Log 10 of Albion (and other travels)These are e-mails and letters sent back to family and friends from our travels to and in Mexico for the fifth cruising season and sixth season in Mexico, 2004 - 2005. This log starts out with a summary of the summer and includes some "other travels" within Mexico.
2004 Summer Summary
We are headed back to Mexico, so thought I would write a summer summary for this Log. As we closed Log 9 last year, we were putting Albion away for the hot summer in Mazatlan and going to leave her in-water for the first time since the summer of 2000. Another Portland Cruising friend (Tom of X-Ta-Sea) and I made a yacht delivery from Mazatlan to Ensenada, Mexico on a 58' power boat. Other that loosing the auto-pilot about three hours out and having to hand steer the entire 900 miles, and spending two days in Magdalena Bay for weather, the trip was fine. After flying to Tucson and picking Molly up, we drove the car back to Mazatlan and put the final touches to Albion. After getting the new RV out of storage at the Tucson Elks, we drove to
Thousand Oaks for the purpose of watching our granddaughter's starring performance in the ballet "Coppelia". It was a wonderful performance and we were very impressed with the professionalism of our 16-year-old ballerina. We have showed the DVD to friends and family many times. This was all happening the same weekend our daughter was in the process of moving...a trying time for her.The only downside of the Thousand Oaks trip, was that I contracted "Valley Fever". I had never heard of it and it wasn't diagnosed for several months after we got back to Portland. But apparently it's fairly common in the Southwest states and a fungus in the soil causes it.Once back home, we checked in with family and friends, and was lucky enough to see my dad a couple more times before he died in early June at the age of nearly 93. We didn't do much RVing this summer due to the fuel prices. We made one week long trip to the coast to watch our friends Bud and Lisa fly their competition kites in Seaside, and we spent another week in Redmond at an FMCA RV rally. The RV rally was attended by several of our cruising/RV friends so we had a great time after the seminars and entertainment shows.In July, we teamed up again with Dan & Cathy (Perceptions) in Portland, just in time for Dan and I to make another yacht delivery of a 76' power boat from Ensenada, Mexico to Vancouver, B.C. (I used a photo of it on my Northwest Yacht Delivery introduction page). It was a great trip except for a blowing gale off Point Conception, CA, and a fuel spill in Newport, OR. What made the trip really great was the resident engineer/cook that came with the vessel. What a way to travel!In October, Molly flew to L.A. for a week to have a "hen party" (as Dan called it) with three other cruising women (Cathy-Perceptions, Joann-Tica, and Bea-Seadater). They had a great time shopping, reminiscing, playing cards, and ...oh yeah, shopping. This year, we stayed in the Northwest a little longer than normal to vote. What a frustrating, unbelievable, disappointment!!! We left the country shortly after the results.11/12/04 Subject: Back in Mexico!
Just wanted to let you all know we are back in
Mexico for the winter...had no problems with the trip down and found Albion in good shape....but very dirty with lots of summer Mazatlan dust and grime. Of course we both have our priorities....Molly first wants to know that the head (i.e. toilet for you landlubbers) is working, next she is concerned that the refrigeration will function properly and then she wants hot water.....Brent is more concerned with the engine and the rigging....happy to report we are both satisfied that everything seems to be working fine. It is hot and humid here....the first time we drove into town for dinner, we had to have the windshield wipers going because there was so much moisture in the air! We thought by now it would have cooled a bit down here, but guess we are still too early. As warm as it is, we are glad to be here rather than some of colder climates we encountered on the way down. The motor home decided to act up a bit and we spent three nights in Burely Idaho at 32 degrees....brrr!It is election time here in Mexico and what a difference from the states. Down here, you'd never know there was a opponent, distinguished, heinous or otherwise. The TV ads and campaign literature dwell mostly on how much the candidate loves his family, his home, his children, the land he humbly grew up in, his parents, his wife, her family, your family and everybody's family in general. Policies and plans are vague, but no matter who wins, family love will rule. Another interesting twist is no alcoholic beverages are available anywhere during the entire weekend of the election. Here in Mexico, they take their hard won democracy seriously! We brought our satellite receiver from the RV down this year and bought a larger dish required for viewing US stations in Mexico. So now we will be able to keep up on the news, football, and our favorite shows.We plan to be here in Mazatlan until at least late January with a trip back to Portland in early December for Molly's ex-director's retirement party. Perhaps we will stay here for Carnival which is in early February this year. Then we will head across the Sea to La Paz and spend some time there, before working our way up the Baja side of the Sea and cross back over to San Carlos where we will leave the boat sometime in April. We are planning to house sit (actually dog sit) for some friends in Tucson in early May, then we will be back to Oregon hopefully about the time it stops raining for the summer. All for now from here....hope all is well with each of you. We love to hear from you and get our e-mail on a regular basis, so please keep in touch.Brent & Molly
