Mazatlan-November 13, 2008

Mazatlan, Lat 23 16 214, Long 106 27 307, 200 miles east of Cabo. We have now traveled 1200 miles from Ventura.
Mazatlan is known as the Pacific Pearl. Also means valley of the deer. Population 500,000.

We left Cabo on Tuesday morning heading for Los Frailes with two other boats, Eager Dreamer and SueBee. The coast line was very pretty. The land is quite green due to the recent hurricane through Baja. We were heading straight into 20 knot winds and big seas, getting banged around.

After about 4 hours of this and only 12 miles from Los Frailes we made a right hand turn and headed to Mazatlan as the weather was not expected to imporve and the anchorage was not going to be good with the wind conditions.

What a ride to Mazatlan!!. We sailed all the way. We had winds 17-25 knots with seas of 8-10 feet. Our fastest speed was 11.4 knots. We all have bruises to show for the ride. Upon arriving outside of the harbor our 2 buddy boats went aground at the harbor entrance. They gave us a heads up on what to expect. We also went aground at the harbor entrance and was lifted up off by a wave. The tide was very low and the swells were big. The harbor entrance is very small. We would not want to come in here at night.

We are currently at Marina Mazatlan. When we arrived we took 12 loads of laundry up to have done. The marina is full of cruisers. We had dinner at the marina restaurant last night. Music was playing, and we were dancing under the stars with a full moon. It was a sureal experience after the previous night of being on the water. Current water temperature is 79 degrees and air temperature is mid 80's.

We plan to stay here a few weeks to rest and sight see. David and Alli continue to be with us until Novembefr 19. They have the next week planned for all the local sight seeing.

The underwater photos were taken at Lover's Beach at Cabo. We enjoyed snorkling in such warm water.

Angel update. She survived 10 days of never being off the boat. Occasionally she was scared when the seas were rough. She has enjoyed dingy and panga rides. She is currently very happy to be dock side as we all are also.