San Blas

San Blas and Ensenada de Matanchen

After an easy 6 hour run we arrived at San Blas and anchored in the adjacent bay (Matanchen), dropped the dingy and headed into “town”, (left the dingy tied up at the secure Marina Fonatur. ) 

We found there was not a lot to see at San Blas.... 

As with most towns, there is a church and plaza in the center of town. 

This is the church in San Blas and a close up of the beautiful stained glass window in the yellow facade ....

 

 

At dusk, the jejenes (pronounced hay-hay-nays) come out …. Minuscule no-seeums with a pin prick bite.    Unfortunately, I react severely to these bites and I got attacked !! 

Thank heaven for antihistamines .....

 

Back at SEA LEVEL, we enjoyed a stunning sunset over the bay at Matanchen ....

Isla Isabel

Isla Isabel

After a long, 13 hour run, we anchored in Isla Isabel, a National Park and World Heritage Site.  There is an active fishing camp on shore, near where we anchored as well as an abandoned frigate research station right in the middle of a huge number of nesting frigate birds. 

( Sadly, the blue-footed boobies eluded us ) 

A male frigate displaying his colors ..... 

Females with their young ......

A pelican watches over Sea Level .....

 Iguanas are plentiful around the island as well …..

A quiet overnite anchorage .... then a short 6 hour run to San Blas .....

Mazatlan

Mazatlan –

The marinas (El Cid and Marina Mazatlan) are a very welcome sight after a LONG 27 hour run from Muertos.   Again, thankfully, the weather was benign and the trip uneventful .  

We have seen a number of humpback whales on our trip south and enjoyed beautiful sunsets ..... 

Coming into the marinas at Mazatlan ...

The greeting committee hanging in the tree as we went by .....

The marinas are a little outside of the city center, but a trip (either by bike or taxi) over the bridge will put you into town and along the malecon.  

The malecon is a fun, colorful bike route along the beach into town , with all the statues in celebration of an upcoming festival.  

We put quite a few miles on our folding bikes (BEST thing we ever bought for the boat !!) …. 15 miles our first ride and 19 miles the second ride …..

Both BEAUTIFUL rides …..

There is a rocky cliff along the malecon, where (crazy ) men cliff dive  .... for money of course !

Check out the video   ..... Its quite spectacular !

Old Town Mazatlan has a church, plazas and a large Mercado (market) …. And many GREAT restaurants.  

 Cathedral Basilica de la Inmaculada Concepcion ....

Old town reminded us of the narrow streets in some of the European towns we have seen... especially at night.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at CASA 46 .....
 with John and Jane (SALISH SEQUEL) from White Rock !! 

We took our tender out for a day trip and picnic,  to a nearby island called

Isla Pajaros (Bird Island) .....

A couple of very sweet labs on the beach .....

getting my dog fix everywhere I go .....

Sweet little birds hanging out on the boat's rails at our very peaceful marina .....

Mazatlan has been fun. 

We have enjoyed the bike rides into town along the malecon, meeting John and Jane ....

and Marina Mazatlan has been GREAT !

After a couple of days "staying put", we again headed out .... around dinner time..... for our second and final overnite run, to  Isla Isabel, catching another stunning sunset en route ...

Muertos to Mazatlan

Muertos to Mazatlan

 

The run to Mazatlan was looooong ....

181 miles ....

27 hours ....

through the night ....

in the dark ...

just the two of us.

 

The weather was perfect, with little to no wind (Cameron is always VERY careful to choose a good weather window). 

All went well as we each took 3-4 hour shifts on watch throughout the day and night.....

 

And all was quiet, until 2am, when two AIS icons appeared on the radar screen, coming towards us.

One was a 110 M cargo ship (with NO ONE answering the radio)  and the other was an 87 M ferry (who did answer the radio, with very broken English.)

 

Applying the law of "gross tonnage",  WE diverted OUR course to "get outta their way" ....

 

 

 

First light was a welcomed sight and thanks to a little push from behind,  we were entering the harbor in Mazatlan around 9am, heading for the Marina Mazatlan ....

 

Bahia Muertos

BAHIA MUERTOS .....

 

We had a good run to Bahia Muertos and after anchoring, dropped the tender and headed to shore to check out the bar/restaurant on the beach that we had heard so much about .....

 

We were greeted by the most unique car, parked right on the beach.

The owner, Randy's,  pride and joy !!

 

 

Randy had worked very hard on his car and I have to say from a design perspective, he had done an amazing job .... well placed bits .... and pieces ... and ducks.... and Elvis ... and ...

 

 

Having had a great chat with Randy, we walked over to the bar for a fabulous fish taco dinner and a margarita ....

 

Beautiful view of the bay ....

LOVED the signage ....

 

 

And a BEAUTIFUL bahia sunset .....

 

 

 

 

She's Out of the Water !!

                                      
                                                     SEA LEVEL GETS HAULED .....

The day after our arrival into La Paz, Cam brought Sea Level around to the boatyard to have her hauled out of the water, for bottom painting, zinc replacement and general (expensive) carry on !

The yard and its staff  have been GREAT !!  Our boat minder, Francisco, is generally supervising (and translating) for us and things are going along smoothly ....

 

MUCH smoother than Trump's travel "ban", which he too has described as going along smoothly !!  (not sure what planet he's on, but .... )

We have had the bottom painted, all the zincs replaced, the props have been painted with PROPSPEED .... (that's the daffodil yellow paint on the props !!)

Nice new very BLACK bottom ...

 

Work completed and SL is splashed back in the water ...

 

The stay in La Paz has been fun .... many dinners out and reconnecting with friends ....
Goldberg's (DUET) ... went to Bandito's (best burgers in La Paz)
Donnelly's (VARNEBANK) ... went to Azul's
Fisher's and their crew and Goldberg's .... went to La Barcaccia
Martin and Elzane (ENTERPRISE III) ... went to Sorstis for their Thursday's pig roast

We had a car while the boat was on the hard, and we took advantage of being able to get out and explore the area a bit more.

Pichilingue, Blandra and Tecalote are beautiful beaches just around the corner from Costa Baja .....

Cameron, walking along Pichilingue ....

The beach and bar at Tecalote where we stopped for a margarita !!



The owner of the bar and one of his four beautiful dogs .....
Could have taken this little love home (the one in the brown coat, not the red shirt !!)

 

Friday morning, we topped up with a bit of fuel, signed out of the harbor with Guadalupe and headed out to Bahia Muertos (7.5 hour run)  ....

 

 

But not before saying goodbye to Spielberg's "little runabout",  SEVEN SEAS !!