February 23 - March 14 2003 - Northward Bound for Carnaval

Mazatlan

"Red sky in morning..." how does that go again?

Before we knew it, we'd been anchored in Tenacatita for a month.  We had been having such a nice time swimming, relaxing and hanging out with friends that the month seemed to fly by.  When our weather window opened for our trip north, we reluctantly said goodbye to our friends not traveling north with us and set off for Mazatlan, 300 miles up the coast.

Unfortunately, in Spring the perfect weather window is a rare one -- southerly winds -- but we had the next best thing, no wind at all.  We motored for the first day and night 100 miles up to Cabo Corrientes.  Just before the cape, we found some good 15 knot WSW winds that allowed us to sail around the cape and past Banderas Bay.  At sunset however our nice winds died to next to nothing and we motored the next 60 miles to Isla Isabel.

The next morning we arrived at Isla Isabel and decided to anchor for a few hours or possibly until the next morning, depending on what the weather forecast was that morning.  Glad to be relaxing at anchor for a while and letting the engine (and ourselves!) cool off we heard that the wind may be blowing up to 20 knots north of us that night, so we decided to have a nice long quiet sleep until morning.  The forecast for the next day was for light and variable winds, so figured that was the perfect time to make the last 80 miles to Mazatlan.

We hauled anchor at sunrise the next day and set off into a glassy sea northward.  During the day the wind seemed to build slowly from the north, directly on our nose.  We had an ETA of around midnight getting into Mazatlan's old harbor so pressed on with the main up and the diesel pushing us into the small wind waves, hoping the wind wouldn't surprise us and keep building.

Surprise!  By 1500 the wind was blowing 15-20 and before we knew it we were pounding into 4-5' wind waves.  We only made 3-4 knots headway and hoped the winds would die down by nightfall as we still had 45 miles to go to Mazatlan.

At 2000, we thought for sure the winds were dying down.  Then at 2100, several hours after sunset, we were SURE we'd seen the last of them.  But, it was only wishful thinking because the wind continued to blow 20 knots steady all night.  By dark, the waves we were beating into were steep and square and we could only see the white foaming crests of the tops as they rolled under us. Every couple of waves Pelican would slam down hard into the trough, the entire boat shuddering, rocking from side to side and see-sawing fore and aft, sending water flying back in the cockpit.  For hours we slammed into the darkness, cringing with each terrible shudder, creak and groan of the boat, watching the miles tick off much too slowly on the GPS.  Mazatlan's lighthouse is stationed on a huge hill and is visible for about 30 miles on a clear night; for hours that night we gazed at that welcoming light as we made our way slowly closer and closer to it.

Up to this point in our trip, we had decided that we wanted to bring the boat back up to the Northwest.  We have loved cruising in Mexico, but after nearly a year of cruising on our small boat we realized that we were really looking forward to living on land for a while.  Being nearly out of cruising funds, we'd not be able to put off going back to work for a while much longer.  Our other realization was that we truly missed the beauty and protection of the Northwest cruising grounds and felt a real pull to cruise up north again, possibly to Alaska.

So with those thoughts running through our minds, the next question was how to get the boat back to the NW.  We considered sailing to Hawaii, then to the NW.  But that would mean 60 days at sea in three months, plus keeping the two cats in a kennel during our time in Hawaii (probably about a month) due to the state's rabies regulations.  Our other viable option was to do the "Baja Bash" back up to San Diego and put the boat on a truck there back to Seattle, or just cruise the Sea of Cortez on up to San Carlos and truck the boat from there.  The San Carlos option was the most attractive as that would allow us the most cruising time in the Sea before the summer heat set in, but would cost about twice that of trucking the shorter distance from San Diego.  To save money, we were leaning towards sailing to San Diego.

However, during our 45 mile bash up to Mazatlan, we decided, like most, we hated bashing, and had no desire to bash the 700+ miles back up Baja to San Diego during the windy springtime, beating the boat up in the process.  That night we knew it was San Carlos.

Finally at 3 am (wind still howling), we arrived at last at Mazatlan's old harbor and anchored among the few other boats asleep in the anchorage.  Surrounded by the harbor's big breakwater, the water was flat and peaceful inside.  The boat finally still and quiet, we slept like the dead.

Welcome to the party!

After sleeping in and pigging out on a pancake breakfast, the dinghy was launched and we headed off for shore.  There was a dinghy dock nearby we were able to tie up to -- so nice as there was no need for us to wade into the beach here as we'd done for months!  It was a good thing too because we found the weather to be drastically different now we were 300 miles north; it was only about 65-70 degrees and overcast.  We wore tennis shoes and jeans for the first time this year!  Truthfully, we loved the cooler weather.  It was so nice to be able to snuggle up under our comforter again at night.

At the Port Captain's office, we showed them our clearance papers from Puerto Vallarta, and got a receipt to take to the bank a few blocks away.  We paid the port fee (about $15) at the bank, got the receipt stamped and returned it to the Port Captain.  There we got our entrance papers and were officially cleared-in.

