Our only other port we stopped at for a cruise was Ensenada, Mexico.  This was going to be an all day stop with us having to be back at the boat at 11pm.  We booked an excursion for this stop...Wine Country Tour.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a great excursion.  Our tour guide was very funny and the bus trip to our stops was beautiful.  It's strange to think that people live in places like Columbus, Ohio when there are all these beautiful places out there.

We stopped at two different wineries Casa Pedro Domecq and L.A. Cetto.  Casa Pedro Domecq had a great tour set up for us that took us through all the production stops and had videos set up with with historical information.  They also had a great tasting room that  overlooked vineyards and mountains making me never want to leave!  The next winery was L.A Cetto, that I think is the largest in Ensenada.  The guide told us it was some ridiculous amount of thousands of acres.  The grounds at L.A. Cetto were exquisite and we got time to wander around them before heading inside.  There was actually a bull fighting ring on the grounds, but our guide said it was just for show.

The weather was unbelievable.  Very warm, so much so that after an afternoon in the heat, drinking wine and then riding back.  I was so tired that I didn't want to stop off into town to look around. 
We went back to the ship in order to recoup.  I figured we could take a nap, eat dinner and then head into town for a drink and a look around... And that was the last I saw of Ensenada!!!  Never take naps, they suck you in!

Not wanting to end my unforgettable road-trip, once I returned to San Diego I picked up my friend Kristen and we continued to drive south of the border into Mexico.  About 2 hours from Tiajuana was the charming seaside town of Ensenada, meaning "cove" in English.  We spent a few relaxing days there and then it was time for me to return to San Diego and prepare myself for my next road-trip; this time across the country!

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go.  But no matter, the road is life. -- Jack Kerouac

Den ganzen Tag lag heute ein Nebelschleier über dem Meer, nicht einmal der Horizont war richtig zu erkennen. Wieder hat starker Gegenwind für hohen Seegang gesorgt. Der Kapitän hat eine Menge über die Golden Gate Bridge erzählt, die wir morgen passieren werden - hoffentlich ohne Nebel.

Auch dieser Tag hat mit Sonnenschein begonnen. Nach einem ausgiebigen Frühstück habe ich mich gemeinsam mit dem anderen beiden Passagieren auf die Brücke begeben. Wir haben den Horizont nach Land abgesucht, aber erst gegen halb elf wurde es am Horizont etwas dunkler bis wir die Konturen von Bergen erkennen konnten. Nachdem es sonnig und die Temperatur angenehm war, haben wir uns bis zum Mittagessen draußen gut unterhalten. Zu Mittag gab es unter anderem ein Schokoladeosterei - das einzige, das irgendwie an Ostern erinnert hat.

Um drei Uhr nachmittags ist schließlich der Harbour Pilot aufgetaucht, eine halbe Stunde später war das Schiff bereits im Hafen von Ensenada festgebunden. Wir mußten nur kurz warten, dann hat uns der Hafenagent in die Stadt gebracht. Wir sind durch die Stadt zu einem der beiden riesigen Fahnenmasten gegangen - mit über hundert Metern Höhe und einer gewaltigen Flagge drauf zählt er vermutlich zu den größten seiner Art. Ensenada ist offenbar ein Touristenort, angeblich kommen hier vier bis fünf Kreuzfahrtschiffe pro Woche vorbei. Zu sehen gibt es aber nicht allzuviel. Die vielen billigen Apotheken lassen darauf schließen, daß viele US-Amerikaner hierher Einkaufsausflüge machen - Ensenada ist nur wenige Kilometer von Tijuana und der US-Grenze entfernt.

Gegen sechs Uhr haben wir ein mexikanisches Lokal aufgesucht. Des Spanischen nicht mächtig, haben wir einfach irgendetwas mexikanisches von der Karte gewählt - und das Essen, verschiedene Fleischsorten mit Reis, war ganz hervorragend. Nachdem der Hafenagent gemeint hat, wir sollen uns den lokalen Wein nicht entgehen lassen, haben wir auch hier zugeschlagen - auch das hat sich ausgezahlt. Nach dem Abendessen haben wir noch den Supermarkt aufgesucht, bevor wir uns zu Fuß auf den Weg zurück zum Hafen gemacht haben. Eine Stunde später haben wir Mexiko auch schon wieder verlassen.

