Hello Family and Friends!  

We're finally here in Ensenada at the Cruiseport Village Marina.  And so far, it's been pretty great.  We've been on Aquila for 6 nights now, and we're learning when to duck.  Mike keeps bumping his head in the galley, so he's using that as a good reason for me to do all the cooking.  Our first night on the boat (March 7), we were still in the boatyard.  We carried as many boxes up the ladder as we could, just because we were so anxious to get moved aboard.  

On March 8, we were launched from Baja Naval.  We motored over to Cruiseport Village Marina which will be our home for the next 4 months.  Mike wanted to bring Aquila into our slip stern-to (like backing your car into your garage), so we practiced maneuvering while we were out in the harbor.  This was the first time that Mike and I were alone on the boat.  We were a bit nervous about our ability to handle the docking maneuver by ourselves.  Thankfully, the Marina security guard and Lee, from the boat in the next slip over, were on the dock to assist us when we came in.  We got the lines secured, and felt immediately at home as several of the other live-aboard boat owners came over to welcome us.  Dave from Bella has been a wealth of information for us.  He has answered all of our new-comer, first-timer questions, and offered great advice on how to get around and get things done.  His dog, Gigante, welcomed Xaxu, our 13-year-old Bichon Frise.  Gigante was excited to see a pretty little girl dog, even if she is an old gal.  We also met Chuck from Hearts Desire.  He has been running the morning VHF radio net for boaters, while the regular moderator is on vacation.  We can listen in every morning at 8 a.m. to get the weather forecast, news of the day, events calendar, tips and tricks, etc.

We're learning our way around, but Xaxu is confused and won't let us out of her site.  The first night we went to eat dinner at a restaurant, we decided to leave Xaxu in the Suburban rather than leave her on the boat.  We didn't want her to scratch the teak in her zeal to get out.  She wasn't happy about being left anywhere, and barked while we were gone.  We've had to leave her in the car a few more times since then (like when we go to the mercado for groceries), and I think she's getting used to it.  She jumps around the car looking out the windows for us, but doesn't seem to bark anymore.

We spent the next couple of days unloading boxes and figuring out where to put things.  It looked like total chaos, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  Linda is meticulously taking inventory of every item and where it's stored.  We discovered that we are missing a couple of important boxes; like most of our clothes, our kitchen utensils, and our bathroom supplies.  We'll get those boxes out of storage when we drive home to visit next weekend.  Notice I said drive home?  I know that this is our home now, but I think that going to visit the kids will always be considered home to us.

Over the weekend, we met a couple more of our neighbors here on E Dock.  Xaxu has even made several new friends.  Seems like almost everyone has a little dog.  Last night, we were invited on Bamboozle for cocktails by Patricia and Joe (and their dog, Falcon).  Carol and Pat (and their dog, Molly) from Carol Ann were also there.  We all have new boats and have enjoyed comparing notes, telling stories, and checking out each other's boats.  This morning, Pat and Carol came over with a fresh baked loaf of cranberry bread.  Yum!  They are all leaving today, and will return in a couple of weeks.  We all decided to organize an anchor-out, raft-up, round-robin dinner party for that weekend.   Since they are leaving today, Carol gave us her left-over eggs, blueberries and a pound of bacon that she defrosted but didn't cook.  Mike is pretty excited about that, since Linda never buys bacon.  I guess we'll have some BLT sandwiches today.

In case you're wondering, we haven't taken the boat out sailing yet.  We really wanted to get things organized down below first.  And even though we're not completely organized yet, we're planning to do some marina docking practice tomorrow morning before the wind kicks up.  I also want to report that today is the first day that the sun didn't come out.  It's been fairly overcast and cool all day, with a brisk breeze.  That didn't stop Mike from going out for his morning run.  He's been pretty good about that.  He's still trying to find a good route to run.  His first time out, he said he was lucky to make it back alive.  He thought he was going to either get run down by the cars and trucks on the road, or else die from the exhaust fumes coming from the buses.  Other challenges we've had is figuring out the money conversion.  Everywhere you go, there is somebody to tip (like the boy who bags your groceries or the guy who watches your car while you shop), and we're giving away coins like crazy.  Don't know how much we're parting with!  And, finally, there's the language issue.  The Mexican people here in Ensenada are super-friendly and try very hard to help us communicate.  We're learning Spanish phrases fast, and plan to be able to carry on a conversation soon.

I'm on a wireless network here in the marina, and can check email and website messages daily.  So please send us updates on what you're doing and stay in touch!