Ensenada; My View

My sister asked me what Ensenada is like, in an email. I have been thinking of that ever since. Dave and I have been in Ensenada since September 30th, a month now. I have sat on my boat observing the employees, the people that walk by the gated boat yard, and I have walked down many of the streets. Instead of answering my sister in an email, I decided I would answer her in my blog and share it with everyone.

Let me say I haven’t noticed a lot of differences between their lives and ours. Language may be a slight barrier, but if you look beyond that, they are striving for the same things we are. They want to provide for their families, make a decent living and have a little fun. You have your hard working, honest people, and then you have others who would take whatever from you in a heart beat and never look back. I have seen a little of both. Because the cruise ships come here, a lot of the venders on the street try to get as much from you as they can by letting you think you are getting a good deal. For instance, I went shopping for Christmas gifts. I saw shirts I was looking for and asked the vendor how much? He said they were $25.00 dollars each. I asked him about sizes and he eventually got to the sizes I was looking for. He showed me one shirt I really liked, but I wanted another one and didn’t want to pay $25.00 for each shirt. So I asked if he would sell me two shirts for $25.00. Big mistake on my part. I should have said pescos. He told me yes. He was talking dollars and I was thinking pescos. I was thinking I was getting a good deal. He showed me another shirt in a different color and size, I liked it and now I have the two shirts I want. I gave him 250 pescos, $25.00. He was working on the old exchange rate of when it was 10 pescos to our dollar. The current exchange rate now is 13. So here I am thinking I got a good deal but in fact he ended up getting a great tip. I didn’t realize what had happened until later. I should have only paid 200 pescos, which is $20.00. Lesson learned. When they say dollars you ask how much in pescos and make sure you are getting the current rate. Better to use your credit card because the bank will give you the correct exchange rate. But this too needs to be watched. You can't let your card out of your sight during a transaction. There have been several reports of people using their cards in restaurants and end up having unexplained charges on it. You always need to watch and know what is going on. That is pretty typical any where you go really.

In town on most of the streets traveled by gringos (Americans), there are panhandlers. They even have children coming up to you asking if you want to buy something. This isn’t that different from the large cities at home and in Canada, except you don’t see children on the streets. The further away I walked from gringo gulch, (tourist alley), the less of that I saw.



Because Ensenada is a cruise ship stop, they get thousands of people looking for souvenirs. They also want the American dollar because they can exchange it at a higher rate. Stupid, they are not. When the tourists come into town and see children begging or the panhandlers have their little babies with them, it tugs at the heart strings and people feel sorry for them and give them money. On one of my walks into town, I passed a woman sitting on a step in front of a building, holding a baby in her arms. She was asking for money to feed her family because they were hungry. That kind of stuff does pull at your heart strings. I have witnessed, that when the cruise ships aren’t in, there are no children trying to sell you things and less panhandlers.

For the most part, I have found people to be friendly, helpful, and very courteous. Since our stay at Baja Naval,
in the boat yard and marina, we have been treated very well with friendly greetings, and they are always willing to help with anything we need. I have watched these men work, and they work hard. They bring bottled water to your boat to fill your tanks if you want, fill your fuel tank, and pump your holding tanks. Of course there is a fee. They don’t do it for free. Whenever a boat is coming in they are on the docks to help. I have only seen 2 women at the boat yard, but they work in an office and come out to ask questions or whatever. For the most part you don’t see them. The yard workers are men. Women play a very different role here in Ensenada. My observation, from what I have seen so far, is a woman is held in a different light. She is the mother to their children and that is an important role. I have found women working in an office, women do not do hard physical labor. I have found the men will always talk and joke with Dave, and only smile and greet me. I don’t take offense to this because that is the way it is. They are very respectful towards me. It’s kind of nice. In the boat yard, instead of yelling for someone, they whistle. They have different tones of whistles. Surprising enough you can hear a whistle over engine and other boatyard noise. It’s nice not to hear yelling. Lunch time is an hour. They eat first and then they play volley ball. They have such fun. Then on most Fridays, they have a volleyball competition, win prizes, and have free pizza and beer or soda. It’s such fun to watch them.












The men are family men. They help with the children, walk with the mom and kids at night on the promenade and generally show respect and love for their wife and kids. In the United States I see mostly women doing the shopping, taking care of the kids, and don’t see the dads. Here it is totally different. The whole family goes to the store together. Dad is usually pushing the cart and mom is putting items in. These people seem to be genuinely happy. They love music. There is generally something musical going on in the big area close by the yard here. Right now kids and adults are practicing every night with trumpet and drums for a competition coming up. You also can hear singing at night too. You see strolling musicians looking for someone to pay for them to play and sing.

The children seem to be raised to respect the elders and others. Little girls are treated like little princesses, and when they grow up and prepare for their wedding, they look like a princess.









The schools require uniforms and it looks like each school area has a different color. The elementary and grade school girls wear skirts to their knees and knee socks. The boys wear a white shirt with either a red sweater or navy blue. And their pants are black. The teenage girls wear plaid skirts that are short but they have to wear white or dark tights, and their tops are white with dark sweaters. Boys wear white shirt, dark sweater and pants. Only the wealthy can afford to send their kids to school since they have to pay for uniforms and books. The average person can’t afford it so their kids don’t go.

There are a few of the gothic looking kids here, but you don’t see many. Very few lips, eyebrows, and ears are pierced. They look like normal kids. Because San Diego is only an hour and a half away, there is a lot of influence that comes over the boarder in dress and such. You see some people on cell phones, but very rarely, and you don’t see people talking on them in the grocery stores or restaurants. I have seen one or two people talking on one while driving, but that is rare.

As far as disciple, I only saw one mom lightly pat her daughter on the butt. She was throwing a temper tantrum in the store and wouldn’t come when she was told too. Mom basically patted her, but you would have thought the mom beat her. Most of the time when a child is crying or complaining, the mom ignores them. When they stop, the mom then pays attention to the child. I’m sure it isn’t always like that. There are commercials dealing with abuse of children and showing the parent getting mad and then counting to 10 to gain control of them selves.

