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| Sleeping sealions in Ensenada Harbour |
All went well with clearing out at Ensenada. Baja Naval Marina
prepared the papers we needed to take to the authorities. Immigration stamped
our passports, we paid 270 pesos exit fee at the Port Captain’s Office and we
were asked to return in two hours for our exit letter. We paid our marina fees
and left Ensenada Harbour for a three mile choppy passage to Marina Coral’s
fuel berth. After taking on diesel, we anchored outside the marina in a small
bay and waited for the strong afternoon winds to ease.
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| Fuel berth at Marina Coral |
Refreshed after a few hours’ sleep, we weighed anchor at
2350 and set off for San Diego, USA. The seas were sharp and bouncy, settling
down by daybreak. Jeremy checked the engine after breakfast and was dismayed to
find a fair quantity of oil in the bilges. An armoured oil pipe from our
secondary oil filtration system had cracked and was leaking oil. We were close
to the Mexico/USA border but still in Mexican waters near Los Coronados
islands. The wind died away as soon as the engine was switched off, so we
couldn’t sail. We drifted while Jeremy worked out a way to bypass the
Filtakleen system.
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| San Diego waterfront |
At 1400 on Friday 9th June, we tied up at the
Harbour Police and Customs Dock, Shelter Island, San Diego Bay. Jeremy walked
up the ramp to an outdoor computer terminal and informed Customs of our
arrival. He booked us into La Playa free anchorage for the weekend at the same
terminal. After a while waiting at the dock, and a phone call from Jeremy, two
Custom’s Officers arrived and asked to see our cruising permit. We didn’t have
one, but they were relieved to hear we had visas. Arrangements were made to go
to the Customs Office in town on Monday morning. There was very little
paperwork; our passports were stamped and there were no fees to pay. We were
free to go to the anchorage, which we did after taking on drinking water from
the tap on the dock.
Jeremy had been told that the best place to leave the dinghy
if we went ashore was at a fuel berth. Finding one was quite difficult in the
forest of yacht clubs and marinas that surrounded La Playa (weekend only) anchorage.
On Saturday morning as we prepared to leave SD, we saw a man sitting in his
dinghy attached to a yacht called Better Days. He happened to be the Commodore
of Silver Gate Yacht Club and as we were members of the Western Isles Yacht
Club in Tobermory, Scotland, we could tie up our dinghy at Silver Gate’s dinghy
dock. Thank you Greg for your hospitality and for the advice of where to go to
buy new oil pipes.
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| La Playa anchorage, San Diego |
We needed a USA SIM card and someone suggested trying Ralph’s
Grocery Store. They only had top up cards but there was an AT&T cell phone
shop about 3 miles away. A woman at the checkout overheard the conversation and
offered us a ride to the phone shop. The people here are very kind and helpful.
We felt blessed because by the afternoon, we had a data SIM card for the USA,
several addresses and phone numbers of companies that might have oil pipes and
bags of groceries from Ralphs. We’d also found out about day passes on public
transport for $7 each.
After a rare, relaxing Sunday, we weighed anchor at 0800 on
Monday morning and headed for the Municipal Police Dock, where we’d booked (online)
a pontoon berth for the night ($1 per foot per day). One half hour walk, one
bus and one trolley (tram) later, we found the Customs Office. Taking the
elevator (lift) to the appropriate floor, it took about an hour for our
cruising permit to be issued at a cost of $19.
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| New oil pipes in place |
Another trolley bus ride took us to a transit centre within
walking distance of Kaman Industrial Technologies. On the way we passed many
homeless people pushing shopping trolleys or sitting on the sidewalk
(pavement). Some tents were under trees along side streets; some were sleeping
in old vans. It was a sorry sight and the biggest congregation of homeless
people we have seen in our travels. Kaman made up new oil pipes and provided
the special ends needed to fix them on to the engine, while we waited.
Wonderful. To celebrate we had lunch in McDonalds, where Jeremy bought me a
Happy Meal. As a friend once remarked to him, “You know how to give a woman a
good time!” We bought groceries on the way back and that evening, Jeremy replaced
two oil pipes and tested the system for leaks. There were none.
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| Smugglers' Cove anchorage, Santa Cruz Island |
The next day, Tuesday 13th June, we left the
Municipal Police Dock at 0620 for Santa Cruz Island, via Catalina Island, a
distance of 150 miles. We arrived on Wednesday at midday and enjoyed a quiet
evening on anchor, having scrubbed SD’s bottom. We were looking forward to
meeting Simon and Erin in Santa Barbara on Friday night.
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| Fishing trip boat off our anchorage |
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