Once we got back to the boat in La Paz, we were hard at work getting the boat ready to sail for Mazatlan. We had the mainsail cover repaired, Rich worked on getting the watermaker leaks fixed, autopilot leaks fixed, and various other projects. There was a little time available to have fun, however!
Burgers, pizza, and beer, how American!
Dinner on the roof of a paddleboard shop? Food was great, and we went there with Jim and Jeanne on Kanga, and Anne and Jeff from Outrider. We got together with both couples during the summer back home also.
After working on the boat for three weeks we finally left port and headed south for Mazatlan. We spent the first night in Ensenada de Los Muertos. We arrived there after a 9 hour motorsail to find the anchorage really stuffed with boats from this years Ha Ha. We spent the night and left the next evening for the 34 hour sail to Mazatlan.
Sunrise at sea.
The crossing was fairly easy until the last 6 hours of the trip. Although the sails were up, they were not much help in the very calm conditions. We could see storm clouds on the horizon, but the forecast was for them to be sort of mild. It turns out the forecast was wrong again! Just outside Mazatlan we hit big squalls with 30 knot headwinds, torrential rain, and lightening all around us. It was a miracle that we did not get hit. We were worried about trying to get through the surf at the breakwater in these conditions, in the dark especially. But when we arrived at the channel entrance, the water was like glass and we easily cruised through the opening at about 4 am. Once tied to the dock, we thanked all the gods, drank a shot of tequila and passed out.
There is a nice palapa restaurant and bar on an island inside the marina that has live music. We went to see a local singer that has a couple of albums out. The music and the fish tacos were great. We went there with our friends Bob and Deanne on Dos Leos.
All the bands sit down around here. Everybody's getting old!
Cathy with some of the worst wine we have ever poured out.
Bob and Deanne from Dos Leos
We spent Cathy's birthday on the beach north of Mazatlan. We really like this beach as it is very uncrowded with shallow warm water. The restaurant on the beach has very good reasonably priced food and is called Mr. Lionsos.
Nice way to spend your birthday!
On Friday evening, we took the bus into town and went to Macaws restaurant to see Lori Davidson and her band. Lori has an amazing voice, and everyone in the band are amazing musicians. This was fish and chips night, so we of course had the special. The food was good and reasonably priced, and the wine was probably the best bargain in town.
Macaws is painted like a jungle inside.
Yesterday after a trip to the bank for more pesos, we walked the beach in the Golden Zone where a lot of the big hotels are. The beach was very nice and not crowded. I guess all the Canadians don't like to get sand in the shoes!
We don't mind getting covered in sand, and then going into a restaurant.
Lunch at Pancho's on the beach. We split a shrimp burger.
Well, that's it for now. We are planning to head south towards Puerto Vallarta on Saturday 11/30. It is actually getting cold here at night (61 deg), and that's too cold for us.