It looks as though everyone here has a sweet tooth. The french bread and pastries are sweeter. Their juices and brand of coke is sweeter. A lot of the foods are fried and they eat a lot of fish, chicken, pork, and some red meats. You have to be careful what you are ordering at a restaurant if you want red meat. Some of it could be horse meat. We had steak the other night that we bought at the Commercial Mexicana store, and it wasn’t as tender as what we are use to, but it was good none the less. I don’t think they grain feed their cattle. Of course you get refried beans a lot when you go to restaurants, and you can always find all kinds of beans at the grocery store.

You see a lot of couples, young and old, sitting along the promenade or in the parks, actually talking to each other . You see couples walking arm in arm, and kissing like people in love.




Unfortunately birth control is very expensive so you see girls 14 years old with babies and families with 4 or 5 children. Despite the economic hardships and conditions in which most of them live, these people seem happy. Most everyone has a smile for you and will greet you. Because of their economy hurting, when a cruise ship isn’t in, the owners or workers look frustrated and sometimes even desperate to make a sale. Or you just find those shops closed.

The country is proud of their flag and when it gets really windy the military will come out and take the flag down. Because of its size it takes several men and women of the Naval Base to keep the flag from touching the ground.







Reminds me of home when you are folding the American flag you respect it and not let it touch soil. After it is taken down, it is put into the back of a flatbed truck with the sides on it, and laid in their carefully.






I couldn’t see if they had a big bag they were putting it in or what the flag laid on. It was strange to see them handle it so carefully and then just put it in a truck. When the wind calms down the flag goes back up.

The police have a huge presence here. When they have their sirens on you had better figure out how you are going to get out of their way. I witnessed one night a man stopped at a stop light. A police car came up behind him with sirens blaring and the man had no where to go. When the signal finally changed the man was not sure where he should go to get out of the way, but eventually did. The police car was right on his bumper, literally.

The water is hard and it leaves spots on everything. Most of Ensenada’s water system sets on top of an aqua fir system, which is salt water, so the water does have a hint of salt in it. I have used it to make ice, coffee and boil it for cooking. People at the marina either buy bottled water or hook a hose up to 2 large housing units with filters, with another hose that leads to and hooks up to a water unit on their boat so they have fresh running water. The units are not cheap. Each housing unit costs about $16.00 dollars and each filter is about $6.00 or $8.00 dollars a piece. You could end up going through a lot of filters if you stay here a while. We have purchased 2, 3lb bottles, from Wal-Mart and when they get emptied we get one of the 5 gal bottles that they use in the boat yard. We fill up our two bottles and we are good for a couple of weeks. We have a filter that we got from West Marine we use to fill our forward water tank.

When you walk down the streets, you have to watch where you are walking. Sidewalks are uneven, and there are holes that aren’t covered. They are creative in making the sidewalks interesting. They use rocks to separate cement slabs and have used tile to decorate. It is interesting and fun to see. The buildings are cement and they have tile floors. You don’t see rugs anywhere on the floors. I believe it is because of the dust that accumulates. They don’t use vacuums; they sweep with a broom and use a mop to wash the floor.

There is a McDonalds, Starbucks, cinemas, Burger King, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, Office Depot, and Blockbuster Video. The further south we travel the less we will see of these places.




















I swear there are as many Pharmacies as bars. Just about every block you find a pharmacy, and not far from them is a bar. It’s kind of funny to see that.







At the Baja Naval Marina, we have a key that gets us into the boat yard to use the facilities. The bathrooms have warm showers and the walls and counter tops are pink marble, with the floor being white and grey.


At least that is the color scheme in the women’s bathroom. One thing they want everyone to do is put the used toilet paper into a waste basket instead of flushing it down the toilet. Their septic system can’t handle all that paper. You will find this all through Mexico.



The waste baskets are gathered everyday and a new bag replaces the old one. The interesting thing is, while we are here at the marina, we don’t have to pay to use the restrooms. When you leave the yard, all the bathrooms require a fee. Some places it is .25 cents, other places it is .50 cent.



I was told the charge is for toilet paper. Another thing we are offered at the Marina and boat yard are free calls to the USA. It is timed and each call is for ten minutes. They also have free wifi access, which sometimes doesn't work.

I have met some really great mexican people here. A lot of them have traveled from other places in Mexico. This was a wonderful place to visit.

From Monterey Bay to Ensenada, Mexico

9/22/08 – Monday
We woke up to clouds and a little fog. We have to leave today. We are running out of days to get to Ensenada for our haul out. The weather is suppose to be small craft warnings, 15-25, but no gusts of 30. If the weather is correct it will only be a rough ride to Pt Sur and then it will calm down a little. The swells were pretty good. We got rolled around a bit which made it a little uncomfortable, but we managed. The seasick patches work well. We ended up cutting them in half because they made us so dry and sleepy. It has been working. At one point Dave wondered if he made the right decision to leave today. Whether it was right or wrong, the decision was made and we are here dealing with it. We passed Pt Sur and the swells and wind diminished, we had blue skies and it seemed things were going well. Then the swells picked up again and tossed us about and the wind was 17 knots behind us. That was causing the swells plus wind waves. It is a nasty combination. We knew at this point it was going to be a long bumpy night ahead. It didn’t disappoint us in the least. The wind played with us. It would calm down and we think things were going to level out and then it would pick up again. Needless to say neither one of us got a lot of sleep. The waves heeled the boat over to the left, then right, straighten out and start all over again. It was a dewy night so everything got damp. It was like it had sprinkled during the night. We let the auto helm work as it handled the waves much better than we could.

9/23/08 – Tuesday
Well we made it through the night without any problems. Hooray!! When the sun came up conditions improved a lot. I do have to say that even though we were being tossed like a salad last night, the sky was full of stars and a crescent moon shown on the water. It was beautiful. When we came to Pt Conception there was no wind and few waves and gentle swells. That is very unusual for here. This doesn’t happen very often. The Lord has been with us all the way. Thank you!!! We made it around Pt Conception about 6:30am. We are motoring to Santa Barbara. That is where we will stop for fuel and see if they have transient moorage for the night. I tell you – I never want to travel down the coast again. It really can be dangerous if you don’t follow the weather reports and if you are in a hurry. I understand from all the people we have talked too that the Pacific Coast is the roughest waters in the world.