That evening, we started to get a bit concerned as our friends on Grasal hadn't arrived yet in Mazatlan and we'd left with them the previous morning from Isla Isabel.  We hoped they'd just turned back to Isabel not wanting to bash their way to Mazatlan.  We knew they had a smaller engine than ours and could not motor against very big seas (one reason we are VERY thankful we got the 26 HP engine).  But the next morning when we awoke we found them anchored near us.  We found out on the radio that they'd been tacking back and forth for the past 24 hours and had only arrived early that morning, almost a day after we'd arrived!  Sara baked a large batch of scones to share with them as they had to be very worn out. 

Gettin' goofy with Carnaval hats

Our first few days in Mazatlan were spent enjoying the luxuries of the downtown area, only a 15-minute walk to the old harbor where we were anchored.  With lots of delicious affordable restaurants to try, internet cafes, beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables at the public market, lattes at the local coffee shop, we had a fantastic time being "in civilization" again.  And -- we admit -- we really enjoyed the Dairy Queen Blizzards.

We found Mazatlan to be a wonderfully vibrant city with some handsome architecture, beautiful ornate churches, and many friendly folks, both locals and tourists.  Balmy and facing the lovely blue-green Sea of Cortez, the atmosphere couldn't be beat.

Having rested up for a couple of nights, Carnaval was getting into full swing and it was time for us to join in.  Mazatlan is reported to have the biggest Carnaval festivities in Mexico, and we must say they sure know how to throw a party.  Each night on Olas Altas, a waterfront street near downtown, the street was closed off for about two miles and lined with beer and food stands and a live music stage about every 100 feet.  We stuffed ourselves with tacos, hot dogs (wrapped in bacon and smothered with mayo "Exquisito" style), cotton candy, flan and beer and enjoyed some of the live Mexican bands, but found by 10 pm the street was filled to the brim with mostly 20 year-olds and we had to get out before being trampled.

One of the many elaborate Carnaval floats

Our favorite Carnaval event was the Grand Parade.  For almost two hours we watched hundreds of costumed dancers, bands, floats and marchers go by.  Most of the floats were quite elaborate and the costumes were amazing.  None of us had seen a parade for many many years and it was quite memorable!

At the Teatro Angela Peralta, a beautifully restored late 19th century theatre, we saw the show "Flamenquisimo" starring two of Mexico's best flamenco dancers.  The show was fantastic -- beautiful live guitar music and several dances featuring large groups of dancers wearing colorful dresses, plus "acts" with the featured dancers performing solo and several duets.  We just loved Erika Súarez -- she would whirl around the stage with her colorful dresses flying -- it was so exciting to watch.  It is a truly beautiful form of dancing, very rhythmic with foot stomping, emotional, and quite erotic as well.

It was our last night in Mazatlan's old harbor and both of us happened to be lying half awake at 3 am.  We heard a "scritch-scritch-scritch" sound coming from the dinghy painter which is tied near Sara's head in the v-berth, what sounded oddly like a knife cutting through the rope.  Michael jumped up and stuck his head out of the hatch and saw a guy swimming in the water near the boat.  He yelled at him then threw on some shorts and grabbed the spotlight as the wannabe-dinghy-thief began swimming back to the breakwater.  He apparently had not noticed the dinghy was locked up with a thick cable.  Michael unlocked the dinghy and roared out to the guy while Sara held the spotlight on him.  Unfortunately, all Michael could do was yell at the thief as he zipped around him in the dinghy and spray him with dirty harbor salt water.  The guy seemed scared anyway as he was yelling for Michael to spare him so maybe he'll think twice next time....

Two of our favorite Canadians

A bit tired from the previous night's events, we motored up to Marina Mazatlan, located at the north part of the city past all the hotels and the tourist zone, where we'd spend our last few nights in Mazatlan.  We began keeping an eye on the weather in preparation for our trip across the Sea of Cortez and spent two days washing and cleaning the boat, stocking up on cheap groceries at the large supermarkets in town, and filling up with water and diesel.  And we thoroughly enjoyed taking several nice long hot showers, the first we'd had in weeks.

Next to us in Marina Mazatlan were our friends Greg and Jean (and ships's dog Keltie) on Grasal, a Canadian couple on sabbatical for a year who we'd first met in Sausalito.  They have cruised in NW waters for almost 20 years, including 5 or so trips to the Queen Charlotte islands and several trips to Alaska. This adventurous couple has spent many years traveling via backpack and van and mountaineering and they have not slowed down a bit as they took off to Mexico this year sailing down from Canada!  We spent another wonderful evening with them sharing stories about anchorages we'd both shared and listening to their stories of the hundreds of places they'd explored during their NW cruising.  It made us excited to continue sailing in the Northwest again!

It's great to be back on Baja

After only two nights of enjoying marina luxuries, the forecast was for light and variable winds across the Sea of Cortez so it was time to leave for Baja.  We were able to check out of Mazatlan via the marina office's computer link to the Port Captain (only $17 total fees) in only 10 minutes and were off.

The morning we left, Mazatlan was covered in fog, a strange sight in Mexico's usually clear skies.  We motored in the calm about 20 miles and finally got clear of the thick fog, then motored for the next 45 hours across a glassy Sea of Cortez.  Early the third morning, we watched our anchor hit the sand through the amazingly clear water of Estero Balandra, a stunning bay lined with brilliant white sand, turquoise water and desert landscapes just outside of La Paz, Baja California Sur.

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