Saturday, November 16, 2013

Cruise of the Confidence 2013-11-01 to 11-13

Ensenada: 31*50.46 N 116*37.53W

Population almost 300,000 situated 65 nm SE of San Diego


This is a fairly large port and it was in our plans to have the boat hauled out and have some work done.
We notified the Port upon our arrival and the marina yard representative met us at the dock right in front of the travel lift dock. He took our lines and informed us that he would assist us with the paperwork needed to clear in at customs. The crew started precisely at 0800 and made preparations to have us hauled out. I was immediately impressed with their promptness, attention to safety and attention to our boat. Anyone coming aboard immediately put cloth booties over their shoes so as not to dirty or mark our decks.

 

0900: Boat was on the hard though it took them another hour to secure it in place. Power was hooked up and then we waited around to talk to our project manager, Roberto. We were told that the boat would be moved again in the morning as they had located us in the area where they spray paint. Why they didn't just leave us in the water and just locate us in the correct place we will never know. I guess they like lifting and lowering boats for the practice! We checked out the facilities to ensure that we could stay on the boat in the yard. No problem with that. We were also informed that the daily lay days would be $40 per day but we would only be charged for those days when they actually put in a full day. Plus the first four days are included in the haul out fee. 

Some of you are probably thinking that it would not be such a great thing to have me staying on the boat in the yard in Mexico for a week or so. Well, I'll tell you this boat yard is very clean - has to be as they spray paint the boats outside - and the washrooms and showers were nicer and cleaner than the ones in San Diego. The workers are very friendly and respectful. They even have a computer room and free telephone for guests - 10 minutes free to Canada or US. And as Susan and I found out later in the week you just wait until they cut you off and then you just phone again! So we talked for 20 minutes.
I forgot to mention that the boatyard is called Baja Naval and is located right downtown, close to everything.

View from the cockpit of the beautiful and very large Mexican Flag.


 
We can also see the cruise ship terminal. The fog rolled in one day so if you look very closely you can just see the top of the cruise ship as it disappeared! We thought we were in Newfoundland!

 

So once we got things organized in the boatyard we visited with Rogelo (Roger) and he organized our papers. One of the great things about Ensenada is the fact that they have centralized all of the offices for your entrance requirements into one building - Centro Integral de Servicios. It still is a bit of a song and dance but at least you do not have to go back and forth across town, like in some other towns, to get everything done. So first you go to window #1: Migracion (Immigration). At this window he wants to see your passports, your crew list, vessel registration, application for Visitor Visa and Proof of Insurance. The gentleman at this window seemed to be more interested in the soccer game on TV so this first step was painless. So he stamped everything except our Visitor's Visa until we went across the room and paid at the banco. Visa and MasterCard accepted. Then we go back to Migracion and he stamps and completes our Visitor Visa. 

Now we have to get the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for the boat so that we can leave the boat in Mexico if we choose to come home for a visit or if we want to import any parts for the boat. This paperwork is done and paid for at the banco. So back across the room we go. The most important things you need for this is the serial number from the engine (good thing Roger told us this as it is not on the Boat Registration, and the original of the boat registration - no copies accepted. Once this is completed and paid for and stamped then we have to go outside and get photo copies made. They will not make copies for you. 

Then back to the Migracion so he can stamp something else. Now he directs us to window #2 which is the Capitania representative or Port Captain. So far so good and relatively smooth. Then things stopped. We were warned that there will be times when we have to be patient as the Mexican's have their own way of doing things. The painters were in that day and unhooked something resulting in a complete computer shutdown. One guy had been there since 1030 - and it was now 1330. Now the Mexicans do not like to admit that something is not working and do not seem to show any emotion to indicate that things are not working. So you sit there without any explanation. In fact we would only know that something was wrong because that guy told us. But a good clue was after I took my number, the girl asked me to hand in the rest of the numbers. So there we sat and the offices close at 1500 hours until Monday. 

At 1430 she finally called us up to the window and I kind of got the idea that they timed it just so so that we could complete everything by 1500. So now we have cleared things with her and for some reason we were able to pay her with our credit card and did not have to go over to the banco. Now we go to window #3 which is the Aduana (customs) window. We complete another form and a declaration of the goods we are bringing  into the country. Then back to the banco to pay. Then back to customs where we are instructed to press a button located below two lights, one green and one red. Lucky we got the green as this means that they will not come down and inspect your boat. We heard that a lady spent all day there because she did not have her papers in order and then pressed the red button!  So we followed the advice that we were given - if you get green shut up, smile and leave.

But we had one more window to visit. We needed to get our fishing licenses which is window #4. Well we get ready to do that and he informs us that we have to go back to the banco and we have to pay in cash. Well we do not have enough cash on us and there is no ATM there so we said forget it and we would come  back before we leave. It was now 1530 and we had travelled all night and we have not eaten and we are really tired.