I learned a valuable lesson on this trip. Never ever assume that the shuttle driver is going to know where he is going. Lol! I got to the Long Beach airport at about 4 pm, with the ship scheduled to leave at 5:30. Of course the shuttle wasn't there as they had stated they would be, and I had to wait 15 minutes to get in the van. Then the guy gets lost. Not as lost as the last time, but lost nonetheless. We got to the cruise terminal at about 4:45, and I got on the ship with about 2 minutes to spare to get to the boat drill.

We left Long Beach and made our way to Ensenada that night. I was hungry so I had the intention to just get a salad and wait for dinner, but ended up eating a full meal and going to sleep at about 8 pm. So I missed dinner, which was ok. I slept for about 12 hours and felt really great the next morning.

Ensenada was much more fun than the last time I went. I got the chance to get out of town and see the wine country, as well as the blowhole. Wine country was in the morning, we took a tour of two different winery's. The first one they walked us through the storage areas, we got to see lots and lots of wine bottles, kegs, and giant containers for wine. The second place we more focused on showing us how they manufacture the wine, and that was interesting. We got to taste lots of different wines and at the second place we got to try some brandy and tequila as well, along with lots of bread and cheese. The end of the tour, we got a free bottle of wine. It's still wrapped up and in my kitchen as I write this.. lol.

I got back to the ship at around 1 and the Blowhole tour was at 1:30, so I had just enough time to drop the wine off and get back on the bus. We drove south from Ensenada to the Blowhole and got a nice narrative on the way. When we were getting ready to get off the bus the tour guide told us to look at the shopping on the way through but not to stop so that we can all see the blowhole together, and that worked out pretty well. We got some free samples of a churro and I ended up getting a whole batch on the way back out for $2. So we made our way to the Blowhole and were minimally bothered by the vendors who probably know that the tour guides want to get us to the Blowhole before we shop. The blowhole was really cool, and I got some great pictures there. On the way back to the bus, was a whole different story as far as shopping. Every booth I went by it was "Lady, Lady!!". Wanting me to buy this and that. I did end up getting a new "leather" purse for $15. He originally started at $48 so I was happy with the negotiation. That was pretty much the purchase for this trip. We got back to the ship around 4:30 and I got a nap in before dinner. This was formal night, so I got all dressed up and had lobster. i always enjoy the lobster when it's free. :) This was also the night we got to meet the Captain and get free cocktails before dinner, so I had a few screwdrivers and that was nice.

Sunday was a sea day, I slept in and had a late breakfast around 11. They had the Newlywed Game in the afternoon and I went to that, then I watched Oceans 13 on the TV in my room, and then I got packed and went to dinner. This evening was a little different, a few drunk people came and sat at our table so there was a lot of drama around something they had been doing over the weekend, so it was a little bit annoying. But the food was good.

I got off the ship on Monday morning around 10 and got an earlier flight back to Phoenix, which turned out to be delayed due to lack of staff to get out of Phoenix and to Long Beach for our return trip. Ended up getting home around 6, I think. Overall it was a very pleasant trip.

Now I have to stop doing trips that use vacation time until November. I am going to Europe for 3 weeks and need to have all my vacation time to cover me being gone for that long.

Itinerary: Baja Mexico Days: 3 days Ship: Carnival Paradise Stateroom: Category 1A #E183 Date: February 15, 2008 Cruise Calendar

Excursion information

Blow Hole Tour:

Take this chance to tour one of the major attractions in Ensenada. La Bufadora is a natural spout that shoots sea spray high into the air.

On this excursion you will:

• Embark on a 25-mile trip along the Baja California countryside before reaching La Bufadora.
• The blow hole is a natural sea spout that shoots sea spray approximately 60 to 100 feet into the air.
• Visit La Bufadora for approximately 1 1/2 hours for sightseeing and shopping at the open air market.

Wine Country Tour:

Journey just a few miles northeast of Ensenada to Calafia Valley and tour two prolific wineries: Casa Pedro Domecq and L.A. Cetto.

On this excursion you will:

• Learn about the history of Ensenada and the Baja area as well as the local customs and traditions.
• Take a 30-45 minute tour of each winery and discover how they transform crushed grapes into delightful bottles of wine, sherry, tequila and brandy.
• Taste selected wines served with assorted cheeses and biscuits.
• Visit the winery’s store, where you may purchase these wines at considerable savings. A free bottle of wine is included with this tour.
• Browse Ensenada’s main shopping district for Mexican handicrafts and imported merchandise, or return directly to the ship. Guests wishing to stay downtown will be responsible for their return transportation or make the short walk back to the ship.

