World Mexico Sinaloa Mazatlan

Distant Shores - the Ladd's Adventure

Mazatlan 3 Dec 2008

Just a quick update! We left La Paz Sunday morning following a restful week in Marina Palmira where we did boat projects, more walking in La Paz, and catching up with both old and new friends. From La Paz we went 230+ nautical miles across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan. Once we rounded the corner north of La Paz we put up our sails and had a great sail for the next 18 hours with winds between 15-22 knots with some gusts higher. The seas were 4-6 feet and very close together so it was a rocky ride with many of the waves crashing over the boat soaking the cockpit. By 7:30 Monday morning we found ourselves with no wind requiring us to motor the remaining 85+ miles to Mazatlan. The seas had flattened so it was a long but uneventful 13+ hours. Fortunately the new pitch adjustment on the propeller did give us extra speed. It is never wise or safe to go into an anchorage for the first time at night. Fortunately we had some good guides and charts that enabled us to navigate the reefs and find the jetty entrance to Mazatlan harbor. Just inside there is a municipal anchorage where we dropped our hook finally at 11:30 pm. We slept a lot on Tuesday only walking into old Mazatlan for an hour or so to visit the public market, grab a taco and see the old cathedral. Today we did a lot more exploring around old town checking out the plaza Machado, the crescent shaped Playa Olas Altas where tourism first flourished in the 50s, took a picture of Playa Norte where the new resort Mazatlan is located, picture of Isla Venados (we passed on way in), and even a cliff diver. We ate lunch at one of the cafes on the malecon where we took a picture of each of us to post – do you know how difficult it is to get the other party to agree to have their picture taken? In any event we have had numerous comments that state “like the fish” but would “rather see you”. So here they are! We thought it would be fun to show a picture of a different kind of vessel that is used for more short time cruising leaving the harbor. Then we even stuck a picture in of the municipal anchorage where we are situated. We leave either late this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon for Isla Isabella.