It was sunny but as we got closer to Santa Barbara it turned foggy. It’s eerie when you are in fog and only have the radar to guide you. After awhile the sun was out again and it turned into a beautiful warm day. I didn’t waste any time changing into shorts. We arrived at the marina around 3:00pm, fueled up and went over to the main office to check in and get a slip assignment. When Dave returned to the boat a harbor policeman was with him to give us red tablets to put in our holding tanks. That way if we pump over the side they will see it and we will be fined. Luckily we don’t have to worry about that as we have closed the through hauls. They assigned us a slip that was right next to the bathroom with showers. Nice. Free showers too. Well you know you are in Southern California when you see palm trees. Santa Barbara is a pretty place. Since we are secure in our slip we need to figure out what we are doing tomorrow. The water here reminds us of the Puget Sound. Small sloppy waves.

9/24/08 – Wednesday
We decided to stay another night. That way we can get really rested. I think our next stop is Marina Del Ray. Then one more stop before San Diego.

Dave and I walked into town and to Sterns Wharf. There were some shops and restaurants for the tourists. Dave said NOAA use to have a tide gauge at the end of the pier and the pier use to be longer. There was a fire in 1998 that burned most of the pier and they never rebuilt it out that far again. Now that we have had a little exercise there is work to be done. I defrosted the freezer and got things picked up. This marina is huge with all sizes of boats from mega yachts to fishing boats. We did noticed though that the further south we go the less we see of fishing boats and more pleasure crafts. There was a sailboat race just before sunset. It was fun to watch and see all the colorful spinnakers.





























9/25/08 – Thursday
We woke to fog but if you looked up you could see the moon and stars. It was that low fog we call tulle fog that you get in the valley. We have to leave and get to Marina Del Ray. We thought we would just wait for the fog to go away. Wrong!!!! That would have been almost never. It lifted enough to where we could make out the markers in the bay, and you had to see them because there is so much shoal that they have to move those markers almost everyday to dregg the bottom. So you never know what the path in or out of the marina is going to be. We followed a fishing boat out and then he turned right and we went straight and we were on our own. We put auto helm on and sat on the side of the boat trying to see if there was anything in the water that would cause a problem. I didn’t wear a patch this time and I didn’t feel good. We didn’t have any waves or wind to speak of just fog. Don’t know why I didn’t feel good. It lasted until we almost got to the marina. We had to get 2 to 2-1/2 miles off shore to get out of the fog. But then we had wind and waves to contend with. 25 knots of wind behind us that caused big swells and wind waves. We were being agitated again. We had a couple of boats traveling with us and they were reporting only 6 knots of wind and going 9 knots. Hummm!!! We never saw either one of those speeds. It seemed to take us forever to get in. Because of all the rough seas and wind it took us longer so we didn’t get in until dark. Everything I have read is to not enter a port in the dark. We didn’t have a choice. So what we did was I was on the helm and Dave went down to read the coarse to me to follow. That was a little tense, but it worked. Being in fog and waves like that makes one really tired. Once we got settled and checked in, we had something to eat and went to bed.

9/26/08 – Friday
Well surprise, surprise, surprise. It’s foggy!!!!! Seems to be what the weather is going to be like until we get further south. Dave talked to a couple of local people and they said that once the sun comes up the fog burns away quickly. They were right. So we untied, got fuel and headed for Dana Pt Marina. It’s only 7 hours so it will be nice to get into the marina during the daylight hours. I feel much better today. I put half a patch on last night. One thing I can say is it has been warm. Even with the fog it’s warm. Nice!! Once we were underway, Dave called Dana Pt to make reservations for the night. Boy!!! Did we get a surprise. They don’t more anything over 40 feet. We were told their anchorage was full too. Well how do you like that!! We had talked to people that were from there and they said there wouldn’t be a problem. Guess again. Well that is a fine how do you do. Now we have to travel 20 more miles to Oceanside and that will put us in there at night. Oh yeah!!!! We got to see some dolphins. They like to play around the boat then they disappear. One thing I never saw before were seals on their backs with fins up floating on the water. That was funny. We are now by Los Angeles and there is a lot of boat traffic. We have to deal with shipping lanes. So we have freighters going and coming, cargo ships, sailboats going to Catalina Island for the weekend, and fishing boats. What a zoo. And all this in fog. It was really neat to see a large clipper ship come out of the fog. It was like a ghost ship.







We also saw an oil rig hazed out by fog.







There are a lot of those down the coast so when you see huge blips on the radar, figure that is what it is. The fog lifted a little and we could see other boats then it would settle down again and you saw nothing. It was a little depressing and it seemed as though we weren’t going anywhere. We were going 8 knots then slowed to 7. By this rate we won’t get to Oceanside until 7-7:30pm. Ouch!!!! Again the procedure was to have me on the helm and Dave giving me the coordinates to steer. He kept telling me to follow the blinking yellow light that looked like it was on shore. I thought I was watching the right one but as it turned out it wasn’t and the one I should have been paying attention too was on a buoy I almost ran over. Well you can’t run over those huge red buoys. I asked Dave if that was the light he was talking about and he said where and I pointed to the one off the starboard side of the bow. I think he almost had a heart attack. I missed it though so all turned out good. The problem with coming in this marina was there were a lot of lights on shore that mixed with the navigation lights and it was really hard to tell what was what. I think this was the most difficult one we have come into yet. When we called to report we were coming in we were told they weren’t sure if they had room for us. Not something we wanted to hear. Where do you go??? No place!! Well while they were trying to figure that out we picked a slip next to one of the boats we had been traveling with and stayed there. Dave went up and took care of all the paperwork and I secured everything on the boat and hooked up to electricity. When Dave got back we went walking to find a restaurant. We met some people that were doing the same thing so we followed them. We are at a fish and chip place. It was good. Then we went back to the boat and chilled then went to bed. This traveling stuff wears you out!!!! Especially when you can’t see the clear entrance to getting in a marina. YIKES!!!! One thing, we don’t have to get up early as San Diego is just 4 hours from here. We will leave around 8:30am, fuel up and head for San Diego. It’s about 60 miles from Oceanside.

