Log Book
February 2008
February 2008
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| February 2008 |
Mazatlan
February 01 - 14
We returned home to the boat in Marina Mazatlan in time to enjoy the Carnaval parade
down the Malecon, the street that runs right next to the large beach in Mazatlan. With a
group of other people, we went to a hotel on the Malecon where we enjoyed a fine dinner
and good company. Then we went down to the bleachers set up in front of the hotel to
view the parade from above-street level. It was about 3 hours of fantastic floats, very
beautiful and interesting designs. The streets were jam packed with people.
While we were in Arizona last month, Total Yacht Works replaced our Perkins 4-108
engine with a used engine, same make and model, that we purchased from Hooligan (who
had bought a new Yanmar before their planned circumnavigation). In the last 2 years we
had spent an obscene amount of money trying to get oil leaks resolved in our engine. By
the time we pulled into Mazatlan, the engine was leaking worse than ever from every
conceivable seal and gasket. It was less expensive to buy another engine than it was to re-
build ours. We spent less for another Perkins 4108 and the labor to install it than we
spent trying to fix the leaks in the previous engine. Anyway, we spent the first few weeks in
February getting that work finished and road-tested.
Susie played Mexican Train and Baja Rummy, one or the other most every day of the
week. Sam got the lazarette re-loaded after the engine replacement, the sail back on the
boom, the cover back on the engine, etc. We had nice visits with old friends – Chuck
Naslund whom we have known since 2001 from Single Sailors Association; Dennis and
Joan from Traveler whom we met in the Sea of Cortez in 2005, Barbara and Dan from
Bardan whom we met in Mag Bay last November, Gerry and Johnny from Lady Geraldine
who have been living on their boat in Mazatlan and we met first in 2006, Wayne and
Patricia Engel who live in Mazatlan and Sam has known Wayne from many years ago when
he was Martinez. It was wonderful spending time in Mazatlan again.
Altata
February 15 – 19
Since we were expecting a guest in La Paz on March 1st, and we had plenty of time to get
back across the Sea of Cortez before then, we decided to stop by a little-known anchorage
known as Altata. This is about 120 miles north of Mazatlan on the mainland of Mexico. We
had a good overnight passage up. During Susie’s watch about 3 AM, she was weaving
our way through what appeared to be the entire Mexican shrimper fleet (about 15 boats
that she could see on the radar screen), when suddenly they all seemed to disappear.
She knew that they could not have moved past us that quickly, and was wondering where
they all went, when she noticed that there were still over a dozen targets on the radar
screen – it all came back to her – that stuff you can’t see through – fog. She got Sam up
from his slumbers to help keep watch.
By the morning, when we should have been able to see the entrance to the shallow
channel for Altata, we had about 50 feet of visibility. Now, if you can see 50 feet, and you
are standing at the back of a 39 foot sail boat, you can see 11 feet beyond the bow. That’
s not very far, folks! We did see one of the two buoys we were expecting to see – we ran
into the other one. There was not much wind, but there were some rollers. The boat was
broaching in the waves toward the shore and our depth sounder was showing about 8 feet
of water under the keel – pretty scary when you can’t see any of the land on either side of
the channel. But we made it through and once across the shallow sand bar and inside the
channel, things were much calmer. We had some GPS points from another cruiser
(Rhapsody) and we had plotted our course with these. Most of the time we were fine, but
at one point about 4 miles down the channel Susie yelled at Sam, “It’s too shallow!” and
about the same time the keel hit the sand. Perhaps the sea gull standing on the sand
about 5 feet from the boat should have been a clue. Sam was able to “dredge” our way off
the sand bar and we continued to the anchorage, which is about 9 miles from where we
entered the channel.
Throughout the channel, we were seeing the usual Mexican pangas (fishing boats) but
these were uniquely different in that they were rigged with long poles at the bow and stern,
a mast in the middle, and a triangular sail that was deployed to pull the boat sideways.
When we got close to one of these, we noticed that the fishermen were dropping nets over
the sides opposite the sails. We wondered what they were catching.
As we approached the anchorage near the little town of Altata, we saw another sailboat
and hailed them. It was someone we had met briefly in Mazatlan – Michel and Ellen on
Solla Sollew. They directed us to the place where they had anchored on the side across
the channel from the town, where it was quieter in the evenings and close to the long sand
bar. We anchored easily in about 20 feet of water. Michel and Ellen invited us to join
them ashore at La Perla Restaurant for dinner and to meet the owner, Gustavo.
