Cruise to Ensenada

[Rick D]

I suggest you take a look at Google Earth. You kinda have to overshoot the entrance since it is angled a bit to shore for protection. Stay into the center as you approach and pass through it. Be sure to enable international calling on your cell phone for your trip. Hotel Coral monitors (says they monitor) Ch 71. But if you have your cell and their marina phone number, you are better off. If you can get your slip assignment before you get in, you are better off. If not, go to the far north end of the harbor (starboard from the entrance) and tie up at the fuel dock and you can walk up to the office. Watch your depth; it's a bit skinny at low tide. Say hello to Helga in the office. The fuel prices are low and their weekend brunch is one of the best in Ensenada.

 

[Joe]

sorry

 

[zeehag]

if you anchor in coronados, have your mexican fishing license handy. every time i anchored ther ewe were boarded for inspection by mexican navy looking for drugs, humans, and fishing gear.l
you can get the mexican fishing license at conapesca, in san diego. only place in usa one is able to obtain one. takes 5 minuets.
have fun and good luck.

 

[wufibugs]

Agreed. I was told that the boatyard there is quite good, they are DIY friendly [which is not characteristic of local yards] and the work much cheaper than here in SD. Planning to haul out there later in the year. The information was very helpful.

 

[zeehag]

am presuming you speak of baja naval, an american run corporation that obtains parts from san diego marine exchange at same pricing you get in usa and with comparative rates to san diego, minus only one thousand dollars-- less pricey in areas further south. do not leave your boat in a yard in mexico and go north--adds thousands to the bottom line.
good luck.

 

[Rick D]

Zee's right, about a grand less to do my haul out. By the time I add fuel, et al to get there, it's close. Still, I wish I'd done it this year. There is always the unexpected that adds to the yard bill, and it would have saved me well past the extra expense to go to MX and back.

 

[zeehag]

for a really good saving, puerto escondido, baja-- has been reported the problems there have been solved and is good to go again. only better. someone i know had his 45 fter
out for 3 months for 1300 dollars us. the price may have gone up-- dont know. but it could still be worth the run....or a look up online....

 

[Levin]

Hello All,

So we made it down to Ensenada with only minor difficulty. Actually the trip down was the roughest part of our adventure so far (I guess no surprise there... as Capt Ron would say: "If something's going to happen, it's going to happen out there"). Anyway our challenge was twofold. First the X-5 Autopilot went out on us pretty early in the trip. Not the end of the world by any means, but did make things slightly more challenging because we essentially lost a crewmember (or a helmsman anyway) leading us to have to be more resourceful. Once we realized that this was not going to be fixed with a simple repair we continued on our way and then the next minor problem happened... in raising the a-spin I lost control of the sock dowsing lines and when I went to put down the a-spin ended up dropping it in the water. Much cursing and such later I got it back on the boat and then later dried it out by flying it again. No damage to the sail luckily and by late Saturday afternoon we were pulling into Coral Marina.

This is where another minor diabolical happened. We had pre-registered for a slip before coming down, but when we got to the slip we found it taken. So we pulled into the next nearest slip we could find which unfortunately is an upwind slip. Basically I didn't account for the wind being tired and had forgotten to put down my fenders and when I went to dock ended up drifting into the boat next to me (not hard luckily and no damage... but still not a good way to make friends right after getting there... but I was glad our new neighbor was understanding). As anyone who has been to Coral knows the docks are not well set out for the wind which essentially comes broadside to all the boats. So after we pulled out boat away from our new neighbor we went up to the marina office and were told that because of some construction our assigned slip had been taken, but were given a new one that we pulled into the next morning.

So other than the craziness of getting here everything has been wonderful. Everyone down here at the docks have been very friendly, and have helped give us a lot of advice on places to visit and check out. We enjoyed the brunch at Coral on Sunday, and checked out Ensenada proper later in the day. We've had dinner at El Ray Sol, have checked out Papas and Beer, and have plans to head out to wine country later in the week. Should be lots of fun. Thanks everyone for all the help and advice about this place. And, Rick- thanks for the coordinates they helped a lot, and for the advice on Coral, we have really been enjoying the amenities.

