Leaving San DIego

This was the second time that I’ve left San Diego.  The first time was 47 years ago by car. My father had just retired from the Navy, he loaded up our family into our new 1970 Volkswagen Microbus and drove us across the country to New England where most of us started from.  Now, decades later, I’m leaving San Diego again under my own recognizance and by water this time instead of by road, a small detail that seems to make a big difference.  Why?  I don’t know but I believe it to be true.  A reverse of the Arrival-by-boat effect is my best guess but I really don’t even know what that means. 

When I lived in SD before, as a sailing crazy kid, one of the regular big treats in my life then was sailing to the Los Coronados Islands that lie just south of San Diego in Mexico.  The islands themselves are wild and rugged things that refused to be tamed and the water that surrounds them is some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen.  Im my mind they were our very own version of the far off and exotic Galapagos islands.  For a young boy, joining a crew of 8 to 10 folks going by sail in an old wooden boat without an engine to such a place was an unspeakably delicious adventure that thrilled and delighted me to no end.  



The morning before of our departure dawned gloriously in brilliant colors of red, gold and amber all set against a blue sky and sea.  I took that as a good omen for our trip.  As I stood on the shoreline of the bay looking out at the sunrise I was joined by another early solar admirer who turned out to be a sailor just returned that previous night from Ensenada, Mexico the port that Bev and I were headed for.  He was crew on a beautiful 50’ trimaran what had suffered a catastrophic rudder failure that caused them to cut their Mexican cruise short, hardly before it got started but still, he had a glow in his eyes and voice as he spoke about their trip and expressed no regrets.  A fine sailor.  We parted ways well, me to Mexico and our fate and him back to his boat in order to limp home to their home port and needed repairs.

Just before Bev cast-off the dock lines I had to jump in the water, knife in hand, in order to cut away a big bundle of kelp that had encircled Malo’s rudder.  I thought it looked good, a big wrap of fresh, golden kelp but it had to go before we sailed again.  When we first had arrived, some friendly boaters had pointed it out as they helped us dock Malo.  I joked that Malo must have “won” something because the big bundle of golden kelp wrapped about her rudder looked like the garland of flowers that is presented to race the winner in a horse race.  That sentiment was met with silence and unconformable looks.  Oh well, I realize my humor doesn’t always land well, they had come off of super nice yachts, multi-million dollar, proper yachts…anyways I jumped in just before we left and cut the aquatic botanical masterpiece free, climbed back aboard and we were off.  The moderate wind was perfect in strength and direction, so we were able to put out the jib and cut the engine in just a few minutes after leaving the dock, headed for Ensenada with an easy gentle breeze to our back and plenty of time to make the passage.



We were planning on an easy overnight passage so with time on our hands we decided to go by those islands of my youth, the Los Coronados.  They unlike San Diego were amazingly unchanged.  Islands in time as well as the sea.  My heart soared to see there defiant and unchanged beauty.  

After a very pleasant day of sailing the sun set and then we watched, enchanted as a bizzilion lights on the coast of Mexico.  Something that was almost non existent when I sailed those waters as a kid.  Bev went below to sleep as I took the first watch of the evening.  

The moon came up and the wind increased a bit from the gentle 8nmp we had been enjoying to 12nmp.  We were sailing under only jib alone and that was reefed to about 60% in order to time our arrival to just after sunrise the next morning.  That little wind increase caused me to reef down to just a scrap of jib in order to maintain our 3nmp target speed. 

Boats went by on either side headed north.  Without speaking to one another, we adjusted our courses to best accommodate each other.  A shoal of high cirrocumulus clouds rolled in the southern sky that was back lite by the moon.  I sailed until 1:00am when I woke Bev for her watch it had been an enchanting evening of wind, water, sky and thoughts…

The next morning we made an easy entrance into the Marina Coral where we were greeted by our new dock neighbors Lynn & Ken aboard Wind & Blade and the marina staff.  After we were securely tied up we set off to officially clear ourselves and Malo into the country something which is usually a long and arduous but was made relatively easy thanks to two things 1) Ensenada’s  consolidated check out facility (customs, immigration, port captain, agriculture and a bank) all taken care of in one building, (usually they are scattered about town) and 2) Marina Coral’s extremely knowledgeable, helpful and friendly staff who drove us to the check in facility and guided us through each step of the process.  Checking into another country with a boat can often take a full day and sometimes two but this amazing process only took a couple of head spinning hours.  

After checking in we had lunch and then explored the marina facilities.  The Baja 1000, an off-road race that runs the length of the Baja Peninsula was about to start and there were a few competitor's vehicles in the parking lot.  We then made a provisioning run to a nice grocery store just across the street from the marina.  We’ve got to stock up for our run down the Baja which has few ports and even fewer shopping facilities.  

After dinner we thoroughly enjoyed the marina’s Jacuzzi and heated pool.  There was a birthday party going on poolside for a Mexican child so the area was filled with parents and high energy children all seeming to have a great time.  The language of happy children  lost in play is universal and was a delight to hear.  There were dozens of kids all having a wonderful time going in and out of the pool, all breaking almost every pool rule known in our country but for some reason nobody got hurt and they actually seemed to be playing extraordinarily well together.  That may well be a good indicator of what’s ahead.  So far, everyone we’ve encountered in Mexico including the children and parents at the pool party have been extremely friendly and nice.  I don’t understand how this place works but it sure is nice.