Goodbye, Ensenada
October 25th will mark the end of our nearly 6 week
stop in Ensenada, Mexico. We have itchy feet and wandering hearts, so we have
decided to throw off the dock lines and keep moving South.
Arriving in Ensenada on September 16th, Mexico’s
Independence Day, we were greeted with a thick, seemingly impermeable wall of
fog and wind that picked up just in time for docking our 53’ boat into a 44’
slip. We slid in with ease, but my anxiety level was amazingly high! I don’t
like marinas. There are obstacles, there are looky-loos, and there are boats
that are most assuredly worth more than ours. Once we left American waters, we
were also forced to leave our liability insurance behind in exchange for
Mexican insurance. Many people don’t get insurance, but we opted to as we were
staying in a marina and they often ask for proof of insurance (we didn’t get
asked for proof at Baja Naval). I ALSO absolutely love marinas! Hot showers,
flushing toilets, electrical hook up, WiFi, fresh water (not potable), and
civilization are all welcomed changes after being at sea or anchor.
Shortly after docking, we found another sailboat in the marina
with a Canadian flag and were compelled to wander over. The couple that we met
on sv Candine have turned out to be some of the most wonderful people we could
hope to meet out here AND they are sailing a sister boat to ours – another
Spencer. Always nice to find familiar in foreign territory.
Hauling out on the 18th, we had our hull scrubbed
and painted, a few minor repairs attended to, and zincs replaced. For 5 days on
the hard, climbing up a very sketchy ladder proved to be an adventure in
itself. The ladder was about 25 feet high, propped on a wooden block with a
shim tucked under one side. Mexico has some unconventional ways! Being on the
hard is… HARD! No running water (no washing dishes or hands in the sink, no
fridge to run, limited holding tank for the toilet), it’s dirty, and it’s
unnatural to be flying in the air in a boat that is meant for the water. It was
nerve-wracking to have our 4 kids climbing up and down above a large cement
pad, but in the end, we all survived and were so very thankful to be back in
the water. Arena has been taken care of and we appreciate the skill that the
men have used to keep her maintained. The kids played in the yard in the
evenings and weekend on their longboards to pass the time and make the best of
it. Since Arena is our home and we are most definitely on a budget, staying in
a hotel was a luxury we couldn’t afford. We’ve heard that people are no longer
able to stay in their boat in a boatyard in the USA for liability reasons, so
we are extra thankful for Mexico’s relaxed nature.
Back in the marina, we tried to settle into a school routine.
This is my BIGGEST challenge as a boatschooler. We didn’t have the stress of
introducing boatschooling on top of the liveaboard life, but we still have the
daily challenges of “normal” life. I am notorious for setting up a schedule for
the kids only the throw it to the wind because of a whim or a more interesting
adventure. We’ve found a way to set a different set of goals where the kids are
still learning and growing and being productive while allowing for the whims
and the adventures. They have created Thanksgiving invitations and stop-motion
videos (not sure how to transfer them here), paintings and copious amounts of
drawings. They are all currently writing their own stories, only occasionally
asking for direction or assistance from Jamie or me. I haven’t read their
stories, but love that one day we might get the opportunity to read the lovely
works of the Craig girls! Lochlan has started “Kindergarten” and is such a keen
little learner. We play math games, practice writing and drawing, and some
pre-reading exercises because HE WANTS TO!!!!! What?! What a bonus!
Nora (sv Candine) and I had quite the adventure up to San
Diego! Bill from sv Seaduction, a neighbouring boat in the marina, offered to
drive us across the border to pick up much needed supplies and an exchange that
turned into more than just an exchange at the border. I won’t go into details,
but while crossing back over the border, we got quite the “gut punch” so to
speak by the officials! The system down here is just not the same trustworthy
system that we have been so accustomed to up North and we will need to adjust
our expectations. I would really like to avoid becoming jaded by less than
honest encounters, if possible!
Buying our groceries is a whole afternoon process. We walk to
the mercado, passing through the tourista zona to get there. We go shopping
every few days because the produce is SO inexpensive and we want to eat the
fresh stuff whenever we have access to it. That, and because whatever we buy,
we also have to carry back to the marina! We have been spoiled with packaging
and presentation in Canada and it made our first meat purchases a bit
challenging! I had to work up the courage to buy from the local markets, but it
doesn’t feel so offensive anymore. We chose not to shop at the Americanized
stores because they just cost too much money for us. We also wanted to feel
like we’re more a part of the community while living in it. Jamie calls this
our gradual integration into Mexico. We still have the option, so close to the
border, to buy what we know from the other stores, but we can gain confidence
in changing our ways. For example, we’ve always used butter at home. Mexicans
appear to appreciate their margarine…we do not. We now either go butterless on
toast or use the least offensive margarine which appears to be the LaLa brand.
