Mainland!

After three and a half months in Baja, we finally made it to mainland Mexico. What a change! Palm trees and humidity have replaced the dry desert climate we had grown accustomed to in Baja. We opted for a southeasterly route to Mazatlan, skipping over the shorter route directly east that would have taken us to Topolobampo. Based on our timeline for preparing to cross the Pacific, we decided that we needed to get moving south. We spent 3 days at sea to cross the Gulf of California to Mazatlan. We had an excellent weather window and sailed downwind, almost dead downwind, for the first 41 hours, followed by the final 10 hours of motorsailing. For most of the sail we were easily hitting 7 knots of speed or more, which meant we covered a lot of distance with the “free” wind. Since we covered so much distance under sail, we were not racing against the sunset for our arrival in Mazatlan. While motorsailing we kept the rpms low and cruised at around 5.5 knots of speed which helped us use less diesel. It feels good to have another multi-day cruise under our belts as we look towards our multi-week crossing of the Pacific coming up soon. We covered 343 miles and used about 10 gallons of diesel.

We arrived in Mazatlan to a calm anchorage with low winds for our first few days there. We anchored off Stone Island beach. Mazatlan is a bustling town with a beautiful historic center and a long malecon between the cliffs and the beach with sweeping views of the ocean. We spent our days exploring the city primarily on foot, with the occasional ride in a pulmonia (open-air taxi). The municipal market is quite large and we found new hot sauces for the galley collection, restocked our vegetables, and finally picked up a small pinata. Our waiter at lunch after our market stop informed us that pinatas historically were created as a representation of the devil. The stick used to beat the pintata represents the church. The devil is hogging all the good things in life (represented by candy, fruit, etc.) to itself, and by beating the devil/pinata with the church/stick, you can release all the good things back into the world to the people. We enjoyed strolling through the historic town center, including a visit to the impressive Catedral Basilica de la Inmaculada Concepcion. We also visited the historic Observatorio high on a hilltop that was originally used as part of the defense of the town and later became a meteorological and astrological observatory. Now it’s a museum and restaurant, and the hilltop also hosts gardens and a nicely done whale museum. We hiked up to the lighthouse on a different hilltop to take in spectacular views of the city and sea. We spent a day at the beach on Stone Island (which is not actually an island, but a peninsula), listening to the competing live bands that meander up and down the beach playing for people. We enjoyed excellent food in Mazatlan, picking the Sinaloan dishes when available, and closed out our time there with a memorable visit to one of the friendliest karaoke bars we’ve ever seen. On our dinghy ride back to our boat in the dark, we were treated to amazing bioluminescence in the bay (the video does not do it justice).

We watched the weather closely in Mazatlan to help us decide whether it would be safe to make a stop at Isla Isabela National Park. It’s a speck of an island, roughly 90 miles south of Mazatlan and about 25 miles offshore. There are only a few anchorages and they are not protected from strong wind or swell. We lucked out, and a relatively calm weather window opened up for us. We had a quick overnight sail from Mazatlan to Isla Isabela National Park. What a magical place! It is a rookery for magnificent frigatebrids and for blue-footed boobies. As we approached the island shortly after sunrise, we were greeted by thousands of birds in the sky, and whales just outside the anchorage. After setting the anchor and resting, we took to shore and hiked up to the lighthouse. We said hello to the fishermen who live on the island in the winter (and fish outside the national park border, we believe) and headed for the trail. Almost immediately we found ourselves surrounded by magnificent frigatebird nests. Full grown, they have a wingspan of 7.5 feet. We had the pleasure of walking past their eye-level nests and spotting fluffy puff-ball chicks of all sizes. As we made our way up the steep hill, we came across our first blue-footed booby nest. They nest on the ground on top of a light layer of dry grass. Once at the top of the hill, we found the full rookery. There were so many nests we lost count. In addition, we observed some of the courtship behaviors, including the male booby showing off his blue feet by lifting them proudly in front of the female, as well as the male showing the female the great nesting material he found.

Our second day there we devoted to diving. Our first dive was a quick one down to check our anchor and chain. We had heard that the anchorage is quite rocky and people get stuck. We found a few places where our anchor was a little wrapped on rocks so we rearranged the chain and left it in sandy areas. With that work complete, we surfaced and swam towards the rocky outcropping at the edge of the bay. We dropped down and immediately found lots of beautiful fish and coral, and somewhat turbulent conditions. A 3-4 foot swell was rolling through the anchorage all day. We got caught in it briefly, with the water lifting us and flying over the tops of boulders 20 feet below the surface. Once it stopped being fun and we realized it was getting a little too strong for our fins to compete, we quickly swam south and deeper to get away from shore and escape the swell. We continued on and spotted two sea turtles swimming by and a school of barracudas! We also saw large grouper, a free-swimming moray eel, and lots of lobsters hiding in rocks. We knew we didn’t want to get caught up in the swell coming back, so we angled on a slightly different heading more towards the center of the bay, which took us directly back to our boat. It’s always fun to come across your anchor chain on the way home!

Our final day we went ashore again for a hike to the north end of the island. We stopped for lots of pictures and the hike still only took 45 minutes from the south end to the north, which gives you an idea of just how small this rock is. We climbed over a ridge and past an old crater filled with water. Based on the smell and appearance, we felt confident that its a rain-fed lake rather than coming from any fresh underground aquifer. As we continued on our way, we came across a massive frigatebird nesting area in a valley. It’s nearly impossible to describe the number of birds we saw as we walked through their home. At the north end of the island, we came upon more blue-footed booby nests on flat rocks near the beach, and a few brown boobies as well. We observed an additional courtship ritual which involved a male showing off his blue feet and then angling his wings sharply down and crying out at every female booby that flew overhead. This island is amazing, and we were so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit.

One more overnight sail brought us to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. We had very light winds and only sailed the first few hours, barely eking out 4 knots of speed. We motored the remainder of the distance, putting another 90 nautical miles behind us. After sunrise we spotted multiple whales, escorting us the last 20 nautical miles to our destination. This is our last stop before crossing the Pacific Ocean. We’ll stay here at a marina for about a month to get ready for the passage and to wait for a good weather window for crossing. We’ll have a few visitors during our time here and a crew member will join us here for the crossing. Lots will be going on for us over the next month even though we’re staying put. We’ll keep you updated on projects and passage planning next time.

Final Stop in Mexico: La Cruz de Huanacaxtle