[PUP] Fwd: [kensblog] Update # 18 - Fubar-ing in Ensenada Mexico

[John Ford]

Begin forwarded message:

> Greetings All!
>
> I am pleased to announce that the Fubar Rally has successfully
> arrived in Ensenada.
>
> Our morning began early, at 5:15am. I felt bad waking everyone up,
> but I was impatient to get moving, and I couldnt sleep. Im not
> sure what was keeping me awake, as neither the boat nor the weather
> are a concern. I think it is nothing more than that Ive been
> thinking about the Fubar for a long time and  was anxious to get
> rolling.
>
> Jeff, who was sleeping in the pilot house berth, mentioned having
> been awakened at 4am by another of the Fubar attendees departing.
> It was Cadenza, a Nordhavn 76 that is the groups advance boat
> headed south to Ensenada to help make sure everything was smooth for
> our arrival.
>
> We were underway by 6:15, as were many other boats. I dont know if
> it was the entire fleet or not, but there was a steady stream of
> boats in front and in back of us. Everyone seemed to be using the
> same set of waypoints, which had us in almost literally a straight
> line which stretched for miles.
>
> Our run today was very short, only 65 miles, and it actually felt
> shorter. The water couldnt have been calmer. I never felt a need to
> look at the wind gauge, so I cant tell you what the wind speed was,
> or from what direction it came. We also seemed to have a current
> pushing us, as our speed was great. It felt good to be at sea, and I
> was in no hurry for arrival, so we dropped back to 1,300 rpm, but
> were making around 10 knots anyhow.
>
> I wanted to try to get some running shots of the other boats, and
> had at least one other boat in site at all times, but we had haze
> throughout the entire run. There was never fog. Id guess it was
> about 2 mile visibility, cool, probably in the high sixties, but
> everything was a dull grey. I expected it to burn off, and
> consistently had my camera ready to snap pictures, but never saw a
> picture worth taking.
>
> Surprisingly our route had us in fairly shallow water the entire
> route. We were consistently in water that was only about 100 feet
> deep. This gave me an opportunity to play with the Sonar. Ive never
> had Sonar on a boat before, and believe it can be an effective tool,
> but one that requires some time to learn to use. To make a long
> story short, it was a perfect run. Smooth water, and time to have
> fun tinkering with the electronics.
>
> The only memorable items on the run were:
>
> -          We passed through a school of dolphins. Ive been through
> schools of dolphins before, but nothing like this. The water looked
> like it was boiling with dolphins (or are they porpoises?). There
> were hundreds literally surrounding the boat. I shouted down the
> stairs from the pilothouse so the others could see, but by the time
> I could get their attention the moment had passed.
> -          I was surprised by a small fishing panga shooting across
> my bow at high speed. I never saw it until it was about 50 yards in
> front of me. It came out of nowhere, and I do not believe it ever
> appeared on either of my radars. I was never in danger of hitting
> it, but the fact that I couldnt see it on radar concerned me. I
> quickly adjusted the gain on the radar, trying to pick it up, but
> couldnt get it to appear. Many of you may remember the story of
> Earthrace a boat that struck a panga last year off Guatemala. The
> panga was floating, unlit, 50 miles offshore with three fisherman
> sleeping. One of the fisherman died in the collision, and Earthrace
> limped to shore saving the lives of the other two fisherman. I
> remember wondering how Earthrace could have missed the fisherman on
> the radar. We had two well tuned radars on flat seas, and the panga
> snuck past me anyhow. There was never any danger for the panga, or
> for us, but it was a good reminder of how important it is to always
> maintain a vigilant watch.
>
> Having a long stream of boats arrive virtually simultaneously made
> for a busy day at the Cruiseport Marina in Ensenada. After initially
> being assigned to the Cruiseport Marina, we were reassigned space at
> the nearby Ensenada Marina. However, no one seemed to know how I
> could contact the Ensenada marina, so the idea was that I would
> contact Cruiseport where the bulk of our group had slips, to get
> directions to our new marina. Unfortunately, our contact at
> Cruiseport was on the docks, and not responding to phone calls. This
> left us a bit to fend for ourselves.  Ensenada is a busy harbor with
> a variety of small marinas, any one of which could have been the
> marina we were seeking. We researched in several cruising guides,
> and had hints as to what we were seeking, but no clear indication as
> to which marina we wanted. None of the marinas we thought might be
> our destination had signs.