According to our Rains cruising guide, Gustavo greeted the first cruisers to brave the
entrance to Altata in 2001, as they dined in his restaurant ashore. This area has
remained largely undeveloped, although there are some large fancy homes on either side
of the town (owned by wealthy Mexicans from Culiacan) and plans for a marina. It is a
beautiful anchorage and a nice resort town, where Mexicans come to enjoy the water
without surf and eat plentiful mariscos (seafood) at a plethora of little shops set up along
the beach. The fishermen in their sail-driven pangas bring in large shrimp dragged off the
bottom of the estuary and these are cooked up and consumed with gusto by locals and
tourists. There is also a large clamming contingent in town.
We spent several days here. The second day we did not even leave the boat, as the wind
was blowing like stink out of the north and it would have been a long wet ride across the
estuary to town. The third day Michel and Ellen came over for the famous pancakes. This
was a very enjoyable anchorage and we can recommend it to anyone brave enough to
cross the sand bar at the entrance to the channel between the waves.
Before we left, we consulted with Michel and incorporated his waypoints into our GPS for
the trip back out. Then we both left on the same morning – waiting for the fog that settled
over the estuary when the north winds stopped blowing – of Feb 19th. Catch The Wind
was very happy to follow Solla Sollew down the long channel and back over the sand bar.
This time we saw not just TWO but THREE buoys marking the channel and we did manage
to avoid hitting any of them. Once out of the shallows and in over 50 feet of water – in this
area the depth is less than 100 feet several miles off shore – Sam set the spinnaker and
we were able to sail from about 10 AM until the wind died at 4 PM. From then it was a
motor boat ride on calm waters the rest of the night.
On the morning of Feb 20th, we passed Ceralvo Island and were on our way to the San
Lorenzo Channel, which is a well-marked but somewhat narrow channel between the Baja
peninsula and Espiritu Santos Island. The sky was blue and there was absolutely no wind
and not even cat paws on the water – it was like glass. Suddenly the engine stopped –
Sam had slightly miscalculated our fuel consumption with the new-to-us engine and had to
bleed the engine which took about an hour. During that time, the boat hardly moved at all
and Susie sat in the cockpit to keep an eye out and enjoyed the whale show. There were
about 5 whales moving about between Ceralvo Island and San Lorenzo Channel and
blowing their spouts. Once on our way again, we had an uneventful passage through the
San Lorenzo Channel and then down the main channel into beautiful La Paz Harbor. We
dropped the hook 3 PM in the anchorage outside of Marina de la Paz, showered, had
dinner and went to bed at 6 PM. We got up once to watch the full eclipse of the moon
about 9 PM, then went back to sleep for about 12 hours rest.
La Paz
February 20 – 29
What can we say? La Paz was everything we have come to know and love. Susie and
sometimes Sam played Mexican Train on Mondays and Thursdays. We met old friends –
Joe and Sandy from Windsong – and introduced new friends Michel and Ellen who came
across with us from Altata to the joys of arracherra at Rancho Viejo. Susie learned to play
bridge (albeit very badly). We met up again with Vicky and Craig on Magic, whom we first
met in Mag Bay last November, and invited them over for our famous pancakes. Joe and
Sandy were generous with their wheels and gave us a ride out to City Club where we were
able to buy LOTS of stuff like cases of coke and root beer and huge boxes of dry cereal –
not since we left San Diego last November had we purchased this much at one trip. Hey,
when we have access to wheels we take advantage. Unfortunately, Sam had to take it all
out to the boat in the dinghy alone – there was no room for Susie, too. But he got even –
it took her two days to stow all the provisions. Susie ordered new glasses. Sam saw the
doctor to have growths removed from his face. Susie oiled the teak combing in the cockpit
and cleaned out the shower pan. We discovered a great restaurant with wonderful food
and good music. Sam finally sold some old lines we have been dragging around in the
lazarette – you know that old sailors never toss out rope – and ran other errands for a
piece of this and that for boat projects, the usual thing. We discovered that the hot water
heater is not properly plumbed into the engine we had installed in Mazatlan, so after one
cold shower and one shower at the marina and a number of days without showers, we
finally remembered that we could fill up the solar shower and use that. We ordered drop
down shade panels made for the bimini (18 months after it was installed) and had our well
worn sail cover repaired and modified to accommodate the boom brake Sam installed in
place of the boom vang. We also got re-acquainted with Priscilla and Bob on Serenity,
another boat we met in Mag Bay last November, and we shared pancakes. We got to see
how much our young friends Isabel and Sam from Sunbreak have grown up since we saw
them in December. We had custom fitted sheets made for our V-berth (for comparison, try
making a lower bunk bed up with flat sheets while you are in the bed on your knees and
you will understand why this is not considered a luxury). And we finally learned how to get
between the sand bar and El Mogote to anchor with THAT crowd. As many times as we
have been in La Paz, it seemed shameful to say we had not yet learned this secret. The
locals say there is a rubberband that draws people back here and we believe it. What a
great town with good services and a supportive community.
