Country #3, Mexico
03 November 2012 | Ensenada, MX
Julie
We tied up at Baja Naval Marina at 8 am on Thursday morning after leaving San Diego about 8 pm on Wednesday. I like the overnighters when we have the sails up and there is a full moon. We had a full moon but there was no wind until around 6 am.
The staff here at Baja Naval reviewed our paperwork and put everything in an order that would make sense to the various governmental agencies that we needed to visit. Immigration, Port Captain, Customs and the Fishing Department, with a stop at the bank between each agency. It sounds more difficult than it was. The whole process is done in one building (even the bank) and it took about 2 ½ hours. We were tired and a bit confused at times but overall the whole process wasn’t a big deal. Other people who arrived by boat had problems because of lack of insurance and/or confusing boat registration issues.
Baja Naval is a small marina but is in a very convenient location. There is a boat from Portland who we met on the way down, a boat from the Netherlands, a French couple who currently reside in Uruguay and one from Vancouver, BC.
Kens favorite wine is created near Ensenada so we headed over to the winery to make some purchases. The prices have quadrupled since we were here last so we only bought one bottle. He’ll have to savor it.
We found the Telcel office and got set up with Banda Ancha Movil so that we can get internet while on the boat. We also bought a cheap cell. They don’t have contracts and are reasonably priced. I think the phone was $20 as was the USB stick for internet access. I’m not clear on how much minutes are going to cost us but internet will be about $40/month.
We’ve visited a couple of taco stands and wandered around downtown. Today we plan to go grocery shopping. I had let our fruit, vegi, and meat supplies dwindle because I was unclear what Customs would let us bring in. Turns out they let everything through, contrary to what google searches told me would happen.