12-19 to 12-25, Mazatlan

12-19, Monday – It is still blowing pretty good today, a little less, but still blowing. The forecast is for it to settle down tomorrow until Thurs night. We decided to take our dinghy to Benji’s and leave it there while we took a water taxi over to old Mazatlan. Nick will watch it for us, which will be better than leaving it unattended on the resort beaches.

So, we walked a quarter mile to the water taxi and took it over to old Mazatlan and checked on the Club Nautico anchorage first (but they were closed today) with the idea that we might anchor out there soon. It is closer and easier to get to the town from there as opposed to having to take a water taxi over. They have a dinghy dock and don’t charge too much to anchor there. However, we found that their facilities were pretty rustic (read dilapidated, long past their heyday– D) and there is a new water treatment plant going in across the street so there is an unpleasant smell in the area. Hmmmmm…..

Anyway, we started walking back towards the town and looking to walk towards old town. We were hungry though and decided to get a bite to eat. We climbed up these very steep stairs up to a restaurant that is perched on the edge of a rock. It looked like it would have great views and it did. However, it was closed today! Bummer, but we got some good pictures from there. After climbing down, we started walking again and checked another restaurant, but it was closed too. Hmmmm….. Not sure why things are closed. It is not a holiday. Anyway, we found a small local hotel (and we do mean small, I’d be surprised if it had more than a half dozen rooms . To have a beer with lunch I had to walk across the street to little neighborhood tienda and buy my own and bring it back – D) which had a little restaurant and had lunch there. Nothing fancy, but yummy, authentic burritos.

We walked the rest of the way to the old town center and checked out both town squares. One of the oldest buildings in Mazatlan was in Plazuela Machado, the first square we visited, and had a museum regarding the history of Mazatlan on the second story. It was very interesting! We visited a beautiful cathedral which was in the second square we visited (Plaza de la Republica). There are several restaurants we saw which we will have to try on future visits.

It is time to get back to the water taxi and our dinghy. We had invited the couple from “Deep Playa” over to our boat for a visit so we needed to get back. The water taxi service stops after 6:00pm anyway.

We had a lovely visit with Patrick and Dawn. It was a very nice end to the day.

12-20, Tues – The winds have died as forecasted…. Yay!! We are going to go to ashore and check out the local resort row and some of the restaurants. Maybe hang out in a palapa or two  and enjoy the reprieve from the wind.

We took the dinghy to Benji’s again and walked around to the beach strip. Our new favorite friend, Marley the dog, was showing us how to get there. Everyone seems to know him too. Very cute and a sweet dog. He’s a black lab mix of some sort and very smart. We got a recommendation from young Daniel, at Benji’s, to eat at either Victor’s or Carmelita’s. Both were way down the beach, almost directly in front of “Journey” when looking out from the shore. We decided to try Victor’s. Our friends from “Deep Playa” found us there and we all ate lunch together. It was a pleasant afternoon watching all the locals play in the water and chatting with some x-pats who have been here a while.

The food was absolutely superb here at Victor’s. We will have to come back for more . We were so stuffed, that we really didn’t want dinner, so we went back to Benji’s for a cold drink and headed back to the boat for a quiet evening.

12-21, Wed. – The folks on “Deep Playa” left the anchorage for the marinas to spend Christmas with visiting relatives. We listened to the morning net on the radio and were contacted by another boat, “Chrysalis II” (a 29’ boat!!) with Dave & Leiann aboard, letting us know they were coming out from the anchorage by Club Nautico to here today and wanted to get together later to swap stories. We set a date for that evening aboard “Journey”.