11/25/04 Subject: Happy Thanksgiving
Hoping you are enjoying a great day with lots of
good things to eat. We are having dinner at the RV park with Tom and Sue and Will and Joann and their daughter Kristen and her boyfriend. [photo of dinner] We opted out of the marina festivities this year. We decided we had done that for several years and they keep raising the price until it is out of sight, $27 US this year, and that's mostly because they insist on doing fireworks, having a big dance band and having a priest come to do mass in the AM. They bill it as a traditional American Thanksgiving celebration. We try to tell them we don't do fireworks, dance, and go to mass on Thanksgiving, but they don't listen...oh well. We will have a good dinner with friends and enjoy that.There are lots of Portland folks here in Marina Mazatlan; Will and Joann (Tica), Art and Rose (Summer Rose), and Tom and Cathy (Awanhee) are all on the same dock. Pat and Susan (Perpetua) are here but staying in their RV at the park until they get their tri-hull back in shape. Tom and Sue (X-Ta-Sea) sold their boat last year but are also here in their RV in the same park as Pat and Susan. They both have VHF radios so we can call each other and they can listen to the morning net. Several other Portland Tomahawk Bay/Sauvie Island Y.C. boaters have arrived (Dream Chaser, Anthea, and Transendence), but we don't know them as well. The marina put in a high speed Internet DSL line, so e-mail has been a lot easier this year. Although Brent still goes into town to the mall where free WIFI is available and he can surf to his hearts content.We have satellite TV on the boat this year. We brought our Direct TV receiver down and acquired a larger dish from a fellow boater (needed for receiving the US signal here). I am enjoying having football on the weekends and Brent is keeping up on the news, although not much of it is good.El Cid had their annual Christmas bazaar which Molly and other cruising ladies attended. It was earlier than usual this year but still had a full crowd. There was one empty seat at our table and that was dedicated to Cathy (Perceptions) who was sailing south to Costa Rica this year. We went out to dinner the other night at a sports bar and they had the OSU/UO game on. It was great! There was a UO guy at the bar and he would yell whenever UO made a good play, and we would yell back whenever OSU made a good play. Eventually he came over and we exchanged pleasantries. We left before the game was over, but when we were well ahead. When we got to the boat, we looked up the channel it was on (FoxNW), and to our surprise, we got the signal and was able to watch the rest of the game here at the boat. We had a hell of storm shortly after we arrived in Mazatlan. We woke up in the middle of night to thunder and lightning very close! Everyone was up getting their electronics unplugged, then the wind blew and it rained really hard. It's like being back home on a stormy night, except we are still in shorts at 80 degrees. The rain lasted a couple of days and made everything very muddy. Things are back to normal now, but the bugs are still bad. I have almost gone through a half a tube of itch cream already and my legs look like a pincushion. The No-See-Ums and mosquitoes don't seem to go after Molly as much. The marina has put in new "security" locks on the gates. They are like hotel room cards, but the locks on our gate only worked for a couple of days. Now it's unlocked all the time. That's okay by us as the cards were a real pain, but we still have to have them in case we want to go to another dock. One weekend the local boy/girl scout troops had a camp out here at the marina. They had a raft 
construction contest for both small toy-like size and bigger ones that they actually raced. They had some of the marina folk judge them and I was one of the judges. Then the boys and girls raced them across the marina. They had a great time and it was good entertainment for us. We went to the Angela Peralta Theater the other night to hear the Sinoloa Symphony perform. It was a very enjoyable night. We had dinner at a little "hole in the wall" restaurant that Will and Joann knew of where the shrimp were great for only about $9 a dinner. So long for now. Happy Thanksgiving!Molly
12/17/04 Subject: Back in Mexico, again!
