We departed the Marina at slack water this morning around 0930. Fortunately, though a tight fit, it was uneventful.

During the morning radio net, we heard of a boat that is about 50 miles North who has tangled in a fishing net that they cannot cut away. They can’t use their engine and folks in Mazatlan were getting ready to go out and help them get in. It was a good reminder to stay well away from all the fishing boats in these waters who put out large nets and long lines, often without much in the way of markers. In fact, we passed a dozen of these large trawlers in the first five miles beyond the breakwater and are very glad to be away from them. We were also pleased to have passed at least a half dozen whales in the first ten miles of our journey further South. All seemed to be feeding as they would take a breath or two, then show their flukes for a deep dive and often we would not see that particular whale again. Other wildlife counts include; 5 Manta Rays jumping and the biggest sea turtle we’ve seen so far with a shell that looked to be three feet long.

I can’t describe how peaceful and relaxing it is to be back out here on the blue water heading South. We have 1-2 foot seas and a 12 knot warm breeze off the stern quarter, resulting in around 5.5-6 knots boat speed with just the big jib up. We could use the main and go faster, but this leg is 90 miles and we’d get there before sunup, so this speed is just fine. And did I say; “warm breeze”? Yup, we’re finally in the “Mexican Riviera” meaning it’s not winter anymore here. It’s about mid to upper 70’s right now, 15 miles off the coast. So nice.

Our destination is Isla Isabella, a small island off the coast that is a breeding ground for blue-footed boobies. You can go ashore if the weather cooperates and see their nesting grounds. There are iguanas there too (we saw one yesterday just outside the marina gate on the hotel lawn).

Mr Iguana was sunning himself right outside the Marina gate.

Last night I made tonight’s dinner in the pressure cooker. Split bean and ham soup. You cook it and leave the cooker closed and just leave it. No need for refrigeration. Just reheat. Great for the first night out to not have to cook. ***After dinner now and settling down to our watches for the night. We stay up until 2000, then I’ll take the first watch until 2300. Charisma’s mast is reaching straight up into the sky for a half moon that’s lighting up the sea around us. It’s still warm and we have about 8-10 knots of wind, so for now, things are good.

Sunset out of Mazatlan

Pedro saved us.  The clear plastic on our dodger finally broke.  It got so brittle that every time we bumped it, it cracked.  We had been “fixing” it with clear mylar tape, but here in Mazatlan, we finally bumped it that one last time that made it useless.  We could no longer see through it.  Enter Pedro and his fabric repair skill.  He offered that he could repair it in just a day or two.  I was doubtful, but we had no other choice.  The dodger is essential to comfort as it keeps wave spray off the crew and provides shelter from sun and wind.  So…he took it.  Next day at 4PM, he was back with the repair.  It just took him a couple minutes and it was on.  The result:  Fantastico!  It looks better than new!  He even added a new leather chafe strip on the area we are always using for a hand-hold.

So, Pedro:  Awesome work!  To everyone else who reads this; I highly recommend Pedro for any of your fabric and canvas work.  (I’ve also heard from several other cruisers that Pedro does great work).  In Mazatlan, call; 982-27-60 or cell phone; 044-669-993-5976 or email; figueroa72@prodigy.net.mx

Old dodger, looking like new. We can now see through it again.

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.

Position: North 23 degrees, 30 Minutes, West 107 Degrees, 55 Minutes
We’re heading due East in about 12 knots of wind doing 5 or so knots boatspeed with a Northwesterly cross swell of 3-4 feet, making it a little rolly-polly, but not uncomfortable. It’s just after dinner right now and we’re settling down to our watches. I’ll take the first one from 2000 to 2300 and Ann will come up for 2300 to 0200 and so on through the night at 3 hour intervals.
Dinner was kind of fun to make as it was so easy, yet delicious. We are testing dried bean mixes for our longer trip. This one was about a cup and a half of mixed dried beans, lentils and split peas. I soaked them a couple hours this afternoon and cut up carrots, celery and onions and sautéed them in olive oil in a pressure cooker, then just left them for later. About 1630 I just threw the beans and some water in the cooker with the vegetables and added some diced cabbage and cooked for 10 minutes under pressure then turned off the heat and left it on the stove. At 1800 when we were ready for dinner so was the soup! Yum. Very hearty and easy. And lots of leftovers for other dishes. Tonight’s sky is similar to last nights in that there’s not a cloud in the sky. 360 degrees of stars right down to the water. Just tremendous. We never tire of just sitting and watching-and seeing the shooting stars as Ann just did. Jupiter is also so bright I can see a bunch of its moons with the binocs, but the boat is rolling so much I can’t quite count. I think it’s a record (for me) of five that I see, but am not quite sure. Fun to try though. Last night the La Paz to Mazatlan Ferry boat was on the same course as we were. We were under sail of course, so had the right of way, but when a boat that big comes by you never know if they see you or not. As I was watching his lights I could see his range lights were consistently showing he would pass slightly to our starboard. “Slightly” in this case is the operative word. There was very little wind at the point we converged so we weren’t very maneuverable. Since his range lights were so consistent I thought for sure he saw us and was avoiding us. However, the closer he got, the closer he got. I tried to call on the radio, but no answer. Finally I hit the strobe light on the masthead. I think that got his attention as he seemed to turn a bit, but he passed less than 100 yards on our port side. So close I could hear someone up on the deck (about 50 feet above us) whistle. I think he whistled to let us know they saw us. Anyway, not fun. We’ll watch for them again tonight and stay much further away! That’s our day. If this wind holds, we should be in Mazatlan mid-day tomorrow. Hasta Manana.