We have found unsalted butter (ummm, no thanks) for about $7-8 CAD, which is
ludicrous! I will change my ways! $7-8 can buy our family a few bags of fruit
and vegetables!
I appreciate the Mexican culture, but I sure wish we could
communicate more efficiently! We wander through the stores, trying to speak whatever
Spanish we know, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding. Duolingo has helped
Ada with retention of many phrases, but we all have a lot of studying and
practicing to do. We met the most generous couple on m/v Lazy Days who have
gifted us 2 different Spanish courses that Jamie and I have managed to complete
one evening of.
Boat jobs continued in the marina, although at a fairly
relaxed pace. We’ve repainted the diamond grip on our decks with Awlgrip as the
fiberglass was showing through and leaving shards in our legs and feet. What an
improvement to the look and FEEL of the deck! I sewed our dingy cover to
accommodate hanging from the davits, keeping it protected from the UV rays as
much as possible. We were gifted a large roll of marine upholstery from our
wonderful friends back home, so we found a local upholsterer to give our VERY
uncomfortable cockpit an update. We also chose to add a bimini to the cockpit
as it will give us much need shade from the Mexican sun and more usable square
footage (a precious commodity with 6 of us!). The upholsterer “Tino” has proven
himself talented and accommodating. He decided on his last visit to gift us a
custom cover for our outboard motor! We should receive it just in time to leave
on Friday the 25th. Jamie had
the freaky privilege of sitting in the Bosun’s chair up to the second spreader as
well. He had to get everything organized in order to go up before the afternoon
winds picked up. I can’t imagine it’s safe, in any sense of the word, to be
sitting in a swing up above a boat deck almost 60 feet in the air, much less
while the winds are howling! He re-riveted our port side lazy-jack back onto
the mast, which had snapped off during our last leg of our journey to Ensenada,
just after reaching the Mexican border. Those lazy jacks are such a simple,
brilliant system to help manage Arena’s very heavy, fully battened mainsail. We
decided it was wise to take advantage of the secure marina dock and protected
waters to be harnessed to while he went up. Hard to believe he trusted me to
hoist him all the way up there! I hope there aren’t too many times that that
will be necessary!
Thanksgiving on Arena has been one of the highlights of our
stay. The girls made and delivered invitations to the Canadian boats in the
marina. I had brought 2 roasting chickens all the ways from Sidney, along with
canned cranberry sauce and a box of Tenderflake to make apple pie. The kids
decorated with some sweet little decorations and all of the invited
neighbouring boats showed up to celebrate with us. Although there were no kids
for ours to enjoy, it didn’t seem to dampen their spirits. Everyone brought
wonderful contributions and the feeling of community made it a simple,
wonderful celebration! We had such a great time that we forgot to take
pictures! Thank you sv Candine, mv Aegis, sv Riff Raff, and sv Paradigm 2.0 for
bringing so much joy to our home!
The kids have played well with each other, but kept hoping kid
boats would show up. Now that our time is coming to an end, we have had the
privilege of all of the company we could hope for, all in the last week here. A
worldschooling family with 2 kids met us on the beach for an afternoon in the
surf, which immeasurably lifted our kids spirits and ours too! We also had the
privilege of spending time with sv Maya, swimming in their marina’s pools, tube
rides, and being treated to some incredible hospitality on their beautiful boat.
I wish we had known 6 weeks ago that they were just down the road this whole
time. Such an awesome family! We sincerely hope that this is the first of many
visits with them! And last but not
least, Mom and Dad Craig made the trip down to visit! We’ve had almost 7 days
to enjoy their company. They’ve been an invaluable resource for translating,
Costco cart pushing for our provisions, and last minute encouragement.
Unfortunately, Dad has been under the weather, thus we’ll be leaving Ensenada
before them, which means they will be saying goodbye to us instead of us saying
goodbye to them. We can’t thank them enough for making the huge effort to be a
part of our crazy life, as transient and unconventional as it has become.
These past 6 weeks have been full of emotions – elation,
frustration, excitement, wonder, vulnerability, and even times of boredom (for
the kids!) and loneliness. We are absolutely, 100% ready to move on, but we are
so very thankful for our time in Ensenada, building friendships and memories with
other likeminded souls! See you when we see you, friends!