Hi guys! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I thought I
would try to keep in touch and let you know of our latest travels. We joined Tom and Sue Stose (and their dog, Arvey) for an inland trip to Durango in the state of Durango. Durango is about 200 miles inland, high in the Sierra Madre Mountains. The drive was a real e-ticket trip. It took us seven hours with many photo stops for the spectacular scenery! It is a very narrow, curvy, winding mountain road, called the "Devil's Backbone", and there are lots of trucks going both ways. It is not uncommon to come around a bend and find one heading right 
for you in your lane! Durango is a town probably about the size of Salem and certainly not a tourist destination. We spend four nights there and never once saw another gringo-looking person the entire time, and met very few that speak English. We found a nice hotel right in the center of town across the street from the main cathedral and town plaza. The location of our hotel made it very convenient to spend time just walking around town, seeing the sights. At one time, Durango was the filming location of many movies, over 200 were filmed there, mostly westerns, and most of those were John Wayne's. If he wasn't shooting a picture in Monument Valley, Utah, he was 
shooting one here. There are remnants of some of the sets and we visited three of them. One (the set of Fat Man and Little Boy) was almost completely destroyed, but the other two were western town sets that were in a little better shape. It was a great trip!We were back to the boat one day before our scheduled trip back to Portland for an early Christmas with our family and bid my former boss, Robin, a happy retirement. The association put on a gala celebration for her and I really enjoyed seeing a lot of folks I worked with for many years. It was pretty rewarding when they would ask, "Weren't you planning to go off sailing after retirement?" And Molly could answer "Yes, we ARE sailing, and we just flew back from our boat in Mazatlan for this event!" She was also recognized from the podium as one of the distinguished guests here tonight and asked to stand for applause. It was wet and rainy in Portland and makes us appreciate the warmer (albeit humid) weather we have here. The day we returned to Mazatlan, the marina had arranged a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration here. First, one of the local schools presented a play based on the Christmas story. They were terrific. Then we all took part 
in the Posada, depicting Mary and Joseph's trials trying to find room at the inn. Then it was time for piñatas, one for the children and one for the adults. After all that, we had a meal of tamales, beans, and a Christmas punch, traditionally served in Mexican households for Christmas. Last night we went to the Peralta Theater again, this time for the ballet Nutcracker. We were very impressed by the local performers. We first saw them five years ago and they have come a long way in that time. Last night's performance was truly spectacular. I paid close attention as our granddaughter, Brianna, had danced the Sugarplum Fairy role in her company's production in Thousand Oaks. I will look forward to getting the DVD of that performance. We found a great new restaurant, run by a Canadian woman named Heather, with great home-cooking style meals. We ate there last night. The specials were chicken potpie or pot roast, and they were both great and the lemon meringue pie is to die for. It made us forget we were in Mexico. Each night they have different specials and Brent is ready to go back on Wednesday for the meat loaf!The movies are half price on Wednesday and Sundays. The cost is less than $2 those days and the movies are first run in English with Spanish subtitles. On Wednesdays the cruisers are usually the only ones there and often only two or three of us in the whole theater. And the theater is a brand new multi-plex, as nice as any in the states.We are taking our time doing little jobs on the boat here and there. We have plenty of time before we plan to move on across the Sea to La Paz sometime in February. We are having new canvas done for the dodger and bimini. We brought all the materials down from the states and having the work done here. However, several of the zippers I brought were 4 inches too short. To buy them here would cost about $30 each! Ouch! But Pedro, the upholstery man, is going to the states in January and will get the ones he needs for a lot less. Guess that about brings you up to date on our activities. We hope you are all having a great time and will be with family or friends for the holidays. Enjoy.
Molly
1/1/05 Subject: Happy New Year 2005
OK, I will admit that I'm moving a little slow today. Last night was our New Years Eve party at Chili's Pepper. The food was good and the bar was "open". After dinner, dancing, and the fireworks, we headed back to the boat.On Christmas eve day, I climbed the highest operating lighthouse in the world, 515 ft., at the entrance to the main Mazatlan harbor (the only lighthouse that's higher is Gibraltar, but it is abandoned). It takes about a half-hour to hike to the top and the view is breathtaking. From the top you have a great view of Old Mazatlan, the entire harbor, Stone Island, northward along the peninsula, and, of course, the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our last trip of the year was December 30 to Teacapan. Ten of us took three cars on the 90-mile drive
down the coast to a small pueblo located on a large estuary. It is noted for it's birding and the tour books said that they are considering making the area into a bird sanctuary. We made a brief stop at another small town, Rosario, to view their old church and watch as a double funeral was in progress. At Teacapan, Wil (Tica) contacted the Port Captain to see if we could take a panga ride into the estuary and made arrangements with a local guide. But first, we had lunch in a very modest restaurant. They had great chocolate marble cake, however, that we all had to try. We were made aware of the restaurant and their cakes from a friendly Canadian on the beach while Wil was trying to make tour arrangements.The panga tour was great. We all climbed into the boat and headed up the estuary. The guide didn't speak any English or point out any birds, so I had to tell everybody what we were seeing and why it was the bird we were seeing and not another one. They seemed to enjoy the bird identification instructions. The trip lasted about two hours, and then we all headed back to Mazatlan on our own schedule. Wil and Joann and us stopped at Heather's Restaurant again and had dinner to top off a perfect day.That's it for 2004. We'll be updating later when we decide to leave Mazatlan.
Brent
April 1, 2005 Subject: Mazatlan to San Carlos Summaries
3/5 (Saturday): Mazatlan - Bahia de los Muertos (220 miles)
Finally, we left Mazatlan after four months tied to a dock and enjoying the trips and entertainment Mazatlan has to offer. It was difficult saying "so long" to close friends that we may or may not see again, but we wanted to get Albion north to San Carlos and dry storage for the hot Mexican summer. The passage for the most part was very nice. The stars during the dark of the moon night passage were glorious. You could recognize the constellations very easily by looking in the water. By mid-afternoon on the second day, we realized the computer clock was incorrect and we would not be getting into the La Paz area until well after dark. We therefore, decided to head for Bahia de los Muertos and anchor there by late afternoon and go on into La Paz the next day. The anchorage was rolly and during the night, a strong wind switched 180 degrees putting a dangerous rocky-lee shore behind us. Brent was not happy with the anchor set that we had made and decided to sleep in the cockpit to keep an eye on things. We never moved!
