Mazatlan Mexico

Ola! from Mazatlan, Mexico!

We left La Paz at 10 am on a beautiful warm sunny morning. Butch and Susan helped untie our dock lines and gave us a fresh baked loaf of bread to enjoy on the trip. Nancy and Susan hugged good-bye. With salty tears in Nancy and Susan’s eyes, we pulled slowly from the slip, gave our last farewells, and waved good-bye to our friends.

So we could arrive at Mazatlan during the early daylight hours, we slowly motored the last 11 hours of the 45 total hours. Our trip should have taken about 39 hours, but we don’t like to arrive to an unfamiliar harbor in the dark. We dropped anchor and were surprised to find we anchored right in front of Ron and Heather, our Canadian “Baja Ha Ha” friends whom we met at Cabo san Lucas. They came right over and gave us the “scoop” of things in town, bus schedules, the Pulmonias (more on these later), and places we just had to see.

After a quick VHF radio check-in with a the Mazatlan Puerto Capitan, long awaited showers, and a nice long nap, Nancy and I tied our dinghy “Blondie” to the dinghy dock to begin our “Mazatlan Adventure”. We were offered a ride to the old town Mazatlan from a local sports fisherman, he owns a charter sports fishing boat and also lives in Washington. He dropped us off in front of a beach front hotel right on the “malecon” (boardwalk), where the famous once stayed…John Wayne, Robert Mitchem, Kirk Douglas, etc…

The sun was setting into the blue Pacific water as we walked along the beautiful “malecon.” I marveled at how we shared the same sunset scene as the “The Duke” had at this very place. The picture perfect beach looks like a movie setting that would have made another “great” Elvis beach movie….ok, so I like the old Elvis movies! Sheesh! But I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Bill Bixby taunting Elvis to a surfing challenge.

We walked the red brick streets and went inside a most beautiful church built in the late 1800’s. We went inside and watched a wedding in progress and admired the truly beautiful craftsmanship of the church. Later, we sipped wine at a very romantic outdoor café at Plaza Machada as a street musician played a saxophone right by our table. It seemed we were in an old European town with its outdoor cafés, brick streets, and beautiful old buildings and intricate ironworks. We ate at a local café and later treated ourselves to delicious carrot cake and creamy coffee.

Our trip back was in a Pulmonia, a vehicle that can only be described as a cross between a Volkswagen and a golf cart called...Pulmonia means “Phenomena” named to the breezy open-air vehicle and which could cause…well… phenomena! Ha Our driver started at 70 peso… we offered 20 and we settled on 50 peso (less than $5)for the ride back. Here’s a bit of advice if you ever ride in a Pulmonia….HOLD ON!! Ha Maybe for the full 70 pesos he would have USED those stop signs!….”What stop signs?”

Monday we toured the Pacifico Brewery with our friends Ron & Heather and several other cruisers who, like us, were there for the free beer! We were amazed all the hops they use for brewing are imported from Yakima, Washington, and that they bottle over 165,000 cases of beer each day…just for Mexico! Their various other breweries make 11 different brands of beers (including Corona) for Mexico, and for exporting.

Our next Port-of-Call is - about 85 miles south and 25 miles offshore. This should be interesting to find as the island is a “few miles off its charted position,” it’s good thing our “Charlie’s Charts” cruising book gives the actual GPS coordinates! Both National Geographic and Jacque Cousteau featured Isla Isabelita in television specials as a “Wonderland of unspoiled nature.” The island is uninhabited except for a island Bird Sanctuary and park ranger’s residence.

After visiting Isla Isabelita, we’ll set a course for Puerto Vallarta. Nancy and I are already discussing whether to go through the Panama Canal and cruise South America and the Caribbean, or to continue down to Peru and Ecuador then to the South Pacific Islands….We may have to flip a peso to decide. But, till then, we still have the rest of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama to explore…which will take a very long time...and we’re in no hurry.

Well, let’s hoist the anchor and set our course for Isla Isabelita, it looks like another Windfall Adventure is on its way!