February 01 - 14
We returned home to the boat in Marina Mazatlan in time to enjoy the Carnaval parade
down the Malecon, the street that runs right next to the large beach in Mazatlan. With a
group of other people, we went to a hotel on the Malecon where we enjoyed a fine dinner
and good company. Then we went down to the bleachers set up in front of the hotel to
view the parade from above-street level. It was about 3 hours of fantastic floats, very
beautiful and interesting designs. The streets were jam packed with people.
While we were in Arizona last month, Total Yacht Works replaced our Perkins 4-108
engine with a used engine, same make and model, that we purchased from Hooligan (who
had bought a new Yanmar before their planned circumnavigation). In the last 2 years we
had spent an obscene amount of money trying to get oil leaks resolved in our engine. By
the time we pulled into Mazatlan, the engine was leaking worse than ever from every
conceivable seal and gasket. It was less expensive to buy another engine than it was to re-
build ours. We spent less for another Perkins 4108 and the labor to install it than we
spent trying to fix the leaks in the previous engine. Anyway, we spent the first few weeks in
February getting that work finished and road-tested.
Susie played Mexican Train and Baja Rummy, one or the other most every day of the
week. Sam got the lazarette re-loaded after the engine replacement, the sail back on the
boom, the cover back on the engine, etc. We had nice visits with old friends – Chuck
Naslund whom we have known since 2001 from Single Sailors Association; Dennis and
Joan from Traveler whom we met in the Sea of Cortez in 2005, Barbara and Dan from
Bardan whom we met in Mag Bay last November, Gerry and Johnny from Lady Geraldine
who have been living on their boat in Mazatlan and we met first in 2006, Wayne and
Patricia Engel who live in Mazatlan and Sam has known Wayne from many years ago when
he was Martinez. It was wonderful spending time in Mazatlan again.
Altata
February 15 – 19
Since we were expecting a guest in La Paz on March 1st, and we had plenty of time to get
back across the Sea of Cortez before then, we decided to stop by a little-known anchorage
known as Altata. This is about 120 miles north of Mazatlan on the mainland of Mexico. We
had a good overnight passage up. During Susie’s watch about 3 AM, she was weaving
our way through what appeared to be the entire Mexican shrimper fleet (about 15 boats
that she could see on the radar screen), when suddenly they all seemed to disappear.
She knew that they could not have moved past us that quickly, and was wondering where
they all went, when she noticed that there were still over a dozen targets on the radar
screen – it all came back to her – that stuff you can’t see through – fog. She got Sam up
from his slumbers to help keep watch.
By the morning, when we should have been able to see the entrance to the shallow
channel for Altata, we had about 50 feet of visibility. Now, if you can see 50 feet, and you
are standing at the back of a 39 foot sail boat, you can see 11 feet beyond the bow. That’
s not very far, folks! We did see one of the two buoys we were expecting to see – we ran
into the other one. There was not much wind, but there were some rollers. The boat was
broaching in the waves toward the shore and our depth sounder was showing about 8 feet
of water under the keel – pretty scary when you can’t see any of the land on either side of
the channel. But we made it through and once across the shallow sand bar and inside the
channel, things were much calmer. We had some GPS points from another cruiser
(Rhapsody) and we had plotted our course with these. Most of the time we were fine, but
at one point about 4 miles down the channel Susie yelled at Sam, “It’s too shallow!” and
about the same time the keel hit the sand. Perhaps the sea gull standing on the sand
about 5 feet from the boat should have been a clue. Sam was able to “dredge” our way off
the sand bar and we continued to the anchorage, which is about 9 miles from where we
entered the channel.
Throughout the channel, we were seeing the usual Mexican pangas (fishing boats) but
these were uniquely different in that they were rigged with long poles at the bow and stern,
a mast in the middle, and a triangular sail that was deployed to pull the boat sideways.
When we got close to one of these, we noticed that the fishermen were dropping nets over
the sides opposite the sails. We wondered what they were catching.
As we approached the anchorage near the little town of Altata, we saw another sailboat
and hailed them. It was someone we had met briefly in Mazatlan – Michel and Ellen on
Solla Sollew. They directed us to the place where they had anchored on the side across
the channel from the town, where it was quieter in the evenings and close to the long sand
bar. We anchored easily in about 20 feet of water. Michel and Ellen invited us to join
them ashore at La Perla Restaurant for dinner and to meet the owner, Gustavo.