Anyway I'll try to post another message after we get back...

Take care,
-Levin

 

[Rick D]

Ensenada Cruiser's Net

Levin, there is a VHF cruisers' net there where you might be able to get some advise re: the AP. I don't remember the channel; ask around. Have a great time! Glad the coordinates helped.

 

[Levin]

Hello all...

Ok, final thoughts on the trip to Ensenada. Overall very glad I went but I don't think I will be back again anytime in the near future. Let me explain...

Coral Marina was great. The people there were great, the other cruisers we met down on the docks were great, and the amenities were first class. I can't say enough good stuff about this place and strongly advise anyone who is going down for this type of a vacation (a week or so in Ensenada) to stay here. I saw the other marinas down by the waterfront and they seemed nice enough but the things you get with your stay at Coral just can't be found anywhere else.

Now, as to why I don't think I'll be back anytime soon... that has a lot to do with the expense in both time and money getting your boat in and out of Mexico. I realize that Ensenada with how their Port Captain office is set up is one of the speediest ports to enter/exit the country, but even still I figure I spent a grand total (between Mexican customs and American customs) nearly 6-7 hours of my trip getting myself, my crew, and my boat cleared in and out. I also spent nearly $250 between different fees from getting the hotel to take us down there, to all the Mexican fees, to the final $27 that U.S. customs charged me when I got back. This was almost more than I spent to keep my boat in Coral the entire time I was down there.

The other reason I won't be back is as far as I could tell there was very little to do in Ensenada outside of eat at some very good resturants, tour the downtown and get accosted by Mexican vendors on "Gringo Lane" and tour the wine country. Don't get me wrong this was all very neat (especially wine country... if you go this is a must) but by the end of the week I felt I had seen it all and then some. For the annoyance and expense of getting in and out of Mexico I think the next trip will be back to Catalina.

By the way... I did visit the Todas Santos on my last night out there and they were interesting, but I think anyone going down there can skip this part. Unfortunately most of the island has been taken over by a fishing village and anywhere you would really want to anchor for the night has fishing pens and line strung about so it is very difficult to get in. We did manage to find a place on the southern tip but it was very difficult to anchor there as the bottom is all rock which meant my very expensive Rocna had nothing much to dig into.

Anyway, all told a good experience and one I'm glad I had, but I think Mexico is one of those places that if you are going to take the time to visit you should really have more than a week to stay and should plan to go further south than we did... everyone we met kept telling us that the really great cruising is in the Sea of Cortez

Thanks again for all your advice and help... you all really made this possible by giving me some good tips.

Take care,
-Levin

 

[zeehag]

mexico is not a place to go for a fancy vacation. is a great place for those sailing to places cheap and interesting. the farther south you go the better the scenery. mag bay is good for whale watching in winter thru spring months as the whales are calving.
ensenada is a fast and easy check in place for all of mexico. one must go inland a bit to get away from gringoville. the quaint lil marinas on the malecon are good for ensenada excursions, as they are centrally located and doesnt take millions of dollars to get to customs house--is just a short walk.
if you are a fisherman , the malecon area is good for finding a fishing trip., all the fishing trips are from there-- at least the ones during which you catch any fish. is where the fishing fleet live and work.
coral is great if you have lots of dough and dont care to visit the less monied parts of ensenada easily. is isolated and distant from the rest of the town.
funny--my check in wasnt nearly 200 dollars--unless ye count the insurance-- was 211 for a yr. plus my check in was 23 dollars to the banco.
tacos were 3 for 2 dollars. not bad and the fish market is right near the quaint lil marinas on the malecon. marina coral was made to avoid these lil bits of mexican culture, so gringos could have the life they have in usa, complete with the same pricing.
just my humble opinion, having been to ensenada for a month in april 2011, on my way south.