3/7 (Monday): B. Muertos - La Paz (43 mi)
We weighed anchor at 0630, first light, and headed North up San Lorenzo channel. It has a bad reputation for strong winds from the North, so we wanted to hit it early. The channel and the rest of the trip into La Paz was a beautiful, calm, sunny motor-sail. We got into Marina de La Paz at 3:15 pm and checked in. The next week was spent exploring La Paz. We had never stopped there before except to refuel, so it was exciting to see a new port. One day we rented a car just to drive around the city and get a feel where things were. The marina is very new, since it was destroyed during Hurricane Marty two years ago. There is a restaurant at the dock, marine stores very close, and free WIFI on the dock….email from you boat!!! We took some good friends that we hadn't seen in several years, and live on their boat there, to dinner one night to a restaurant a taxi friend of their's suggested. It was off the beaten path, a real find. It was difficult to leave such a fine marina and city, but a possible plan is to make this our home for the majority of next winter's cruising season.
3/14 (Monday): La Paz - El Cardoncita, Isla Partida (24 mi)
After breakfast and refueling, we checked out of La Paz and
headed north. Although we did sail for about 2 hours, it was basically a motor-sail day and we anchored for the night in El Cardoncita on Isla Partida. Brent jumped in the water to clean the bottom and check the anchor. In the late afternoon a group of kayakers camped on the beach. This is a beautiful little anchorage with good protection from the north, south, and east, open only to the west. Of course shortly after sunset, a howling westerly blew up and made for a miserable night and with less than 10 feet of water under us.
3/15 (Tuesday): Isla Partida - Isla San Francisco (19 mi)
In the morning the wind had died some, but was still blowing from the west. Once out of the anchorage we headed for the anchorage at San Everesto. Finally the wind died to nothing and we motored along for a while until it switched around from the north. We decided to put up the sails and head instead to Isla San Francisco. It was a beat to weather the last few miles but once inside the anchorage it was calm and protected. We were only the second boat in the anchorage and managed to secure a safe spot in the protected northern area. We were entertained the rest of the afternoon with some interesting anchoring drills. By evening there were ten boats in the anchorage. It was a very comfortable night in flat calm water.
3/16 (Wednesday): Is. San Francisco - Puerto Gato (34 mi)
We rose early and were underway shortly after dawn. The winds had died during the night, but left a heavy sea swell. It wasn't too uncomfortable so we headed for Puerto Gato. About an hour from our anchorage there, the wind filled in from the north again, so the last few miles were again a beat to weather, but not nearly as strong as the previous day. Steve on Seascape, a cruiser Brent had talked with in Isla San Franciso, had left much earlier than us and was already anchored there along with another sailboat. There was a group camped onshore that appeared to be perhaps one of the Eco-Tours that are now so popular in the area. The sea swell refracted a bit into the anchorage making it pretty rocky-and-rolly at times. In the afternoon, a cruise ship anchored nearby and put ashore a large group of kayakers. Brent discovered a leak in a fitting to the hot water heater so our afternoon was spent head-down-butt-up repairing that. Seems like they always put those things in a place that was ever intended to be worked on. Sometime after dark the cruise ship reloaded their passengers and departed.
3/17 (Thursday): Puerto Gato - Puerto Escondido (40 mi)
Again, by the time we were up at dawn, Steve was long gone. We were planning a short day to Agua Verde, but the weather was so good we decided to take advantage of the calm seas and put on some miles. We thought we would head for Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante. Steve was ahead of us and radioed that the depth did not look good there and he was continuing on to Puerto Ballandra on Carmen Island. Shortly, we heard other cruisers talking about a lot of bo-bos , or nay-nays, there (small flies that are a real nuisance). That was all it took for Brent to head anyplace else. After considering several options, we went into Puerto Escondido and anchored outside the inner harbor. It was flat calm providing a very peaceful good nights sleep.
3/18 (Friday): Puerto Escondido - Punta San Antonio (49 mi)
We were away again at dawn heading for San Juanico. The seas were flat and no wind, affording another day for putting on some miles. This is the first time we traveled up the shoreline along here, so we got a good look at Loreto. There was an Alaskan Airlines jet sitting on the runway of the airport. Steve reported that he was making good time and was going to go on to Punta Pulpito, a good anchorage for the northers. That sounded good to us as that would put us a few miles further ahead for tomorrow. At the same time, we were contacted by radio by Linda on Frankie L. They were in Marina Real in San Carlos on the other side of the Sea and were picking us up loud and clear that far away. Later in the day we also talked to Sue Stose in her RV in San Carlos. We were amazed to make such good contact over 100 miles across the Sea. The winds were starting to fill in from the south and Steve reported the anchorage at Pulpito was getting very uncomfortable and looking poor for the evening. We both decided to see if there might be better anchorage one mile north on the other side of the next point. We anchored at Punta San Antonio. Don on Summer Passage, the Amigo Net weatherman, reports that by Sunday we will be experiencing some "honkin' northers" so we are anxious to get into Bahia Concepcion and sit it out until we get a good weather window for crossing to San Carlos.
