A Day in Ensenada

Cruiseport Village Marina the night we arrived

We had a full day today! We walked over to the Marina Harbor Master Office around 8:30 a.m. Jeff sat in the office with Jonathan, the harbor master and filled out all of the preliminary paperwork we needed to take to Customs.  While waiting for Jeff, Konrad and Kim arrived! Konrad and Kim who originated from Australia are our new crewmembers that are going to go with us further into Mexico. They are both adorable, both 24 years old and super sweet. I’m looking forward to getting to know them better, which I’m sure we will since we will be 10 days at least without stops until we get to Cabo.  Neither of them have too much experience sailing but they have sailed somewhat. They are both so adventurous and up for anything! They have been traveling around for about a year and a half now. After they reach their final destination in Puerto Vallarta they will be heading back to Sydney, Australia. 

Fish Taco's at last!!

Once Jeff was done at the Harbor Master’s Office, we all rode over to Custom's and finished up checking into Mexico officially. We all have our Visa’s now and have that worry behind us. Apparently any marina you stay in Mexico, helps you with all of the hassle of getting a Visa etc.  They never mentioned that in any of the cruising books we have read. All the books or people we have talked to say that it is a nightmare checking into Mexico. I’m so glad that was not our experience.

Rick, Peggy, Konrad & Kim

After having this chore behind us, Rick, Peggy, Konrad & Kim and I left on foot back to the Marina. Jeff stayed behind to take care of some other business.  We stopped at a Fish Taco market and sat down to eat lunch.  The fish taco’s were SO good. The fish fresh and the batter as light and flaky as could be. Delicious! We loved them so much we are all going back tonight for more.

The group split up on the way from the taco stand to the marina. Rick and I noticed some sort of event going on near our marina. It was an off road truck race that was beginning to get started on a 1000-mile race in the desert.  The Baja 1000 which is apparently a big deal! The trucks were all tricked out and were made to go fast! The horsepower in them range from 500 hp to 800 hp. We walked around and looked at a lot of the trucks and talked to some of the racers. We also saw them take off down the street and around the corner heading for wide-open land.  They took off like rockets down the street trying to avoid all of the pedestrians who were trying to get one last picture. It was funny to watch them jump out of the road as fast as they could. Sounds sadistic I know.

Meeting the racers

When we returned Peggy, Kim, Konrad and I went to the Farmer’s Market. We hitched a ride with a very nice man, James, who is a liveaboard here at the marina. He’s been here for 5 years. 

The Farmer’s Market was unbelievable! Such a nice selection of every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine. The people in the individual stands were so nice and friendly. It was fun interacting with them.

Farmer's Market

After buying enough fruit and veggies to last us several months, we asked James to take us to the regular grocery store where we could buy the rest of the provisions. He took us to Soriana’s. We bought a few more things there and then went back to James SUV trying to figure out where we were going to put all of this food. James had already had the back of his SUV piled with stuff.  We were able to fit it all in. We had to get enough food for six of us for ten days. So you can imagine how much food there was!

Konrad & Kim - our new crew

On our drive back to the marina, or so we thought, James wanted to take us to a place in town that has some other shops that sell all second hand stuff. We tried to tell him that he needn't  bother because we needed to get back to the boat. He wouldn’t hear of it and took us anyway. He was so anxious to show us around. It was nice of him but a little frustrating because our time IS limited here and we had so much other stuff to do. Anyway, where we went was like being at a salvation army store before the employees sort through things and put them onto shelves with price tags. It was just stores with piles and piles of stuff. Clothes, dishes, electronics, knick knacks, toys, etc.  We did find a few gems. Kim found an adorable hat and Peggy found a couple of coffee mugs.

Peggy checking out the fine selection of fruit & veggie's 

We finally left town and headed back to the boat. As we got back to the boat, we just lots of unloading to do. To get it all down the boat was another issue. Luckily there was a cart that we loaded all of the groceries onto. The guys laughed when we brought the food aboard. They thought we were nuts. But somehow we managed to find a space for all of it.

During all of this chaos of trying to unpack groceries, James and another couple and their son we met  from Canada decided to pay us a visit. So they sat out in cockpit, talking, listening to music and drinking refreshments.  They stayed for a while.  

Rick and I were growing hungry and had our hearts set on fish taco’s again.  Jeff and Peggy were also hungry and decided to joined us. We all walked to the taco stand, which was closed, but found another fish place nearby. It had fish taco’s but they were not like the ones we had earlier in the day. As our taco’s arrived, Jeff asked the waitress in Spanish, which sauce is NOT hot. I guess the waitress just heard him say, Caliente. Because she pointed to a sauce on the table that had everyone’s eyes watering and lips on fire! It was pretty comical! Well, it was funny to me because I was just a spectator. I did not put any of the sauce on my taco.

After dinner, we walked around town. There was lots of restaurants open and loud music playing. But there weren’t a lot of people inside the restaurants or on the streets, until we got to Hussong’s. That place was packed! People were packed in like sardines. We walked in the bar and took a picture and walked out.  I guess it’s usually more crowded when the cruise ships are in town. But two cruise ships just left earlier in the day.

Hussong's

We got back to the boat and went right to sleep. No movie.

This morning we are waiting for Jeff’s son Ryan to bring us a part for the solar panel on the boat that was delivered to his house in San Diego. He is making the four-hour drive and should be here around 10 am. After we get the part and visit a bit, we plan to leave Ensenada and continue sailing south.  We plan to be sailing for ten days. Maybe stop to anchor one night or two. So there should be a few night watches along the way.

You probably won’t be hearing much from us until we reach land. Maybe in Cabo, maybe sooner.  Check in on the 24^th for sure. Hopefully we’ll be in Cabo by then.

Salud!

Maryalice and Rick