Begin forwarded message: > Greetings All! > > I am pleased to announce that the Fubar Rally has successfully > arrived in Ensenada. > > Our morning began early, at 5:15am. I felt bad waking everyone up, > but I was impatient to get moving, and I couldnt sleep. Im not > sure what was keeping me awake, as neither the boat nor the weather > are a concern. I think it is nothing more than that Ive been > thinking about the Fubar for a long time and was anxious to get > rolling. > > Jeff, who was sleeping in the pilot house berth, mentioned having > been awakened at 4am by another of the Fubar attendees departing. > It was Cadenza, a Nordhavn 76 that is the groups advance boat > headed south to Ensenada to help make sure everything was smooth for > our arrival. > > We were underway by 6:15, as were many other boats. I dont know if > it was the entire fleet or not, but there was a steady stream of > boats in front and in back of us. Everyone seemed to be using the > same set of waypoints, which had us in almost literally a straight > line which stretched for miles. > > Our run today was very short, only 65 miles, and it actually felt > shorter. The water couldnt have been calmer. I never felt a need to > look at the wind gauge, so I cant tell you what the wind speed was, > or from what direction it came. We also seemed to have a current > pushing us, as our speed was great. It felt good to be at sea, and I > was in no hurry for arrival, so we dropped back to 1,300 rpm, but > were making around 10 knots anyhow. > > I wanted to try to get some running shots of the other boats, and > had at least one other boat in site at all times, but we had haze > throughout the entire run. There was never fog. Id guess it was > about 2 mile visibility, cool, probably in the high sixties, but > everything was a dull grey. I expected it to burn off, and > consistently had my camera ready to snap pictures, but never saw a > picture worth taking. > > Surprisingly our route had us in fairly shallow water the entire > route. We were consistently in water that was only about 100 feet > deep. This gave me an opportunity to play with the Sonar. Ive never > had Sonar on a boat before, and believe it can be an effective tool, > but one that requires some time to learn to use. To make a long > story short, it was a perfect run. Smooth water, and time to have > fun tinkering with the electronics. > > The only memorable items on the run were: > > - We passed through a school of dolphins. Ive been through > schools of dolphins before, but nothing like this. The water looked > like it was boiling with dolphins (or are they porpoises?). There > were hundreds literally surrounding the boat. I shouted down the > stairs from the pilothouse so the others could see, but by the time > I could get their attention the moment had passed. > - I was surprised by a small fishing panga shooting across > my bow at high speed. I never saw it until it was about 50 yards in > front of me. It came out of nowhere, and I do not believe it ever > appeared on either of my radars. I was never in danger of hitting > it, but the fact that I couldnt see it on radar concerned me. I > quickly adjusted the gain on the radar, trying to pick it up, but > couldnt get it to appear. Many of you may remember the story of > Earthrace a boat that struck a panga last year off Guatemala. The > panga was floating, unlit, 50 miles offshore with three fisherman > sleeping. One of the fisherman died in the collision, and Earthrace > limped to shore saving the lives of the other two fisherman. I > remember wondering how Earthrace could have missed the fisherman on > the radar. We had two well tuned radars on flat seas, and the panga > snuck past me anyhow. There was never any danger for the panga, or > for us, but it was a good reminder of how important it is to always > maintain a vigilant watch. > > Having a long stream of boats arrive virtually simultaneously made > for a busy day at the Cruiseport Marina in Ensenada. After initially > being assigned to the Cruiseport Marina, we were reassigned space at > the nearby Ensenada Marina. However, no one seemed to know how I > could contact the Ensenada marina, so the idea was that I would > contact Cruiseport where the bulk of our group had slips, to get > directions to our new marina. Unfortunately, our contact at > Cruiseport was on the docks, and not responding to phone calls. This > left us a bit to fend for ourselves. Ensenada is a busy harbor with > a variety of small marinas, any one of which could have been the > marina we were seeking. We researched in several cruising guides, > and had hints as to what we were seeking, but no clear indication as > to which marina we wanted. None of the marinas we thought