Aiming for Mexico, Part 6: Good Times and Diesel Dreams
Ensenada, Mexico, was officially founded in 1542, but the year really denotes when Spanish explorers arrived in the area. Quechan- or Yuman-speaking people had lived here for thousands of years. The place remained little more than a village until gold was discovered nearby in 1872. Ensenada then developed as a mining port, and was designated capital of Baja California in 1882. British-owned Mexican Land & Colonization Co. planned and developed the modern city in subsequent decades.
Ensenada lost its capital status in 1915 after being devastated by the Mexican Revolution, and it remained a backwater until tourism took off in the 1950s. The annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race began leaving from California in 1948—with famous actor Humphrey Bogart taking part that first time.
Today, Ensenada is one of Mexico’s most atmospheric ports. We found great wine and superb seafood (I’m told, at least, since I have never enjoyed seafood). Like many port towns, Ensenada is tourist-centric, which means there is petty theft and general pestering, but if you don’t go looking for trouble, you won’t find it. We learned that English is spoken virtually everywhere, and we did our best to communicate in Spanish out of respect. Google Translate, downloaded to our phones, was a big help to overcome my decision to study French instead of Spanish in college.
The streets were bright and colorful, alive with music and cruise-ship tourists. We exchanged our dollars for pesos and walked the long way through the fish market, along the Malecón and beneath the large Mexican flag that painted the sky. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. We were really here.
Reality on a boat has a way of reasserting itself, though. Our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, Avocet, had a nasty gash from rubbing against the dock during a big blow back in the States before we’d left. It turned out to need a fairly quick fix that we could do in Ensenada.
Between coats of Awlgrip, my husband, Chris, checked in on our neighbor and buddy-boater, Peter Metcalfe, who was entertaining a friend aboard his 38-foot Hans Christian, Kessel. I was deep cleaning Avocet’s interior, preparing her for our longest passage yet, when Olivia knocked on our hull.
“Do you know how to get diesel out of fabric?” she asked.
“Baking soda and vinegar, grease-cutting detergent, Listerine or ammonia should do the trick,” I replied, and she went on her way.
A few moments later, she knocked again, asking if I could help her get diesel out of their mattress.
“Your mattress?” I asked.
By the time Olivia and I got over to Kessel, Chris, Peter and his friend were all tucked into the aft cabin, which was filled with diesel fumes. A breather hose for the diesel tanks, which allows the tanks to vent, was obstructed. When Peter had been filling the tanks, enough pressure had built up to create a siphon through the vent hose, which was, unfortunately, located above their bed.
The stench was so bad, it wafted all the way down the dock.
“Can I stay on your boat tonight?” Olivia asked. Our cat, Cleo, was thrilled to have a cuddle buddy in the quarter berth.
For us and the Kessel crew alike, the time spent in Ensenada was short, sweet, expensive and full of surprises—but then Chris and I were off again for our longest passage yet, to Bahia Santa Maria, where we would endure even more misadventures.
Lesson learned: Enjoy the good times, because when it comes to cruising, new challenges are always just around the bend.
The post Aiming for Mexico, Part 6: Good Times and Diesel Dreams appeared first on Cruising World.