The Great Shakedown Cruise: HOLA! from Ensenada, Mexico

New view from the cockpit at 7 a.m. Jan 2, 2015

Well, we finally did it! We've become international travellers once again....the last time was when we spent a few weeks in Canada way back when. We arrived in Ensenada on the 1st day of 2015. What a way to start a New Year!

But to get everyone caught up from the last posting, we spent the remain portion of November and December, which got us in the "time to go" mode. We gave Vanessa, over at the San Diego Mooring Company notice to let go the mooring ball a week hence and paid the pro-rata share, only to send her a frantic email the next morning begging for an aditional two weeks because of still pending doctor's appointments. Paid the additional pro-rata share and went about making ready for heading to the Transient Docks on the 22nd.

We had our neighbors David & Robin Basham, from s/v Cimarron over for a farewell dinner. We'd been neighbors since February and finally invited them. Anyway, fun was had by all.

David & Robin

In a very festive and excited morning, we cast off both fore and aft lines, unshackling us from the mooring balls that had held our home in place for 10 months. Took a liesurely drive to the Transient Docks and tied up at the same slip we used when we got here exactly one year earlier on our way in. Originally planned to stay for 5 days, but as all unplanned things always manage to happen, we ended up extending an additional 5 days. Didn't really want to incur the additional $275 cost, but it couldn't be helped. We also rentd a car for 3 days to go shopping and provision the boat with probably a lot more than we needed for the planned 13 hour trip south.

We treated ourselves with an upgrade to our movie "theater", replacing our 32" flatscreen with a 50". What a difference!

We also treated ourselves with some awesome goodies over at the Corvette Diner, which is at the north gate of Liberty Station. Actually, this was the second time we had this treat, but the first time we had camera with us.

We shared Christmas dinner aboard Shakedown with our friends Duane & Sandy , as well as Travis (the pirate). Had a great time.

We purchased and installed an Iridium GO! wifi hotspot device. Still working out a few kinks, but it will allow us communications capability wherever we may be in the world, even a thousand miles in the middle of the ocean. It's basically a wifi hotspot that allows up to 5 devices to utilize it simultaneously (like smart phones, tablets, PC's..). It will also allow us to get weather forecasts, route planning, and a host of other tools to sail safely.

The Iridium GO!

About 48 hours before departure, we dropped into "our hangout", Point Break, and said our farewells to those that were there. We've had a great time at this place over the past year, and are happy to have met such wonderful people.

Owner Kevin

Shelby of the awsome crew

Some local flavor "Shakespeare" is what Nancy calls him

Dale Dawson - helped us out with boat supplies

Now we've been checked into the country. The boat has a 10 year temporary import permit, but we have only a 180 day visa, renewable for another 180 days. Of course, we don't expect to stay in Mexico 10 years, but one never knows. We've managed to talk to a few of the Marina tenants and have received numerous opinions about just near everything boating and living and eating and drinking and prices and.....so on.

We are in the marina center upper part of photo

We've walked 4 miles to Costco....and were fortunate enough to catch a ride with an American couple, residents of Rosarita, back to the Marina. That pretty much took care of the whole day for us. We found a grocery store the next day MUCH closer to the Marina the following day. Yesterday we strolled down "Gringo Gulch", which is what the marina tennants call the street that caters exclusively to the visiting passengers off the cruise ships. Yesterday, there were two gigantic cruise ships docked here and the street was bulging with visitors. Will try that walk sans cruise ship crowd another day. Nancy did get a woven backpack with the Seattle Seahawks logo on it.

Some photos from our first couple of days here...until next time....