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ENSENADA , just ninety minutes on from Tijuana by the toll road and sitting on Bahia de Todos Santos, is favoured by Californians "in the know", and at weekends it's packed with partying groups of southern Californians. Yet it remains far calmer, cheaper and smaller than Tijuana - though still with a pretty clear idea of the value of the US dollar - and has a growing reputation as an ecotourism spot. With some life and culture of its own as a major port and fish-processing centre, it's also home to one of the nations largest wineries, although the distinctly average quality of the stuff produced here makes this a somewhat dubious badge of distinction. Today home to nearly 200,000 people, when the first explorers sailed into Ensenada's waters almost 400 years ago, the lack of fresh water made permanent settlement difficult, but over the next two hundred years Bahia de Todos Santos became a popular port-of-call for whaling ships, fur traders, Spanish treasure fleets and the pirate ships who sought them, and by around 1870 it had developed into a supply point for missionaries working along the northern Mexican frontier. When gold reserves were discovered that year nearby in Real de Castillo, miners rushed in but at the beginning of the twentieth century the mines closed and the population dwindled, leaving Ensenada to revert to little more than a small fishing village. Salvation came in the late 1930s with the rise of agriculture in the Mexicali Valle, and the port became a point of export for the produce, and when the paved highway from Tijuana was opened some forty years later and American tourist dollars began to pour in. Today it is a popular stop for cruise ships. Almost all the action is squeezed into a few streets around the harbour : seafront Boulevard Costero (aka Lazaro Cardenas), Avenida Mateos (or C 1), which runs parallel to and as far inland as Avenida Juarez (C 5). Here you'll find scores of souvenir shops and outfits offering sport-fishing trips, as well as the bulk of the bars, hotels and restaurants - most visitors come here to eat, drink, shop and little else. If you do want to explore further, you could check out the view from the Chapultepec Hills, overlooking town from the west, or visit the Bodegas de Santo Tomas winery , one of Baja's largest, which offers tours and regular tastings at Miramar 666 between C 6-A and 7-A (tours daily 11am, 1pm & 3pm; US$2; tel 6/178-3333). Most of the wines are only passable; if it isn't offered, ask to try the white sherry. From December through to March, the California grey whale migration from the Arctic to the Baja's Pacific coast can be seen on daily whale-watching tours from Ensenada, which go to Todos Santos Bay, although what you'll see is as nothing compared to what's further south: Caracol Museo de Ciencias (tel 6/178-7192), Obregon 1463 and also on one of the piers, can arrange trips for you. Ensenada also attracts its share of surfers, of course, though as you'll find throughout Baja it really pays to have your own transport. The best beaches are at Estero , some 10km to the south, 2km off the main road. Occasional local buses run past these to perhaps the most startling attraction in the area, La Bufadora , a natural blowhole or geyser, where the combined action of wind, waves and an incoming tide periodically forces a huge jet of sea water up through a small vent in the roof of an undersea cavern, in ideal conditions attaining 25-30m. Even though it's more than 20km off the main road, it's worth a visit, despite the annoying number of souvenir stands that rather spoil the atmosphere. To get there take a micro from the Tres Cabezas park on Costero at the bottom of Riveroll to Maneadero and another from there. Ensenada itself hosts numerous events aimed squarely at the large US encampment in town, from sporting contests to food and wine festivals. The Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race , in April, is one of the largest international regattas in the world, with yachts leaving Newport on a Friday afternoon and finishing in Ensenada a day later, when the partying commences and the town gets packed out. April is also when the Rosarito-Ensenada Bike Ride draws thousands of cyclists here for the scenic eighty-kilometre "fun ride" from Playa de Rosarito to Ensenada, while off-road racing is the theme du jour during the Baja 100 (June) and the Baja 2000 (Nov). Culinary events kick off in August, when some of Baja's better wineries and vineyards host the ten-day Fiestas de la Vendimia , where wine-tastings and wine-themed competitions and parties are held at the wineries and in town; for information about tickets for the ten-day festival ask at the tourist office. The town celebrates Independence Day with a week of festivities.
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