The Voyage has begun!

I am happy to report that we got underway this morning at 3 am local time. (Saturday, October 16, 2015).  We all have worked very hard and now are efforts are paying off.  The amount of activity it takes to get one of these voyages going is amazing.  I have told you just a small portion of what has gone on since I arrived however, The weeks and weeks of work put in by the Captain and the Engineer before I ever arrived is mind numbing.  My hats off to them.

Now a little about our cast off activities... I am sure will be repeated numerous times throughout the voyage.  The shore power cables had to be disconnected and stored. Then comes the mooring lines that also completely untied both from the dock and the boat. They then have to be precisely wrapped and stored. Then the bumpers (inflatable rubber bags that hang off the side of the boat to protect the boat from the dock or other boats parked beside it) have to be untied and stored on board. By the time all that was done we were already in the San Diego Bay Channel on our way to the Pacific Ocean.  Picture # 1 is the lights of San Diego as we were leaving. 

The reason for leaving so early was so that we could get to Ensenada, Mexico early enough to go to customs and immagration and process in country (required when traveling in Mexican waters)before they closed for the day.  The trip took us about 8 hours.  Nothing of note happened along the way....just a lot of staying out of the way of the Captain and the Engineer as they ran through system check after system check to make sure everything was running in tip top shape.  The next couple of pictures are of my first sitings of Ensenada.  That is the largest Mexican Flag I have seen.  

When we arrived we docked at a marina right next to customs and immigration.  The Captian went to check in with the marina office and was informed that customs and immagration are only open one saturday a month and this was not that Saturday. So off we went back out headed south!  

Time for a nap....

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