Ensenada for New Years

Made a quick dash for the border to enjoy New Years in Mexico.  Sailing Lightspeed we can easily make the San Diego to Ensenda voyage in daylight.  

It's a good thing as the days are short this time of year with sunset before 5PM, but wow, check out this sunset in San Diego.

Check in formalities to Mexico was a breeze in Ensenada.  Immigration, Customs and the Port Captain are all under one roof.  

We completed all formalities in less then 30 minutes.





Mexico is famous for seafood, we wasted no time tracking down the fish market to score some shrimp for a lunch feast.

1 Kilo heads off fresh shrimp $120 pesos = $3.15 usd/pound 

Saute in fresh garlic and butter, serve on fresh tortillas = Loving Mexico.  

  Speaking of love, Tempranillo is a great varietal when looking at the regional wines of Baja Mexico.  KM 101 was our first stop after landing in Ensenda.  Ovis by the glass is a true delight.

It seems we're always running into old friends or making new friends anytime we're near the docks.

Today, it was Kirk and Heidi of s/v Due West my old dock mates from Eliot Bay Marina in Seattle.

 Kirk and Dave at Ensenada Seaport Marina.

 Kirk and Heidi having fun somewhere, I stole this photo from their blog.

The very cool 'Luna' seen in Ensenada.  Apparently, the vessel is 112 years old and the new French owner will be sailing here to Europe with a cargo of Run and Coffee.
dock.

We also ran into s/v Scorpido with Eric and Robin onboard, they crossed the South Pacific in 2006 when I was sailing our old monohull La Vie and then Scorpido went on circumnavigate.  Then now commute between Seattle and Puerto Vallarta every few weeks.

More cool cruisers were Jeff and Anne on Fantasia who've done a fair bit of cruising and raised a family aboard as well.  Jeff now owns CPT autopilots a great cruiser lifestyle business.

New Montana friends

December 29, 2014

Lynwood and Mariana were walking the docks today and looking at boats, we struck up a conversation and now have some cool new Montana friends.  I've been dreaming of off grid cabins and Lynwood has been busy building an amazing cabin in Montana.   We swapped some great stories and ended up going for a sail on Lightspeed.   

Lynwood and Mariana have a cool historical rental in Bozeman, so if you're heading to Yellowstone or the Bozeman area to ski, check it out at http://www.bontonhouse.com/   

Cool photos from their remote off grid cabin at 9000' are updated hourly. Check it out here: http://www.abundancecabin.com/cam/wholeday.php

San Diego

December 4, 2015

We've been in San Diego for a little over a month and enjoying our new home base.

The weather is pretty much perfect and we're finding really good energy in the boating community with lots of past, present and future cruisers around. So far we've been bouncing around the various anchorages and checking things out.  It's not confirmed yet, but we have a good lead on a marina berth on Shelter Island and as a backup have our name on a list for a mooring in America's Cup Harbor... too bad the wait list is 4-6 years long!

Kathy is on the road or jetting somewhere between 1-3 weeks a month for work, when she's home it's pretty long days as well with work starting before sunrise and going past sunset.  Dave is working on a number of projects from a new business website, boat projects to cool 3D printer projects.  The primary project has yet to be unveiled, but here are a few fun 3D prints.

 Printing ball inside a ball... the perfect cat toy.

DB15 cover for Kathy's dad at HMS electronics.

Occasionally we sneak in some fun.  Today we took a 20+ mile bike ride on Coronado Island.  We were riding side by side aka: 'CHiPs' style from the 1970's TV show.

And this pretty huge Golpher Snake crossed our path nearly causing a crash,  Kathy screamed and swerved into me.  It was all pretty funny since no one got hurt, not even the snake.

The day before yesterday we took in a long sunset beach stroll, last week a ride out to the Point Loma Lighthouse.

Beach stroll near 'The Del Coronado'

 From the Del looking toward Point Loma.

 From Point Loma lighthouse looking toward Coronado

 Near point Loma

Anchoring in San Diego

Here's a quick look at where to anchor while in San Diego.

You need a permit in advance, apply online here.

Overview Map

A1- Playa Anchorage

Pros:  Close to Downwind Marine / San Diego Marine exchange and many marine related service providers.  Lots of restaurants within walking distance and shopping at Ralph's is about a 10 minute walk. Great wind protection and dead flat water.
Cons:  Advance permit required, cut off to book is Thursday midnight, and the anchorage is limited to Fri-Sun night only.
No dinghy dock access except at Police docks.  Sand beach is an easy landing, but security could be a problem after dark.

 A1 looking toward Point Loma in the early morning.

A1 landing

A5- Glorietta Bay

Pros:  Beautiful and quiet, landing at boat ramp dock, close to The Del Hotel and amazing beaches of Coronado.  Tons of dining options from $ to $$$$.  Bayshore bike path is super nice for a long ride.
Cons:  Permit required with max stay of 3 days.  Vons grocery store is a pretty long walk.

A5 after dark is just as magical.

A9- Cruisers Anchorage

Pros: Anchorage up to 90 days possible.
Cons:  Permit and special inspection required.  Rolly, noisy and located in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the San Diego airport, security at dinghy dock is definitley an issue as are an abundance of panhandlers.

Mariners Basin, Mission Bay

Pros:  Great anchorage super close to lots of fun at Pacific Beach.
Cons:  Max stay 72 hours in any 7 day period.  Sand beach is an easy landing, but security could be a problem after dark.





















Mariners Basin with some storm clouds on the horizon.

Other Options:

San Diego Free Anchorage-
Pros: Free for all.
Cons:  Outside bay and a true road-stead anchorage. Full of derelict boat(er)s.  Under military runway flight path and a long rough dingy ride to anywhere.

Moorings:
If you want a mooring ball then it's just one call to San Diego Mooring Company who manages all moorings in San Diego Harbor, but it could be a wait.