24 degrees, 02 minutes North, 109 degrees, 37 minutes West

We’re heading offshore across the Sea of Cortez. Left this morning about 0930 and anticipate making landfall sometime Wednesday. With the right wind, that should be around lunch. Right now is not the right wind. It’s been very fickle today, not really deciding what it wants to do. Right now at 1900, we just finished dinner and the wind’s gone pretty light and we’re only making around 4.5 knots. The seas are confused; short period 4-5 feet/6 seconds from several directions, so it’s not a really comfortable ride. Hope it smooths out. On the plus side, the sky is clear and the stars are coming up brilliantly, so at least the ride will be picturesque. Saw a bunch of whales today. One cruised by about 30 yards away, very nonchalantly heading in the opposite direction. In fact, I think he came over to check us out as I did not see his spout until he was next to the boat. That’s about it for now as it’s hard to type as Charisma’s playing rolly-polly downwind and anything not tied down is flying across the cabin.

Sunrise crossing the Sea of Cortez

So, the plan was; stay at Ballandra one more night and have a fish fry with Rich and Cathy on Bella Brisa (assuming we could catch more of those delicious Sand Bass). Good plan, but the wind and sea Gods had different ideas. After an idyllic morning sipping coffee with our yogurt, granola and canteloupe, we decided we would kayak to the beach, climb the mountain and then fish for dinner in the afternoon. So…we kayaked to the beach, climbed the mountain and as we were on top, about got blown off by the North wind that developed. We rapidly moved back to the beach, and “survival” kayaked through two foot plus waves and 20 knots of wind back to Charisma. As we got there, Rich and Cathy along with several other boats were pulling anchor and heading back to La Paz. So… (as they say)…There we were! As we approached Charisma, she was bounding up and down in the waves and we had to get back aboard from our little inflatable kayaks. I won’t go through the details, but suffice to say we were both somewhat terrified as Charisma threatened to smash us as she went up a large wave while we trying to come alongside and get up the swim ladder. We finally got back on board and no bones were broken in the process. We bid adieu to Rich and Cathy via VHF, hoping to connect again sometime in the future. So now, we were in an untenable anchorage, yet needed someplace to stay the night before leaving for our Southbound journey tomorrow. We decided to sail out to Espiritu Santo. Once the anchor was up, we realized we actually had a very favorable wind angle. So we unfurled the jib, shut down the engine (after using it for only about ten minutes while pulling up the anchor) and sailed the ten miles out to Bahia San Gabriel on Espiritu Santo. Once there, we dropped anchor, deployed the kayak whereby Ann paddled about 300 yards into the beach (it’s very shallow and that’s as close as we could get) while I tried fishing for dinner. No luck on dinner, but Ann had a terrific ride to the beach and back. An awesome sunset with (of course, Charismas) and dinner and here we are! Now, we’re ready to depart tomorrow for our trip down to Mazatlan. It’s about 220 miles, will be a broad reach (I hope) and should take us from 40 to 50 hours (at between 4 and 6 knots average boat speed). In other words about two days pending wind. For any nautical types, the details are; Forecast wind: North, 15-20; Course 097 degrees magnetic; distance, 220 miles. We won’t quite go straight. For the first 30 miles or so, we’ll go more South through the Ceralvo Channel, then angle out across the Sea of Cortez. We’re thinking quesadillas with leftover chicken and mushrooms for lunch, if the wind/waves cooperate 😉

