Hello From Mexico!

It's been quite an adventure since leaving San Diego. We've visited some of the most remote outposts of Baja and sailed many eventful and action packed miles. Today, we're writing from La Paz, where we are anchored among a community of cruisers, enjoying some time onshore. It's been a while since our last post, so here are some of the highlights of our trip down the Baja Coast from the cool Pacific waters near San Diego, to the warm tropical Sea of Cortez.

San Diego to Ensenada -  Is there anyone out here?!?

   Sailing from San Diego to Ensenada made for an easy transition into Mexico, with a short one day passage and great anchorage near the city. This being our first time in Mexico, we had a fun time negotiating the cultural and linguistic differences big and small. Cheers to the Ensenada Port Captain and office for making the many steps of registering our boat and securing our visas easy. Ensenada is a compact, organized harbor with a handful of Mexican fisherman, tour boats, and a number of colorful American ex-pats and cruisers.

 

   We met the crew of the Patricia Belle, an excellent home-built schooner, from Port Orchard, WA (Vincent's home town!). We spent an evening in the ship's cabin, exchanging stories of cruising in Hawaii and listening to the skipper, Patrick, recount some of his adventures of 15 years of cruising. At some point Patrick told the story of his first trip to Nicaragua, where he bought 10,000 lbs of coffee for trade. Lowell was happily surprised to remember that he had been inspired by this same story 10 years before, and was now aboard the very ship that had filled his imagination as a teenager. Check them out at http://www.patriciabelle.com
   My favorite part of Ensenada was getting away from the tourist buzz of the waterfront and getting a  real sense of the dusty streets and typical pace of Mexico. Eating at the lunch counters and having some conversations in Spanish, telling fish stories and tasting the great food everywhere was fun!

Check out more photos of the trip to Ensenada here!