9/27/08 - Saturday
WOW!!! Fuel is unbelievable here. $5.60 a gal. Everywhere else was $4. What a rip off. We only took on 20 gals. That will do us just fine. Oh yeah --- we have fog. Here is the view at the fuel dock. My favorite bird.





We should arrive in San Diego around 2:00pm. Haw!!!! That’s what we thought. We had to travel quite a ways off shore to miss the huge kelp beds that resided there. This is Point Loma as you enter San Diego Bay.





Then it was a straight shot into the bay. Well so we thought. There were boats everywhere going every direction. I had a vessel assist behind me towing a boat in, power boats coming across the bow, sailboats tacking back and forth in front of me which we had to slow down and change course because they weren’t changing their course. They need some lessons on courteousness. Maybe I just need to deal with it. Apparently this is the way they work down here. It was a straight shot into the marina, but only if there were no other boats to contend with. It took us twice as long to get in and then when we did get to the police dock there was no one there. The other boat we were traveling with was trying to hail them on the VHF radio and got no response. He tried calling them on the cell phone – no response. Dave did that too. What was going on??? Well we finally were told that the Police office was closed for the day and we couldn’t moor there. We asked where we should go and they were no help whatsoever. We got pissed and said screw it and found a slip and tied up. For some reason, the police office chose to close and didn’t tell anyone. Nice!!!! We walked up to the building and figured the slip we were in was o.k. so we paid our money for 3 days. It is $10.50 a day to tie up there. Not bad. There are other people who have hung on a buoy but they charge for that too and you can only stay there for a short time. So what we saw were people that had been on a buoy, come into the police dock when there was a spot available to shower and do laundry, then go back to their mooring ball.





We were at the first Marina when you enter the Bay to San Diego. Shelter Island. It was far away from most everything. The grocery store was too far to walk to, there wasn’t a bus service that ran on the island, but you could rent a car. We decided we didn’t want to do that. I had provisioned pretty good with pre-made meals so we weren’t too bad off. What we needed was milk and bread. So much for the idea of provisioning here. I’ll just have to do that in Ensenada. I can’t believe we are still in fog. This is really getting old.

9/28/08 – Sunday
It was nice to sleep in this morning. 8:00am instead of 5:30am. Laundry day today. I used a small laundry room that was within walking distance from the boat and the price was reasonable, $1.25 to wash and $1.00 to dry. After laundry was done, Dave and I walked to see how far it was to get off the island. Shelter Island is mostly Hotels, boatyards and brokerages. There were a couple of deli’s we saw but they were closed. We thought we could get a loaf of bread. Well it is Sunday so not surprised. I’ll have to walk in to town to find a store. On our walk we saw some of the large sailboats like they use in the America’s Cup Races. Impressive and they move. We have seen more Hunter sailboats here than we have at home. All kinds of sizes.

Today was a little bit of a downer for me. Just didn’t feel up to snuff with hardly any energy. I guess that is to be expected since we have been moving everyday almost and in some rough conditions. That’s enough to wear you out. I thought I would be jumping for joy to be in San Diego, but it was just blah!! I’m glad we made it safe and sound though. It was quite a trip. It’s like I’m in a dream. Well I think I will take a nap and I should feel better.

The nap did me good. I called family to let them know we made it to San Diego and we would be in Ensenada, Mexico on the 30th. The sun finally made its appearance. It feels good.

9/29/08 – Monday
We woke to thunder and rain this morning. That was different. As the morning wore on, the weather improved so I walked into town. I found an ATM to get money for Customs, Immigrations, and other check-in fees for Mexico. I found a small grocery store where I could get milk, bread, gin, tonic water and Excedrin. How do you like that???? Walked back to the boat. Dave was feeling like I did yesterday, today. We finally got the fuel rod he had been waiting for and he installed it. It worked like a champ. Hunter tried to tell Dave that the one they sent was the one that was made for the boat. Nope. It was totally wrong and with a lot of phone calling and frustration, we finally got the right one. So now he has to send the wrong one back. So I told Dave I would walk with him to the UPS store which wasn’t as far as I walked this morning. By this time it was pretty warm. We got that taken care of and went back to the boat. That took all our energy. We saw a carrier going out to sea and f18’s would fly over. We also saw black hawk helicopters practice their maneuvers. Pretty interesting and impressive.









Dave and I are beat. Going to hit the hay early.

9/30/08 Tuesday
We left San Diego at 6:30am. Sun wasn’t quite up yet. As we were heading out there was a huge cruise ship coming in. It is going to be a beautiful day. No wind yet and only some small swells. Dave calculated we would pull into Ensenada about 2:30pm. We are going to a Marina and boatyard called Baja Naval. We have made reservations to stay there and get the boat hauled out and painted. The labor is much cheaper and we heard they are very good here. Very persnickety about their work. You would have never known you were in Mexican waters if you didn’t look at the chart program. We saw some gray whales traveling north. One surfaced about 3 feet from the stern of our boat. Surprised the heck out of us. I saw his back and blow hole and then he was gone. He was huge!! It feels like we are moving in slow motion. We are not traveling at 7 knots like we thought we would. We were only going about 6.8 knots. This is going to slow us down and we won’t get to Ensenada until about 3:30pm. The wind would come up behind us and we would put our headsail out. That didn’t work as the wind shifted and the sail luffed. So we had to roll it in. We saw another sailboat that was close to shore and he had his mainsail out, but I think he was motor sailing. He was pulling away from us. Hmm. That didn’t make any sense unless he was just a very light boat. We even pulled our headsail out and tried that – nope. Didn’t help us a bit. So we continued to motor. I am so glad we are coming into port during the daylight hours. It would have been very difficult to find the entrance in the dark. As you enter the port there is a gigantic Mexican flag flying. Can’t miss that. It is pretty.

















