Departing Ensenada, Mexico for the Marquesas

We signed the papers today that sealed our fate - departure Ensenada destination Marquesas and we have 48 hours to leave. Our ETD is Sunday 16th March.

 

We have had a lot of help getting ready from David who has posted and picked up various bits and pieces for us - most recently our new camera. Then there's Mary and Jack who have driven us around town to get the heavy things, and made their Mercedes available to us... then fed us on the last night and sent us off with gifts and a smile. And Si, who drove us back and forth to the water shop picking up 15 gallons at a time - I think we did 4 trips. We needed all that water after all the fancy cocktails he kept concocting. Its never much fun saying goodbye we will miss Ensenada and all the cruisers we've met during our time here.

Ready to go shopping with Mary!

So, if you want to try to track us on Pangolin.

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps_reporting_boat_list
Boat ID: WDB7896
Boat Name: Kailani

 

We're not sure how this will all work, but we'll give it a go.

 

 

Wish us fair winds and safe travel..... and we'll have lots to post after we arrive in Hiva Oa in the Marquesas! Till then.....

She is FULL! Notice with waterline.

 

 

Brief update

Hi everyone.
As you guys know, the internet in the marina is terrible - that's why you haven't heard more from us. We've been trudging through our to-do list and have just about got the essential items wrapped up. Our aim was to leave Ensenada this Wednesday, the 12th, but two things have gotten in the way.

One is that we've both got a bad case of the flu. Major bummer. It's a pretty persistent bug, the typical sore throat, runny nose, headache and lethargy. A simple walk into town is completely exhausting! It's such a bummer!

The other delay is we need another last minute run to San Diego. This takes an entire day to take the bus up to Tijuana, wait in the line to cross the boarder on foot, get on the trolley on the US side to San Diego, do our business, then do it all again in reverse to get back. The reason we have to go is that two days ago when we were changing the membrane on the watermaker, Bill was reaching over to put the camera on the boat from the dock just at the same moment I was turning around. We had a very minor collision, but it was enough to knock the camera from his hand directly into the water. Needless to say it's Bye-Bye camera. Murphy and his silly "laws" were definitely around since our friend Jack had just dropped his glasses into the water in exactly the same place only 15 minutes before! A neighbor, Arek who was diving on his boat offered to have a look for the glasses and the camera- but they were nowhere to be found. So now we need a new camera and Jack needs new glasses! Well, the price of cameras here in Ensenada are ridiculous for what you get so it means a trip north. I've ordered one on-line which is being delivered to the same Arek and his partner Iwona who have taken their boat north to the Chula Vista marina in San Diego. It should arrive on Tuesday, so I'll make the trip to "the dark side" on Wednesday. Hopefully this will all work out!!! I'm not doing this trip without a camera!

This is why there are no pictures in this post - they're all 3.6 meters under water!

About tracking us on the journey. We still don't have all the information we need to give you in order to track us. The link will be:
http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps_reporting_boat_list
There is another boat in the list with the name Kailani that's NOT us. You'll be able to identify us by our YOTREPS ID or call sign, but none of this really starts working until we set sail and begin reporting our location. And even then, it's dependent on radio reception... and our deficient skills to use the radio! We will definitely post the info on the blog before we depart.

So, sorry we've been so out of touch. The days have been pretty full on. I keep telling myself we'll be able to relax soon when we're on the passage!! And by the way, we plotted our course yesterday and it's only 2,700 or so nautical miles in a rumb line - so it may only take us 27 or 28 days
instead of 32! Yeaaaa! We'll see - it's all wind dependent. We head off at 217 degrees true on the compass for 180 NM to miss Guadalupe Island, then change to 212 for the rest of the trip. Nice and easy slide.....Hopefully :)

Well, I have to get off my bum and get into town to pick up the last of our first-aid supplies.... and more flu medicine! We'll post on the blog before the end of the week. I really hope we can make it out of here by Friday. The plan was to leave on Wednesday since the weather looked perfect, then the flu and camera debacle happened, so now we'll have to wait and see.

Stay tuned....

Un-Impounded !

Wow - we made it to the boat and are well into getting her ready for the
passage across the Pacific! Hooooo-Raaaaa!

A few notes on un-impounding our boat:
The Mexican authority AGACE impounded Kailani in late November. During our time in the US, we arranged for a Lawyer to call and make an appointment with AGACE in Tijuana. This was a frustrating process for Rey (a relative of the Oberst family). Not only that, it's a logistical nightmare to travel between the boarder of US and Mexico as it can take up to 3 hours to cross, unlike the German/Swiss crossing we're used to.

In the end, we were notified on the afternoon before the appointment day that Kailani had been released. Seems they needed to see the hull number and ours is very hard to locate unless you know exactly where to look. The agent received some assistance from David (our boat neighbor) who
told us later she was gorgeous - thank God for that otherwise he probably wouldn't have noticed and run to her aid.....

So, after receiving the news that Kailani was freed we headed south across the boarder to Ensenada, Mexico to find our 42' little beauty waiting for us to give her some L-O-V-E! And man, did she need it. This is a fantastic marina, but it is one the dirtiest we've ever stayed in. Between all the cruise ships and container ships that come and go, the black exhaust they belch out is brutal on the boat and it's rigging. It's taken a number of days just to clean her up again. Aside from all that, we've been busy preparing her for the passage. Bill wasn't too happy when he had to move his tools from all the prime storage spots on the boat and demote them to much less accessible spaces in order to make
space for all the food we've had to buy. So far, we've done 3 big shops for groceries and still aren't finished. Only two more to do!! I (Carolyn) am in heaven! I get to buy so much FOOD!! Then I get to EAT IT! :)

Stowing some of the food

But in all honesty, it's been a real organizational nightmare. We've pretty much unpacked everything from every locker and reorganized the stowage. And all in very small spaces. Aarrrggghh.

A bit of work has been done on the engine - changed the coolant after finding a leak in the line, replaced the brushes in the alternator and gave the ol Westerbeke a good dose of TLC and hope she'll reciprocate in kind. We've also had the boat hauled out of the water and spent 3 days on the hard to have the super strength Mexican anti-fouling applied which contains about 75% copper and also have two new through hull fittings installed for devices to monitor our depth and speed. The quality of work was excellent and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend the 'Baja Naval' boat yard to anyone. We also managed to set up the Monitor Wind-Vane which we've nick named "The Butler" to help steer us all the way to New Zealand.

Bill with the poor guy who applied our antifouling

Kailani back in the water in Ensenada with the wind vane attached

Now we're working on the rigging. So far, we've both been up the mast for different reasons and have pretty much got it all together. We checked the head sail and stay sail foils only to find that quite a few grub screws were missing. Grub screws are nowhere to be found in Ensenada so we were forced to order them on ebay. We hope that another of boat neighbor, Jack will bring them down to us next week when he returns from his visit north.

Bill doing more wiring work

Carolyn replacing the hatch seals

So at this point, we hope to depart Ensenada and set sail for the Marquesas by mid-March. If all goes well, we'll make it. Connectivity to the Internet is almost impossible in the marina, so posting has been difficult. But thanks for your patience... and stay tuned for more in the days to come.......