According to our Rains cruising guide, Gustavo greeted the first cruisers to brave the
entrance to Altata in 2001, as they dined in his restaurant ashore. This area has
remained largely undeveloped, although there are some large fancy homes on either side
of the town (owned by wealthy Mexicans from Culiacan) and plans for a marina. It is a
beautiful anchorage and a nice resort town, where Mexicans come to enjoy the water
without surf and eat plentiful mariscos (seafood) at a plethora of little shops set up along
the beach. The fishermen in their sail-driven pangas bring in large shrimp dragged off the
bottom of the estuary and these are cooked up and consumed with gusto by locals and
tourists. There is also a large clamming contingent in town.
We spent several days here. The second day we did not even leave the boat, as the wind
was blowing like stink out of the north and it would have been a long wet ride across the
estuary to town. The third day Michel and Ellen came over for the famous pancakes. This
was a very enjoyable anchorage and we can recommend it to anyone brave enough to
cross the sand bar at the entrance to the channel between the waves.
Before we left, we consulted with Michel and incorporated his waypoints into our GPS for
the trip back out. Then we both left on the same morning – waiting for the fog that settled
over the estuary when the north winds stopped blowing – of Feb 19th. Catch The Wind
was very happy to follow Solla Sollew down the long channel and back over the sand bar.
This time we saw not just TWO but THREE buoys marking the channel and we did manage
to avoid hitting any of them. Once out of the shallows and in over 50 feet of water – in this
area the depth is less than 100 feet several miles off shore – Sam set the spinnaker and
we were able to sail from about 10 AM until the wind died at 4 PM. From then it was a
motor boat ride on calm waters the rest of the night.
On the morning of Feb 20th, we passed Ceralvo Island and were on our way to the San
Lorenzo Channel, which is a well-marked but somewhat narrow channel between the Baja
peninsula and Espiritu Santos Island. The sky was blue and there was absolutely no wind
and not even cat paws on the water – it was like glass. Suddenly the engine stopped –
Sam had slightly miscalculated our fuel consumption with the new-to-us engine and had to
bleed the engine which took about an hour. During that time, the boat hardly moved at all
and Susie sat in the cockpit to keep an eye out and enjoyed the whale show. There were
about 5 whales moving about between Ceralvo Island and San Lorenzo Channel and
blowing their spouts. Once on our way again, we had an uneventful passage through the
San Lorenzo Channel and then down the main channel into beautiful La Paz Harbor. We
dropped the hook 3 PM in the anchorage outside of Marina de la Paz, showered, had
dinner and went to bed at 6 PM. We got up once to watch the full eclipse of the moon
about 9 PM, then went back to sleep for about 12 hours rest.
La Paz
February 20 – 29
What can we say? La Paz was everything we have come to know and love. Susie and
sometimes Sam played Mexican Train on Mondays and Thursdays. We met old friends –
Joe and Sandy from Windsong – and introduced new friends Michel and Ellen who came
across with us from Altata to the joys of arracherra at Rancho Viejo. Susie learned to play
bridge (albeit very badly). We met up again with Vicky and Craig on Magic, whom we first
met in Mag Bay last November, and invited them over for our famous pancakes. Joe and
Sandy were generous with their wheels and gave us a ride out to City Club where we were
able to buy LOTS of stuff like cases of coke and root beer and huge boxes of dry cereal –
not since we left San Diego last November had we purchased this much at one trip. Hey,
when we have access to wheels we take advantage. Unfortunately, Sam had to take it all
out to the boat in the dinghy alone – there was no room for Susie, too. But he got even –
it took her two days to stow all the provisions. Susie ordered new glasses. Sam saw the
doctor to have growths removed from his face. Susie oiled the teak combing in the cockpit
and cleaned out the shower pan. We discovered a great restaurant with wonderful food
and good music. Sam finally sold some old lines we have been dragging around in the
lazarette – you know that old sailors never toss out rope – and ran other errands for a
piece of this and that for boat projects, the usual thing. We discovered that the hot water
heater is not properly plumbed into the engine we had installed in Mazatlan, so after one
cold shower and one shower at the marina and a number of days without showers, we
finally remembered that we could fill up the solar shower and use that. We ordered drop
down shade panels made for the bimini (18 months after it was installed) and had our well
worn sail cover repaired and modified to accommodate the boom brake Sam installed in
place of the boom vang. We also got re-acquainted with Priscilla and Bob on Serenity,
another boat we met in Mag Bay last November, and we shared pancakes. We got to see
how much our young friends Isabel and Sam from Sunbreak have grown up since we saw
them in December. We had custom fitted sheets made for our V-berth (for comparison, try
making a lower bunk bed up with flat sheets while you are in the bed on your knees and
you will understand why this is not considered a luxury). And we finally learned how to get
between the sand bar and El Mogote to anchor with THAT crowd. As many times as we
have been in La Paz, it seemed shameful to say we had not yet learned this secret. The
locals say there is a rubberband that draws people back here and we believe it. What a
great town with good services and a supportive community.
| Photos for February 2008 |