Dave got a hold of the dock guy and he had helpers on the dock to help tie us up. It surges in the marina so you have to make sure your lines are tight and you have chafe guards on them. The dock man named Fabian, let us relax a little before we had to fill out papers. He came back to get us and we started the process. The customs and immigration office was closed so Fabian was going to do the parliamentary work and then the rest of it would be done in the morning. We found out that Fabian is from the states. He came here as a change in his life. That was pretty interesting. We can use their facilities, shower, bathroom, and a phone that is free. There is also free wifi. We were given magnetic keys to the gates of the boat yard and marina. Everyone is really nice. Most of them speak English. We celebrated with a rum and coke that we finally made it!!!! The weather is warm and nice. We walked down the promenade and saw the restaurants, fish markets and shops. We came back to the boat and cooked up some dinner. Opened a bottle of wine and relaxed.

10/1/08 – Wednesday
We have blue skies and warm weather. It is just beautiful here. We went to the office to see Roger and he would do the other paperwork and take us to immigration and customs. He charges $85.00 for that service but it is worth every bit of it. He can pull strings and get you through a lot faster than if we tried on our own. Plus with not knowing the language that would have slowed us down. So it was pretty painless. It cost us about $300 to pay all the fees, but we are legal now. Didn’t have the boat searched or anything. Roger took us back to the boatyard and upgraded our keys and told us where laundry was and good restaurants and such. Then we went back to the boat and just did nothing. I read and told a little nap and Dave wandered around talking to the people that have been here a while. There is a man that has been here for 5 years. Another couple has been here since June. They have work done and then they just stay. It’s a small marina but close to town. Paul, the man that has been here with his wife since June walked us into town to show us where the good places to eat, where to stay away from, and where the grocery stores were. Also the bus station. He warned us not to go out at night as bad things happen. The people may not be aiming at you, but you could get caught in the crossfire of a feud. Best to stay away. That is why I heard sirens during the night and none in the day time. We picked up a roasted chicken and some bananas from the store and went back to the boat to have dinner. We opened a can of baked beans and had chicken and beans. We were told that they are not big on red meats. You do better with chicken and fish. That is why there is a lot of fish markets around. $50.00 here would provision you for a week. A Carnival cruise ship pulled in this morning. It will be here all day and then leave. They say that the ships come in everyday but Sunday and Mondays. It was a really hot day today. I guess it broke a record. It was hot and humid up until time to go to bed then a little breeze came through. We left our hatches over our bed open and we have had air blowing through the boat consistently since we have been here. Even the locals were complaining a little. It’s pretty interesting. The cruising couples you hardly see the women and only the men periodically. I think it is because it is so hot. They do get out and walk to the store or ride with another couple that has a car here. But what is really interesting is no one is out at night when it is cooler. Dave and I sit out in the cockpit and enjoy the cool of the evening, smoke a cigar and have some kind of drink in hand and it is silent!! No parties here. Oh well. I was watching the cruise ship with all its lights on and noticed their radar was going. Figured they would be taking off soon. I went down below to prepare coffee and all and the boat started rocking. I popped my head out and saw the cruise ship was gone. It caused rollers to come into the bay. We were warned that we need to lock the boat when we leave and don’t leave anything out on the boat as it has a way of disappearing. Paul said he had two pairs of shoes disappear. Also you have to close windows that don’t have screens because they have some huge cockroaches that can get on board. And absolutely no cardboard of any kind on the boat from the stores. Not even cereal boxes and the like. I have read all this stuff and now I am experiencing it.

10/2/08 – Thursday
Well today is the day we get hauled out. I just got out of bed, got dressed and poured my coffee when the crew showed up to get us to the haul out. It was 8:00am. Beautiful morning. Warm with some breeze. When they decide to do something they don’t mess around. It is we are here so lets do it. The dock workers did all the lines and I stayed out of the way. Dave moved the boat around to where the lift was and the guys told us to get off and they did the rest. We watched as they placed the bands under the haul and lifted us out of the water. As they were getting ready to pressure wash her, we were invited to go to coffee and breakfast to a restaurant close by. There were 4 guys. We said sure and followed them. I asked where all the gals were and they said they were doing other stuff so I could be one of the guys. That was o.k. by me. Breakfast was good. We have found that it is better to have pesos here than American dollars. There are ATMs everywhere. It is recommended to use their local bank here. After breakfast we went back to the boat and they were putting the supports around her. So now she is up in the air and there are a group of guys sanding her and changing zincs. We should be back in the water on Saturday. We already have a slip assignment. So we are being taken care of. It is another hot one today. Another cruise ship has arrived. We witnessed their lunch hour. The guys eat then they have a volleyball game. Then it’s back to work. It is kind of neat to watch. It is going to be pretty tonight on the boat looking out over the marina and bay. Hey!!! I just lost power to the boat. They don’t warn you before they disconnect you. They had to unplug us and reposition the cord. No worries. So here we are---our own little paradise. Our dream is being fulfilled!!

This is the view from my boat in the Baja Naval boatyard.

Coos Bay, Eureka, Monterey Bay

We left Newport, Oregon, South Beach Marina at 7:00am, Tuesday September 9, in route for Coos Bay. A couple of boats left with us. The sky was gray and it was misty. As we crossed the bar, it got really lumpy with 10 foot waves. One power boat went out before we did and we met him coming back in as we were crossing the bar. He reported to the coast guard he was coming back and it was really rough conditions. We continued on. Just have to get to deep water before it settles down. When you leave a place that has a coast guard station, you report to them before you cross the bar to see if it is open, then when you leave they call you on the VHF radio and ask how many persons are on board and what our destination is and if we are coming back. This way they can send a search party out if you are overdue for coming back into the marina. We had crossed the bar and heading for deeper seas when a coast guard helicopter came out to check on us and the other sailboat that was behind us. He circled around us and then left. There was a third sailboat with us when we headed out, but they had to go back into the marina due to water pump problems.

The wave action was sloppy with 7 foot swells. Once we got to 300 feet, it laid down a little but we still got tossed around a bit. At that time we were about 15 miles off shore so we started heading toward shore so as to be 10 miles out. Still was a bumpy ride but not as bad. We rolled out our headsail a little to help keep the bow down and keep us from swaying all over the place. Unfortunately that didn’t help much. All the sail was doing was flogging around. So we rolled it in and continued on. This was the view from the helm in the morning.








This is what you saw from the side and behind us.








