We got here yesterday (1/25/12) around 1230. Turned out to have been a nice night of sailing in about 10-15 knots of wind. The seas calmed down to a steady three feet from NW and we made good progress. Ann has also gained an understanding of the Monitor Wind Vane (“Wilson”) and has been “tweaking” it as the wind changes, so I have fewer unscheduled sleep interruptions. She also now furls and unfurls the jib based on wind strength. Nice!
We decided that checking into a Marina for a few days would make it much easier to explore the city, so we checked into El Cid Marina which is North of the main town. It was recommended over the marinas in Mazatlan proper since that is more of a commerial port than a picturesque spot like La Paz is. El Cid is part of a developed marina group called Mazatlan Marinas. This area is not a natural marina, more of a former river that they dredged extensively and widened to turn into a marina. As such, there is an enormous tide in here that the guidebooks warned us about when coming in. Well, they weren’t kidding. Those of you who sail will know what I’m talking about when I say that coming in here is a combination of coming into Santa Cruz harbor in the winter (waves breaking at the breakwater) and then docking at Angel Island at max flood (crazy sideways 3 knot currents). Even the locals crash around a bit when they are docking their boats. Anyway, back to the story: after coming into the breakwater dodging potentially breaking waves (we missed that fun), we ran full on into a three knot current that threatened to drive Charisma into los rocas ( the rocks). I throttled up to max rpm and avoided that opportunity, but was now well aware of the current and white-knuckled anticipating docking in an unknown marina with this kind of tidal action. If I had known how tight the Marina actually is, I would have been far more than white-knuckled. I think terrified would be accurate since Charisma- a full keeled boat- is renowned for relative lack of maneuverability in confined spaces.
So, we turned the corner, saw the Marina (very small) started to look for our slip and I almost fainted. Down an extremely narrow channel with no view of where our slip was, we turned. This was going to either work or not. If our slip was not open, this was going to be very ugly as we were being pushed all directions by current and the channel was/is about 45 feet wide (Charisma is 41 feet long, so do the math about turning around. It can be done in slack water/light wind, but…). Luckily our slip was a starboard side-tie. So, I had room to make a 45 degree right turn before crashing into the dock and other boats, then slam into reverse and use “prop walk” to kick the stern to the left, then forward throttle/right rudder to rotate the bow and more reverse to complete the turn. Sort of a “pivot” more than a turn. Then forward again and compensating for the sideways current the whole time to put us into a berth that leaves three feet between us and the boat next door. We made it without hitting anything just as I almost passed out from holding my breath (OK, a little exaggeration on that last one).
Now those of you who sail out of OCSC will say; “aw we do that every day”. I’ll agree, but in fin keel boats at slack water. This was a full keel boat in the equivalent of the day after we had the tsunami from Japan. Several marina staff were present with one posted on the boat next to us. With knowledge of the marina/currents, they were fully expecting a full-on crash and I’m happy to say that on this day, they didn’t need to touch us and we were complemented for the maneuver. I didn’t tell them that it was at least half luck and hope I don’t have to ever dock here again. And, when we leave, it’s going to be at slack water! While we were tying Charisma to the dock, right behind us a local sport fishing boat with twin engines (lots of maneuverability with local helm aboard, crashed into the boat next to them while doing the same maneuver. I felt for him as I watched a perfect pivot and then the current pulled him sideways into a position from which it was impossible to recover. Lots of lines thrown and fending off saved it from getting even worse.
So…whew, we’re here! Pretty tired from the two day jaunt across the Sea of Cortez, but not wanting to cook, we decided to go into town which is about 8 miles away. Cost-effective options are to take the bus or take the bus. As we were headed to the bus, an ungainly looking vehicle drove up and shouted; “ride to town?” It was a Pulmonia, which I believe literally translated means; pnuemonia. It’s a cross between a golf cart for four people and a Volkswagon “Thing”. Half height doors (feels like no doors), a windshield for the driver and a top, but no windows, you’re definately hanging out in the breeze. But what a fun way to sightsee. And it’s a transportation unique to Mazatlan. So, we took it. Fun, but due to a complete lack of any safety equipment (seat belts, sides), you cross fingers the whole way. Fun ride though.
A Pulmonia "full size" replica. The real ones are exactly the same except the color is white. Like they say, there's room for two and a few groceries.
We got dropped off in Old Town central square, where there are a bunch of restaurants. By chance we selected the one that we later found was called out for some of the best fish in town. Had a great dinner sitting outside along the square people watching and then had the good fortune to be sitting next to the entertainment-which was a singer with keyboard accompanying her. She had a beautiful voice, he was really an exceptional keyboard player and we were enraptured (not to mention partly sleep deprived). We enjoyed the music as much as chatting with them between sets. She sang in French, Italian and Spanish, so we have no idea what the songs were about, but they were beautiful. What a great first night in Mazatlan.
Fantastic dinner!
So pnemonia’d back to Charisma and woke up at 1100 this morning. That’s it for now (sorry for the long post). We’ll be here for five days, then sail down the coast of Mexico stopping here and there. We’re now thinking that we’ll go from here all the way to Ixtapa, then work our way back, day tripping, to Puerto Vallarta and leave from there for the South Pacific.
At least, that’s today’s plan.
