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Published: December 7th 2009
Echo pulling down the coast
With light winds directly astern, a spinnaker is just the ticket. Don't go downwind sailing without one.Ansa and Echo left San Diego on Wednesday, December 2 bound for Puerto Salina, BCS, which is a small marina about 20 miles north of Ensenada. The sail south was pleasant with light winds so we motored in the morning and in the afternoon there was enough wind to put up the spinnakers and float on down at about 5 knots with 7 to 10 knots of wind.
The marina here is new and there is not much else here other than vacation homes. There is one motel/cantina, but otherwise no stores or other businesses. The little town here, La Salina, is basically a summer beach town. A small group of US expats seem to have settled here for retirement. I have included a photo of the marina's hotel/restaurant which is still being built. It will be the biggest deal in the town when it's done.
We chose Puerto Salina as our first port because it is less expensive than marinas in Ensenada. We needed to check into Mexico and to do that we had to go to Ensenada. The harbour master here had one of his employees drive us to Ensenada in the marina van. Unlike other places
Ansa and Echo in Puerto Salina
Ansa and Echo tied up in a slip at Puerto Salina, vacation homes in the background. where you have to chase all over town to visit the various officials, Ensenada has collected them all in one building. It took us two hours to get all the paper work done, going back and forth between Immigration, the Port Captain, the Bank, and Customs. We had read a lot of what the process was supposed to be, but what actually happened was quite different. Very confusing, compounded by the language barrier. We were really lucky to have Raul ( the marina employee) with us as he helped us out immeasurably.
Paperwork complete, Raul took us to a supermarket so we could stock up on perishables. The supermarket had anything you would want. We all went to lunch next at a great fish restaurant in the tourist part of Ensenada. After lunch we visited a pharmacy since it was right next door to the restaurant, and picked up our prescription drugs since this is pretty much our last civilized stop for a month or so. No prescription needed here; just write down what you want and you get it at a really reasonable price!
We could have left here last Saturday, but we chose to wait a
Hotel and Restaurant
From the marina brochure and web page, you'd think this thing was operational, but it'll clearly be awhile before it opens. They seem to think about a year. few days for a storm to pass. As I write this on Monday, the storm is here, it is raining and the winds are gusting up to 25 knots. Glad I'm not bobbing at anchor today. We expect the weather to settle down by Wednesday or so, when we will head for the anchorage at Punta San Thomas, then on to Bahia Colnett, then more little gunkholes on the coast. There may not be much in the way of Internet access until we reach civilization in Cabo San Lucas. This trip will take three weeks to a month, so it may be awhile before I can add anything here.
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Terry Downs
non-member comment
You're on your way!
Hi, guys, Looks like you are finally on your way! I keep checking the blog hoping to hear about you and will keep doing that. Enjoy the trip down. And drop me a line when you have the chance. Fondly, Terry