Bus Ride

Yesterday we took a long bus ride at a cost of 8 pesos or 60 cents to the south side of town to visit Home Depot (would you believe) to purchase a water filter. The ride was a tourist experience in itself. It was great to be a small part of the daily life of the community (complete with a man with a guitar seranading the passengers for a small donation) and we got to see a wide cross section of the city.

Our destination could be called "Gringoville". There was WalMart, Home Depot, Applebeys, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, etc. The place could have been in the USA except for the white sand dunes in the background.

We found a water filter which looked like it was designed for a kitchen sink. However, it had connections to which it looked like we would be able to connect hoses. However, I wanted confirmation which I got from a man at the service desk who assured us that connection to garden hoses would be no problem. Then Arnold and I went to the gardening section and selected some fittings that should work. However, the fittings were bound in plastic ties so we were not able to actually try them out. We purchased the lot, including 2 spare filters.

We didn't have time for screw ups so outside of the store we made sure that the spare filters were the correct ones. However, we could not free up the hose connections with our bare hands which turned out to be most unfortunate because when we got to the boat we found that the hose connections had a subtle difference in thread that rendered them useless. Andy told me of an Ace-type hardware that may help us out this morning. Otherwise we will put the town water directly into our tanks. Andy said that Ensenada water comes from a pristine reservoir up in the hills which is OK health wise but contains a lot of calcium that is best filtered out. I would like to get that filter working not for Ensenada but for further down the track where who knows what sort of water will be available.

We came back with two steaks from WalMart and cooked them last night over a charcoal grill overlooking the marina. We were joined by Peter, originally from Melbourne Australia, but really a citizen of the world. He is a marine biologist currently teaching in Calgary but flying all over the place on jobs. He plans to move to Seattle soon. He's got the 43 ft center cockpit boat next to us which he purchased in San Diego. He's been flying down regularly to check on the boat and plans to sail it to Seattle this summer, then across to Hawaii, then on to Australia. Sailing up the West Coast then from Juan de Fuca to Hawaii is doing it backwards with the prospects of adverse winds and current but he might get lucky. He'll need luck bucking the westerlies and the Pacific High to get to Hawaii, a task that most cruisers avoid by sailing down the West Coast to the Baja area then heading for Hawaii on the south side of the Pacific High.

I've put the bicycle together for a run to the hardware store. I'll try to bring back plenty of bread and maybe a case of Corona.

We hope to depart just after noon with the prospects of very weak winds for the next few days. Never mind. Sometimes I think that sailors know too much. We'll just go out there and start sailing. Even if the wind is weak it will be fair so there is the prospect of using the spnnaker, all night if we have to.

I've had a look at possible anchorages along the 600 miles to Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Baja California. Turtle Bay (AKA Bahia San Bartolome) 270 miles south at 27N40, 114W52 looks like an outstanding prosepect. But there are many other possibilties along the way which Arnold and I might try out if the winds and seas become very calm. I fretted to friend Barbara in Australia that we might have to spend some days at anchor waiting for good winds and she gave me a salutory reminder that relaxation and enjoyment is what it is supposed to be about. She was right: why do I keep falling into the trap of measuring cruising success by speed?

The first two photos are of the Marina offices and facilities and the well tended walkway along the water front. Our stay at the marina has been expensive but well worth it. Arnold overheard an old guy in the office yesterday trying to move his boat from the $30/day marina next door to this one. The surge was so bad that one of his thick mooring ropes parted. Security was so bad that somebody stole his chained-up outboard motor. They hit transients very hard here at $61 per day but we've learned that long term rates are very reasonable. In any event we are pleased with the security, quality of facilities, and the personal assistance that we have received here.

The next photo shows the people (lots of children!) lining up for yet another parade. It was Tuesday and they had had one just the previous Sunday. We were told that the Sunday one was to drive away bad spirits. We're not sure that yesterday's parade was about, but it doesn't matter - any excuse for healthy festivity will do.

We thought that the white building was a church but it is some sort of a public gallery.

The last photo shows Arnold doing is tourist thing along the north side of the harbor.