3/19 (Saturday): Punta San Antonio - Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion (45 mi)
The winds blew strong from the south most of the night, but the seas were fairly flat in the anchorage. About 2 am the winds stopped and we got a few hours sleep in a calm anchorage. We arose at 4 am to make an early passage, hoping to get into Bahia Concepcion before the afternoon winds kicked in. We had a very flat calm passage all the way and were rounding Punta Concepcion about 10 am. Brent had experienced some vertigo and dizzy spells when he got up from a nap, and was very happy to have Steve ahead of us to follow down the shoal bay and into Playa Santispac. There were lots of annoying bobo's when we arrived, but they seemed to go away after we were anchored. The wind blew out of the south most of the day and we considered moving to another anchorage. However, this one seemed best suited for the northern winds which were predicted to blow up the next few days.
3/20 (Sunday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
We launched the dingy and went exploring around the bay. There are several anchorages to be tried in the future. We went ashore for lunch and met Pat and Susan, aboard Arrabella, and Steve at Anna's Restaurant. Had a great meal there. Learned that we will have to come back another time for coconut shrimp at Ray's, down the beach. He closes during the Semana Santos week. So next year maybe.
3/21 (Monday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
The way into Mulege, about 15 miles north, is by hitching a ride with anyone going that way. We walked up to the road and waited while many cars came and went; most were headed south. One had room for only one rider so we told Steve to take it and we would meet him in town, hopefully! There was a group of college freshmen from Colorado who were also looking for a ride into town. They had come by bus and were hitchhiking their way along the Baja beaches. We finally got a ride into town but Steve was nowhere around when we arrived. We toured town a bit and found an internet café and there Steve found us. After we both completed our communications we saw a little more of town and asked a local taxi driver for a good place to eat. He directed us to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a great shrimp lunch. We hired a taxi for the trip back to Playa Santispac. The winds had filled in from the north, but we seemed safe and secure in the anchorage. We had heard many stories of anchors dragging here, but never had a problem while we were there.
3/22 (Tuesday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
Don, on Summer Passage, was predicting a short weather window for Wednesday so we started making preparations to leave about mid-day tomorrow. We went ashore for Brent to hike up the road and take some pictures of the area and then met Steve once again at Anna's for lunch. Again, the shrimp dishes were wonderful!
3/23 (Wednesday): Playa Santispac - San Carlos (81 mi)
It was hard waiting until mid-day to leave. It was nice and calm and we wanted to take advantage of the friendly waters before the afternoon winds might kick in. By leaving mid-day, we would still be getting into San Carlos during the night, but the full moon should give sufficient light to get into the harbor anchorage alright. Near the mouth of the bay, the winds were fairly strong from the south, but eased as we got further from shore. We talked with Rick on Glaoch Ne Mara in Santa Rosilia. He was expecting Frankie L to be arriving sometime later that day from San Carlos (actually, they had headed out but turned back because of rough seas). We had fairly calm seas most of the day and were hoping that would last into the night. 'Twas not to be. The evening weather update on the Southbound Net sounded like we could expect some building winds on the mainland side. The winds did pick up from the north and a heavy swell on our beam made the last 25 miles or so, most uncomfortable. It was early morning when we arrived at San Carlos, but the moonlight was bright and we eased our way into the crowded anchorage to find an empty buoy and were safely tied up by 4 am.
3/24 (Thursday) San Carlos
About 7 am we turned loose of the buoy and made our way into the marina to find an available slip. We found one on B dock and attempted to check in with the marina office, but found they had closed for Semana Santos (Easter weekend) until Sunday. We check in on Sunday and were granted the slip until we hauled out to dry storage. Now started the work of cleaning, preparing, and storing everything we had been using for the last five months. Next we will be riding back down to Mazatlan with Horst & Bea, as they head down to check on Seadater, to get our car, drive it back to San Carlos, load it up with stuff to take back to the RV, cross the border, get the RV out of storage and move in. Sounds easy, huh? All this takes about two weeks! Then the other side of our adventures begin.