We had lunch at Benji’s and took the water taxi over to Old Mazatlan and took a bus to the town center (Centro). We walked the local market (Mercado Central), which is really fantastic, and looked at all the meats, fish and chicken for sale (fresh, chop-it-up for you now) . They had all kinds of produce available and almost anything else you might need. We strolled through the town and went to visit a local artist, Glen Rogers, who is a very good friend of our friends Larry & Patricia and Larry’s parents , Fawn & Roger. She has a beautiful home and studio in what looks to us like the up and coming art district of town. It turns out she had been aboard “Journey” once in the past at Angel Island on an Opening Day weekend event. We had a nice visit and will look to get together with her after the holidays before we leave Mazatlan. (We also met a fascinating, and somewhat mysterious world travelling Jewish artist, Daniel, from Israel sitting on the sidewalk working on a watercolor of the colorful old buildings lining the narrow streets and had a wonderful chat with him – D)

The time was getting away from us, so we walked out to where we could catch another bus back to the waterfront and a water taxi back to Stone Island.

Dave & Leiann came by “Journey” on their way back from the beach, where they had dinner at Carmelita’s and extolled how we should eat there as well. We had a lovely evening swapping stories with them and having hors d’oeuvres. They had some pretty interesting tales of their trip down from Seattle, Washington area and many other sailing adventures that Dave had been on over his lifetime. A lovely evening was had by all.

12-22, Thurs – Today we are going to have another Benji’s pizza for lunch with Dave , Leiann and another couple , Rob and Kai, who just pulled into the anchorage this morning and then go to the town here on the island. I want to find a mercado to get a few things for our Christmas dinner before the wind picks up as forecasted and we might not be able to leave the boat.

Dave, Leiann, Dick & I walked to the town of Isla Piedras on the dirt road that goes along the harbor side of the island. We wanted to find the 2nd water taxi to the Mazatlan side, because it runs all night long. As we were walking along the road this gringo fellow hollered from a home up on a hill overlooking the road and harbor for us to come up and see the view. He is a Vietnam vet who has lived down here for 20 years and is in the process of building a lovely home there on that hill. He was definitely a character, we think a lonely character though, and very interesting to talk with. The people down here are very VERY friendly. As you walk along, everyone says hello, smiles and asks how you are. You never know who you are going to end up meeting and sharing experiences with. The locals are only too happy to talk and laugh with you when trying to communicate. It is quite a fun atmosphere.

We found the water taxi station and there are a few concrete roads in this part of the town, but not many. We also found the small mercado and got a few things there. We followed the roads through town to the beach side of the Island, admiring the local architecture of the old homes painted so colorfully. We bought some roasted peanuts and candied peanuts from a local family who makes them right there in their yard. You should see the roaster they use, which was powered by a Rube Goldberg type contraption of an electric motor and pulleys (in the middle of it all a car transmission, for gear reduction I guess - D) that turned the 55 gal drum on a spit over a fire. There was a back-up hand crank for the spit. You could see a man further back in the yard pouring finished peanuts out of a basket from above a fan. The fan was blowing the empty shells out of the mix as they fell past it on their way to the basket on the ground. This way empty shells didn’t fall into the basket with the good peanuts and subsequently into your bag of peanuts (mostly). And…………….they were excellent!!

The road brought us back to the playa at Carmelita’s, so we stopped for a beverage, then made our way back to Benji’s and on to the boat for a nice quiet evening. The sunsets over the point have been spectacular!!

12-23, Fri. – The day before Christmas Eve?? Really?? Doesn’t really feel like it. We are going ashore to the beach palapas to find an internet connection. We had Leianne & Dave over this morning so they could take a shower while we used their Banda Ancha device to get internet here on the boat. We want to get one of these, so we can do this. We will have to find a Telcel store to do this though, so we won’t get to it until after Christmas.

I need to upload pictures and update the blog at least through our arrival here, so we went ashore with the computer. Carmelita’s has Wi-fi, but it doesn’t reach the restaurant. The owner is going to bring the router out to the restaurant tomorrow, so we will have to put it off till tomorrow. We had a late lunch there anyway.

We had so much to eat at Carmelita’s that we didn’t really need a big dinner, so we had a beverage at Benji’s and went back to the boat.

