CABO SAN LUCAS TO MAZATLÁN

Leaving Cabo

By the time we bought fuel and finally pulled out of Cabo, it was nearly 4:00.  There was no way we were going to make it anywhere before dark, but Chuck was familiar with Puerto Los Cabos, so we decided to make for there and leave for Mazatlán in the morning.  There was very little wind, so we motor sailed up the coast.  The scenery was gorgeous, especially as the sun began to set.  I made spaghetti squash with sauce and dinner was ready just as we pulled into the marina in Puerto Los Cabos.  We ate a pleasant dinner in the cockpit where it was cool and turned in early.

Puerto Los Cabos Marina

I woke up early on Wednesday because Chuck had a bad earache and was moving about.  I got up around 5:00, but was unable to get into the restrooms until 6:00.  The restrooms In the Puerto Los Cabos Marina are gorgeous (all cherry wood and travertine), but our $48 slip fee did not include either power or a key to the restrooms.  We had intended to leave early, but Chuck was worried about his ear and wanted to see a doctor or something before we left.

We waited for Chuck and, eventually, I decided to walk into town to look for navigation dividers (ours went home with Ingemar) and printer ink cartridges.  I didn’t get very far, however, before I ran into Chuck coming back.  No sooner did we gather all the crew together than the marina called and told us we had to show them our temporary import permit and insurance policy.  This threw us for a loop because we could not find the receipt for our payment for the TIP (the actual permit did not arrive before we left and hasn’t caught up with us yet) and, due to a misunderstanding about Mexican geography, we did not have valid insurance.

Carlos and I went up to the office to try to talk our way out of the situation and it went pretty well.  They never asked for the TIP and didn’t look closely at the insurance to see that we were outside of the covered area.  Having finally convinced Scott that we needed Mexican liability insurance right away, we stayed while he dealt with his insurance agent to get that handled and I shot off some emails regarding the TIP.

Leaving Puerto Los Cabos

Once again, we didn’t get out of the marina until late afternoon.  We weren’t going to make it to Los Frailes in time to anchor before dark, so we decided to head straight for Mazatlán.  The weather was incredibly nice when we left.  There was a nice breeze blowing and the seas were flat.  Scott and I were alternating four hour watches and Chuck and Carlos had staggered four hour watches.  It was very warm and humid.  I sailed all night in shorts and a T-shirt.  The weather report had showed a light breeze from the north, but we had a strong breeze that shifted towards the south.  There was a thunderstorm that we watched in the distance all night, but we never got close to it.  We could see frequent flashes of lightning down there.

Carlos Roque

By Thursday, the seas got larger and were arriving from an uncomfortable direction.   Both of our crew were seasick.  This was Carlos’ first overnight sail and first time out of sight of land.  He was sick and started to doubt whether or not the sailing life was for him, although he rebounded once the seas flattened out.  We spent a good part of the day gybing downwind and didn’t make much progress until the wind shifted back around to the north.

Chuck Masters

We had another very pleasant evening sailing under a full moon.  Carlos saw some sea turtles just before I came on watch and we saw dolphins.  We arrived at Marina Mazatlán just after 2:00 AM and tied up to a side tie for the night.

Scott on the Bus in Mazatlan

Here in Mazatlán, we need to connect to the internet using Ethernet cables in the cruisers’ lounge.  Unfortunately, we did not have them, so we took a bus into town to go the Office Depot and the grocery store.  We found the cables and cartridges for our printer, stocked up on perishables and took the bus back.  While the bus stop going into town was close to the marina, it was quite a hike back.  We ended up hailing a “pulmonia”, a golf cart acting as a taxi, to drive us back to the marina.

We are able to clear in and out of the marina here at the office, but needed to connect to the internet to obtain a copy of our new Mexican liability insurance, which had been emailed to Scott.  Unfortunately, bad weather is approaching and we will need to stay here for at least another day to avoid thunder storms.  We did not have time to deal with our temporary import permit problem here in Mazatlán before the weekend.  We will have to do it in Puerto Vallarta.  Hopefully, we will get all of our paperwork completed before we are ready to clear out of Mexico. 

Condos in Marina Mazatlan

Apparently, the Mazatlán marina district has fallen on hard times.  It was more popular before the opening of Nuevo Vallarta.  Nice condominiums line the marina, but they are not occupied by wealthy Americans.  There are many empty slips and most of the store fronts lining the marina are empty.  They are still charging us $52 a night to stay here, however.  We would have liked to anchor out, but none of the anchorages are good with wind from the south, which is what we are expecting.

It was great to have a spare day to wash some clothes and do some sight seeing.  Scott wanted to stay and work on the boat, so Chuck and I took the bus to the old center of Mazatlán and visited the market, the cathedral, where a wedding was taking place, and the principal square.  We ate some ice cream near the market and then walked to the Plaza Machado, which has been restored as a cultural center, and then down to Playa Olas Altas, which is the small crescent beach where tourism in Mazatlán first began.  It's a pretty little beach and we had a tasty seafood lunch in a cafe overlooking the waves.  I felt a little like I was living in a Hemingway book in that 1950s tourist spot.  Today, tourism is centered north of the old town.  We passed all the modern hotels and the cruise ship pier on our bus ride back to the marina.

Butchers in the Market

Scott signed on another crew member while we were gone.  Her name is Tina and she will be coming to join us in the morning and accompanying us as far as Puerto Vallarta.

Plaza Principal

Playa Olas Altas