Ensenada

Counting Stars departed San Diego 0500, crossed into Mexico waters and raised the Q flag!

For checking into Mexico, we worked with Michelle Aguilar from BC Connection Yacht Management who was absolutely fantastic! BC Connection's bilingual staff, located in Ensenada, Baja California, MX, worked together along with the Port Captain Authority, Port Agents, Customs, Immigration, and Banjercito to expedite our TIP, vessel paperwork, vessel/crew clearance, fishing licenses, biosphere passports and customs paperwork in Ensenada. They do all the work that can be done ahead of time, so that when she picked us up to check in we made only a single stop and were done with the process in under an hour and eating breakfast at a lovely local restaurant. If you are checking in at Ensenada by boat, and don't want to risk making mistakes with your paperwork or waste most of your day with running around to different stops, then you definitely need to enlist the services of BC Connection! Oh, and they have one of the coolest 3D billboards ever... https://www.bcconnection.com.mx/

We were in Ensenada a bit longer than planned so Melinda can focus on getting her sciatica pain under control. We’re lucky to be in a Marina adjacent to a hotel that offers pool access, walking paths, shuttle services, etc. The staff at Marina Coral go out of their way to greet the kitties when they see them walking on their leashes or just hanging out on the back of the boat… they yell “hola, brown Bengali” (pronounced: ben-gull-ee)

We explored downtown, a few local restaurants and tiendas… practicing our Spanish along the way. People were very friendly.