08 Oct - A restful Saturday.  As per are plan, we were determined to have a couple of days off from boat work now so we downed tools and had a lovely relaxing morning.  In the afternoon Alex and Michelle took us out for a sail on their 40ft laguna catamaran.  There was enough wind and we had a great couple of hours for once without the worry of being on our own boat.  We had never sailed on a catamaran before and Reassuringly, after the sail, neither of us came back thinking we made the wrong decision buying a mono hull!

Enjoying 'flat' sailing with Alex and Michelle on their catamaran

09 Oct - Another relaxing day hanging around Ensenada.  Our high point today was going for a stroll around Ensenada's old town.  We also visited their historical museum  - great to learning something about the history of the area.  Next week is the start of the Baja1000 off road race which starts from Ensenada.  We are starting to see a lot of buggies gathering for this internationally renowned event but won't hang around to see the start with plans to head off mid week next week.

Off road racers parading around the town

10 Oct - Sea Trials - Back to the grindstone today!  We needed to test a few things before heading off and so bright and early we were pulling out of the marina and headed out to sea.  The key things we wanted to test were: 

• The engine - will it still bog down after we had adjusted the alternator settings? 
• Adjustments to the mainsail to make it easier to pull out
• Commissioning the water maker - will it work after we have torn it to pieces?

Thankfully all the tests were successful and, apart from a small fuel leak (from the work in the yard which was easy to fix) we are now all set to leave again.  

With the sea trial out of the way, Matt from Lady G kindly offered to take us to Costco for re-provisioning to 3 hours and a couple of hundred dollars lighter we were back at the boat all set with full fuel cans, full propane and food squeezed into every spare part of the boat!

11 Oct - With the weather worsening towards the end of the week, we have decided to leave for the South a day early (tomorrow) so today has been all about the final preparations.  After going back to the Port captains office to get clearance to leave, we headed back to the boat to clean and buy the final fresh produce for the journey.  

Once we leave tomorrow, we anticipate that internet connection may be pretty sketchy until we get down to Cabo San Lucas.  In addition, as we have no particular rush we are planning to take our time on this next leg; a rough itinerary is below:

• St Quintin bay (arriving 13th ish)
  
• Turtle Bay (potentially around 20 Nov)
• Magdelena Bay (around end of nov)
• Cabo San Lucas (first/second week in December)
• La Paz (second week in December-ish)

Although as ever, all plans are subject to change based on weather and just how much fun we are having at any particular point :)