>
> As we were cruising along, we suddenly found two different sets of
> Mexicans, on two different adjacent docks, each shouting at us, and
> waving us in to great looking moorage. On our left was an end side-
> tie, easily accessible, and on our right was a 120 long end cap.
> Both looked perfect, but which was ours? And, why, given all the
> trouble I normally have finding moorage, were two different groups
> competing for our business? I made a decision and went for the end
> cap on our right. It was a good guess. The dock attendant confirmed
> that this was indeed the Ensenada Marina and welcomed us to the dock.
>
> All was not perfect. There is a strong swell in the marina. We were
> being slammed into, and then off of, the dock. We noticed an empty
> slip deeper into the marina and lobbied the dock attendant to give
> it to us. He said yes (in Spanish) and I starting thinking about how
> to get into the slip. Jeff was convinced I could do it, and I sort
> of thought I could do it, so between us, we made it happen. The
> scariest part was that the bow thruster was slinging mud. Clearly
> depth was an issue. Jeff speaks some Spanish, and the dock attendant
> was saying not to worry, that far larger boats had made it in
> without problem. We did get into the slip, but what the dock
> attendant was saying, and what my eyes were telling me, were not in
> sync. The swell (somewhat like waves) in our new slip was not as
> calm as I had hoped. We were still being moved around more than I
> liked. This was solved via lots of extra fenders and six lines to
> stabilize the boat.
>
> I had been told that the dock would not have shorepower, but could
> see pedestals with 50 amp service, so we attached to the power, and
> waited as nothing happened.  No power. I got out a volt meter, and
> measured 71 volts of ac current. This was the first time I had seen
> voltage so low, and was not surprised that the boats electrical
> system had decided it would pass.
>
> The Fubar rally did something amazing prior to entering Mexico. On
> last Saturday, a representative of the marina visited the group in
> San Diego to handle the bulk of the immigration paperwork for our
> arrival today. Unfortunately, I arrived in San Diego late, on
> Monday, and missed out on this. Instead, I had to deal with
> immigration the hard way. Roberta, my wife, speaks Spanish. I
> speak French. Although we have owned a home in mexico for 10 years,
> I speak virtually no Spanish. I have struggled with learning French
> and trying to learn two somewhat similar languages simultaneously
> wasnt working. So with that background to what follows, with
> passports and documentation in hand, I visited the harbormasters
> office.
>
> Happily, the harbor master here at the Ensenada Marina speaks decent
> English. He informed me that I would need to walk the 1 mile to the
> Cruiseport marina where I could get my paperwork handled. Do you
> remember my saying that they were having a busy day at Cruiseport?
> After a wait for the person I needed to see to appear, and another
> wait for him to get to me, he searched his files, and I didnt
> exist. Nothing had been done with my paperwork. I needed to do the
> full process, which meant going to the Port Captains office, a
> cab ride away.
>
> The Port Captains office is actually very well laid out. There are
> four distinct booths, each of which serves a different function.
> Which booth I wanted, or what those functions were, I had no idea,
> so I picked one and handed over my carefully organized paperwork. I
> had prepared and prepared and prepared our paperwork. I had six
> copies of everything, each set of documents individually paper
> clipped and collated. I doubt they have ever seen a neater
> presentation. The lady at the first window didnt know what to make
> of my documents, and she didnt seem to know what to do with me, so
> she gave up and pointed at the next window.
>
> This new window was labeled as Immigration.  The immigration
> officer looked at my stack of papers and said Clearance. That was
> it. One word, and nothing more. I shrugged and said Clearance? He
> pointed back to the lady at the first window. I returned to her and
> said (yes  you guessed it) Clearance? The lady looked at me
> blankly and said something in spanish that I couldnt interpret, so
> I returned to the immigration officer. Fortunately, I was alone in
> the Port Captains office. I dont know what would have happened had
> there been a line. It certainly would have been less fun.