12-24, Sat – We got ourselves over to Carmelita’s early so we could do all of our interneting. Yay I got the blog updated to our arrival in Mazatlan, we both got our Facebook and e-mails dealt with too. We had a fabulous breakfast while we were there and the 49er football game was on that afternoon! Yaaaaay! Go Niners! We will come here tomorrow so we can Skype with our kids and grandkids in Redding (per the grandkids request).

12-25, Sun, Christmas – Can’t believe it is Christmas. It was supposed to be a no present year, but Dick surprised me with a lovely silver sailboat necklace with opal insets which he got in La Paz before we left. Very lovely!!

We had some breakfast munchies, made phone calls to loved ones that we could get ahold of and headed to Carmelita’s to Skype. Before we left though, one of the boats “Vallela Vallela” (say that 3 times fast, ha) in our anchorage (a nice young couple, Kai & Rob, from Port Townsend, WA (and they know Chelcie and Kathy too! – D)) organized a get-together at Benji’s Pizza at one o’clock for about six of us boats in the area.

It turned out to be a fun get-together. There is always the exchanging of stories, the food and the locals. Kai & Rob had bought a Santa pinata in the Market Central yesterday, so everybody had a chance to whack at it after dinner. It was fun watching the local children swing away at this thing.

So, we had Garlic Shrimp & Ham Pizza for Christmas dinner. Will do the meal I had planned for tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Everyone & A Happy New Year to you!

12-05 La Paz to 12-18 Arrive Mazatlan

12-05, Monday – We had our meeting this morning with Bob & Sherry regarding plans for leaving to Mazatlan. It appears they have an issue trying to get their FM3 visa and may not want to leave until it is finalized. They may want to go up into the islands for a week, which we may do instead of going straight to Mazatlan. The winds have begun to pick up already for the expected week-long blow of the “Northers”. We will be staying here until Saturday anyway waiting for the weather to clear. The forecast is saying it should lay down by Thurs.

This week is going to be about getting ready for the impending trip, whatever and whenever it will be. Doing some cleaning, reorganizing and provisioning.

12-06 Tues – 12-12 Monday
- Went to our favorite restaurants, did laundry, cleaned, provisioned, varnished and prepared to leave for Mazatlan

- On Thursday we got together with Bob & Sherry of “Nirvana” and Terry & Patricia of “Sunnyside” for sundowners. (Bob and Terry ganged up on me to take the ham exam that was to be given that Saturday morning – 36 hour later. So I spent all day Friday studying from 7 AM to 9 PM. Took the test at 9 AM the next day and passed. Now I have aTechnician’s class license but need to study for the General class exam befor I can consider myself a “ham”. – D)

- We have been continually unhappy with the way our 65 lb. CQR anchor has been performing. We have had to try 2 or more times to get the anchor to set, it wouldn’t feel like a secure set and have had the anchor drag more than once. We have been unable to sleep well at anchor because of this. We went and looked at Lopez Marine in La Paz at some of the anchors there and took measurements back to the boat. Dick thinks the 110 lb. claw-type anchor will work well on our bow sprit. So, after the exam on Saturday Dick went and bought it. He had to make a few adjustments to the size of the hole (minor wood surgery – D) that the anchor comes up through the bow sprit, but it worked and we are anxious to try it. We are excited about this new addition to our ground tackle tools.

- Bob & Sherry decided to stay until their FM3 visas are completed (3-4 more weeks), so we decided to leave for Mazatlan (based upon weather conditions) on Tues 12-13. The weather has been very windy, the seas choppy and forecasted to stay that way until Monday. The seas should be calmed down by Tues.

- On Monday the weather had calmed and we went to pay our electric bill that night at the Marina office ($35 for the month) and inform them we were leaving early in the morning. They told us that the port was closed!! We couldn’t figure out why since the weather was just fine, and they said we’d have to wait until the morning till after they opened to see if the port would be opened. This will only delay us an hour or so from our desired 6:00 am departure.

