This is my recollection of the trip from Ventura to Ensenada, which is about 200nm and took us about 8 days. This includes 5 days of travel and 3 days in San Diego, it should have taken 3 or 4 days.
Day one; We left Ventura about 4:30am an headed out, it was dark and the swells were about 8ft at 10 seconds which is quite ruff. After about five hours we started having engine problems, to me it seemed like a blocked fuel filter. The engine would run fine for a while then would drop to idle for a couple of minutes then back to full speed. After replacing both of my fuel filters(at sea)and using my 5 gallons of spare fuel the problem got no better and we were getting bounced around quite a bit. We decided to turn back and made it to Channel Island harbor (our first home after San Diego). After reaching safe harbor we decided to fill the tank in case we were really out of gas, it took one gallon, so not out or running low on fuel. After the fuel dock we went to Anchors Way boat yard were we were able to get a marine mechanic. Three hours later and 150.00 dollars poorer the problem was the fuel filter housing, rusted and blocking the vent. A big sye of relief as the mechanic bypassed our fuel filter and the engine ran great, thank, someone, it was not major. So with a full tank and a bypassed fuel filter we stayed overnight at the boatyard preparing for a next day departure.
Day two; We left at 4:30 again, the seas were calmer and the engine ran great. We were able to motor/sail for a couple of hours with good winds and that gave us 2 extra knots and a much soother ride. It took about 10 hours to get to Two coves harbor on Catalina island were we met up with Manny and Lola. The trip was uneventful, but we were a day late.
Day three; We left two harbors about 10:00am and motored to Avalon Harbor on Catalina for Christmas day it only took three hours and we spent the rest of the day exploring Avalon harbor.
Day four; This was another 4:30am departure with 12 hours ahead of us. The day was uneventful except all the wildlife, it is weird to be on the water with no land insight and ahead of us were seagulls standing on kelp, just standing there. We made it to San Diego before dark and got tide up at Harbor island west marina, this is a sister marina to ours at Ventura so no charge to stay as a guest, and this is were we bought our sailboat.
Day 5,6,7; These days we did not do much except replace the fuel filter and clean the boat. Manny and Lola had to turn back to Avalon as there alternator failed, as it was Christmas there was no one to help them. They had to go to another marina on the mainland. We hopped to meet them at San Diego, but no luck. After installing the new filter, a quick trip to the pumpout and the fuel dock we were ready to leave for Ensenada. Each day we though Desire (Manny and Lolas boat)would make it to San Diego, but they were delayed and we were running out of time at the marina.
Day 8; We left for Ensenada about 5:00am and headed out. We learned that Desire also left the same day, so we were heading for Ensenada and Desire was heading for San Diego. We arrived at Ensenada about 4:00pm, got tied up and headed for the Bar.
Desire arrived in Ensenada two days later, they also had no further problems.
The first day was the worst, but we survived and have a better understanding about spare parts.
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