We are tucked into a slip at Marina Coral in Ensenada after an intense couple of days of sailing. We left San Quintin for a 9 hour motorsail to Colonet Bay and for the first 7 hours it was uneventful. Then I wandered into a kelp field. There is an infamous navigator on a Volvo Ocean Race boat a couple years ago who neglected to zoom in far enough to see a reef that he eventually crashed into. That's what I did... Sitting blissfully in the cockpit until the engine bogged down in kelp because I wasn't keeping a good watch on the water. If I would have zoomed in on the chartplotter I would have easily seen the references to kelp fields. See the WD references on the pic on the right? That's weeds/Kelp! Instead I had to punch the throttle to make sure we didn't stall out. Once again the shaft shark did its job and cut through the thick green strands of kelp that threatened to immobilize us in the middle of a forest of kelp. Rina also warned me about zooming in and against getting to close to shore, but did I listen? Nooo....

We eventually busted out of the kelp field and found a decent anchoring spot a couple miles north at Cabo Colonet, a 3 mile cliff lined bluff where the winds howled at 25-30 knots all night. We put out 150 foot of chain in 20 feet of water and at least I slept soundly. Rina on the other hand got up a several times to make sure we were not dragging. She's our virtual anchor alarm!

We woke at 2am for a 3am departure for the 13 hours to Ensenada. As I stepped into the cockpit to start the engine I heard the broad exhale of what could only be a whale. Sure enough, 30 feet off our starboard beam was a pod of grey whales. Not only could we hear them, but in what is one of the most spectacular displays of nature, the bio-luminescence present in the water clearly outlined each whale as they ghosted by the boat. As I hauled the anchor, the bio-luminescence framed the chain and anchor as it came up and as we headed out, each wave tip was highlighted like a 70's black light poster. That lasted for an hour... We've only seen this one other time, 10 years ago in the Sea of Cortez, where a huge mass of jelly fish floated through the anchorage at Bahia Los Muertos, glowing brightly in the moonlight.

After hauling the anchor, we were joined by a Mexican fishing boat who danced with us for the next 3 hours, never more than a half mile away. Nerve wracking... We expected the worst as far as weather but were pleasantly surprised. Hugging the coast we averaged 5-6 knots in reasonable seas until just before Ensenada where we paid our dues around a prominent point and a wild beam reach in to Marina Coral.

A 6am departure tomorrow should put us into the Q dock at Shelter Island in San Diego around 5pm tomorrow. Really looking forward to being back home. Jimi Laughery at Pier 32 has gone beyond the call to make sure we have a place to call home when we arrive. We may have to quarantine for a couple of weeks, but we can't think of a better place to do it.