Known as the best golf resort in the northwest of Mexico, you will find wind, bunkers, lakes, fairways and greens carved out of the Baja hills and cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. 27 holes of challenging golf on Scottish-style links, with three possible combinations to play it: "Vista" and "Lagos" were designed by Percy Clifford in 1970 and redesigned by David Flemming in 1991. "Oceano" course was created by Robert Von Hagge in 1996. Each of them has their own character that will put to a test to your golfing skills. Services: Hotel, Club, House, ProShop, Restaurant, Bar, Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, On-course beverages cart, driving range, putting green & jacuzzi.

I was able to go to Ensenada when I was on a week-long volunteer trip, working at an orphanage. I found Ensenada to be a very quaint town filled with unique shops and friendly people. Even if not to buy anything, it would be a very culture-enriching experience.

The road to the hut runs a little way in from the coast.  Ok, there are two choices: my favorite it the Free Road, the original highway that runs along the beach, through all the little towns.  The downside is that it takes a really long time since there's a stopsign every block or two for 50 miles.  It's cool if you make that the trip though. 


We took the Toll Road.  You don't see as much, but you get there a lot sooner.  They found it necessary though to put a toll booth every couple miles that takes some arbitrary, ever-changing toll, exact change only.  On the way down it'll be $2.10, on the way back $1.30.  You never know.  In any case, we were amazed at the amount of development that had taken place in the last year.  Every bit of the coastline was full of condos, hotels, rental houses...  Wow!  It was hard to recognize where we were.

At Kilometer 56, we stopped for the necessary supplies and fireworks.  Everything in Baja is known by what kilometer it's at.  There's pretty much one highway that runs the length of the peninsula so it's a good measure of how far down you're going.  Everything else is "go to Kilometer 324, then head west to... whatever the spot is.  Anyway, Kilometer 56 is the bluest place in the world, the store is blue. The walls are blue.  The rocks are painted blue.  The bluest blue too.

There used to be "campos" all along the coastline of northern Baja. These were basically trailer parks, but as the trailers typically became more house-like over the years. Rolf's hut has a trailer as it's "nucleus" and over the years people have built around it, adding a living room, bedroom, steam sauna, patio... until it's more like a house. Sadly, in the past few years, most of the campos have been replaced by condominiums and houses, Campo Ramon, is one of the last remaining campos on the coast now. There's a giant marina going in on one side, and a golf resort on the other, so it's days are probably numbered.

The campo is on a tongue of black lava rock that extends from the cliffs down into the ocean.  This gives a rocky coastline with tidepools full of sea creatures.  There are bright red bat starfish, green sea anemones that could swallow you're head, darting sculpin, bright purple urchins, and whatever fish are trapped in the pools as the tide goes  out.  We usually end up in the water, but this time big surf pounding on the rocks and 50-degree water kept us out.  There's a good surfing beach just a short walk around the corner with rock reefs for snorkeling.

The hut is sadly, rarely used these days so the first order of business clearing out the scorpions and black widow spiders.  It's actually a pretty comfortable place, all glass and wood.  The roof is a good place to lay and watch the sun set.  Somehow the Baja sunsets are always redder and brighter and ...Baja-er than in San Diego, just a few miles north.  After cooking up some lobster that Rolf caught earlier,  we built a big fire, heated lava rocks to red hot, and shoveled them into the steam sauna.  The sauna is yet another plywood extension to the hut "compound".  I'm not sure why, but being steamed always feels good.

We debated lurking in the hut the next day versus taking the "long way" back through the interior to the border crossing at Tecate.  Tecate won...

We stopped here for a breakfast of fish tacos and coke before heading further south. For $4 you can get a plate full of three huge fish tacos. I am not a huge fan of fish tacos in the morning, but in retrospect I'm glad we stopped here because it was our last good meal for a while and the stretch of road further south of Ensenada is far less inhabited.

The owner of this place seemed naturally friendly, but it also helped quite a bit that Manuel speaks perfect spanish. He said that he could tell we were surfers because all of us had messy hair -- don't know if that's a compliment or not ;). He also gave us a bunch of free lollipops after our meal, the perfect finale to our nutritious start.