Mexico At Last!!

Saying goodbye to Pete and Karene in San Diego

We left San Diego at 3 pm on December 4th, in the company of 4 other boats - s/v Kialoa (Tanya, Scott and Josh from Saltspring Island), s/v Namaste (John, Cindy and Journey from Seattle), s/v The Red Thread (Neil and Jessie from Seattle), and s/v Astraea (Nate, Natalie and Sullie from San Diego). Our friends Dean and Lynn from s/v Solastra (who are waiting for parts and hope to leave next week), as well as our San Diego-based friends Pete and Karene came to see us off the dock.  It was a great send off.  We sailed out of San Diego at a whopping 3 knots in 10 knots of breeze - perfect.  We officially sailed into Mexican waters at 7 pm.  

Crews of s/v Namaste, Solastra, Kialoa and Sea Rover II

After a beautiful night sail with an almost full moon, we arrived in Ensenada harbour.  We docked at the marina at 8am, got cleaned up, then headed over to the immigration/customs building to complete our visas and to obtain our temporary import visa for the boat (good for 10 years).  It was a surprisingly pleasant experience as all the different departments you have to visit are in the same building, so you just have to go from one window to the next. The marina gave us a step-by-step sheet explaining what we had to do, so it all went smoothly - and only took 2 hours!  Surprisingly they didn't want to see any documentation for Charlotte, even though I had the very official looking vet health certificate from the US. I guess I shouldn't complain, as we were worried she would cause us problems.

Raising the flag

We wandered around Ensenada in the afternoon.  It is an interesting place.  A cruise ship was in town so the vendors were out in full force trying to convince you to buy their crap.  We got very good at saying "no, gracias" as we walked the street.  We definitely don't need another T-shirt or shell that says 'Ensenada' on it!  I'm sure we were a disappointment to the vendors.  We lasted an hour before our senses had reached their saturation point (Mexico is loud) and we retreated to the solitude of the boat.  We have to venture back into town today to pick up a few groceries and to buy diesel.  This is our last provisioning stop until Cabo or La Paz, which could be as much as a month away.

We are extremely happy to be in Mexico.  We are still 900 nm from our ultimate destination, La Paz, but we are slowly getting there - one nautical mile at a time!