PV to Mazatlan

We started to leave Banderas Bay Feb. 21, but as we neared the mouth of the bay, the wind picked up and the big cloud bank to the west looked menacing, so we anchored in Punta Mita, the last nook inside the bay on the north side. The next day, we headed out again and made Chacala at noon.

Chac-aaaaaaahhh-la
We loved Chacala. It's a small bay, about 1-1/2 miles wide, with a beautiful wrap-around beach, good dinghy landing, beach palapas, easy swim to shore, nice tourist resort, wonderful. We reprovisioned some and left 2 days later for San Blas.

Beltane of San Blas
The trip to San Blas turned out to be perfect. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the "The Bells of San Blas" in 1882 about the forgotten friars who established a mission and introduced Catholicism there. We had a slow, pleasant sail across shallow (10-12m) Mantechan Bay, which has hosted international surfing contests, to our anchorage on the north shore near San Blas with about 7 other boats. We were playing Scrabble in the cockpit when the noseums came out at dusk (which we'd been warned about), so we headed inside and left in the morning for Isla Isabella.

Isla Isabella

We had a rocky ride all day to this volcanic island set aside as a Parque Nacional due to its bird rookery. We were so glad to anchor and get out of the wind and rough seas. The next day, we hiked the trail through the rookery. The frigate and boobies (red-, yellow-, and blue-footed varieties) let us come within a foot of them, their nestlings, and eggs. We also saw many iguanas, seagulls, and other types of seabird.

It’s pretty special to eat dinner in the cockpit, swaying at anchor, volcanic cliffs around you, live with the sound of seabirds, and the clear, green sea just a few feet away.


Mazatlan
We left Isla Isabella at 4:00 in the afternoon, February 27, arrived at Mazatlan at 9:00 the next morning after 3 hours of sailing and the rest motoring on calm ses, and docked in Marina Mazatlan. The sky scrapers are quite a change from the wildness of Isabella. We'll wait for a weather window here before crossing to La Paz to meet our friends, Alex and Edith.

Heading North

We left Barra Navidad the Tuesday after the Super Bowl, after sending faxes, asking U.S. bound boaters to carry mail for us, and a visit to the doctor because Steve's back started to act up. We spent the next 10 days 10 miles north in Tenacatita Bay, where we'd visited on the way down. After three days of high north wind died, we headed north again to Chemala Bay. The autopilot stopped coming on at Barra, so the trip back to La Paz at least will be all hands-on steering. The 30 miles to Chemala went quickly due to the fact that we were motoring and we had a 1.5 knot current with us, which is surprising because it seems like the current would go south here.

After a night in Chemala (20 knot winds at anchor in the afternoon), we motored the 60 miles (minus 45 minutes of sailing cut short because the captain was sick and wanted to get to anchor) to Ipala, continuing to retrace our steps from last month. There is 30 miles of uninterrupted golden sand, uninhabited beach here. Ipala is just a small cove where the locals are farming seafood, so there is little anchor room and since about six boats were already there, we were left in an open spot prone to swell and we rolled all night.

Close Encounters of the Sea Life Kind
On the way to Ipala, we saw about a dozen turtles and four snakes. Also, at anchor in Ipala about 8:00, I heard noises outside and went out to hear something spouting right next to the boat and to see swirling water bright with bioluminescence. We heard a bump against the boat and Steve went out and saw a whale surface right next to the boat. Apparently it was chasing food around the boat. It bumped us and spouted a couple more times before finally moving on. Kinda scarey.

Corrientes, Take Two
We left Ipala at 7:00 and rounded the cape about two hours later, plunging into 8-9' seas, but little wind, and apparently with the current still in our favor. I, No.1, must state that I was all alone behind wheel since Steve was not feeling well and was in bed until we hit the biggest wave which brought him up to see what was happening. Soon, the sea calmed and we entered Banderas Bay. The wind was from the west, so we cut the engine, pulled out the sail, and Steve set the wind vane to steer us. We had a great sail to our anchorage at La Cruz; however, the wind built and we saw 30 knots (gale starts at 35 knots) just before our anchorage. An "exciting" sail.