March 4-12

 It was hard to say good bye to our friends on La Solana and Kalewa, but we figured that is what cruising was all about, making friends and hoping to see them again down the line.  We loved the sunsets and watching the dolphins play around this anchorage.  We decided to leave at first light and go to Chemala again. The following day we left Chemala in the early afternoon. Many boats were at anchor waiting for a good weather window to sail up the coast and go around Cabo Corrientes.  When Don gave the weather on the morning net, he said that the wind would calm down starting Sunday afternoon until Tuesday. That is all that was needed for most cruisers and many left so they could make it back to Ipala, rest and then sail around the cape in the early morning. We knew that Ipala was an anchorage with many oyster floats and that they greatly reduced the area to stay.  When we left the Chemala anchorage there were only two boats left, that was a far cry from the 20 or so that was there when we arrived. We did our usual rotation of 3 hour watches and proceeded into the night.  The moon was still bright so it was a pleasant sail.  Two other boats were close to us and we were able to communicate as we went for it makes the night seem to go faster.  As we approached Ipala and the Cape the winds had not reduced like Don had predicted.  In fact at the lower part of the Cape they were 25 knots or greater and the seas were very square.  We felt as if we were bashing into a wall, the bow would go up and then crash down again.  Thank goodness for an Island Packet, for even though it was a pounding sea, we felt comfortable.  Other boats around us were complaining some but we were ok.  Our engine got a real work out and we used a lot of diesel but when we passed the Cape of Corrientes we didn’t feel we needed to turn into Banderas Bay like so many others.  We were going on to San Blas or even Mazatlan.  In fact, Hank came and talked about going on since we had just gone through the worst of it and the quicker we got to Mazatlan the better chance of a good weather window to La Paz we had.  So, being the good sailors that we are, we decided to press on toward La Paz and not stop at our favorite little village of San Blas. 

 We like to fish as we go and this early morning Hank tried out a lure that Mason Shaw had made for him.  It was an almost immediate success for quickly we heard the whirl of the line pulling out.  I am usually at the helm when that happens and I yell, “Hook up!”  This time Hank pulled in a fighting Skipjack, which he decided he didn’t want to mess with.  They have mostly strong red meat and have to be prepared immediately to be good.  So he released the fish and put the lure out again.  What do you know, but soon we had another Skipjack on the line.  This meant that it was time to try another lure, and at 11:25 A M Hank had a 48 inch Dorado on the line.  This is a great eating fish and a fun fish to catch also.  With the look of this one, we couldn’t wait to clean and fillet it.  Our mouths kept watering thinking of those wonderful fish tacos, grilled fish or even sashimi.   

The rest of the afternoon and early evening passed very uneventful.  When the night watches came we had to work harder at keeping awake.  There were no boats around us and that meant no radio contact.  Talking does make the time go by and that is why some cruisers are very chatty on the radio.  There wasn’t even any fishermen traffic, so we could try listening to others in Spanish.  I was taking the watch from 12 to 3 and decided to let Hank have another hour since he was so tired from fishing and lack of sleep.  I woke him a little after 4 and quickly disappeared to fall asleep myself.  It couldn’t have been more that an hour later when he was calling for me to come on deck.  You can imagine that I was not the most Polly Ana person at the time, but I went quickly up to the cockpit.  The RPM on the engine had dropped suddenly and Hank cut the power, we had apparently wrapped something on the prop.  None of the ways that he tried seemed to remove whatever had wrapped around the prop. We had bee fortunate so far since the Island Packet has a full keel and protected prop and rudder they are not susceptible to picking up ropes etc.   He told me that he would need to dive on the prop.  I asked him if I could go back and lie down while he was preparing for this dive.  I must admit that this was a not great thing to say but you have to understand that I was still groggy and not thinking too clearly.  Hank had already announced our position on the VHF radio and that we were disabled.  This was a good thing because there were several large freighters heading towards us.  They radioed that they would alter their course.