might be > our destination had signs. > > As we were cruising along, we suddenly found two different sets of > Mexicans, on two different adjacent docks, each shouting at us, and > waving us in to great looking moorage. On our left was an end side- > tie, easily accessible, and on our right was a 120 long end cap. > Both looked perfect, but which was ours? And, why, given all the > trouble I normally have finding moorage, were two different groups > competing for our business? I made a decision and went for the end > cap on our right. It was a good guess. The dock attendant confirmed > that this was indeed the Ensenada Marina and welcomed us to the dock. > > All was not perfect. There is a strong swell in the marina. We were > being slammed into, and then off of, the dock. We noticed an empty > slip deeper into the marina and lobbied the dock attendant to give > it to us. He said yes (in Spanish) and I starting thinking about how > to get into the slip. Jeff was convinced I could do it, and I sort > of thought I could do it, so between us, we made it happen. The > scariest part was that the bow thruster was slinging mud. Clearly > depth was an issue. Jeff speaks some Spanish, and the dock attendant > was saying not to worry, that far larger boats had made it in > without problem. We did get into the slip, but what the dock > attendant was saying, and what my eyes were telling me, were not in > sync. The swell (somewhat like waves) in our new slip was not as > calm as I had hoped. We were still being moved around more than I > liked. This was solved via lots of extra fenders and six lines to > stabilize the boat. > > I had been told that the dock would not have shorepower, but could > see pedestals with 50 amp service, so we attached to the power, and > waited as nothing happened. No power. I got out a volt meter, and > measured 71 volts of ac current. This was the first time I had seen > voltage so low, and was not surprised that the boats electrical > system had decided it would pass. > > The Fubar rally did something amazing prior to entering Mexico. On > last Saturday, a representative of the marina visited the group in > San Diego to handle the bulk of the immigration paperwork for our > arrival today. Unfortunately, I arrived in San Diego late, on > Monday, and missed out on this. Instead, I had to deal with > immigration the hard way. Roberta, my wife, speaks Spanish. I > speak French. Although we have owned a home in mexico for 10 years, > I speak virtually no Spanish. I have struggled with learning French > and trying to learn two somewhat similar languages simultaneously > wasnt working. So with that background to what follows, with > passports and documentation in hand, I visited the harbormasters > office. > > Happily, the harbor master here at the Ensenada Marina speaks decent > English. He informed me that I would need to walk the 1 mile to the > Cruiseport marina where I could get my paperwork handled. Do you > remember my saying that they were having a busy day at Cruiseport? > After a wait for the person I needed to see to appear, and another > wait for him to get to me, he searched his files, and I didnt > exist. Nothing had been done with my paperwork. I needed to do the > full process, which meant going to the Port Captains office, a > cab ride away. > > The Port Captains office is actually very well laid out. There are > four distinct booths, each of which serves a different function. > Which booth I wanted, or what those functions were, I had no idea, > so I picked one and handed over my carefully organized paperwork. I > had prepared and prepared and prepared our paperwork. I had six > copies of everything, each set of documents individually paper > clipped and collated. I doubt they have ever seen a neater > presentation. The lady at the first window didnt know what to make > of my documents, and she didnt seem to know what to do with me, so > she gave up and pointed at the next window. > > This new window was labeled as Immigration. The immigration > officer looked at my stack of papers and said Clearance. That was > it. One word, and nothing more. I shrugged and said Clearance? He > pointed back to the lady at the first window. I returned to her and > said (yes  you guessed it) Clearance? The lady looked at me > blankly and said something in spanish that I couldnt interpret, so > I returned to the immigration officer. Fortunately, I was alone in > the Port Captains office. I dont know what would have happened had > there been a line. It certainly would have been less fun. > > Back at the immigration window, I pointed at the lady at the next > booth. I said Elle no tiene Clearance. Elle no comprende mi. > Whether or not that said anything helpful or not, I do