April in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Location - Dave and B:  Victoria, BC, Canada; 
Seabiscuit:  The Pacific Ocean, somewhere between Ensenada and Victoria

We finished up our projects in San Diego and, after calling every marina in town and not finding any space, we headed back south to Ensenada for the month of April.  Rather than bashing up the California, Oregon and Washington coasts, we decided to load Seabiscuit on a transport ship to get her up to Anacortes for the May boat show.

Sealions swimming at the entrance to Cruiseport Village Marina, Ensenada.

Saturday, April 2, 2022 - San Diego to Ensenada (65 nm, 9 hours):  We left the marina this morning at 7:15.  It was overcast but the wind and seas were calm and it was a nice day for cruising.  We saw some dolphins as we were exiting the San Diego harbor, put up the Mexican flag when we crossed the border and had an uneventful cruise.  We entered the Ensenada breakwater mid-afternoon and were tied up in our slip at Ensenada Cruiseport Village Marina by 16:00.

The breakwater at the entrance to Ensenada Harbor.  It is built out of concrete tetrapods which are used to enforce breakwaters and seawalls.

We spent the weekend wandering around the marina, watching the wildlife and updating our To Do List with projects and chores we wanted to complete while we were at the dock.  On Monday morning, we cleared in with the health authorities then went to the port captain's office to take care of our entrance paperwork.  

A goose and goslings in the marina.

One of the reasons we went up to San Diego was to get a new GPS antenna and also to have new software installed on our AIS transponder, both of which were impacted by the GPS week number rollover event that occurred on January 2, 2022.  The date on our Furuno GPS chart plotter was incorrect after the event, although the plotting functions worked fine and our AIS transponder stopped working.  A GPS week number rollover event is caused by programming limitations in early GPS satellite equipment.  This Wikipedia article explains why the rollover happens and this Panbo article explains this specific rollover event which impacted various older marine electronic equipment.  

We didn't have the time or weather in San Diego to install the new GPS antenna, so it was one of the major projects on our list for Ensenada.  We used the old GPS cable to pull the new cable down through the mast.  After taking down the ceiling panels in the pilot house, we released the old cable from the MCT transit block overhead, installed the new cable in the block and pulled it down and to the forward console.  Dave finished installing the GPS antenna up on the mast, then we hooked it up to the chart plotter and were pleased to see that it now displayed the correct time and date (we did plug it in and test it before taking everything apart for the actual installation).

Dave up on the mast preparing to install our new GPS antenna.

We worked on our boat projects and chores most mornings and walked and explored Ensenada every afternoon.   Here are a few photos from some of our afternoon and evening strolls.

A mural near the waterfront 

The container cranes across the harbor from the marina.

One of the churchs near downtown.

Almost every morning, we watched one or two cruise ships dock west and/or north of the marina.  While we were at the marina, there were only 3 days with no ships.  At least once a week, one of the cruise ships would play The Love Boat theme on their whistle prior to leaving the dock at the end of the day.  

The week before Easter, Semana Santa (holy week), was especially busy with the cruise ships and Mexican families on vacation.  We walked along the malecon on Easter Sunday and it was packed with families enjoying the warm weather and with kids playing in the water fountains.

The giant Mexico flag on the malecon

Easter Sunday.  Kids playing in the fountains on the malecon.

We went out for supper a few times, but most nights we stayed in and ate on the boat.  We designated Sundays as pizza night and enjoyed some homemade pizza pies.

Homemade pizza with thin, extra crispy crust - this one was salami and peppers.

Mid-month, we went for a short cruise out of the marina and into All Saints Bay (Bahia Todos Santos) to warm up the engines so Dave could do an oil change and also to pump out our waste water tanks.  We stayed out for about an hour and a half and did a big loop around the bay.

For one last hump day celebration in Ensenada, we walked down to Hussong's Cantina for margaritas and peanuts and to enjoy the Mariachi band that plays there.  We had supper at a local craft brewery and finished off the evening with gelato.