Hi guys! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I thought I
would try to keep in touch and let you know of our latest travels. We joined Tom and Sue Stose (and their dog, Arvey) for an inland trip to Durango in the state of Durango. Durango is about 200 miles inland, high in the Sierra Madre Mountains. The drive was a real e-ticket trip. It took us seven hours with many photo stops for the spectacular scenery! It is a very narrow, curvy, winding mountain road, called the "Devil's Backbone", and there are lots of trucks going both ways. It is not uncommon to come around a bend and find one heading right 
for you in your lane! Durango is a town probably about the size of Salem and certainly not a tourist destination. We spend four nights there and never once saw another gringo-looking person the entire time, and met very few that speak English. We found a nice hotel right in the center of town across the street from the main cathedral and town plaza. The location of our hotel made it very convenient to spend time just walking around town, seeing the sights. At one time, Durango was the filming location of many movies, over 200 were filmed there, mostly westerns, and most of those were John Wayne's. If he wasn't shooting a picture in Monument Valley, Utah, he was 
shooting one here. There are remnants of some of the sets and we visited three of them. One (the set of Fat Man and Little Boy) was almost completely destroyed, but the other two were western town sets that were in a little better shape. It was a great trip!We were back to the boat one day before our scheduled trip back to Portland for an early Christmas with our family and bid my former boss, Robin, a happy retirement. The association put on a gala celebration for her and I really enjoyed seeing a lot of folks I worked with for many years. It was pretty rewarding when they would ask, "Weren't you planning to go off sailing after retirement?" And Molly could answer "Yes, we ARE sailing, and we just flew back from our boat in Mazatlan for this event!" She was also recognized from the podium as one of the distinguished guests here tonight and asked to stand for applause. It was wet and rainy in Portland and makes us appreciate the warmer (albeit humid) weather we have here. The day we returned to Mazatlan, the marina had arranged a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration here. First, one of the local schools presented a play based on the Christmas story. They were terrific. Then we all took part 
in the Posada, depicting Mary and Joseph's trials trying to find room at the inn. Then it was time for piñatas, one for the children and one for the adults. After all that, we had a meal of tamales, beans, and a Christmas punch, traditionally served in Mexican households for Christmas. Last night we went to the Peralta Theater again, this time for the ballet Nutcracker. We were very impressed by the local performers. We first saw them five years ago and they have come a long way in that time. Last night's performance was truly spectacular. I paid close attention as our granddaughter, Brianna, had danced the Sugarplum Fairy role in her company's production in Thousand Oaks. I will look forward to getting the DVD of that performance. We found a great new restaurant, run by a Canadian woman named Heather, with great home-cooking style meals. We ate there last night. The specials were chicken potpie or pot roast, and they were both great and the lemon meringue pie is to die for. It made us forget we were in Mexico. Each night they have different specials and Brent is ready to go back on Wednesday for the meat loaf!The movies are half price on Wednesday and Sundays. The cost is less than $2 those days and the movies are first run in English with Spanish subtitles. On Wednesdays the cruisers are usually the only ones there and often only two or three of us in the whole theater. And the theater is a brand new multi-plex, as nice as any in the states.We are taking our time doing little jobs on the boat here and there. We have plenty of time before we plan to move on across the Sea to La Paz sometime in February. We are having new canvas done for the dodger and bimini. We brought all the materials down from the states and having the work done here. However, several of the zippers I brought were 4 inches too short. To buy them here would cost about $30 each! Ouch! But Pedro, the upholstery man, is going to the states in January and will get the ones he needs for a lot less. Guess that about brings you up to date on our activities. We hope you are all having a great time and will be with family or friends for the holidays. Enjoy.Molly
1/1/05 Subject: Happy New Year 2005
OK, I will admit that I'm moving a little slow today. Last night was our New Years Eve party at Chili's Pepper. The food was good and the bar was "open". After dinner, dancing, and the fireworks, we headed back to the boat.On Christmas eve day, I climbed the highest operating lighthouse in the world, 515 ft., at the entrance to the main Mazatlan harbor (the only lighthouse that's higher is Gibraltar, but it is abandoned). It takes about a half-hour to hike to the top and the view is breathtaking. From the top you have a great view of Old Mazatlan, the entire harbor, Stone Island, northward along the peninsula, and, of course, the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our last trip of the year was December 30 to Teacapan. Ten of us took three cars on the 90-mile drive
down the coast to a small pueblo located on a large estuary. It is noted for it's birding and the tour books said that they are considering making the area into a bird sanctuary. We made a brief stop at another small town, Rosario, to view their old church and watch as a double funeral was in progress. At Teacapan, Wil (Tica) contacted the Port Captain to see if we could take a panga ride into the estuary and made arrangements with a local guide. But first, we had lunch in a very modest restaurant. They had great chocolate marble cake, however, that we all had to try. We were made aware of the restaurant and their cakes from a friendly Canadian on the beach while Wil was trying to make tour arrangements.The panga tour was great. We all climbed into the boat and headed up the estuary. The guide didn't speak any English or point out any birds, so I had to tell everybody what we were seeing and why it was the bird we were seeing and not another one. They seemed to enjoy the bird identification instructions. The trip lasted about two hours, and then we all headed back to Mazatlan on our own schedule. Wil and Joann and us stopped at Heather's Restaurant again and had dinner to top off a perfect day.That's it for 2004. We'll be updating later when we decide to leave Mazatlan.Brent
April 1, 2005 Subject: Mazatlan to San Carlos Summaries
3/5 (Saturday): Mazatlan - Bahia de los Muertos (220 miles)
Finally, we left Mazatlan after four months tied to a dock and enjoying the trips and entertainment Mazatlan has to offer. It was difficult saying "so long" to close friends that we may or may not see again, but we wanted to get Albion north to San Carlos and dry storage for the hot Mexican summer. The passage for the most part was very nice. The stars during the dark of the moon night passage were glorious. You could recognize the constellations very easily by looking in the water. By mid-afternoon on the second day, we realized the computer clock was incorrect and we would not be getting into the La Paz area until well after dark. We therefore, decided to head for Bahia de los Muertos and anchor there by late afternoon and go on into La Paz the next day. The anchorage was rolly and during the night, a strong wind switched 180 degrees putting a dangerous rocky-lee shore behind us. Brent was not happy with the anchor set that we had made and decided to sleep in the cockpit to keep an eye on things. We never moved!
