Bristol Boat Delivery : Mexico

October 28 - 30

I flew into San Diego and ubered it to Chula Vista Marina where the Aspen crew had left the Knot Wafflen'.
Nice Marina with a good restaurant/bar but not very much else within walking distance. It was about a mile to the small West Marine where I picked up the two trolling rods I had ordered and had shipped to the store and some supplies and equipment to do some Pacific Ocean trolling.

Chula Vista sunset

David arrived October 30 with our nephew Ian who is going to crew with us to La Paz, our soon to be home in Mexico.

October 31

Our plan was to depart November 1 however when I called the Marina in Ensenada Oct.30 to verify our slip reservation I was told Customs, Immigration and Port Authority would be closed Nov. 1 - 3 for Dia de los Muertos and we would not be able to check in.
Quick crew meeting and we made the boat ready in record time and got under way a day early, destination Ensenada, MX, 77 NM south.

We had a nice run and tied up in Marina Coral and upon check in were told that the authorities had decided not to shut down the port office, but to shorten the hours. Oh well, it got us into Mexico a day early.
It took two days to check in to the country and have the various forms stamped, signed, copied and whatever else they were doing. Luckily we had Juan on our side. Juan works for the marina and his job is to help tourists get all the documentation done and he was a big help. I just stood back at each station in the port office with my hat off and a smile and a muchos gracias for everyone.
Meanwhile David and Ian were making the boat ready for the long journeys ahead.

Nephew Ian strapping down fuel bladders (125 gallons extra fuel) with the
Mexican flag flying, showing we had cleared into the country.

While at the Marina Coral we ran into James on the Pendana, a 62' Nordhavn who is doing a world cruise with his wife Claire and their two daughters. Turns out he has a strong following in the Nordhavn community with his blog, www.pendanablog.com and wanted an interview with David about our adventures and the Aspen C120.
It is scheduled to be published 1 December and I will include a link here when it is.
Most know I have a soft spot in my head- I mean heart for Nordhavns and James gave me a little tour of the Pendana. Awesome boat!

November 2

The next leg of our journey has us motoring slowly to conserve fuel. There is only one legitimate fuel stop between Ensenada and Cabo san Lucas, so we were unable to do our usual 16 -18 knot cruising speed.
We left at 0600 and cruised slowly towards our first stop, an anchorage off San Martin Island. We had the anchor down at 1700 after 93.8 miles and 53 gallons of fuel. Not a recommended anchorage - very bumpy all night.