not know. > But, it did get the immigration guy to go with me back to the > original lady, where they had a long discussion about me. We > returned to the immigration window, where the immigration officer > returned with another immigration officer who spoke some English. > When I say some I mean that his English, and my Spanish, were > somewhat equal. He offered to help me, and I accepted > enthusiastically. He started filling out forms, and handed me blank > tourist cards to start filling out. I was very happy. > > He then indicated I should take the tourist cards to a new window, > and pay a new lady. This window was labeled Banercito or something > like that. I presented my newly acquired tourist cards to the pretty > young Mexican girl, who told me in very good English, that she had > enjoyed watching me try to speak spanish. I smiled and said how > much? I owed her $150. I paid here, and then watched as she started > the long process of entering information from the tourist cards and > passports into a computer. > > Meanwhile, another lady appeared, this one from the Fubar Organizing > Committee. They had sent someone to help me! Ita was her name, and > she was bilingual, and she offered to help. I explained to her that > all was under control, and that I was almost done. She confirmed > this with my new friend, the immigration officer, and left. > > However, I wasnt as close to completion as I thought. The > immigration officer now suggested I return to the very first lady, > with a new form he had completed and pay her. The bank lady was > still typing, so I returned to where I started. I now understood > that this was the window where I would get the entrada permit for > getting the boat into the port. I figured why not ask for an exit > permit and save time later. This caused some confusion, but after > discussion became possible. Another form later, and I was given a > new word to learn Salida for getting out. With an Entrada and a > Salida, and another $180 (US dollars), I was finished with this > particular counter. She pointed towards Aduana. The last of the > windows. > > Good news! Prior to the trip, I had received a Temporary Import > Permit for my boat. This form saved me from having to spend time > with the Aduana officer, and I was able to return to the lady at > the bank. She gave me tourist cards I had been hoping for from the > beginning, and I was back to the immigration window for goodbyes. > After thanking them for their assistance, I was on my way. > > Ita, from the Fubar, called to apologize for the problems, and I > told her it actually wasnt as bad as I had feared, and in any event > it was a problem of my own making. Had I followed the proper Fubar > procedure, I wouldnt have been Fubar in the first place. Overall, > I was fairly proud of myself, and the people I had met were > friendly, helpful, and best of all there had been no lines. I had > consumed over three hours, but the vast majority of that was spent > working my way to the port captains office. > > Earlier I had told our boat I wanted dinner in town, but I was > starting to wear out, and a barbecue on the boat was sounding > better. We had an amazing meal, and as we were cleaning up, Bruce > Kessler, our rally chairman, called to give the good news that they > had found space for me at the Cruiseport marina after all. I said I > was tired, and had a blog to write, and actually, its quite nice > here. We may move tomorrow, but maybe not. Overall, life is good. > Were rolling a bit, but not that bad. I did ask Bruce how the > refueling had gone, and he said that it went very well. Everyone had > been fueled, via a fuel truck, and all is well. > > Thats it for tonight. Tomorrow Ill explore the town, and then > there is a Fubar event tomorrow evening. On Friday morning we leave > for what I believe is our longest run; 280 miles to Turtle Bay. I > cant wait! > > Thank you, > Ken Williams > Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68 > > PS I was chatting with the guy that pulled into the slip next to us. > He said that he had decided to run to Guatemala, and came back when > he got his butt kicked (his words) by the high waves and rough > weather. He hadnt made it very far (he turned back after going only > a few hundred miles). I was somewhat surprised given our calm seas > today that the weather gods had treated him so differently. This > picture of his boat is kind of interesting. He had loaded huge tanks > in the back of the boat to hold extra fuel. I can only wonder how > this extra weight would have affected his boat handling. I dont > think Id want to be a hundred miles offshore, in a 30 boat, with > all that fuel sloshing around. Im thinking he made the right call > to turn back.