12-13, Tues. – We checked with the office at 7:00 am and were told the port is open. We think maybe it was due to a holiday on Monday that it was closed. Anyway…….
Bye bye La Paz ………. Hello Mexican Navy? Yep! We got boarded just as we left the LaPaz Harbor channel. A boat full of young, handsome and very nice Mexican Navy boys flagged us down and boarded us. Yes, they had machine guns (M-16’s - D). They were very friendly, let me take pictures and took a picture of me with one of them . They seemed to be mostly interested in making sure we didn’t have any stow-aways and had our proper papers.

After that we were on our way again and headed to Los Muertos. We really enjoyed that anchorage last time (except for when we dragged anchor) and are looking forward to visiting there again with our new anchor.

We arrived there just before dark and were not disappointed! It only took one try and we were “stuck” with the new anchor, able to rev the engine up to 1200 RPMs in reverse without moving an inch! Excellent!! We are VERY happy and relieved. It was just as beautiful as remembered. There were only four other boats there and we knew one of them, “Deep Playa”. A nice young couple we met on the “Ha-Ha”, Patrick & Dawn. We slept VERY good, for at-anchor sleeping.

12-14, Wed. – We are now back on the long range Amigo Net in the mornings. This is a channel on the Single Side Band radio that cruisers use to check-in when they are under way, get in contact with each other and get weather reports. We checked back in with this group to report we were under way again and what our plans are. We found out that the “Northers” (those nasty winds) will be “blowing like snot” through Thursday night. We were planning on leaving on Thursday afternoon. So, once again, weather has postponed our travels, but only by a day.

Not such a bad deal. It is really very lovely here. We were unable to leave the boat though as it was too windy to launch the dingy. We read, played cards and had good meals.

12-15, Thurs – We were hoping we could launch the dingy and go ashore, but it was still too windy to launch the dingy. So, we read some more, watched a movie and had some more good meals .

12-16, Friday – The weather “laid down” as forecasted, so we readied ourselves for the trip. We will leave this afternoon at 4:00, sail all night, all day Saturday, all night and arrive Sunday morning in Mazatlan.

Since we had the entire day before leaving, we wanted to go to the restaurant ashore, so we launched the dingy and went for a super hamburger for lunch. We chatted with two men from one of the boats at anchor, “Music”, who had stopped by our boat on their dingy to say hi to us earlier that day. They had sailed down from Canada and were on their way back to Cabo San Lucas from La Paz. The owner’s wife was coming to meet him and his buddy (who helped him crew down from Canada) was going to fly home.

We stopped by “Deep Playa” on the way back to our boat from lunch to see what their plans were. We found out they were looking to go to Mazatlan too, so we decided to “buddy boat” with them for the trip across. It’s always nice to have another boat around to keep an eye on each other under way on a long passage. So we agreed on the 4:00 departure time and both left the anchorage then. (They ended up turning back for a brief repair so were a half hour behind us for the first day – D)

The weather was beautiful, sunset was beautiful and the overnight passage was really nice and comfortable.

12-17, Saturday – A beautiful sunrise, more flying fish and more dolphins! A really lovely morning. We had only been able to motor sail to this point due to lack of wind, but the winds started picking up at noon and we were able to turn off the motor, pull out the Genoa head sail and move right along at a nice pace. (5.5 to 6+ knots – D)

It was at about 4:00 though and the winds really started picking up and the seas got steep and short-period swells. We could see it was going to be a nasty night.

