Finally in Mexico!

We made it to Mexico! After a smooth and windless overnight passage from San Diego, we entered Ensenada in the morning after the most non-eventful passage ever. The only way to check into Ensenada is by tucking into a marina, as there’s no option to anchor anywhere. We chose to stay at Marina Coral , and we’re glad we did. They were all super helpful with all the check-in paperwork and documentation and they even took us to the customs office and stood with us every step of the way so we can get everything we needed. It was a little bit overwhelming, so we were really grateful for the help. Then we could just enjoy the marina for another day or so and relax a little bit. The marina had a really lovely pool and nice warm showers and even a sauna and a steam room. It was a really great introduction to Mexico and a nice way to start in a new country. 

A day or so later we were ready to leave to our next stop over of Turtle Bay. This passage ended up being one of our most brutal yet. It was a bit of a mix of weather and expectations and just a really rough two nights overall. There was gusts of wind up to 31 kn consistently and Matt had to do a lot of hand steering to keep the auto pilot happy. Needless to say we rolled into Turtle Bay two days later very grateful for a wide open and calm anchorage.

Turtle Bay is actually a super sleepy town and there wasn’t too much going on when we arrived. We knew that in a couple of days the sailing rally Baja haha would be coming through, filling the anchorage with over 100 boats, but for now, it was a small sleepy Mexican town with some stores, some sports arenas, and a couple schools. We had a nice day, stretching our legs walking through hot, dusty town, finding some Coca-Cola and local treats. We all had to figure out how to communicate in Spanish as not very many people English.

It didn’t take long until we started meeting some experts in turtle Bay (some from the USA and some from Europe) who could really give us some local knowledge and information. Matt was able to help with a small project on shore with a Swiss guy who lives in turtle Bay and they help pour concrete for a local skate park For the Mexican kids who live there. And there were many and impromptu dinner party with freshly made friends.

It has been a bit of a struggle day today to find adequate Wi-Fi or Internet connection since entering Mexico. In Canada in the USA we got really lucky with a really nice phone plan that offered a ton of data and we’ve had great reception throughout. But it seems as soon as we’ve entered Mexico, availability of data has been zero. So we’re back to scrounging for Wi-Fi, luckily nearly every boat on the water these days has a starlink router, so we can often beg/borrow or steal Internet when needed, but it has put a cramp in our style, especially the kids schoolwork. It has been good to stretch us to make friends and then politely ask them for their Internet password, which everyone is more than happy to share.

We really enjoyed our time in Turtle Bay, making connections with locals and other travellers, but we did want to stay ahead of the ha-ha rally so we decided to take off to the next bay, Asuncion. We were able to catch some fish on the way and had a nice 10 hours light wind sailing.

Another thing we’re learning in Mexico, is that dinghy docks are not very common and you often have to beach your dinghy through the waves. We’ve had a few accidents where some or all of us are 50% wet after trying to get the dinghy to or from the beach, but I like to think we’re getting a little bit better every time. 

Asuncion was another nice calm, Mexican short town, and we were able to walk around and stretch my legs, and the people rules were so friendly. 

It was great to have had some refreshing and calm days at anchor, but we did need to make another overnight passage to Santa Maria Bay. We did our best to plan with the weather, and we only got about 50% lucky. We had some nice winds and then The wind and the waves picked up and we had to run with the wild weather somewhat away from our destination. It wasn’t our worst passage, but it definitely wasn’t a favorite. Luckily we were sailing the same journey with another Canadian boat and we could check in here and there, and we definitely compared notes when we got back to shore.

Bahia Santa Maria is a nice big sheltered Bay and we knew the ha ha rally was due in just another day or two and we were ready by then to see people, and especially some family boats. It was nice to have a few days to ourselves and the other boats in the Anchorage to just relax and enjoy snorkelling in the beach before the rally came through, but we were excited to see the spectacle. It really was quite something to see Boat after Boat after Boat come into the ample Anchorage.

We will walk to a bay full of all kinds of boats, mostly sailboats, but some power boats too. We all hopped in the dinghy, hoping to catch up with a few boats we previously met at the California coast, and while we were out, we would say hello to anyone who looked like they had kids, or anyone with a Canadian flag. The ha ha was a really great group of people who were super welcoming, despite the fact that we didn’t join the rally. There was even some events planned that we could participate in including a kids diving competition (Digory stole the show with his belly flop!) And a really great beach barbeque on shore hosted by the local Fisherman. 

It wasn’t long before the rally was due to leave and they cleared out as swiftly as they had come in. We went to sleep with 100 boats in the bay and woke up to about a dozen as they had an early departure time. Luckily, there were a few family boats who were keen to stay in the area and explore the bay just to the south. We called it the Mag Bay Mutiny and half a dozen boats decided to head to Bahia Magdalena, which is known for its beauty and calm Waters and whale calving at certain times of the year.

Meg Bay has been a really nice stop for us. All as life has really slowed down and we can enjoy shore life (which is very simple, with one small store and two small restaurants) but the local people have been so friendly we even had one of the Family boats kiddo celebrate a birthday, and we brought the party to shore, and the local kids were included and all those kids had so much fun.

It ended up being a good thing that some of us boats mutant need as the wind and weather really picked up for the rally heading south towards Cabo. It turns out that the rest of the Baja ha-ha rally was cancelled due to weather so the family boats that skipped out weren’t really missing anything after all. We were very happy for their company, though we loved our quick venture into the sailing rally adventure, it feels best to have a few friendly boats around you doing the same sort of things we are.

In Mag Bay, we’ve had some really nice slow adventure days, including a dinghy ride up through the mangroves. I wish we knew our shorebirds a little better because we saw so many really interesting birds up in the mangroves. The beach here is lovely too, soft, white sand, and beautiful, turquoise water, it feels like we finally arrived in nearly tropical weather. 

Our next big stop will be in Cabo San Lucas, which will be more of a reprovisioning than sightseeing. We’ve heard it can be really expensive and quite busy there, with a rather dicey Anchorage. Our big goal for the next week or so is to get further north into the sea of Cortez at La Paz where there will be lots of boats and a protected Anchorage and a really nice space to relax and start enjoying the sea of Cortez.