Mexico at last!
03 September 2022
• Ensenada
by Tamiko Suzuki • Sunny and warm
August 28 Notes
We crossed into Mexico today!
Westerly light (3-5 knots) winds , swells under 3 feet with 12 second intervals. In other words, not a great sailing day, just a traveling (motor-sailing) day.
Seeing the border with Trump's wall was disturbing. The wall snakes up the hill from the ocean. the GOP political stance is so racist and scapegoating, if they had their way it would be pathetically self destructive as many states wouldn't be able to function if all legal and illegal immigrants were deported.
As we continued down the coast the landscape continued to be dry and brown with grey-green low lying scrub. The bright green of irrigated golf courses stood out as a glaring example of the wasteful use of scarce desert water solely for the entertainment of a select few.
We arrived in the bay of Ensenada in the evening as it was getting dark. The navigation markers were well lit and straightforward so it was less stressful than expected to find our marina amid the many lights of the town.
September 2
We're seeing one or two cruise ships A DAY dock at the far end of our marina. I'd been worried there would be huge waves generated as they arrived and departed that could damage our boat. I also braced myself for engine and announcement noise, and having hordes of obnoxious passengers flooding the town. I was pleasantly surprised this didn't happen. The ships arrived very quietly in the morning and moved so slowly no wake was generated . They kept the onboard announcements to a minimum ---"please return to the ship by 4pm at the latest or you will have to get to the next port on your own dime. We will not send out a search party haha" (or something like that). The local merchants on restaurant row or "gringo gulch' get a huge rush of tourists with US $$$ during the day and the local population had the Malecon, bars, and restaurants to themselves by the evening. A win-win situation!
The Malecon is a waterfront walkway that turns from a blistering hot concrete desert in the day to a busy happening place in the evening. Couples snuggle on the benches, families push strollers, kids run everywhere, and all the little kiosks are open. At dark, everyone heads to the dancing water fountain. The water sprays up from nozzles hidden in the concrete and is lit by multicoloured lights all synchronized to loud pop music. I had expected the fountain to be just another tourist trap but instead found it was crowded with happy kids and adults dancing and splashing in the water. Just watching everyone having a good time cooling down after a long hot day put a smile on my face. Why couldn't Vancouver have a water fountain/playground for all ages like this ?
As my stomach was still having issues, (started somewhere in central California), Ive developed a grazing style of eating. I go for snacks and small plates and wash it all down with beer. I did eat on the street at a well known street vendor selling mariscos (seafood) and found the ceviche and octopus tostada was fabulous. As Ensenada is supposed to be the birth place of fish tacos, I had to try that too, to rave reviews of course.I also had to try margaritas at the two places that say they invented the drink. Bar Hussong's and Cantina Andaluz make excellent albeit different excellent margaritas but I would give Andaluz the winning nod for it's beautiful venue.
September 3 notes
As we were leaving our boat at the marina until next summer, we spent several intense days cleaning and organizing. All clothing and bedding was washed and stored, all opened food was given away or discarded, the fridge was defrosted and cleaned, the stove and shelves scrubbed down. A crew came by to pump out the head. The bilge and engine were cleaned and checked. The dinghy was put on deck and deflated. It was tough because even with electric fans, it gets hot on the boat by 11am making it hard to want to do anything but sit in the shade on shore or find an aircon coffee shop. We've made friends with our neighbours on nearby slips who all promised to keep an eye on our boat. The fantastic staff at the marina office will also regularly check our boat as well as send a crew to scrub the hull every month as algae growth is explosive In these warm waters.
Today we traveled by bus and taxi to Tijuana and will cross the border tomorrow and fly home from San Diego.
Stephen will come back at Xmas to do some repair work, we will both be back at Spring break for a shakedown cruise, and then we will continue our travels further south, or "boat repositioning", next summer..
I'll post again once home and have had a chance to think about all that I've experienced.
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