By the time it was dark, we were really rolling around out there. Still sailing though! The thing about the Sea of Cortez is the condition of the seas compared to the North Pacific, or the SF Bay. We didn’t mind winds up into the 30’s, no big deal, right? Well in the Sea of Cortez when the “Northers” are blowing, they have the entire Sea to blow down causing very steep waves with no break between them. (period of about 3 seconds – D) The longer the wind blows the taller the waves get. So, here we are in the dark, no moon (until midnight) and we could see and hear the white-capped waves coming at us from the side. Since we were traveling south-east, the waves and wind were coming at us on the beam (from the side). This is very uncomfortable! So, about the time we were considering turning up into the seas for a while, our traveling companions on “Deep Playa” radioed us with the same idea. So, at about 8:00, we turned north-east for some relief from the beating we were taking. We had plenty of time to spare as we had made good time so far and it was looking like we were going to get to Mazatlan too early and in the dark. We were only doing about 1.5 to 2.5 knots during this time, which was fine by us. (Got down to heaved-to on my watch – drifting at about 1 knot sideways with no headway which was nice as we were starting to close on the coast, turned out “Deep Playa” was doing the same – D)

12-18, Sunday – The winds were forecasted to lie down around midnight and just about that time they did, although it was still blowing 15-20 knots. Deep Playa radioed us at about midnight and said they were just crossing in front of us heading south-east again. We were just talking about turning ourselves, so we followed right behind them. Now we were on a down-wind run with the seas behind us at about 12:30. Very comfortable and a lovely sail down to Mazatlan. We ended up sailing all the way beginning Saturday at noon until the last two hours before we arrived in Mazatlan. Always a nice savings on diesel 

Dawn broke as we were approaching Mazatlan and we were at anchored by 9:05 am alongside “Deep Playa”. Lovely!! Once again, it only took one attempt and we were “stuck” with our wonderful new anchor in a lovely anchorage called “Stone Island” (Isla Piedras). It is just outside the Mazatlan Harbor and old Mazatlan. We are the only two boats here, with white sandy beaches, palapas, restaurants and what appear to be local resorts (not the fancy ones like in new Mazatlan).

Time to rest up! We are looking forward to exploring Mazatlan and spending Christmas and New Year holidays here.

After napping, we had enough energy to go visit Benji’s Pizza! Yumm Yumm…. Garlic Shrimp & Ham pizza with a white sauce. We were the only patrons there and had a great time speaking Spanglish with the fellow, Nick, that was serving us. He really enjoys chatting. It is a very nice family that owns and operates this funky restaurant. We are looking forward to having a few more meals there.

Time for a good nights sleep!

11-25 to 12-04-2011 La Paz

11-25, Friday – Today is the day our friends Rudy, Sherry & Yvonne arrive. They didn’t arrive until 7:30 pm though. So, we had a quiet day around the harbor spiffing up the boat, putting on the rest of the sail covers, etc. We hadn’t heard from them by 7:00 so we walked over to their hotel, which was only a 10 minute walk from the marina. We waited at the poolside bar for them. They arrived shortly after we got there.

They were pretty tired from the flight and the drive from San Jose Del Cabo, so we enjoyed a dinner out at the “Tailhunter” restaurant. They had the Club Cruceros band playing there, which did mostly Beatles songs and a little Santana (basically 60’s and 70’s R&R – Good stuff - D). Nice evening!

11-26, Saturday – The “Northers” are blowing like snot now, so water activities are not possible. The harbor was closed today anyway due to the wind. So, we went scouting around town with them, got their room provisioned for the week and discussed future plans based on the weather. The Northers will not be subsiding until Tuesday.

We had a late lunch at the wonderful Rancho Viejo and walked over to the Club Cruceros. We decided to walk up to this Mercado (Market) that we had been told about. It ended up being a LONG walk there. It was worth it though as it was a HUGE store with everything you could possibly want in it at very good prices. So, we decided we would go there to provision later in the week before they leave so we could take advantage of the fact that a car is available to us. We enjoyed chatting and catching up in their suite after a long day.

