25 Dec 2006, Monday, Christmas Day!: Merry Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve at Ernesto's (owner of the fuel dock) house with his family in Turtle Bay. They cooked up a nostalgic-ly good turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy. Ironicly the dinner we cooked on our boat for Christmas dinner was slightly more traditional. We cooked chilaquiles, and black beans, and Doug and Dara came over and with tamales. It was quite a feast.
23 Dec 2006, Saturday: Three days to Christmas! We're at anchor in Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) in a full flegged gale. It's blowing 40-45 knots. Luckily there's good holding and we haven't budged. Doug and Dara on S/V Harmony are here with us giving us occasional weather updates. Turtle Bay is a friendly little town with some small groceries, a great tortillaria, an internet cafe, fuel, and very clean water (but to have to hike a mile to get it).
(Saesha in Turtle Bay)
To recap the last few days: We left Ensenada on the 13th in 8 foot swells. We tried anchoring at Isla Todos Santos, but getting lined up in that narrow rocky cove and getting a stern line set proved almost impossible, so we made excellent time to Isla San Martin, 96 miles away, where the anchorage was much better.
On the 15th we moved to a crappy rolly anchorage at San Quitin where we spent two windy nights and got almost no sleep. We watched the seas roll under us then break 300 yards away on a sand bar that you would never notice unless the seas were over about 6 feet. Good thing we didn't anchor there! On the 17th we decided we had had enough and made an overnighter to Isla Cedros, 134 miles south. It was nice and windy the whole way, 8 foot seas again, we covered the distance in about 26 hours.
Isla Cedros was a fantastic stop. The anchorage was just slightly rolly, but the sea life made up for it. It was like being anchored in a zoo. There were elephant seals, sea lions, and little harbor seals that came right up to the boat and tormented our dogs. Then S/V Harmony showed up. Originally they were going to a beach a little farther north, but they heard the weather was turning so they b-lined it down to Isla Cedros. The next morning we got up and had perfect sailing day down to Bahia Tortuga. And here we sit waiting out gale force winds. At least it's sunny!
On the 21st we had a little winter solstice party on S/V Harmony and played some music with Saesha on the violin, Doug on the guitar, and me on my Ukulele. It was pretty awful, but after a margarita and Dara's tiramisu we 
didn't really care.
Last night Saesha made homemade pasta.
Looking at the weather, I think we'll spend Christmas here
12 Dec 2006, Wednesday: Yesterday we sailed from San Diego to Ensenada Mexico, and cleared Customs today. It was surprisingly easy. Everything was taken care of in one building: temporary importation permit for the boat, customs, captain of the port arrival and departure, even fishing licenses. All told it cost on the order of 250 U.S. dollars. There is a copy place right ouside the door to make all necessary copies at 15 cents a piece. All we needed was a receipt from the marina we were staying at, a crew list, our engine serial numbers, vessel documentation, proof of Mexican liability insurance, and passports or ID. We found the ONLY thing we had to do before leaving San Diego was get Mexican liability insurance.
Despite what we heard, we thought Ensenada was fantastic. A beautiful little city with great food, a seafood market, and a couple of grocery stores. In our opinion if you don't mind changing your diet to Mexican food there's no reason to stock up before leaving San Diego.
06 Dec 2006, Wednesday: We're hanging out in San Diego bouncing from dock to anchor trying to tie up loose ends for the trip into Mexico.
We had a great trip inland in November to see the family.
Rick got us this sweet trike that you can see Saesha riding in her sexy climbing helmet. So far it's been great for hauling parts, food, and ourselves around town. It collapses too for easy storage and can cary two if you flip the milk crate upside down!
Now the plan is to be in Ensenada by next week.