Now lets get some cash and get something to eat. Well the two ATM's that we passed were down. And all of the small taco stands only take cash so here we are on our first day in Mexico eating and drinking a latte at Starbuck's. We could only chuckle!

But all in all we had a pretty good time in Ensenada. David was very impressed with the work that they did on the boat. They removed and replaced the cutless bearing which took a while as one of the set screws had stripped. After spending an hour trying to remove it any of you guys would have drilled it out and have it retapped but remember what I said about not wanting to admit when things were not going well? Well that would have been admitting defeat so this guy spent most of a day chipping the set screw out into a pile of metal files until he could remove it! They disassembled,polished and lubed the max prop and put everything back together.


 They also cleaned, scraped and repainted the hull. They made a new shelf for the starter batteries as it was starting to rot. Then David had them do an inspection on the exhaust thru hull and riser.  David suspected that there might be a bit of corrosion because he was seeing some rust on the Inside of the hull around the riser. Sure enough there was about a 1/16th crack by 2" in the pipe!






 We were very lucky that it did not give way when we were out in the ocean. So they welded up a new replacement riser and thru hull and modified it using flexible hoseto reduce the number of welds required.





Then the top sides were cleaned, waxed and polished.

 
David also noticed that the hinge pin that connects the windless and rudder to the servo-pendulum mechanism was cracked so they made us a new one. So they seem to have great machinists who are able to make these parts otherwise you would have to wait until they could be received from the US.

In the meantime I did not sit idly by but got lessons on taking apart, cleaning, greasing and rebuilding the winches. There are eight in total About three hours was spent on each winch - amazing as I never spent that much time cleaning our entire house! And I was having fun doing it. Not too hard when it is 25 degrees outside and the sun is shining.
 
Sandy and Al showed up a couple of days after us so we both had company - someone else to talk to and share stories. And at the end of the week David and Michelle also showed up. More happy hours and meals to share. On Sunday Al and Sandy and David and I rented a taxi - Juan took us to Porto Nuevo - a place that is known for lobster. We had a wonderful lobster lunch for $15 each. The drive was also beautiful all along the coast - and yes it was a 4 lane divided highway.

 Rocky boat = thank goodness all the panga's do not look like this!


So our first impressions of Mexico have been nothing but positive. The people are very friendly. The workmanship is excellent. And they are really happy when you make the attempt to speak to them in their own language. I am hoping to become more fluent as we go along. David's Spanish is quite good and his pronunciation is excellent. We tried playing crib the other night and counted in Spanish. But we spent too much time concentrating on that and not enough on pegging so we kind of messed up and had to forfeit the game. But if anyone is keeping score (like me) BA 8 D 7!!

The grocery stores are very good but I would stay away from Walmart for food - but then I would stay away from Walmart in Canada also. There are also a lot of fresh fruit and vegetable stands around  and the prices are a lot cheaper than the grocery store. You wash everything with Biopur to decontaminate anyway so I bought the tomatoes, limes and avocados from the locals.


There is an excellent fish market a half a block away with fish tacos and every kind of fish imaginable and have stocked up with ocean perch, sea bass and prawns for the next leg of our journey. Prices are a little less than the US but not a lot. We are close to the border and that does affect things. We took a bus to Home Depot and I thought that we had landed back in Canada as the complex also included an Office Depot, Bank of Nova Scotia, Burger King, Mndacdonald's and Walmart  and HsBC. But you can pretty well get anything you want.

We thought it was going to be our last evening in Ensenada so we all went out to experience a real Mexican bar / Hussongs has been around since 1892 and I do not think that it has changed. Thw miriachi bands were great and everyone sings all the traditional songs along with them. Many  cerveza were consumed as they were on two for one. I had 3 which is way more than I normally consume in one sitting. But it was a hoot.

 The BaJa 1000 was also starting the next day so there was lots of things going on. Of course Paul gets the Tshirt though I do not know when he will actually get it. This is the longest offroad race in Mexico and their were drivers from all over the world. We were able to see the start as each car lines up for a final safety inspection and then starts off. It really is a race to be watched on television though.

 
David had to do one more rebuild on the bilge pump after we got back in the water. Then I wanted to get this blog posted and phone my family. So it looks like we will be leaving on Sunday.
 
The next leg is about 700 miles so I will have to provision for about 2 weeks. There are only a few bays to anchor in and no large towns until we get to Cabo San Lucas so do not expect to hear from us till the end of November. Of course we will try!

Thought I would include this picture of one of the spectacular sunsets that we saw from our boat on the hard.



Next major stop will be La Paz!


