We’re on our way – after an unsuccessful (long story) attempt to repair our inverter in San Diego, we gave up and left without it – hopefully it will catch up with us in Puerto Vallarta!
We pulled out of San Diego Harbor at 4 a.m. Friday morning in fog, following the channel marker lights and listening to the sound of the foghorns. No wind, but a moderate swell, we motored all the way, some 70 miles, to Ensenada, arriving about noon. An uneventful passage but with some entertainment, including 4 dolphins who raced over to ride Raven’s bow wave for a while.
We also startled a migrating gray whale, coming up behind her. I was looking the wrong direction and missed it, but Rod saw her breach right in front of the boat, maybe 30-40 feet ahead. She moved off to the side of us and we were on parallel tracks for a bit, and I got a few pictures, but eventually we left her behind as our 8 knots were quicker than her guesstimated 6. We’re all headed to the same place probably – as our first stop after Ensenada is Magdalena Bay where the gray whales come to raise their babies and mate – thousands of them congregate in Scammons Lagoon, Mag Bay, and San Ignacio Lagoon from January to March.
We are all cleared into Mexico, with 180 day visitors visas for the crew and a 10-year permit for Raven! We’re hanging out here a bit this morning (Saturday), but plan to pull out around noon for the 538 mile trip to Mag Bay, 63 hours non stop – three nights and four days.
My cellphone has been working, but I think it will probably fade away until we get all the way south to Cabo San Lucas or (more likely) Cabo San Jose. We’ll stay in touch with sailmail, and the Iridium sat phone should work as well.