>
> Back at the immigration window, I pointed at the lady at the next
> booth. I said Elle no tiene Clearance. Elle no comprende mi.
> Whether or not that said anything helpful or not, I do not know.
> But, it did get the immigration guy to go with me back to the
> original lady, where they had a long discussion about me. We
> returned to the immigration window, where the immigration officer
> returned with another immigration officer who spoke some English.
> When I say some I mean that his English, and my Spanish, were
> somewhat equal. He offered to help me, and I accepted
> enthusiastically. He started filling out forms, and handed me blank
> tourist cards to start filling out. I was very happy.
>
> He then indicated I should take the tourist cards to a new window,
> and pay a new lady. This window was labeled Banercito or something
> like that. I presented my newly acquired tourist cards to the pretty
> young Mexican girl, who told me in very good English, that she had
> enjoyed watching me try to speak spanish. I smiled and said how
> much? I owed her $150. I paid here, and then watched as she started
> the long process of entering information from the tourist cards and
> passports into a computer.
>
> Meanwhile, another lady appeared, this one from the Fubar Organizing
> Committee. They had sent someone to help me! Ita was her name, and
> she was bilingual, and she offered to help. I explained to her that
> all was under control, and that I was almost done. She confirmed
> this with my new friend, the immigration officer, and left.
>
> However, I wasnt as close to completion as I thought. The
> immigration officer now suggested I return to the very first lady,
> with a new form he had completed and pay her. The bank lady was
> still typing, so I returned to where I started. I now understood
> that this was the window where I would get the entrada permit for
> getting the boat into the port. I figured why not ask for an exit
> permit and save time later. This caused some confusion, but after
> discussion became possible. Another form later, and I was given  a
> new word to learn Salida for getting out. With an Entrada and a
> Salida, and another $180 (US dollars), I was finished with this
> particular counter. She pointed towards Aduana. The last of the
> windows.
>
> Good news! Prior to the trip, I had received a Temporary Import
> Permit for my boat. This form saved me from having to spend time
> with the Aduana officer, and  I was able to return to the lady at
> the bank. She gave me tourist cards I had been hoping for from the
> beginning, and I was back to the immigration window for goodbyes.
> After thanking them for their assistance, I was on my way.
>
> Ita, from the Fubar, called to apologize for the problems, and I
> told her it actually wasnt as bad as I had feared, and in any event
> it was a problem of my own making. Had I followed the proper Fubar
> procedure, I wouldnt have been Fubar in the first place. Overall,
> I was fairly proud of myself, and the people I had met were
> friendly, helpful, and best of all there had been no lines. I had
> consumed over three hours, but the vast majority of that was spent
> working my way to the port captains office.
>
> Earlier I had told our boat I wanted dinner in town, but I was
> starting to wear out, and a barbecue on the boat was sounding
> better. We had an amazing meal, and as we were cleaning up, Bruce
> Kessler, our rally chairman, called to give the good news that they
> had found space for me at the Cruiseport marina after all. I said I
> was tired, and had a blog to write, and actually, its quite nice
> here. We may move tomorrow, but maybe not. Overall, life is good.
> Were rolling a bit, but not that bad. I did ask Bruce how the
> refueling had gone, and he said that it went very well. Everyone had
> been fueled, via a fuel truck, and all is well.
>
> Thats it for tonight. Tomorrow Ill explore the town, and then
> there is a Fubar event tomorrow evening. On Friday morning we leave
> for what I believe is our longest run; 280 miles to Turtle Bay. I
> cant wait!
>
> Thank you,
> Ken Williams
> Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68
>
> PS I was chatting with the guy that pulled into the slip next to us.
> He said that he had decided to run to Guatemala, and came back when
> he got his butt kicked (his words) by the high waves and rough
> weather. He hadnt made it very far (he turned back after going only
> a few hundred miles).  I was somewhat surprised given our calm seas
> today that the weather gods had treated him so differently. This
> picture of his boat is kind of interesting. He had loaded huge tanks
> in the back of the boat to hold extra fuel. I can only wonder how
> this extra weight would have affected his boat handling. I dont
> think Id want to be a hundred miles offshore, in a 30 boat, with
> all that fuel sloshing around. Im thinking he made the right call
> to turn back.