San Diego to Isla San Benito Oeste - "We're not in the US anymore, Toto!"

NOTE TO READERS: We are seriously behind on posting due to lack of internet access in many places. We are trying to get you caught up while at the same time avoiding boring you! This post highlights with our first Mexican leg.

We left San Diego under overcast skies on Friday, November 19^th around noon. We cleared Point Loma with a full Genoa and mainsail up. Shortly after that, we put up the spinnaker and had a smooth, fast sail to Ensenada. 

                    San Diego Skyline 

                                                    The "Del" and Coronado Island Bridge

                                    
                                                                                                   Mexico's Coronado Islands in the distance

When we entered Bahia Todos Santos, the wind shut down and we were forced to motor the last few miles into the Cruisport Village Marina. We tied up in a VERY tight slip at 03:30 on Saturday morning. Later in the morning, we were greeted by representatives from the health department. They cleared us after taking our temperature, checking our oxygen saturation, and asking some health questions; this allowed us to take our yellow quarantine flag down. After that, we went to clear into the country. We obtained our tourist visas but the port captain’s office (el capitania) was closed which required another trip to the “officialdom” on Monday to finish paperwork. We did a little exploring and a little more relaxing the rest of Saturday and Sunday. After finishing paperwork on Monday, we rented a car and headed into the wine country. We had a lovely evening at Cieli Winery. On Tuesday, we took advantage of having a car to make runs to Home Depot, Walmart, Costco, and a marine supply store called Pesca del Mar to pick up some electronic charts. It was a full day after returning the car as we were getting groceries put away and finishing preparations for a Wednesday departure.

                                                    Valle de Guadalupe - Wine Country

    
                                             Jeff enjoying wine tasting and beautiful scenery

            
                                                    Beautiful sunset view from the winery

While we were sailing down the coast of Oregon and California, we conceived of an idea that we call ‘the daybed”. Our cockpit seats are narrow and when heeling or rolling from side to side, they are not that comfortable for sleeping. We also prefer to both be in the cockpit at night as a safety measure although we had resigned ourselves to using the settee in the saloon for night sleeping. We thought it would be really great to be able to stretch across the cockpit in front of the binnacle. It is about 5.5 feet across and any motion would roll you head to toe versus side to side. So, while we were in Ensenada and had a car at our disposal, we hit the Home Depot to pick up supplies for the “Jeff/Doug Daybed Prototype”. It consists of 7 wood slats that are wrapped in Mexican blankets (to eliminate chafe on the fiberglass) topped with two layers of cushions. This daybed is a gamechanger!! We can sleep comfortably in the cockpit at night and lounge around during the day. It is one of the best boat modifications we’ve done and by far the cheapest. The best part is that it is easily stowable.

We left Ensenada about 14:00 on Wednesday, November 24^th and headed for Isla Todos Santos for an overnight anchorage. We arrived right at dusk and could not make out the anchorage described in the guidebooks. We narrowly missed a fish net and the sea lions were not happy with our appearance. So we decided to continue on to Bahia Santa Maria. It was pitch black and we had just cleared Isla Todos Santos when we came upon a tug with a tow behind; neither had very good navigation lights so it was a little frightening! We sailed through the night under the spinnaker and Jeff declared “I’ve found my new favorite sail!” We arrived in Bahia Santa Maria around 13:00 on Thanksgiving Day under clear blue skies! We had been sailing along with Déjà Vu, a boat we know from Hood River, and we invited the crew over for Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, rolls, and cheesecake for dessert). It was a perfect evening in a perfect location! Déjà Vu left on Friday headed for Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) but we had planned to stay in Bahia Santa Maria until Sunday, the 28^th. We dinghied to shore on Friday and climbed over 3 sand dunes to lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. On Saturday, we lazed around in the hammocks ALL day!

                        Thanksgiving dinner with crew from Déjà Vu - Gabriel, Philllip, Michelle, Jeff

                                                    Gabriel was part of the clean plate club!!

From Bahia Santa Maria, we sailed to Isla San Benito Oeste, a small inhabited island just west of the larger Isla Cedros. Oeste has a small fishing village of about a couple dozen homes (what Americans would call “shacks”). We anchored just to the east of the local pangas where we could hear the waves crashing on the shore and the bark of the sea lions. The next morning, a large fishing trawler arrived and we watched as all the pangas circled around…we think they were unloading their catch.

                                            Small fishing village on Isla San Benito Oeste

                                                            Fishing Vessel "San Benito"

Next post will highlight the journey from Isla San Benito Oeste to Cabo San Lucas.