Getting Fuel

Date: 3/5/2009
Location: Ensenada
Weather: same old, same old. 65°, winds calm in the morning and nights, breezy in the afternoon

We bought diesel today at Marina Coral in Ensenada MX for US$2.08 per gal net. The kicker was that they charged us US$130 as a "docking fee" because we were not guest in the marina. The net cost above includes this fee. Marina Coral has the only fuel dock on the outside coast of Baja. All other fuel sources are from a 55 gal drum.
We didn't know about the "docking fee" until we went to pay, next time we'll ask about all fees and charges before we start pumping although we needed fuel to get to La Paz so we didn't have a lot of options. We might have considered staying at Coral for a night to offset the fee but we were already paid up at CruisePort Marina through Saturday and we're leaving Sunday.

The Marina Coral is 3 miles north of downtown Ensenada and CruisePort is right in the center of town. Both marinas are relatively new and well kept. CruisePort has the advantage of being a short walk to town and is cheaper although at Marina Coral you can use the facilities at the Resort (swimming pool, spa, etc) if that's your thing. There is one other marina here and that's Baja Naval which is an older place right in the center of town that is used by the sport fishing charter boats. Baja Naval also have a boat yard with a good reputation but the marina lacks a little in security and upkeep so we went with CruisePort which is as good as a marina as you would find anywhere in the States.

Yesterday we bought a whole pollo (chicken) from a restaurant downtown that cooks them on a rotisserie over a wood fire. For 100 pesos ($6.66) we got a whole cooked chicken, French fries, and a stack of small tortillas. The chicken was great, a little greasy, but very good. The French fries I thought were good, Linda less so, but odd with the chicken and we really didn't know what to do with the tortillas.

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