Mazatlan, Sinoloa, Mexico

We have arrived at Mazatlan, our home port in Mexico. We went first from La Cruz to Mantachen, a distance of 63 miles and 10 hours. For the 6 hours we had huge seas of 12-14 feet about 10 knots of wind. We were bouncing all over. Remember we are now hand steering due to no auto pilot, great on building arm muscles. The second day we made a run to Mazatlan, 134 miles and 21 hours. The seas were calmer this day. We were fortunate to be following Serena Ray during the night. They were our north star to follow.

Wally has many projects to complete while in Mazatlan. All of our new parts, auto pilot, shower sump and water pump, have arrived from the States via Ed and Annette of WindSong. While Wally will be working I am flying home to the States to visit my family. I have the better deal.

I have continued to improve seasickness. First use the electrical impulse ReliefBand, swallow Sturgeon ( a medication not approved in the US), suck on Ginger Altoids and anti acid tablets. When all of that fails, pray that it will be over soon.

We had the pleasure to celebrate Ed and Annette's, Wind Song, wedding. We had a celebration, and affirmation of wedding cruising vows on Serena Ray. All of us were participants in the celebration. We had Ed and Annette as Bride and Groom, Wally as the Reverend, Linda - Wedding Planner, John - the Chef, Rosie -Assistant Chef, Teresa -Assistant Wedding Planner, Steve - photographer.

La Cruz, Nyarit, Mexico

We are slowly making our way north to Mazatlan. Our first leg of the trip was Ixtapa to Las Hadas, a distance of 189 miles and 30 hours. We had a very rough night with seas 10-14 feet and wind 20-25 knots, both coming from opposite directions. First time, Wally was even saying he had a quesey stomach. We stayed 1 night in the anchorage at Las Hadas.

Second leg was from Las Hadas to Barra de Navidad, a distance of 26 miles and 4 1/2 hours. I love these short runs. Our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray have been waiting for us in Barra. We were grateful they were there as when we were coming into the bay we decided to get fuel. Unfortunately it was low tide, we hit a sand spit and went aground. John and Rosie with their 40 hp dingy and another 45 hp dingy had to pull us off the bar. There is a saying here: If you haven't gone aground yet, you will. Makes us feel a little better.


We spent 4 days in Barra enjoying the pools, being with our friends, and kayaking. During the time we were in Barra the Chili earthquake occurred. This resulted in a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast. We were notified by VHF radio that there was a warning. We monitored all the reports to determine our course of action. Many boats left the anchorage and marina to go to sea for deep water, suggested greater than 150 feet. We decided to stay in the marina. The only things we saw were huge current changes in the bay.

Next leg of the trip is Barra de Navidad to Tenacatita, a distance of 15 miles and 3 hours. In route we lost our auto pilot and our running lights. While we had planned to spend a few days at Tenacatita we decided that without auto pilot and not knowing if the weather would change we would leave the next day. We are currently buddy boating with Serena Ray.

We went from Tenacatita to Chamela, 30 miles and 5 hours. We had seas 6-8 feet and wind 5-10 knots. We are currently hand steering the boat. We stayed one night at Chamela. The next morning we left, Chamela to La Cruz, a distance of 92 miles and 14 hours. We started up with 5-10 knots of wind which built up to 20 knots going around Cabo Corrientes (Point Conception of Mexcio). We came into the marina at night and were definitely tired after hand steering.


We have been in La Cruz the past week. We have mostly been working on boat projects. Wally determined that our auto pilot is history. In addition, our shower sump is going out and our water pump is failing. We have ordered all new equipment and should arrive in Mazatlan with our friends Ed and Annette. Wally will have his hands full repairing all of these things. I will be playing Girl Friday.

In addition many of our friends are here. As you probably note we have friends in every port. Our friends Jim and Lucy on Passage II, and Craig and Eva on South Trails, both from Ventura, have arrived. It is great catching up with them. We have been kayaking, dock parties, evenings out and visiting, shopping, and visiting surrounding towns.

We plan to leave in the morning with our friends John and Rosie on Serena Ray and Stan and Val on Pax Nautica heading first to Matanchen and then our last leg to Mazatlan.