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Cruise of the Confidence 2013-10-31

1130: Thursday on Halloween. We left slip #14 at the Municipal Marina/ Harbor Police Transient Dock.

1145: Tied up at the fuel dock and filled the tanks with 85 US gallons of diesel, filled the 5 gallon jerry cans, topped up the regular gas for the outboard and pumped the holding tank. That was a quick $440.00

1200: We were in no rush to get to Ensenada as we would not be hauled out until the next morning so we had time to kill. So David decided to give me my own personal tour of San Diego Harbor. People would pay big bucks for this.

We got up close and personal with a Navy warship.


The flights coming into San Diego were landing - with the runway right downtown - it looked like they were going to land on the buildings.

Getting close to the Midway by water was pretty awesome. Gave you a different perspective as to the size of the aircraft carrier.








We also passed several tall ships: The Spirit of Indian and Surprise.






The Californian and two others which we do not remember the name of.

 

Then we proceeded to exit the harbor when we came across Connor's racing boat that won previous America's Cups in the 70's. We were racing with it and I can guess you know who won. I went to take a picture and at the same time the warship came into focus. Made for a good picture. At the same time we were also talking to Paul. So that was cool.



1440: Sails are up and we have sailed out of San Diego Harbor. Passing point Loma!

 



What can I say - no clouds, blue sky and we are cruising at 5.5-6 knots. Perfection! The point did result in a little loss of wind for a short time but once we passed the point we were exceeding 6 knots.
We can see Tijuana! Buenos mochas. The Mexican flag has been raised and the US flagged lowered. We also had to raise the Quarantine flag which will be lowered after we clear Immigration in Ensenada.

1759:  Sun is setting and I saw the green flash! It is a phenomena that is seen when the sun sets due to atmospheric conditions. But you only see it in low latitudes.

1900: Motor is off and BA is napping. Sailing with the main only with the wind on our starboard quarter. Speed is 3 knots.

1945: speed has died and motor is on again. 4.1 knots at 1000 rpm. We have chosen to run it slower as we do not want to get into Ensenada till about 0700 hours.

2150: abeam Point Descanso with light easterly winds

2300: shift change . Sails are back up and averaging about 3 knots. It is a very peaceful night and the only sound is the waves from the wake as the seas are relatively calm with next to no swell.

So here is an exercise you can do - I am particularly thinking of Roz and Dave when you are out at Kye Bay. Some starry night go go sit out on the deck with your iPod and the wind on your face and just listen to the music. Right now I am listening to the sound track from Eat,Pray, Love. Then pretend you are me sitting in the cockpit of Confidence off the coast of Mexico. You will hear music like you have never heard it before!

Heart of Gold: by Neil Diamond is on that soundtrack. I hear by dedicate it to Brad who I have known most of his life, who likes ND and who I just heard from after he heard and read my blog. Love ya kid!

0011: shooting star

0037: Motor on. Had to alter course to avoid La Todos Santo just off Ensenada. I am amazed at the number of lights on shore all along this part of the Mexican coast right from San Diego.

0120: making good time with the sails and speed around 3 knots

0211: Thought I would have to roll in the job due to a course change but the winds cooperated and I did not have to

0300: my luck has run out. Wind is on the nose and time to roll in that jib. Motor is on and time for the captain to wake up. Abeam the container terminal at El Pescardera

0728: entering the harbor at Ensenada

0750: Port dock Master is there to great us and catch our lines. Crew arrives at 0800 to get the boat ready for haul out. We are impressed with the boatyard at Baja Naval already. They are friendly, punctual and seem to pay special attention to safety.

     



Cruise of the Confidence 2013-10-21 to 10-31

San Diego: 32*42.53N 117*14.11W

The next morning we called our friends at the Customs and Immigration and they said they would be down shortly to check us in. In the. Meantime we arranged our moorage for the week at the municipal marina/harbor polic transient dock immediately beside the police dock. Moorage was $1 per foot which we were told was about the cheapest rate we would find for tying up at a dock. We were surprised to even get a slip as the Baja Ha Ha. was set to leave on Monday and there were 150 sailboats in the harbor taking part. The Baja HaHa is an organized event put on and sponsored every November by 38 North - a boaters magazine. It really is a big boat cruise for those sailors heading to Cabo San.Lucas. It gives first timers the support of going offshore with others, the marine stores put on seminars, helps them to be  properly prepared. It really is a big party! For cruisers like us  - we prefer to be out of that scene and will plan to be behind them by about a week or so.

So the custom guys showed up but unfortunately they did not have the correct form in order to clear our entrance. But they gave us 48 hours to head into the main office to complete the paperwork. They did take our passports, which we both found a little disturbing - never had to surrender my passport before. But at least we were free to get off of the boat.

