Beth the Basher in Ensenada, Mexico

We made it! Ensenada! 1015 miles north from Puerto Vallarta against winds and waves, starvation and oh, no. We ate well......too well as Larry says.

This is a view from our dock in Cruiseport Marina. The Navy base is over there somewhere and flying high is the biggest Mexican flag I have ever seen.

Photo taken from SV Sun Baby. Just outside of the marina is the cruise ship terminal. Mom and Dad, is this where you boarded Semester at Sea? Would have been cool for you to arrive when we were here. Rocky is ready to see Grandma.

So the last 42 and a half hours we motored with some sailing north from Turtle Bay to Ensenada.

For the most part we had 1 to 5 knots of wind on the nose and nice rolling swell. We passed every boat that left Turtle Bay before us except for the Lucky. It is a TP52 race boat and you know Larry was working to beat it. Of course, we caught up with them (they leaving at 4 am and us at 7am) in 19 hours then he had them beat. Unfortunately, Larry had to sleep, it was my watch.  Not sure why, but Larry would have the boat going 8.5 knots and sure enough, he goes to bed and I rarely could keep up the same speed. Then the Lucky passed us. So, we cannot claim we beat a TP 52....or can we??? They started before us????? By the way, they took eastern side of Cedros and we took the western (favored) side. A moral victory with hot showers, hot food, a dog on deck and kayaks aboard! They were four miles to the west of us when we ducked into Ensenada. Not that we were keeping track.

Ah well, let's talk about my fun experience. So I am at the helm, having recently checked the radar and chart plotter, and up pops a big whale just to my left as if he and I are meeting at the four way stop and Beryl and Lamont Street in Pacific Beach. My nightmare. I look down to take off auto pilot, crank the wheel to the right and pull back the engines to idle. (Larry had just fallen asleep-----not anymore!) I could not go left behind him as I did not have enough room so I power down and go right. I don't speak whale so I cannot be sure he would have dove beneath us. I saw it as my only way to avoid possible collision. I made a big 360 degree turn. Killed my average speed and could have put us behind the Lucky, but we have no holes in the boat! It was a beautiful creature however I had no time to enjoy it. Once I had completed my 360 degree turn, there was no trace of the whale but two LARGE sea lions popped their heads up to see what the heck all the ruckus was. Totally funny. Glassy conditions and two heads sticking out of the water.

This area near San Martin island/volcano had a ton of wildlife. Sea lions jumped and played and slept as we passed them by. The little dolphins would race to the boat from a quarter of a mile away to play in the bow waves. Just great. You would see them compete for the wave or compete to get there first. Some jumped out of the water en route to Sun Baby.

Back outside of San Ignacio where the whales breed we almost hit another one. Larry had come up from the navigation desk to see a smooth area of the water (whale) and then turbulent water. We had come up on a sleeping whale and he took off as soon as we approached him. Larry says you could see in the water where he/she pumped his tail to get out of the way. Eek!

So anyway. We made it here safely and are looking forward to arriving in San Diego in about 8 or 10 days.

Love you all.....B, L and the Rockstar.