Dave was not a happy camper since he got sea sick again. He managed to cross the bar and then a little later he got sick. It is only in the day time when he sees the wave action that he gets sick. He functions better at night. We were really looking forward to getting into the Charleston marina, Coos Bay, for a good rest. We had been traveling for 12 hours. We could see the bar and it was still daylight so we were really happy to be going over a bar in daylight. Well we thought we were when the coast guard station report that the bar was closed to all vessels. They reported 8 to 10 feet swells with an ebbing tide. That makes for a rough ride in. Dave was not a happy camper as he really wanted to stop rocking and rolling. He called the coast guard to see what they would say if he challenged them and crossed the bar anyway. They said no to all traffic coming in and said the bar would open in about an hour when the tide changed. So in the meantime we had to do circles. This was about 5:30 – 6:00pm. There were 3 sailboats, including us, and 2 fishing boats that were waiting. The wind was coming up and the waves were getting bigger. We had heard it was suppose to pick up late afternoon so we wanted to get into a sheltered spot. The sun was setting and all hopes of getting through the bar in daylight went away. But not all was lost. About 30 minutes later the coast guard came back on the VHF radio and said the bar restrictions had been lifted for vessels 26 feet and over. Yahoo!!!! We cranked up the motor and started in. We didn’t have total darkness so that was a blessing. The bar wasn’t bad. We had handled waves like that out on the ocean. I was at the helm while Dave was down below in the cabin looking at and getting courses to steer to the marina. I had to really pay attention and drive the course Dave gave me. If I got off course the waves would swirl the boat around a bit. There were some good size rocks on either side of the bar at the entrance which you didn’t want to get close to. Since there was a lot of salt spray on the dodger windshield, it was hard to see the markers further away, but with Dave giving me compass headings it worked out great. We made it safe and sound and tied up to a linear dock along with another sailboat in Charleston Marina. This is south of Coos Bay. Our friends Ruth and Mike, who live in Coos Bay, met us at the dock to take us to dinner. We asked for a rain check as we were tired and really didn’t feel much like eating a large dinner. They offered to take us wherever we needed to go for groceries or anything else the next day. I told Dave we were both getting patches to alleviate feeling sick. Mostly they were for him, but I could use them too as I was a little queasy in large swells. Now for a good night rest.















Wednesday, September 10, we woke up feeling a lot better. Now it was time to call Group Health and asked for motion sickness patches. We had them send a prescription to Walmart in Coos Bay. With that chore finished, we spent the day exploring the marina and vicinity. We walked across a bridge to a marine store and bought a couple of chart books and some tarred seine twine so I can make nautical stuff like monkey fists, etc. When we came back to the marina it was lunch time so we went to the café across from the Marina office and had a sandwich. It was pretty good. Then it was back to the boat to tidy up and get ready for our next trip. Mike and Ruth came that evening and picked us up, took us to Walmart to get our prescription, took us to dinner at the casino. Food was really good. Afterwards we went back to Walmart to get a few groceries and they dropped us back at the marina and we said our goodbyes. It was nice seeing them. Tomorrow is to Drake’s Bay if all goes well. It will be a 2 day trip.

Thursday, September 11, we left our slip and went to get diesel at about 7:30-8:00am, After that was done we headed out and across the bar. The weather report said the seas would be a little bouncy for awhile and then calm down. Not much wind. We needed to get around Cape Mendocino before weather and sea conditions change. The motion sickness patch has made our mouths dry like cotton, but if that is all we have to suffer with and it helps with sea sickness, we can live with it. It’s foggy again.

Friday, September 12, we are still in fog and the wave action wasn’t bad. We did have some pretty good swells to contend with and ended up putting auto helm to work. It handled the waves and kept us on course. It was hard to steer the swells because it would lift the boat up, bring you down then spin you off course about 10 to 15 degrees. So you would have to come back to the course you were steering and it would happen all over again. Nonsense!!! It was foggy all day and night but with auto working, Dave and I took turns watching the helm and radar and knew we were on course. No worries. As we were getting close to Crescent Bay, we saw boats heading in that direction. We didn’t want to stop there. Heard it wasn’t a great place. It being quite foggy, and us being tired we decided to stop in Eureka. Around 10:00am we came into the Eureka Marina and tied up. Nice place. The motion sickness patches made us really sleepy so it was a good thing we didn’t continue. This gave me the opportunity to do laundry and get a shower. We saw a few of the boats that were in Newport with us, come in and either get fuel and leave or tie up for the night. We were looking at the weather and wave conditions and nothing had changed. It was still going to be 5-10 knots of wind and smaller swells. Some of the boats were staying 2 days so we decided to do the same. That way we would be fresh and hopefully not as sleepy.

Saturday, September 13, Dave and I walked into old town Eureka. It’s kind of a cool place. I had studied the map with things to see and do and wanted to visit 3 places. We did that and then came back to the boat. Some more boats came in to take a break. It was still foggy. We met a couple that lives in the marina on their boat and they invited us to have a cocktail. We had a nice visit. They want to go to Mexico next year. One of the cruisers we met in Newport tied up his boat in front of ours. Later that afternoon they invited us to have a beer with them. It was a nice visit. They are from Canada and their grown son was helping them take the boat to San Francisco.

