it was full sail! We raised the main and put the motor in idle for about 15 minutes in the event of a problem. After 15 minutes, the decision was made to sail the boat with out the back up of the engine. Quiet! Complete quiet! It was breath-taking. I handed Scott the helm, the honor was his. He'd had a dream and he did so much work, it was only right he should be at the helm the first time out. His eyes shown bright with pride and accomplishment. I broke out the rum and we toasted him and the boat, as always a little for the God of the Sea. Thirty minutes later Scott handed the helm to me and he set to work on our self steering wind vane. It was a trade prior to leaving Portland and we didn't know how well it would work. Perfect is how it worked. It took Scott about 30 minutes to get her all sorted out, but once we engaged her she took over and we took a break. We simply had to check her course every 10 minutes or so and keep an eye out. It was a clear and lovely day. We only had to glance around every 5 minutes or so. We celebrated with a small glass of wine on the foredeck while Baron von Steern (our name for him, or Baron for short) did all the work. We normally don't drink underway, but we had a little celebrating to do and we were well clear of shipping lanes and land. The plan was to sail for about an hour, as we had light winds, but that turned into two which turned into 8 by the end of it all. After all we weren't in any hurry and we were making about 4 knots anyhow. Our plans had allowed for 4.5 knots just to be conservative on our time of arrival. We hadn't planned on doing so much sailing. The wind dropped shortly after nightfall and so did the main. We brought her down and tried to just do a little motor sailing. Then the wind started to vary and we were done with any sailing for the night. The wind remained fluky the rest of our voyage. We weren't upset, as it was a full moon. We could see for miles in every direction. While running the engine we thought we'd pick up a few extra knots and make up for our slowness during our sail. We did, but not enough to bring our average back up to the 4.5 we wanted, by dawn it looked as though we'd be getting in just before sunset. I hate night approaches to harbors we've never been in before, but it would be what it would be. Somewhere around 8 or 9 am the rum we gave the God of the Sea must have kicked in because we started to get a little extra push from the current. Suddenly we were cruising along at about 6 knots! We engaged Baron and were off and running again. During the night we had to hand steer due to the lack of wind, but only for about 7 hours of our full trip. Not bad! Coming down the coast in 2011 we had steered the entire 1500 miles we made. We were tired each time we made port. This time we were coming in much more rested, but a different kind of tired would over take us that evening. By the evening, it was obvious that the excitement and tension of preparing and actually making this first leg of our new life had taken a toll on both of us. We'd made it to Ensenada by 2:30 and were tied off in Baja Naval Marina by 3pm. We'd just missed the closing of the Customs and would need to remain on the boat for the night before clearing in the next day. I'm pretty sure we could have tip-toed out and no one would have cared, but as stated above we were tired and wanted to go to bed.

It was an early night and the morning even earlier. We've started to live by cruiser's mid-night. That means we are usually asleep by 2100 and awake by 0600. Well I'm awake by 0600, Scott is closer to 0730, but for those of you who know him, that's pretty damned early for him! We were up and excited as Wednesday would be our day to check into the country. I was nervous, but Rogelio, the amazing harbor master, came by and took us to his office for the first of our paper work. He handed us two two packets and told us which window to give which packet to. He took us through the process step by step and it was as easy as he said it would be, until I almost left without getting out “temporary import permit” a very important piece of paper for our boat. Legally we can now leave our boat in Mexican waters for 10 years. Scott pointed out I didn't get it and I'd simply forgotten to go to the Banjercito to pay for it and declare what items we had on board. No problem, to the window and the very nice woman behind it, 15 minutes later all done. All in all it took us about 45 to do all our paperwork and check into Mexico. Even the cats are checked in. As a matter of fact they didn't even ask about them, and I declared them on the paperwork. There is a new expression I've recently heard and Scott and I are beginning to understand “Welcome to Tim” or “This Is Mexico” and it's very refreshing. Everything seems to be so much easier and laid back. It's what we were hoping, but the hoop hopping that happens in the US had clouded our vision and I was expected things to be difficult, but what a pleasant surprise. Even upon checking into the marina I was a little surprised. When the harbor master got our info he handed us a key to the gate and said “enjoy your stay” I turned to him and ask if he'd like an imprint of the credit card or cash. He shrugged his shoulders and said “Why? I don't know what your bill is yet.” I walked out of his office feeling a little shocked by this attitude. It's the way I remember business being done when I was a kid. It's a feeling of trust and honor. What a great feeling. I think I'm gonna like it here and I better, because Mexico is our home for a good part of the rest of the year!

Fair Sailing my Friends!