Tostadas and Tecate

We've made it to Mexico! After a couple of days in San Diego to run some errands we set sail at 10pm on Thursday night. Sixteen hours later we cruised into Ensenada, our first time out of the U.S. on Lacuna. It's a pretty great feeling to be in a new country!

Before setting off we put the new name on the transom, it's a rough masking tape job. We have new vinyls made up but since we are hoping to repaint the hull soon we didn't want to pay for two sets. So this will have to do for now! Unfortunately we didn't have time for a full renaming ceremony, changing a boat's name is meant to bring terrible bad luck that only a full ceremony can mitigate. However, rather conveniently, we believe that this is only the case for wood and steel boats. We should be fine! 

Whilst still in San Diego we had a few visitors. Ben Pearse drove down from LA on Thursday to check out the boat and we managed to rope him into helping us with a few jobs. He was going to join us at one point but things didn't work out time wise, he's got a job to get back to. Seeing him getting ready to go back to London and start work was a good reminder that I'll be doing the same thing soon and have to make the most of this trip.

We also had a couple of Max's family friends, Leonard and Mary, down for dinner which was great because we were able to convince Leonard to ditch his weekend plans and sail down to Ensenada with us!

In the slip next to us we noticed an interesting dinghy setup with an electric engine, battery and solar panel. We started chatting to the owner who refers to himself as Solar Man. Turns out he gets all his power from solar and even cooks his food in a neat solar oven made with a cooler and a square lens. 

We ended up buying a lens from him for 20$ to use as our emergency desalination solution. Take two dark glass bottles attached to each other with a small hose. Fill one with seawater and use the lens to distill the water across to the other bottle! 

It was totally calm on the way down to Mexico which meant the engine was on most of the way and so far it has held up great, not bad for a 1971 engine! I'm just hoping it stays that way because it would be a disaster if the engine failed in any serious way. Not only is it impossible to get parts for it but the time it would take to repair or replace it would likely cause us to miss our weather window for the passage from Mexico to the Marquesas! On the up side the lack of wind meant that when a pod of dolphins joined us we could see them clearly through the still water!

Having been to Ensenada before, Leonard knew exactly where to go for some of the best tostadas in Baja. Three blocks inland from the huge Mexican flag the kindest old lady has been selling them from her food cart for 25 years and they are incredible! 

All fresh seafood and avocados with an awesome selection of salsas, get as much as you can eat and then go to her and say what you've had. It's all on the honour system and it creates the best atmosphere as everyone hangs out and enjoys trying not to spill food everywhere (tostadas are delicious but in some ways inherently flawed, it cracks and you end up scooping up the topping with your fingers, I just don't have it down yet). 

With full bellies we hit the town and went from bar to bar drinking Tecate all night. My favourite has to be Hussong's. It's been identical for over 120 years and you walk in, careful not to slip on the peanut shells on the floor, order a beer and watch the mariachi bands compete. It feels like a Mexican cowboy saloon!

Since I'm in Mexico I couldn't resist hopping on a plane Mexico City to go see Alex! So I took a bus up to Tijuana from Ensenada (abc bus company knows how to do buses; wifi, movies, AC and comfy leather seats straight to the airport terminal for 310 pesos!) I'm on the plane now, excited to see what she has been up to. I'll basically be following her around as she records music, makes a music video, performs and generally kicks ass. Can't wait! (Check out: facebook.com/ianandalexmusic)

On Friday I'll be flying back and Max and I will set off for our longest sail yet, about 80 hours down to Turtle Bay. After a quick stop we'll go the rest of the way to Los Cabos where we will get the boat ready and watch the weather for the big passage to French Polonesia. If all goes to plan we'll be setting off from there around the 15th of May. For now, Mexico City!