Bash 6
07/02/15

When Billie and I assumed the second watch at 2:00am the wind was still blowing pretty hard, causing rough conditions. The last few nights have been cold and damp, and this one followed suit. The full moon escorted us through the cloudy night, lighting the sea around us. We are all looking forward to arriving in Ensenada, where I promised the crew that we would spend two days and nights lounging by the pool and sleeping full nights. Morning broke gloomy and overcast, with a cold NorthWest breeze. We are all kind of on autopilot as we anticipate our Ensenada landfall. Strangely enough, after going 800 miles since leaving La Paz a week ago, we are purposely going at a slow rate of speed. Instead of our usual 5.5-6.5 knots, we are motor sailing at 4.8 knots. This is to insure that we arrive in Ensenada after the sun has risen. Entering a strange harbor is always a bit exciting, but entering one in the dark is just plain foolish if avoidable. The wind began to build a bit in the early afternoon and was soon causing a pretty good chop on our nose. It seems that we were destined to do a little "Baja Bashing" after all. At 5:00pm we passed the 800 mile mark since leaving La Paz last Thursday. We still have about 70 miles to go until we reach the Marina Coral in Ensenada. Whoohoo!

The wind blew very hard early on in the evening, and started to ease a bit when second watch came on duty. It was very cold and cloudy with some illumination from a full moon that we never saw. I nervously threaded Odyssey between Isla Todos Santos and the mainland in the dark, a span of only two miles. It sounds like a lot of room and it was, but the lights on each point of land were not as described in the nautical charts for the area. If I was wrong about our course we were on the rocks, hence the nerves. We made it through though, and the sky began to lighten as we made the last push to Ensenada. We were safely tied up at the fuel dock by 06:45am, awaiting business hours to begin. Finally a rest.

07/03/15
After fueling up, Mike and I headed to the Marina office to sign in. Over an hour later I was still there. We moved Odyssey to her assigned slip and then gathered our passports and all travel and boat-related documents and hopped the shuttle into town. The shuttle driver took all of our documents from window to window at The Port Captain's office (Oficina De Los Capitania del puerto) with me following behind paying fees. When the dust settled, we all decided to walk around the harbor area and grab a cab back. We ate amazing fish tacos near the fish market at a taco stand that I had been to before with my brother Mike on one of our Punta Cabras camping trips. Afterwards, we toured the fish market where I picked up some smoked Marlin. We cabbed it back to the Marina and set about getting serious stuff done like laundry and washing the salt crystals off of the boat. Before long I found myself at the pool with Mike having cocktails. Did I mention the pool? Wow, with a beautiful view of the Marina and bay it was just what doctor ordered. After showering we all headed out on foot to a nearby steak place with the couple docked next to us. By the time dinner was finished we were all falling asleep, so we cabbed it back to Odyssey and called it a night.