3/7 (Monday): B. Muertos - La Paz (43 mi)
We weighed anchor at 0630, first light, and headed North up San Lorenzo channel. It has a bad reputation for strong winds from the North, so we wanted to hit it early. The channel and the rest of the trip into La Paz was a beautiful, calm, sunny motor-sail. We got into Marina de La Paz at 3:15 pm and checked in. The next week was spent exploring La Paz. We had never stopped there before except to refuel, so it was exciting to see a new port. One day we rented a car just to drive around the city and get a feel where things were. The marina is very new, since it was destroyed during Hurricane Marty two years ago. There is a restaurant at the dock, marine stores very close, and free WIFI on the dock….email from you boat!!! We took some good friends that we hadn't seen in several years, and live on their boat there, to dinner one night to a restaurant a taxi friend of their's suggested. It was off the beaten path, a real find. It was difficult to leave such a fine marina and city, but a possible plan is to make this our home for the majority of next winter's cruising season.3/14 (Monday): La Paz - El Cardoncita, Isla Partida (24 mi)
After breakfast and refueling, we checked out of La Paz and
headed north. Although we did sail for about 2 hours, it was basically a motor-sail day and we anchored for the night in El Cardoncita on Isla Partida. Brent jumped in the water to clean the bottom and check the anchor. In the late afternoon a group of kayakers camped on the beach. This is a beautiful little anchorage with good protection from the north, south, and east, open only to the west. Of course shortly after sunset, a howling westerly blew up and made for a miserable night and with less than 10 feet of water under us.3/15 (Tuesday): Isla Partida - Isla San Francisco (19 mi)
In the morning the wind had died some, but was still blowing from the west. Once out of the anchorage we headed for the anchorage at San Everesto. Finally the wind died to nothing and we motored along for a while until it switched around from the north. We decided to put up the sails and head instead to Isla San Francisco. It was a beat to weather the last few miles but once inside the anchorage it was calm and protected. We were only the second boat in the anchorage and managed to secure a safe spot in the protected northern area. We were entertained the rest of the afternoon with some interesting anchoring drills. By evening there were ten boats in the anchorage. It was a very comfortable night in flat calm water.
3/16 (Wednesday): Is. San Francisco - Puerto Gato (34 mi)
We rose early and were underway shortly after dawn. The winds had died during the night, but left a heavy sea swell. It wasn't too uncomfortable so we headed for Puerto Gato. About an hour from our anchorage there, the wind filled in from the north again, so the last few miles were again a beat to weather, but not nearly as strong as the previous day. Steve on Seascape, a cruiser Brent had talked with in Isla San Franciso, had left much earlier than us and was already anchored there along with another sailboat. There was a group camped onshore that appeared to be perhaps one of the Eco-Tours that are now so popular in the area. The sea swell refracted a bit into the anchorage making it pretty rocky-and-rolly at times. In the afternoon, a cruise ship anchored nearby and put ashore a large group of kayakers. Brent discovered a leak in a fitting to the hot water heater so our afternoon was spent head-down-butt-up repairing that. Seems like they always put those things in a place that was ever intended to be worked on. Sometime after dark the cruise ship reloaded their passengers and departed.
3/17 (Thursday): Puerto Gato - Puerto Escondido (40 mi)
Again, by the time we were up at dawn, Steve was long gone. We were planning a short day to Agua Verde, but the weather was so good we decided to take advantage of the calm seas and put on some miles. We thought we would head for Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante. Steve was ahead of us and radioed that the depth did not look good there and he was continuing on to Puerto Ballandra on Carmen Island. Shortly, we heard other cruisers talking about a lot of bo-bos , or nay-nays, there (small flies that are a real nuisance). That was all it took for Brent to head anyplace else. After considering several options, we went into Puerto Escondido and anchored outside the inner harbor. It was flat calm providing a very peaceful good nights sleep.
