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We were ready to sail! However, things seemed to keep popping up that needed to be fixed, like a funky pieces of rigging and endless little tricky problems anyone would have with a new-to-us boat. We hadn't even tried the watermaker in San Diego Bay for fear of fouling it with dirty water.
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Larry up the mast checking things out. Things weren't as great as advertised - But the it's a boat, and one that hadn't been used in a few years. You take it apart, clean it up, fix it up and put it all back together again. Most of the time, that's all it needs.
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I made good use of this event by writing about it. The story of these birds made it into an article published by 48North magazine. Here it is.
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That's the nest there in the furl of the missen sail. It couldn't be seen at all with the sail cover on.
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Vagrants moved aboard our boat!
Then there was the finch nest with four babies that appeared in a fold of the mizzen sail. After two weeks we made our move to alter the little family's living situation - and had birds flying all over the place. An explosion of little birds might be fairly accurate. But they seemed to make it.
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Police Dock, San Diego, where we spent two extra nights sorting things out before heading out to cross the border. We entered the dock trailing a pool of diesel fuel behind us. Ooops .......So that's what that fuel overflow hole does.
GREAT, we broke the law and then tied up to the police station!
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Finally, we made it out of Dodge!
Ensenada was our first long day out from San Diego, (74 miles) dodging some rain showers and getting a feel for the boat. We didn't get to Ensenada until after dark, but old skills returned and we found a good solid anchorage. It's a much smaller harbor than I'd thought. And we arrived on the weekend so we didn't bother clearing customs. And with the new rules of not having to pay to check in, no one seemed to care anyway.
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Cruise ships came and went, dwarfing us and everyone else in the harbor. They unloaded their 'gringos' right next to us. We watched as the Mexicans set up a mini-mall right on the dock. Americans flocked off the ship to shop, most of them never going farther ashore than the dockside shops. For most, that was their scarey Mexican experience.
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This "old man of the sea" rowed out to check his nets. The boat looked as ancient as he did. Rusting hulks of the old Ensenada fleet sit rusting behind. We had a great time ashore, but returned to HUGE onshore afternoon winds that resulted in our only dragging in any anchorage.
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We picked up an over-priced mooring for the night - and then the wind stopped!
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Heading south at last, and we learned what a great sea-boat Ave Maria is. High sides means a dry ride. And add to that the weather clothes all around the cockpit and we were warm and safe. As we went south we expected it to warm, but this wasn't the year for that. And since this was a new boat to us, we felt unsure of ourselves, and so 'gunk holed' from little harbor to little harbor. In that way, we experienced parts of Baja few ever see.
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Nice series of photos of Nancy steering with the afternoon wind picking up.
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This is fun, easy to handle.
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Now we're getting goin' .......
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Holly Cow, where'd that wave come from?
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