{"id":59724,"date":"2025-05-22T15:33:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T19:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=59724"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:22:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T20:22:01","slug":"aiming-for-mexico-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/people\/aiming-for-mexico-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Aiming for Mexico, Part 5: Local Knowledge\u2014and Tacos\u2014Save Our Voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Ensenada\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Ensenada.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Ensenada offered a warm landfall\u2014and a few unexpected surprises.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Marissa Neely<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"\/people\/tip-trouble-no-one-warned-us-about\/\">customs office was behind us<\/a> as my husband, Chris, and I made our way back to the marina in the van, having been told by the authorities that we had to solve our paperwork problem or cruise out of Mexico within 48 hours of just having arrived aboard our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, <em>Avocet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe id=\"gkstfcayky\" src=\"https:\/\/cruisingworld.dragonforms.com\/gkstfcayky\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Our friend and buddy-boater, Peter Metcalfe from the 38-foot Hans Christian <em>Kessel,<\/em> was tied up next to <em>Avocet<\/em> at Ensenada\u2019s Marina Coral. Peter immediately began doing what he does best: He jumped into fixer mode, calling all his contacts since he\u2019d had a similar issue with his temporary import permit, or TIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can fix this,\u201d our escort from Marina Coral told us, \u201cbut it\u2019s going to cost you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were bracing to be met with a $1,000 solution, but we were shocked to learn that it would only cost the amount of a new visa: $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The details of how we pulled that off? Well\u2026 suffice it to say that we had chosen well when we picked the Marina Coral as our landfall destination. We soon had a new TIP and the confidence to continue sailing south along the Mexican coastline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But first, we were going to explore what Ensenada had to offer, starting with a nice, long celebratory soak in the marina\u2019s hot tub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had been to Ensenada aboard cruise ships: three times as a kid with my family, then once with Chris on our honeymoon. Experiencing it as a cruiser was entirely different. There was no one to present perfectly curated itineraries, tell us where to eat or direct us toward things to see. Instead, it was up to us to navigate this city with our minimal Spanish and our own feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image\" alt=\"three carne asada Mexican street tacos\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AdobeStock_1046925443.jpg 2000w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">A plate of perfectly grilled tacos de asada, the flavorful reward after navigating Mexico\u2019s boat paperwork maze.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Maryna\/stock.adobe.com<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<p>During the TIP debacle, Chris had treated our Marina Coral agent to lunch at his favorite taco place\u2014which had also given us a chance to learn where the locals eat in a sea of tourist-trap palapas. The tacos were so amazing that Chris suggested we make a return trip. That\u2019s where we started, with our friend Peter in tow. The tacos <em>de asada<\/em> for breakfast were fantastic, followed by fish tacos for lunch a few hours later and a churro for early dessert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And that was just the beginning of everything that Ensenada had to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lesson learned:<\/strong> Local knowledge is key for a lot of reasons, from solving paperwork problems to finding the best food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Coming next:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/people\/aiming-for-mexico-part-6\/\">Part 6, at last, the good life in Ensenada, but with new challenges never too far off on the horizon.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A paperwork mishap nearly ended our voyage, but local help saved the day\u2014and pointed us to the best tacos in town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":59726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Marissa Neely","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":"","sponsored_image":false,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[165],"tags":[2000,283,197,2050],"class_list":["post-59724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-lifestyle","tag-mexico","tag-people","tag-sailing-avocet"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}