Although we loved San Diego, it was time to leave. We were toasted off by new friends Amanda and Randy, who will one day be making the trek. Off went the dock lines and we motored out into San Diego harbor. This is a super busy harbor due to all of the military vessels. We weaved and dodged and eventually came to Point Loma which signals the end of the harbor and the beginning of the Pacific. Once out, we pulled the sails and had one of our most wonderful sails ever. We spotted the Coronados, islands that signal the crossing into Mexico. On shore we noticed Tijuana’s wall, bull ring and monument welcoming all to Mexico. There were more houses, condos and hotels along this coast than we expected. The lights at night looked like any large city. Not many boats out during the night as we watched the sun go down and sailed until morning. We waited through the dark to turn into Bahia Todos Santos, the bay containing a couple of small villages, two islands and Ensenada. Every map and navigational program that we have acquired is different, so to be sure, we needed daylight. It came and we could clearly see our harbor. We motored into what looked like a very narrow entrance, but made it fine. We waited at an empty dock until we had our slip assignment and were helped at both docks by other sailors. What a great group of people! Some live full time on their boats in Ensenada, others are like us, traveling. Beautiful place!
After tying up, we walked to the Marina office. After the basics, we were whisked off to Immigration by a marina employee in a van. Immigration is in a building in downtown. It is surrounded by a tall fence. Inside we found several glass enclosures with employees working in each. A representative (we found out later from the Marina) took our paperwork from the driver and began going through it. We have GOT to learn Spanish! He took our immigration papers and went to one window. They talked. ??? Sign this, and give me your credit card. Hmmmm….what?! Good thing that we had read about this and knew the prices (hopefully) or we would have really been freaked out! After 25 minutes at this window, we traveled with our “guy” to another window. This one was to “import” our boat. Sign here and wait. This took over an hour of waiting. During which, we discovered that none of this building’s bathrooms worked…..and the “lobby” was filled with people. Finally they called out something that sounded like “Kennet”. We returned to the window to fill out paperwork while they watched. “Credit card”….huh??! Still no paperwork in hand….only the “guy’s”. Then to the next window (Port Captain). We assumed this was to get permission to be in Ensenada. Fill this out and hand over your credit card! Good grief! All in all, checking into Mexico took about 4 hours. Done!
Now to enjoy and explore this beautiful place!