Hump Day margaritas at Hussong's Cantina.

A Mariachi Band playing at Hussong's Cantina

On Friday, April 29th, we were informed that Seabiscuit was scheduled to be loaded onto the transport ship Glen Scotia on Sunday afternoon, May 1st.  We spent the weekend booking our flights and hotels from Ensenada up to Victoria, BC, doing the last of our chores to prepare Seabiscuit for the voyage north and enjoying our last days in Ensenada.

This weekend was the start of the Yokohama NORRA (National Off Road Racing Association) Mexican 1000.  This is a race south down the Baja Peninsula from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas and has classes for motor bikes, quads and all types of 4-wheel drive vehicles.  The cars, trucks and buggies that were scheduled to participate in the race were on display and we took a walk through the area. 

A race buggy in Ensenada for the Yokohama NORRA Mexican 1000 Rally.

We were scheduled to load Seabiscuit onto the Glen Scotia Sunday at 16:30.  Saturday night, they moved the load time to 15:30, then Sunday morning moved it to 17:30.  Our agent, Cesar, called at 16:30 and said they were ready for us.  He met us at our slip and rode with us from the marina to the Glen Scotia.  

As we pulled alongside, the guys on deck dropped down slings.  We tied our forward and stern lines to the slings and they pulled the lines up to the ship's deck to use as tag lines while the got the lifting slings in place.  The loadmaster told us to shut everything down and as we were doing so, the Mexican Navy pulled up on our starboard side.  They wanted to come aboard and do an inspection, nothing to do with the load out.  We showed them our paperwork and they looked around the pilot house.  Dave had already shut off the engine rooms lights, but they wanted to see the engine, so he had to turn them back on.  We answered all of the Navy's questions; they were satisfied with what they saw.  The divers came alongside to position the lifting slings and we boarded the panga that would take us back to the marina.  

Seabiscuit getting loaded on to the Glen Scotia

Cesar gave us a ride to the Starbucks and we got an Uber to take us to the border crossing in Tijuana.  We walked across the border, then got an Uber to our hotel in San Diego.  

We spent Monday in San Diego enjoying the spring weather.  Our hotel was in Little Italy, a neighborhood full of restaurants and bars and an easy walk to the waterfront.  The streets were lined with beautiful trees with purple flowers; we didn't know what they were so we asked the desk clerk at the hotel.  His response was "What purple trees?" which we found surprising, maybe he needs to get outside more? 

We used the internet and found out they are Jacaranda trees, which bloom in San Diego every spring between April and July.  We decided to do a survey and, after asking 10 people what type of trees they were and not getting an answer, we finally gave up (the 10 people included the hostess and waitress at lunch, two police officers in a nearby park, some folks outside our hotel and the wait staff at the restaurant where we had supper).

Jacaranda trees blooming in San Diego

The Kiss, San Diego waterfront.  

Early Tuesday morning, we flew from San Diego to Victoria, BC via Vancouver.  We had to clear Canada Customs at the Vancouver airport and we were both "randomly" selected for an arrival COVID test.  They didn't actually do the test at the airport, instead they gave us each an at home test kit.  We were required to take the test with a virtual witness within 24-hours of our arrival.  The process was super clunky but we managed to schedule the virtual witness, take the test and get it sent to the lab for processing.  We're pleased to say that our results were negative. 

Trees in bloom behind the Parliament Building, Victoria, BC

A plane getting ready for take off and a water taxi heading to the downtown pier, Victoria Harbor.

When we left Ensenada, the cruise ships were starting their migration north to begin the summer season in the Pacific Northwest.  Last night, while we were eating supper, we heard The Love Boat theme coming from the cruise ship docks.

We're here in Victoria waiting for the Glen Scotia to arrive and Seabiscuit to be offloaded.  The most recent update has them arriving here on Monday, May 9th and offloading on Tuesday, May 10th.

Until  next time...