Monthly Archives: August 2009

Reflections on How We Have Changed Since We Were Last in Ensenada

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This morning we went out to breakfast as soon as we got up at another favorite restaurant of ours, El Rey del Sol, in downtown Ensenada. It is also just a few blocks from the marina, but in the opposite direction from Los Veleros. The marina is built next to a river, and we noticed a different kind of dredging machine in the river. Eric wants one.

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We walked by the new construction near the marina and were kind of surprised to see that little is done beyond the frame. This project has been planned for several years now, and grading work had begun while we had Kosmos here. And, come to think of it, the sign was gone. There used to be a big sign saying a museum was going to be built here. We wonder if that means the museum project has been abandoned.

Along the rest of the walk, everything else looked much the same. Several buildings were occupied by different businesses than before, but the buildings still look the same. There are a lot of coffee houses now. Coffee houses must be the new rage.

The restaurant was Continue reading →

Welcome Back to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

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It turns out that the change in wind direction last reported was part of one of those convergence zones. Around 0100 this morning, the wind had picked up to 18 21 knots and the seas followed suit. It was still coming from the port forward quarter, but we were bouncing around like crazy and getting a lot of sea spray on the windows. Sigh. Then at around 0300, we passed out of the zone and all went back to being status quo. Actually, today may have even been a touch smoother overall than yesterday. We find the windy patches along this coast to be really weird.

The most odd thing that happened today was a private jet flew by so low that it showed up on radar. It was definitely flying at less than 1,000 feet, and maybe was even as low as 500 feet.

We were all in incredibly high spirits all day. Christi and Eric were on cloud nine, really. The stars have to have aligned for us for this run, because everything about this leg has been so perfect in every way (except Trevor being sick, of course). The amazing weather. Completing the Baja run in about 1/3 to 1/4 of the time we had anticipated it would take since we didn’t have to stop. Seeing the whales. And now we were literally counting the minutes until our circumnavigation was complete. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, it did. We got word from Eric’s company that a project he has worked on for the last 8 years has finally come to fruition. Wow. His project and our circumnavigation are basically done the same day. That is just unbelievable! It is seriously too good to be true! As you can imagine, after we got that news, we were beyond elated. And Trevor was so excited to be sharing the joy with us.

At 18:29 exactly, we officially reached a point we had been to before. We crossed the circumnavigation line, near the island of Todos Santos at 31- 46N and 116-46W.

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It’s real. We did it.

Our chart plotter numbers each and every waypoint we enter into it. After we got to that mark, we made a course change to follow our previous line back into Ensenada harbor. That was waypoint number 892. Once back on the line, the next course change was at waypoint number 6. Number 6! It seems like a lifetime ago in Continue reading →

Cabo San Lucas to Ensenada — Days 3 and 4

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Day 3

This morning the ride was even better! There was no wind chop at all and the swells were small and widely spaced, making the hobby horsing was definitely less severe. The water looks silky from the lack of waves. But more importantly, with the better sea conditions, Trevor finally snapped out of his sea sickness completely. He was lively and full of energy all day. What a relief!

When we checked the weather forecast this morning, it said Continue reading →

The Dreaded Baja Bash — Days 1 and 2

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Day 1

Eric and Christi woke up this morning at 0100, having gotten only 3.5 hours of sleep. We immediately went to work getting the boat ready to go. We decided to let Trevor sleep for a little longer, but we got him up an hour later and had him help us.

We mentioned in yesterday’s post that the wind completely died in the evening. The forecast said the calm would last a couple of days. We were taking advantage of this opportunity to make a 36 hour run up the coast to the next suitable anchorage, Magdalenda Bay. We were all feeling pretty grim as we prepared the boat for sea. We have been dreading this last leg for so long, and now it was finally time to face the nightmare.

We pulled up anchor at 0300. The moon was half full and provided decent visibility. There was zero wind as we pulled out of the bay and headed towards the notoriously evil Cabo Falso, the very tip of Baja California. Cabo Falso is a notorious wind tunnel where the wind blows much, much stronger than anywhere else on the run. Many boats get stuck there for days and even weeks because the wind there is often just too strong to make rounding the peninsula possible.

As promised, as we began to round the peninsula, the wind instantly jumped Continue reading →

Exploring Los Cabos and Its Food

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Continued from yesterday”¦ The grocery store was in another new and posh, though much smaller, mall. Most of the people in the mall were gringos (white people). The grocery store is like a Super-Target, with a humungous selection of food, house wares, clothes, etc. We did a quick stock up, then Patrick took us to see the brand new marina that they have just built in San Jose del Cabo. We didn’t even know the marina existed. It is very nice, but the marina prices are ungodly in this area. The reason we decided to anchor out was because a slip in the Cabo San Lucas marina would have cost us $250 per night. And this new marina is not much less expensive. Here is a shot of it.

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We met the dock master. It just so happens that he wrote a book on how to do the Baja Bash, so we bought a copy from him. Knowing we have a book full of pointers is making us feel a little less nervous about the last leg.

Next on the “to do” list was to go to the airport to pick up Trevor, who is going to be crewing for us to Ensenada. It turned out Continue reading →