After getting secured at the marina we decided to go for a walk and get our bearings. Shelter island is more like a long narrow peninsula with the main channel on one side and the marinas on the other. It is lined with hotels and parks and all kinds of marine services.


 Paul would be in heaven as David was. 

First stop: ordered parts from the Yanmar (make of our engine) dealer. They could not do the work right away but they recommended a mechanic who might be able to - Jim Wilson from JW Marine Service.

Next stop: talked to an electrician whose name we obtained from the Marine PhoneDirectory - yes Paul - yellow pages just for boat stuff that is an inch thick! He said he would come down in a couple of days and make an assessment with regards to our charging system.

Next stop was at at Sea Monsters to see about getting the name put on the boat. He would come down on Wednesday and come up with some designs.

Next door to him was a communication electronics store that had a different WiFi antennae that was way cheaper and apparently a lot easier to install with better support services. Said we would think about it and maybe come back tomorrow.

Next block and across the street was Rigworks so we went in and made arrangements to have new lifelines made up.

Then we checked out Downwind and San Diego Marine Exchange.   Purchased the wheels for the dinghy to make it easier on us and the dinghy for bringing it up onto the beach. We were also able to get more water filters and biocide for our water maker (difficult stuff to find)

We also found a place where we could get our mail sent.

And all of this within. 2 hours. Now you can see why David was happy.

Back to the boat where David worked on his revised shopping list.

Wednesday: the mechanic came down and he said that our issues were minor and he could fix them with minimal cost.David installed the missing second stage filter system and JW helped David install a fuel priming system to make priming a non-issue. David did an oil change, checked the water impeller. The best was the bill because JW only charged us for one hour of labour and also passed on lots of good information. This work was actually done on the following Monday after all the parts came in.

Thursday: Rented a car and went down to Customs to get our clearance. We found it without too much difficulty. Another $19 and we will have to go back to,clear 48 hours before departure or we will not be able to enter Mexico. Then we spent the afternoon picking up groceries and parts. We brought in the old life lines for a template and the riggers started that job. We decided to buy the Rocket wifi antennae andI, the new boat techy was able to get it up and running!! Susan would be impressed. I did have to consult with the help line in Florida but I have to say that this guy (Jason) was fantastic. He not only walked me through it, he explained the system and how it all works so I could understand.

David also went on Craig's list and found a secondary anchor - in case we ever lost ours or had to put a stern anchor or to minimize rolling when we are anchored in a blow. w
We got the propane tanks filled and found out that Mexico does not require the stem to be changed so our tanks will be good till New Zealand.

Friday: The wheels were put on the dinghy and the new life lines installed. David got a new t-shirt from them which only cost $400.

Saturday: laundry day but we had a car so David dropped me off at a regular laundromat. I knew everyone there and had a great time talking to people.  Most of the people there were part of the Baja group. I was running out of quarters so I asked the owner where the nearest bank was - he just threw about 3 dollars on the counter and asked me if that would do it. then he offered me a beverage.

Sunday we took some time off and drove up to the Cabrillo Monument at Point Loma - beautiful view of the harbor though the picture does not reflect that.



Then we drove around to where the decommissioned Midway is docked.

  

 We walked around the park where the statue of the sailor and nurse are kissing after the announcement that WWII was over.



 And of course we had ice cream.

Monday was the day JW came down and the work on the engine was completed. I drove to the Fabric Outlet  (UFO) . Great deal on sunbrella at $25 a meter plus heavy gauge needles and uv resistant thread. Now I can start on all of my projects. Also went to Best Buy and replaced my iPad - an early Christmas present from my wonderful family!!!

Tuesday was a visit from the electrician. David worked with him which was great because it not only reduced the number of paid work hours but he also taught David a lot. They put in the new voltage regulator (3 stage charging solid state), new solenoid charging unit, new Xantrax Prometer which monitors everything to do with the batteries and charging system. He also tested a lot of the wiring that was in place and determined that a lot of it had no function so he instructed David to remove it and thus simplify the system. Mark (Mark's Marine Electric) was a gem - David said he does not know any electrician who would have been able to do what this guy did for us!

I was not idle during all this time - put the bathing suit on and cleaned the decks and all of the stainless on the boat. Did some more provisioning and stowing and cooked us up a belated Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all of the trimmings.


David and Michelle made it in and we also got an invitation to watch the last game of the World Series on the Odyssey with Robert and Jackie. That was a treat.

Next day we returned the car and got ready to depart.

All in all we both have to agree that our stay in San Diego was very successful. We got a lot of work done - some of you might be asking why we did not do this in Bellingham. Well the real reason. - we ran out of time and consequently doing it in Bellingham would mean postponing our departure for another year - something we just did not want to do. And now that we know who and where the experts are - well it was worth the gamble. Probably didn't save much money but what  we got done was done well.