Monday, May 11th - We can see Ensenada!

Monday, May 11th, 2009. Wow!! We are here!! What an amazing trip! The Baha Bash is over and we are in Bahia Todos Santos, about 5 miles from Ensenada which is just across the bay. We came straight here after anchoring overnight in Colnett. And Behan, your voice was like music on the SSB today. You couldn’t hear us, but we could hear you, and it was the wonderful sound of ‘welcome home’. Man we miss you guys!

Well, our journey was amazing weather-wise. After the first day of oh-my-gosh-winds that turned us back, it has been extremely easy. Winds have been very light to dead calm, except for a few hours near Bahia Asuncion. That’s a miracle right there! And the water has been rolly or flat calm – so calm it is glassy. A second miracle. There has been very little other weather except a bit of fog. Amazing actually. We have had great plans to stop along the way to rest – anchor here or there for a few days and play with the boys while we waited for weather. But it seems like every time we got anchored, the weather looked promising, so we’d depart again early the next morning, and rather than heading to the next port down the line, we just stayed at sea heading north. When Merle asked me if we should anchor or sail, I seemed to be saying sail. And when I asked him, he said the same thing. It has helped us get this far this fast. We left last Monday, so it took us only 8 days to get here. From our research, we figured 10 days to 3 weeks, depending on the weather. We both feel like motoring is cheating, but in retrospect, our goal was to get to Ensenada, so we needed to employ whatever it took to get here, and it seems like motoring has been the best way. When the only choices are wind on the nose or no wind, the second option is far more conducive to a quick trip. So, thank goodness for diesel fuel! And many, many times every day, I have been saying thanks to God, and to Perkins our engine, Pete our autopilot and Kenta Anae of course, and to the sky and the water, and to Merle who has been not only very patient with me in my tired hours, but kind and sweet in lots of ways. We often looked across the dodger at each other and marveled, either out loud or silently, at our incredibly good luck with the weather window we chose. Thank you, and a thousand thank yous.

I am just so grateful things went so well. It’s unbelievable. If we just came and didn’t hear all the stories, we’d never know it could be so horrible! Now we are going to anchor here for tonight and tomorrow night to rest (that sounds funny, but it is true!) and clean up a bit, and do some of that playing with the boys that we promised ourselves during this journey. Tomorrow is a lego day! It is only a short distance now to Ensenada – about 1 hour. We can all taste it, and it tastes good. We have been talking about what we will do when we get there, and it’s really simple things like have a long hot shower, play in a playground, hug some good friends we left behind, and send out a ‘we’re great’ message. When your life is simple, it’s the simple things that become the most important.

Merle says:
The equipment on this voyage has been good and solid – that makes things infinitely easier. She’s a strong boat and good for us – she sails well. (Tatwari is playing in the background. Merle is standing in front of me on the deck. The sky and the water are the same color of grey. It’s very slightly different where they meet. The sky is overcast, and the water is flat without waves. It is reflecting the sky. Occasionally we see the odd bit of bull kelp – big fat floating kelp that is tough enough to stop a prop or hang up a rudder. Or a pelican. Merle is never still very long. He likes to tweak and adjust and fix. He is tightening the lifelines right now as we motor along, talking to me as I type.) Biggest lessons? Paradise is where you make it. It doesn’t have to be in the tropics, hot. It can be wherever you are. But it’s way easier when you are wearing surf shorts all the time! * It’s also not only about what we sought but about what (who) found us. * It’s been a big adventure getting competent with the boat and sailing. It has been a big step. Being able to sail allows you to travel now. New Zealand is not out of the question any more. I’d never fly my family there, but I’d sail there tomorrow. Funny, hey? * We take ourselves with us wherever we go. That’s one of the biggest lessons. That’s good and bad. * Only once you get used to your cart – if you get your cart down slow enough, can you work on other things in your life. But if the cart is too heavy, you have to focus on hauling the cart around. * If you want something, you just have to do whatever it takes to get there. You just have to start, put one foot in front of the other. It’s not rocket science. * Is sailing our style? * It’s true that it’s better to be scared to death than bored to death. Sometimes it’s hard to see though. * We are only now getting to be able to sleep in the anchorage. It takes a bit of getting used to this floating life. * Really what I want is to understand that I am in control of my life. Paying taxes and voting in elections doesn’t seem free enough to me. I can’t just watch the news and vote – it drives me nuts. We just get programmed to do what everyone else is doing. If you get to the point where you are coffin dodging with a big pile of money somewhere, what was the point? Bankruptcy of the purse or bankruptcy of the soul. That’s really a poignantly true statement. * For someone who has been to the sea and seen all of the serendipity that arises on the ocean, it’s incredible. You just can’t make it up. There is no way that I could have guessed at the luck and the things we have enjoyed, when we began this trip. There are lots of messages about how to live that manifesting sort of life, but we just don’t listen. If we ignore the rules and make our own by listening, there is serendipity out there to be had. Somehow we manifested this calm water and no wind and amazing journey north this far. It has been fast and easy, with very little weather to deal with except in a progressive moving-forward way. * When your life is on the line, quality breakage is perfectly acceptable. Cost of fuel is inconsequential. * Simple rules like ‘just go’. You don’t need all the things they say in the books. You need simple and manageable, then just go – and you’re going! And the universe truly will help you along the way. It’s interesting to think that the whole government-moderated-society is still going on out there. Hearing the Coast Guard on the radio today asking about a radio transmission was proof of that other-world. I still like the mountains back home though; I definitely didn’t fall out of love with them. To get this many days of reasonable weather on the Baja is a miracle – definitely special circumstances. This is not regular spring weather here. Regular weather is Baja bashing with 20 to 25 knot winds on the nose, and swell that goes with it. Not flat calm and 0 to 5 knots. At least not for a week plus. This is excellent timing. Amazing. Maybe it’s a sign that we are getting better at listening. We made some good decisions. I am actually looking forward to going back to Puerto Vallarta and helping Tom there. He has a pacemaker you know. He is relying on an electronic device to make his heart pump, while he works on electricity. Now THAT’s a high risk job!! I’m looking forward to Canadian beer. Tall timber Ale – that’ll be so sweet!! And I want to go to teapot!! In Ensenada – sleep for a day. Have a shower. Maybe we should have 1 o’clock lunch, then when lunch is over, play. Celebrate every day a little bit. Have a party for a week!!

Shandro says:
I like sailing. I like fishing. In Ensenada, I am looking forward to buying the things on my list and seeing Laur (from Elan) again. I want a big shower. I want to go to the park, get spray string and bubble pop and party snaps. (That’s a pretty manageable list there Shandro.) And I’m looking forward to getting a boy game (game boy) when we get to Canada. Anaka will be funny. I want fish tacos when we get back. I’m looking forward to more lego and my racetrack. I want to go skating on real ice!!

Matero says:
I like sailing too. I like saying ‘land ho’. Catching fish is fun and eating them is good, but I don’t like the killing part. Anchoring is good. I’m looking forward to a hamburgesa con queso in Ensenada. I want to play with my little town. And see my friends. And play in the snow. And make snow angels!! And I am going to give Chilko the biggest hug in the world. And Auntie Amy. Maybe Morgan and Wyatt could meet us in Ensenada?