Sunday, September 14, and we are ready to get underway, however the marina office is not open. There was supposed to be someone there at 7:30am so we could turn in our key and pay moorage. The guy that was in the office yesterday didn’t want to handle the money so he asked us to pay before we left. We were getting rather antsy. There wasn’t a drop box or anything to leave the key and a check. So Dave waited and waited. Finally around 8:00 someone arrived. We took care of business and then we were off again. It was around 8:30 now. It is still foggy but not so bad we couldn’t see a little ways in front of us and part of the shore. The swells were still pretty good size and the waves were all over the place. I couldn’t drive a straight course for anything due to the current. It was a real struggle. Dave did a lot better but he too struggled to keep us on course. The waves were square. Buy this I mean you had wind waves coming at you as well as regular waves, and you would go up on top of the wave and then crash down the other side. The boat would shutter. It was like being in a wash tub with waves everywhere. We hit a lot of those waves and wondered if we would ever get to better seas. As we came around Cape Mendocino the waves got a little better, but still had those swells. We rolled out the headsail part way to see if that would help keep the bow down with little swaying back and forth. It worked pretty well and became a smoother ride. I could even steer again. At 7:08pm there was no wind and the waves flattened and all that was left were gentle swells. Sure didn’t like the ride we had earlier. We buried the bow in green water a couple of times. Yuck!! We still have a long way to go before we get to Drakes Bay. It’s 25 miles north of San Francisco. We are only going 5.7 knots which is slow and it will take us forever to get to the bay at this rate. We need at least 6+ knots to make good time. We turned auto helm on and took turns watching the radar for other boats, and the other gauges and slept when the other person was on helm watch. When one person got tired, the other one would relieve them. It was a long night. We had fog and sometimes it was pretty thick. We did see lights of a couple of boats and then they would disappear in the fog again. Radar was the only thing we had to know where they were at all times. Dawn arrived and we still had a long way to go to get to Drakes Bay, but figured we would arrive some where around 5:00pm. As we were going along Dave noticed the fuel gauge was reading ½ to ¼ of a tank. This couldn’t be right as we burn a gallon of diesel an hour, plus back in Eureka we emptied 3 of our 5 gallon jerry cans into the fuel tank. The fuel dock there was only open until 3:00 in the afternoon and Sunday they were closed. We couldn’t leave our slip because we were kind of wedged in and it would have been pretty difficult to squeeze back in again. Plus we might lose our spot because more cruisers were coming in. The marina was full. So with the 15 gallons we put in, the tank indicator read ¾ full. Dave even questioned that reading, but figured it was o.k.

Monday, September 15, the waves and wind were calm and so were the swells. We still had fog. Dave was wondering how much diesel we really had so he tried to see it in the tank but couldn’t. He unscrewed the sender mechanism that goes inside the tank to measure the fuel level. We tested it and didn’t get a reading. Then he noticed it was cracked. Not good. Now we have no indication of how much fuel we have. So change of plans. We need to go to Bodega Bay to fill the tank and then we will know how much is in there by calculation. Dave called Signature Yachts to see if they could send us another senor and they gave him a number to call, so he did. It takes a week for them to make one. By then we should know where they can send it to. It was about 4:00pm when we pulled up to the gas dock in Bodega Bay. As we were fueling, we decided to stay there for the night instead of taking off for Drakes Bay. At least we know have a full tank and there won’t have to be any guess work. As we were heading for Bodega Bay, we got a visitor. A little yellow bird flew to the boat and settled on our dingy. Then he came into the cockpit. He had been flying a long time. He was really tired. He would walk around a little and at one point landed on my knee. Then he went to a corner and put his head under his wing. We tried to shoo him off the boat, which we did, but he kept coming back. This happened about 4 times. Since we were getting close to Bodega Bay I figured I would let him rest and we would let him fly away on land. Well he decided to explore and got himself under the panel that houses the auto helm mechanism. There is no way out. We knew he would die there. Poor little guy. After we got in at Bodega Bay we heard some of the other cruisers had the same experience. The birds must have just gotten out of the nest and maybe the wind carried them too far offshore and they couldn’t find their way back.









Tuesday, September 16, Dave retrieved the dead bird and we decided to stay another night. It was foggy and hanging on an anchor in Drakes Bay didn’t sound like too much fun. We decided to go exploring. We had been told that there was a grocery store about a 1.5 mile walk from the marina. So that is what we did. We got a loaf of French and regular bread and a big bottle of rum!!!

Wednesday, September 17, we left Bodega Bay at 7:00am for Half Moon Bay. It will take us about 8 hours. The sky was cloudy and the waters smooth. We had small rollers and that was about all. NO FOG!!!! As we were passing San Francisco, we could make out the skyline, but it was a little hazy. We ran into some ship traffic which slowed us down a little. No wind to sail, but we are in sunshine now. It is either blowing gales or nothing. That is just the way it is here. I was glad it wasn’t nasty. We saw porpoises play around the boat. That was a neat sight. We also saw the spouts of whales but they were too far away to get pictures. We got into Half Moon Bay around 5:00pm. We topped off our fuel tank and went to our assigned slip. Friends we met in Newport, arrived about an hour after we did, and once we helped them tie up and get settled, we went to dinner at the café just up the dock. They are leaving tomorrow for Santa Cruz and we are going to Monterey Bay. We will see them again somewhere down the coast as they are going to Mexico too. The Harbor at Half Moon Bay is called Pillar Harbor. Nice little place.

Thursday, September 18, we got underway at 7:20am. It is a beautiful sunny morning and so far the waters are calm. We get out to about 100 feet and all we have are small swells. Not bad. We thought we were through with seeing crab pots but NOOOOO!!! There weren’t that many, but it only takes one to ruin a perfectly nice day. We spotted them in time to avoid them. The wind started to pick up a little and before we knew it we had about 10 knots of wind behind us. We put out the headsail, but that was short lived. We need at least 15 knots to speed us up. We were coming up to Santa Cruz and the wind picked up a little more so we tried the headsail again. This time it worked and we were going about 7.4 knots. That was great. With the motor and the wind we were making good time. We had to get to Monterey before the fuel dock closed at 5:00pm. Having the headsail out keeps the bow from bobbing back and forth in swells. It was a nice ride. We saw more whales but again too far away to get a picture. I’m sure we will get more opportunities, as they are migrating north. We arrived at the fuel dock in Monterey at 4:30pm.












We made good time. We topped off the fuel tank and went to our assigned slip. It was a little tricky getting into the slip since there is quite a surge inside the breakwater. We made it though. We had a welcoming committee on the breakwater of sea lions. They are really loud. It is kind of fun to listen to them though. They sneeze and grunt and bellow. I called family to let them know where we were, then settled down for the evening. Dave and I took a walk to see where everything was at. Everything was closed except a restaurant at the head of the marina. It’s an early night for me. I’m tired.

