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!