Mike in the Wild

Round trip cruises out of California often include a stop in Ensenada, Mexico.   While it's an interesting port of call, situated around sixty miles south of Tijuana and the United States border, it's mostly visited because of the Jones Act.  This federal statute is technically the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 that, among other things, dictates that all transport between U.S. ports be done on U.S.-built ships.   Since there is no longer a competitive American industry supporting the construction of modern cruise ships, cruise lines are forced to use mostly European-built ships.  To bypass the Jones Act and keep within the law, their various round-trip Los Angeles itineraries, for example, stop in Ensenada to make this trip an international voyage instead of a domestic one. Nonetheless, new ports of call are always an adventure with new sights and sounds, and in that respect Ensenada doesn't disappoint.  I'll leave the sightseeing and shopping tips to a real travel ex