Monday May 15th to Tuesday May 16th from Dana Point, USA to Ensenada, Mexico – We wrapped up at Dana Point with our 50 hour oil change on the engine, transmission, and generator with help from the commissioning staff. Pictured are Glenn (left) and Joe (right).
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Now it was time for an even longer voyage. How about an international trip taking place mostly at night?
A 16 hour trek to Ensenada would do nicely. Ensenada is a fun place and has the bonus of inexpensive marina rates and fuel. It is a great place to keep the boat as we finalize a place in San Diego.
Jeff Merrill and another experienced power boater, Tom, came along to help Eric get Kosmos to Ensenada. Since Jeff and Tom had to get back to Dana Point, Christi drove her car down to pick them up after we arrived. So it was Eric, Jeff, and Tom as the intrepid crew.
We departed around 4pm from Dana Point. We rotated watch, 2 hours on, 4 hours off. It worked great and Kosmos ran beautifully. We enjoyed calm seas the whole way. Radar helped guide us south to our destination. The autopilot steers the boat, so the person on watch’s main job is to scan for other boats and check that all systems are working normally.
But it appeard as if something was wrong with the radar. During our previous trips the radar would easily lock on to targets, even small little sailboats, with Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA). ARPA then tells you how close the target would get based off of our course/speed and their course/speed. Yet in the far distance we had a sporadic target. It would seem to lock on, but then lose it. Then nearby it would find it again. As we got a bit closer we soon figured it out. It was a helicopter! It was zooming around in circles, probably 100 miles an hour! No wonder our ARPA had some trouble.
Quiet Kosmos attracted several porpoises. We had the pilothouse Dutch door open. We knew they we present when we could hear them breathing through their blowholes. As the moon rose and shimmered on the mostly flat water, it was a pleasant moment to be sure.
Here are Eric and Tom just before we arrived around 8am.
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And here is the view coming in to the harbor.
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There is a partially sunken ship here, which is a favorite spot for the sea lions. Many were sunning their flippers in the early morning. It was quite a sight. From a distance we thought it was part of the sunken ship.
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Jeff made a great breakfast and was chipper as can be after a hot shower and a couple of super caffeinated Starbucks lattes.
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Here we are after securing the lines. Jeff has been our faithful and steadfast mentor. Jeff’s expertise and guidance has been instrumental in our travel plans. Thanks Jeff!
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But not quite time to rest just yet. The captain of the vessel, Eric, had some special duties. They were to clear into the country. This involves various paperwork and a visit to several officials in Ensenada. The paperwork included visas, proof we own the boat, customs, and other misc. forms. It took a little while, and unfortunately Eric overlooked one step and had to go back. Overall not too bad.
And here are the three voyagers after a successfully docking of Kosmos.
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Special thanks to Tom for all his help and great advice.
So now we hope to do a couple things. First is getting familiar with the boat. While we went through a solid week of hands on training, there is still more to learn. Also, we have to organize items and gear for the boat. It is not quite complete yet.
The second part is having some fun! You can bet we plan to relax and enjoy the boat. We hope it is a great rally point for friends and family.
eric,
looks like you are at Cruiseport?
Regards,
kurt
Eric and Christi–Congratualations. You must be so excited. It’s great sharing your experience. We’re about two years behind you, so it’s great to live this vicariously! Are you going to keep the boat in Ensenada for some time?
We got a great taste of the N43 experience last week by hitching a ride with Josef and Patrick between Monterey and Half Moon Bay. Made us want to speed up the clock to the day N4332 is delivered.
Have a great time!
John and Erick
Cruiseport is currently the spot. We plan to be in the Ensenada area around 3 to 4 months or so.
Christi and I can completely relate with John and Erick, we also waited about 2 years since we saw our first 43. We can tell you it is worth the wait getting your very own 43. 🙂
Eric and Christi-
Wow, nice job im so proud of the two of you for following thru on the first phase of your dream! I am also happy to see how grateful you are towards Jeff Merrill and the rest of the crew at Nordhavn. I can tell by the pictures that you are making friends and memories that will last a lifetime.
Keep it up-
Ron
Now I see what you’ve been up to the last couple of weeks. Cruising all over Southern California while the rest of us were stuck back at work. Slacker! 😉
The adventure begins! Congratz on the boat. Hopefully I’ll get out to Cali soon and we can catch up.
Eric & Christi-
Cragratulations!!!! All those trips to Dana Point seeing the other hulls come in …. finally you have your Kosmos! I know how much planning and prep work you have done not to mention the crewing for others you have done– its awesome to see your dream materialize. I am sooooo looking forward to sharing a small part of your dream with you. Absolutley pen me in for “crew” on the Tahiti to Figi leg of the world cruise! As for my prep trip –name it I am there, I can’t wait!!! 🙂
Fantastic acheivement ! and you have only just begun. It,s really encouraging to the rest of us sharing your dreams to see that it can be done! And in some style by the look of Kosmos and the breakfast being prepared! Cant wait to see a N43 for real.
We are even greener with jealousy now.!!
Eric & Christi-
This is awesome! It’s ganna be a great boat for fishing! I can see all the yellowtail on board now 🙂
Christi and Eric,
How EXCITING! After reading the descriptions in the latest updates, one can’t help but become inspired to sign up as part of the crew! What a beautiful boat — inside and out!
BRAVO!
Congratulations on your new boat Eric…
When are you leaving on your world tour..?? Have you thought of web satellite connections…?? I have heard web satellite connection is rather expensive..
Later
Randy
Randy, the “Our Plans” page has some details for you.
Regarding satellite communications. They can beexpensive. However, e-mail can be done cheaply through SSB radio, or pretty reasonably on sat phones. True “web browsing” connectivity in the open ocean requires some specialized satellite hardware and is quite expensive. Search for “KVH”. Many cruising destinations have Internet cafes. Since most of our time will be on land, we are not too worried about Internet access at the moment.
Greetings Eric! Roberta and I had dinner with you prior to the NAR. It’s good to see you finally have your boat. We look forward to meeting up with you somewhere.
Ken and Roberta Williams
Ken and Roberta! We of course remember you. We read all your NAR posts and have been checking the progress on your new boat, which is looking awesome!
We are very much hoping we can meet up somewhere. A goal of ours is to meet up with as many NAR participants as we can at various locations. Even though our participation in the NAR was small, it was a special event for us, and a crucial step in us committing full force with our plans to get Kosmos.