So, I was sittin’ in my hammock taking a rare “nothing” day and thinking; “I should take some chicken out of the freezer for dinner”. Ann was out kayaking (a Manta Ray swam right under her I’m told) and all of a sudden I thought; “what am I doing sitting here? I could be catching some fresh fish for our dinner!” The concept of self-sustaining is no-where more clear than down here in Baja where everyone who lives here does so very simply and with whatever they can find. So, with grand intentions (but great regret), I left the very comfortable hammock and got my fishing gear out and started fishing. All I had for fishing at anchor was a “shrimp fly” rig. Basically three small hooks with feathers tied to them designed to look like shrimp. Good luck. I had no clue what I might catch, just some idea that if I caught it we might be able to eat it. Fast forward an hour and a beer. Ann got back to the boat from her kayaking expedition and was excited to see that I was fishing (she loves fresh fish). Ann: “So, you’re fishing?” Bob; “Well, yes, but not catching”. Ann: “Why don’t you use some of our “organics?” (“Organics” is code for leftover food we dump overboard when we’re far enough away from land). Bob: “You don’t understand….oh well, why not?” (How could I tell her it wasn’t esthetically correct to catch a fish with “meat” when you haven’t caught a damn thing with the silly feather rig?) So…with almost as much regret as when I initially left my hammock, I put some of last night’s steak scraps on the artificial shrimp I was fishing with and you know what? The fish started biting. Damn! And guess what? They were Cabrilla, better known to us gringos as a Spotted Sand Bass. Or even better known as some of the best eatin’ fish you’ll ever have. Well, they were a bitin’. I caught three nice ones in about 15 minutes once I baited the hooks with little bits of leftover steak. I stopped at three which gave us about enough for dinner for two. Filleted them out, cooked ’em with rice and some broccoli and I mean to tell you, I/we haven’t had better fish anywhere, cooked by anyone. Amazing! We just put some lemon pepper on them and sautéed them in olive oil on a very hot cast iron pan. Yum! I can tell you, we’re doing some more fishing manana! I am liking this self-sustaining thing. The chicken can wait in the freezer, I’m going fishing tomorrow. Well, unless it’s a warm day and the sun’s shining and the hammock’s waiting….no, no, there will be time to fish AND hammock. Yes, that’s it! We’ll leave for Mazatlan the next day! It’s way too nice to not just stay here and fish….and hammock…and kayak. We have no schedule-Yay. From Ann – Bob neglected to tell you that my kayaking friends and I (Cathy and Rich from Bella Brisa) had a life threatening experience while kayaking today. We had just paddled out of some very cool rock caves/secret water ways by the shore when we heard something. “Something” ended up being a rogue wave coming our way. All of us are novice kayakers and did not manage to get headed into the wave before it hit. We all took on water but happily stayed upright! We decided there must have either been an earthquake or…Bob had fallen out of the hammock and over board! We were pleased to find Bob happy in his hammock and were informed there had been a huge motor boat (about 140 feet) that whizzed by outside our quiet anchorage sending in the rogue wave. Did I tell you we don’t like powerboats? Now you know why!

Kayaking the secret caves

We’ve left La Paz for Mazatlan, but there’s no wind, so we’re anchored about 14 miles outside at a nice little bay called Ballendra. White sand, anchored in 15 feet, it’s a nice spot. We were very glad to see our friends Rich and Cathy from Bella Brisa, another Tayana from San Francisco, were also anchored here. We had dinner with them last night and said that we would likely be here and it would be great to spend the weekend kayaking and such. At their boat last night, we had cocktails and witnessed a great sunset punctuated by several breaching humpback whales right off the beach. What a great evening. Tonight, it was Charismas, followed by bbq steak dinner and then Mexican Train and Tequila. Quite a night. So…we’re hoping for some warm weather tomorrow so we can explore this little bay some more with the kayaks before Ann and I move on to Mazatlan (some 200 miles across the Sea of Cortez) and Rich and Cathy go back into La Paz where they are based for the time being.

Ballendra Bay with Charisma and Bella Brisa

Entering the Kayak is a very delicate maneuver...

...once you're in, it's all good...

...and they are great for exploring. As long as the weather's warm.

Later in the day, Rich and Cathy from Bella Brisa (Charisma's sistership-built in the same year) came over for dinner and a rousing game of Mexican Train (which Ann won)

That's Bella Brisa in the Baja Sunset