Plaza in Ensenada

It was an early morning rising at 3:00 a.m. for a scheduled 4:00 a.m. departure for the trip from San Diego to Ensendada which would allow for arrival before dark.  The morning greeted us with winds gusting to 25 knots on our beam, not good conditions for Odessa or Ponderosa to leave the dock.  The two boats maintained communication every 15 minutes while we watched for a lull in the wind and an opportunity to leave until, finally, at 6:00 a.m. the wind dropped to 8 knots and we were on our way. 

Once we were out of the protection of the bay, the seas were higher than any Michael or I had encountered and the wind 25 knots.  My biggest concern was getting seasick and, thankfully, we were both fine.  It was a fun roller coaster ride, as the wind held.  Due to the sea conditions, we were unable to use either auto pilot, requiring us to hand steer the entire trip, arriving safely in Ensenada around 5:00 p.m. just as the sun dropped over the horizon.

As Sherry and I were discussing which marina we might like to go to we were welcomed with lots of suggestions from other boaters listening in to our radio transmission.  It was our luck to have "Crazy Notion" talk us in to our slips at the marina where we promptly crashed to rest for clearing customs the next morning.