Friday, September 19, the sea lions woke me up at around 2:00am. They don’t stay quiet at night. They take a rest and then will start up again. I managed to get back to sleep. Today we checked with the marina office to see if they have a package for us. They had one with mail in it from home, but the fuel gauge wasn’t here yet. I hope it comes in today, or at least no later than Saturday. We went into the marine store and got to talking to the guy about mail delivery and he told us how it works. So Dave called the company that was making and sending the part and they said they would check to see if it got sent out. In the meantime, Dave and I walked into town and by the Aquarium and Cannery Row. The Aquarium was $25 per person. Our budget doesn’t allow for such things. We weren’t surprised it was that much because it is huge, but we were hoping we could afford to see it. Oh well. As we were walking back to the boat, Dave got a phone call from the guy at the marine store telling him the package we were waiting for arrived. So we picked it up and went straight to the boat to see if it would fit. Well it fits but it is really different from the last one. Dave wasn’t sure how to hook it up. He called the company for help but they only return phone calls in the order they are received and if it is 3:00pm they don’t make any more phone calls. So he never got an answer. He tried a couple of things to see if it would work but they didn’t. So I guess we wait until we get to Ensenada. Dave is going to have to take all the items out of the locker to try and find what he is looking for to hook up a third wire. In the meantime we will have to keep careful watch on how much fuel we burn. While Dave was working with that, I defrosted the freezer. I was going to do laundry, but don’t have any yet. They are in the process of building a place for laundry, showers and heads. When we walked up town, we looked for a Laundromat. We did find one, but it was pretty expensive. So I decided I would wait. We are trying to find a place that has wifi, but haven’t found one yet. We walked to the public marina and asked there and they directed us to a couple of places. We walked and found them. I asked Dave if he was coming back with the computer and he said if he couldn’t get the weather and wave conditions at the boat with satellite coverage, then he would. Lucky for us he was able to get the information he needed to plan when we leave. Looks like we will leave on Sunday. The wind will switch back to the NW and be behind us. We are going to have some 7 foot swells and some wind waves, but it will improve Sunday night into Monday. Looks like a 2 day trip to get past Pt. Conception. Then we are free and clear of all the bad weather points. We will move the boat over to the public marina tomorrow and I will be able to do laundry. It’s clouding up here, but I think it is suppose to burn off tomorrow. I took a walk to the breakwater and saw the noisy sea lions. They look so funny. I also got to see a momma otter with her baby. They were on the dock just across from where our boat is. That was pretty cool. It’s neat watching all the sea life. I love watching the pelicans too. Dave tried to figure out how to hook up the gauge for the fuel tank to no avail and the company never called. So he was really pissed about that.

Saturday, September 20, woke to cloudy skies. Dave called the public marina to see if there was a slip available and there was. I took the key to turn it in and when I got off the boat there were 3 sea lions on the finger pier across from where we are just resting. They were also conversing quite loudly. As I walked over to the pier to go turn the key in, one of the males reared his head and just watched me. He was in fighting mode and was ready to protect his territory. I chuckled and turned to go up the dock when I saw a mama and baby otter on the dock to my right.






She was grooming herself and baby. The baby squeaks like a toy. The mom looked at me and figured I wasn’t a threat and kept on with what she was doing. It is so neat to see this stuff!!! I turned in the key and had a man let me back into the gate. I hopped on the boat and off we went to our new slip. I sure hope it is quiet. The sea lions have woken me at 2:00am the last 2 nights. Well we found our slip, got tied up and went up to the office to pay. They told us where we could hook up to the internet. We tried one of the spots and it didn’t work so well. We ended up going to a coffee shop and there we could log on for an hour. We ordered coffee and a scone for each of us and checked the weather, wind, and wave pattern. We left there and came back to the boat. I gathered dirty laundry and walked back to the office where there was one washer and dryer. I got right in. The price was very reasonable. $1.00 to wash and $.75 to dry. The sun came out and it was warm. Nice!!! While I was doing laundry Dave was trying to figure out about the fuel gauge. He didn’t have any luck. We’ll have to wait until we reach San Diego or Ensenada. When I finished with the laundry I took it back to the boat, put it away and made the bed. I also checked the bow thruster battery to see if it needed water. It didn’t. Dave gathered all the information we needed to copy for Mexico. He made 20 copies of the documentation paper for the boat, passports, drivers license, and insurance. We were going to take that stuff to the U.P.S. store but they closed at 2:00 and that was the time I finished laundry. The office said Dave could make copies there, so that is what he did. People have been so nice every place we have gone. When they find out you are traveling south it seems they are eager to help you. That is really nice. We leave tomorrow to continue down the coast. Last major hurdle.

Sunday September 21, Dave looked at the weather this morning and was relieved we are staying here. Small craft advisory off the coast. It would have been a miserable ride. Tomorrow looks at lot better. So we will leave tomorrow.








Yesterday afternoon we were cleaning the engine sea strainer and we heard water dripping. When you heard stuff like that you don’t shrug it off. It could be a major problem. So we checked under all the seats and pulled up floor boards but couldn’t find anything. Everything was dry. The bilge didn’t have a lot of water in it which indicates no leaks. Hmmm. It drove us crazy. So we thought we would check the bilge in the morning to see if there was a lot of water. There wasn’t. Well Dave walked up to the restroom and on his way back he noticed a faucet that was dripping at a pretty good rate. He couldn’t turn the handle at all, but he figures that was what we were hearing. Something little like that can travel through the water to make it sound like it is in your boat. So we were relieved to find out that that was what was causing the running water sound. All is well.

We had a day we could do whatever we wanted. All the boat stuff had been taken care of. We decided to walk to Trader Joes. We got some bananas, milk, steak, and vegetables. The steak and vegetables are for tonight’s dinner. We came back to the boat and had lunch. Dave snoozed in the cockpit and I went below and played solitaire. Then we went to the Maritime Museum, the pacific house and the custom house. History of the Monterey area. Interesting. Where our boat is we can watch the fishing boats come in and off load the sardines. There is a cannery and the boats snug up to the dock and a machine sucks the sardines out of the boat and goes through a conveyer into large plastic bins. The pelicans and seagulls fly around to try and get some of the sardines. The pelicans sit on the edge of the conveyor machine and get there fill of sardines. It’s really fun to watch. We are out of here tomorrow morning. 24 hours we will be in Santa Barabara.