And Now for Something Completely Different
Across the Sea of Cortéz and to Mazatlán we go...
We sailed across the sea with our crew member Stephan whom we met a year prior in La Paz at one of the coffee socials at Club Cruceros. Stephan lives in Washington DC and flew to La Paz to help make our passage across the sea to Mazatlan much more comfortable. With a three person watch rotation, we would each be on watch for three hours, and then have 6 hours off. This would give us a lot more time to sleep and/or rest than if it was just the two of us. We left after sundown on December 22nd and we got into Mazatlan by sunrise on Christmas Eve. It was a smooth sail with plenty of wind which of course picks up the seas but nothing to be concerned about!
Being in a new city in a foreign country on the other side of the Sea of Cortez on Christmas Eve was pretty special. We had dinner reservations that evening at a restaurant in the old town section that was recommended by our friends Patty and Tom who got the recommendation from Birdie.
As soon as we woke up from our much needed morning naps we sprang to our feet to head into town! We met up with our friends Scott and Joanne on Fundango, and Doug and Tamra on AO, plus their guests, Doug’s brother, Chris and his wife, Laura.
We all sat at a large table together and we first ordered some drinks. Peter and I ordered a bottle of wine which is made in Mexico in the Guadalupe region with Nebbiolo grapes! Nebbiolo is one of our favorite Italian wines. We had it for Thanksgiving and now on Christmas Eve. It was a wonderful way to continue the holiday spirit and this time with friends.
Christmas Day was celebrated in a restaurant right next to the marina. We were the only table there since we had dinner on the early side when Mexicans are busy visiting with family in their homes. After we went back to our boats, the restaurants around the marina were full of patrons celebrating and partying into the early morning hours. We were sound asleep by then with images of sugar plums dancing in our heads. We had a wonderful time yucking it up! Below is one of our favorite pictures, no doubt due to the sign in the background.
We decided to move our boat out of the marina the next day which we needed to do during slack tide. We didn’t have a lot of time to waste because our draft is very deep for that harbor. We first had to get fuel so we were feeling a little stressed since we left our slip late and by the time we got fuel the tide was starting to go out. But we managed to get through the channel without going aground.
On our journey we sailed past large schools of fish. Ultimately, we decided to anchor inside the port at the Club Nautico anchorage, because when we initially dropped anchor behind Stone Island, and started to take the dinghy into town, we realized it would be much calmer inside the harbor. It was also much easier for us to dinghy to land there and then walk into old town.
Before going to town though, we hiked up to the top of the hill where the light house stood and took in some epic views of Mazatlan and the Pacific Ocean.
After our hike we decided to walk to old town again to meet up with our friend Birdie, a sailor we met on the Baja Ha-Ha and who now lives in Mazatlan. She recommended the restaurants and this time we were heading to her other favorite called Presidio. It was set inside an abandoned warehouse and it had a ceiling open to the sky with lots of plants and trees inside and a terrace surrounding the room. It’s hard to describe so please watch the video below.
That wraps up our short time in Mazatlan. Stay tuned for more adventures down the coast to warmer climates!
Love it guys!
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!