3/18 (Friday): Puerto Escondido - Punta San Antonio (49 mi)
We were away again at dawn heading for San Juanico. The seas were flat and no wind, affording another day for putting on some miles. This is the first time we traveled up the shoreline along here, so we got a good look at Loreto. There was an Alaskan Airlines jet sitting on the runway of the airport. Steve reported that he was making good time and was going to go on to Punta Pulpito, a good anchorage for the northers. That sounded good to us as that would put us a few miles further ahead for tomorrow. At the same time, we were contacted by radio by Linda on Frankie L. They were in Marina Real in San Carlos on the other side of the Sea and were picking us up loud and clear that far away. Later in the day we also talked to Sue Stose in her RV in San Carlos. We were amazed to make such good contact over 100 miles across the Sea. The winds were starting to fill in from the south and Steve reported the anchorage at Pulpito was getting very uncomfortable and looking poor for the evening. We both decided to see if there might be better anchorage one mile north on the other side of the next point. We anchored at Punta San Antonio. Don on Summer Passage, the Amigo Net weatherman, reports that by Sunday we will be experiencing some "honkin' northers" so we are anxious to get into Bahia Concepcion and sit it out until we get a good weather window for crossing to San Carlos.3/19 (Saturday): Punta San Antonio - Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion (45 mi)
The winds blew strong from the south most of the night, but the seas were fairly flat in the anchorage. About 2 am the winds stopped and we got a few hours sleep in a calm anchorage. We arose at 4 am to make an early passage, hoping to get into Bahia Concepcion before the afternoon winds kicked in. We had a very flat calm passage all the way and were rounding Punta Concepcion about 10 am. Brent had experienced some vertigo and dizzy spells when he got up from a nap, and was very happy to have Steve ahead of us to follow down the shoal bay and into Playa Santispac. There were lots of annoying bobo's when we arrived, but they seemed to go away after we were anchored. The wind blew out of the south most of the day and we considered moving to another anchorage. However, this one seemed best suited for the northern winds which were predicted to blow up the next few days.
3/20 (Sunday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
We launched the dingy and went exploring around the bay. There are several anchorages to be tried in the future. We went ashore for lunch and met Pat and Susan, aboard Arrabella, and Steve at Anna's Restaurant. Had a great meal there. Learned that we will have to come back another time for coconut shrimp at Ray's, down the beach. He closes during the Semana Santos week. So next year maybe.3/21 (Monday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
The way into Mulege, about 15 miles north, is by hitching a ride with anyone going that way. We walked up to the road and waited while many cars came and went; most were headed south. One had room for only one rider so we told Steve to take it and we would meet him in town, hopefully! There was a group of college freshmen from Colorado who were also looking for a ride into town. They had come by bus and were hitchhiking their way along the Baja beaches. We finally got a ride into town but Steve was nowhere around when we arrived. We toured town a bit and found an internet café and there Steve found us. After we both completed our communications we saw a little more of town and asked a local taxi driver for a good place to eat. He directed us to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a great shrimp lunch. We hired a taxi for the trip back to Playa Santispac. The winds had filled in from the north, but we seemed safe and secure in the anchorage. We had heard many stories of anchors dragging here, but never had a problem while we were there.
3/22 (Tuesday): Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion
Don, on Summer Passage, was predicting a short weather window for Wednesday so we started making preparations to leave about mid-day tomorrow. We went ashore for Brent to hike up the road and take some pictures of the area and then met Steve once again at Anna's for lunch. Again, the shrimp dishes were wonderful!
3/23 (Wednesday): Playa Santispac - San Carlos (81 mi)
It was hard waiting until mid-day to leave. It was nice and calm and we wanted to take advantage of the friendly waters before the afternoon winds might kick in. By leaving mid-day, we would still be getting into San Carlos during the night, but the full moon should give sufficient light to get into the harbor anchorage alright. Near the mouth of the bay, the winds were fairly strong from the south, but eased as we got further from shore. We talked with Rick on Glaoch Ne Mara in Santa Rosilia. He was expecting Frankie L to be arriving sometime later that day from San Carlos (actually, they had headed out but turned back because of rough seas). We had fairly calm seas most of the day and were hoping that would last into the night. 'Twas not to be. The evening weather update on the Southbound Net sounded like we could expect some building winds on the mainland side. The winds did pick up from the north and a heavy swell on our beam made the last 25 miles or so, most uncomfortable. It was early morning when we arrived at San Carlos, but the moonlight was bright and we eased our way into the crowded anchorage to find an empty buoy and were safely tied up by 4 am.
3/24 (Thursday) San Carlos
About 7 am we turned loose of the buoy and made our way into the marina to find an available slip. We found one on B dock and attempted to check in with the marina office, but found they had closed for Semana Santos (Easter weekend) until Sunday. We check in on Sunday and were granted the slip until we hauled out to dry storage. Now started the work of cleaning, preparing, and storing everything we had been using for the last five months. Next we will be riding back down to Mazatlan with Horst & Bea, as they head down to check on Seadater, to get our car, drive it back to San Carlos, load it up with stuff to take back to the RV, cross the border, get the RV out of storage and move in. Sounds easy, huh? All this takes about two weeks! Then the other side of our adventures begin.