Hank put on his dive suit, mask and fins while I got the large spot light to hold under the boat.  I was holding on to a line, hanging over the back steps as the boat bobbed like a cork.  Hank was in the water with safety line tied on to him.  Using a nifty prop knife Hank took two swipes at the mess wrapped around the prop.  A plastic bag like a feed sack came off onto the knife. Now I can not complain about any of the other gadgets that Hank has purchased; for this was a great was to quickly release anything that was tangled.  I was also very proud of him as he climbed back on board with two large pieces of bag in his hand.  We were underway again by 7 heading to the channel to enter the Mazatlan Marina.  We expected to see the dredge again but were delighted when it was not there.  When we were almost to our slip we had the decrease in power problem again but luckily we were able to use the bow thruster to turn to the slip.  Just as we were ready to tie up to the dock, out floated some large pieces of black plastic from under the boat.  Who would have thought that you could have the same problem so close together when we had traveled miles around fishing floats and long lines with out any problem?

 It is always fun to be at Marina Mazatlan, they now have a new coffee shop called, Calypso.  The young man who runs it will do well for he is determined to be part of the cruising community and the condo owners too.  We did our best to support him by having coffee and bagels in the morning, sandwiches in the afternoon, and even dessert one evening.  We were sad to hear that Liana would be leaving the harbor master’s office for another job; she was the enthusiasm of the marina.  We participated in a Friday evening dock party and then went to dinner with the members of Andante and Flame.  Wal-Mart in Mazatlan is a great place to do provisioning and we were desperately low on wine, so off we went on the bus.  Our purchases were so heavy that we took a little truck called a pulmonia back to the boat.  A pulmonia is a taxi that looks like a souped-up golf cart.   It cost 70 pesos and was well worth the expense.  We also took some time to meet with a realtor to visit some of the new condos in the area.  There was a wonderful project on one of the canals but the bridge made it impossible for sailboat access.   

It is a two night sail from Mazatlan to La Paz.  The weather was good and we left around 12:30 PM so as to not arrive close to La Paz in the dark.  We got diesel at El Cid marina and the headed out to sea.  The seas were smooth until the late afternoon when we had about 15 knots.  We were able to sail for 6 hours on this leg and it is always a joy to shut off the engine and just enjoy the peace and quiet of sailing.  The wild life was not as plentiful as what we had seen coming up the coast, so we were very surprised to see some jumping rays frolicking not too far from the boat.  We caught another dorado but it was small and Hank released it so it could go send its dad to us! 

 It was day break when we arrived in La Paz.  We followed the ferry between the islands for some of the markers of the channel were on our chart but not on the land.  As we approached Costa Baja we were surprised how clear the water was.  We could look down and see small tropical fish.  We checked in and then filled up with fuel.  On the dock was the seal mascot, Pedro who greeted us.  Costa Baja is a brand new marina and very beautiful.  It is built to be a hurricane hole and many boats were already long term tenants.  The natural rock is being used all over the resort and this rock is a beautiful shade of rose.  We even watched the workers as they chiseled the stone into straight faced blocks.  All the use of natural elements has made this a gorgeous resort.

 Activities that we participated in were a wine and French appetizer tasting, St Patrick’s Day lamb stew party, pasta and beer party with live music, and movie night.  These are all organized by the marina to get the cruisers to try some of the new restaurants.   We also have used the pool at the hotel several times for the weather is very warm in the late afternoon.  The marina also has a free shuttle to town and to the shopping mall.  We explored the town after being let off at the bus station.  Many blocks up one of the main streets we found a wonderful dive and fishing shop.  We also went to the other marina to see Sandy and Ed from Brisa.  This boat was on the Ha-Ha with us and we heard them on the radio as we were coming into the bay.  Sandy and Ed were just on their way to town so we walked with them until we went back to the bus station to get our shuttle back to our marina.  We were going to be leaving the boat at Costa Baja while we went to Auburn.  The house there was in the final selling stage and we needed to make arrangements to move the furniture.  The security of this marina is outstanding and we felt very comfortable leaving the boat for three weeks.