11-27, Sunday – I spent the late morning and early afternoon by the pool with Yvonne & Sherry while Rudy went to check on a friend’s mother, who lives in town. When he returned Dick, Sherry & Rudy drove to Playa Belandra where the famous “Mushroom Rock” lives. (It was a well protected, mostly deserted beach with tons of shells, so we beachcombed out to the “Mushroom Rock” and on the return, picked up the surprisingly little trash that marred the serene beauty. – Mexican beaches have proven to be far cleaner than what I’m used to in the US. We then drove on to the next beach, Playa Tecolote, where there was a nice palapa restaurant where we had some refreshments and watched the wild, wind driven conditions in the San Lorenzo Channel – Glad we weren’t out in that slop. – D)

It is Dick’s Birthday today, so Yvonne & I walked into town while they were gone to get a gift, a card and a cake to take to dinner. We got a table at “The Shack”, which is where Dick wanted to have his birthday dinner. They had a special, all-you-can eat, roasted pig for dinner, for CHEAP!! It was fabulous!! Good music by Keane again and a terrific time. A great time was had, many of our new friends from the “HAHA” were there – Good friends, good food, good music in paradise – hard to beat for a birthday. The owners, Travis and Rosie are great hosts – their beautiful daughter Raquel spent the evening telling everyone how thrilled she was that Santa was having his birthday in her restaurant!! As I said I had much fun!!! – D)

11-28, Monday – Another relaxing morning. The winds are still blowing, but starting to settle down. Everybody sort of did their own thing today. Rudy & Sherry went to town in the car, Tami & Yvonne walked the Malacon to town and Dick relaxed at the boat.

We had dinner that night at a really cool place called “Bandidos”, where they cook their meats on a grill under the hood of an old Ford pick-up truck.

11-29, Tues – Today is the day we sailed to the Island of Espiritu Santo for an overnight stay in one of the beautiful anchorages. The wind was still blowing, but was definitely settling down and not nearly as bad as the past few days. We ended up going all the way to the little island at the tip called Isla Partida and stayed in the Anchorage “Ensenada el Cardonal”. It was beautiful!! It took about 2 hours to get a good hook with our anchor due to the gravely and rocky bottom. But, once we got the hook it was a peaceful and serene setting. It was too late for snorkeling and a touch windy, but we had a pleasant dinner and evening there.

11-30, Wed. – Beautiful day! Winds have died down and we are one of only three boats here in the anchorage. I Fixed us up some breakfast and off we went to explore. Rudy, Sherry & Dick went around the point on the dingy to do some snorkeling. Yvonne & I went to the shore and walked through a beautiful valley to the other side of the Island. We saw some cactuses we have never seen before and beautiful scenery. When we got to the other side we were up on a cliff overlooking boulders and rocks being pounded by the surf. Really nice! We walked back to the beach on the other side and waited for the snorkelers to get back and to be picked up. The pelicans were putting on a show for us!! They were diving all over the place. Fish were jumping out of the water so much it sounded like it was raining. A good day was had by all. I fixed up a nice lunch and we headed back for La Paz.

We made it back before it started getting dark and headed to dinner at La Costa. This had been recommended to us on Monday by one of the Club Cruceros members. The band was playing there again and were terrific. They were playing lots of Santana, Fleetwood Mac and other 60’ & 70’s rock.

12-01, Thurs. – Today Rudy, Sherry & Dick went snorkeling with the Whale Sharks. They got picked up at the hotel and taken to a dive excursion panga. (This was one of the high points of the trip so far – the whale sharks are incredibly docile, pretty and HUGE!! It was awesome to be snorkeling next to a 30 ft fish. You feel so small yet they seem almost cuddly. This was one of Sherry’s bucket list items and I have to agree it was nearly a transcendental experience. Our guides were two local guys, who once they realized that we knew what we were doing in the water, just left us alone to enjoy. We spent nearly 3 hours in the water before finally getting our fill. – D)

Yvonne & I went to that store we found on Saturday so I could do some provisioning for our next adventure and a get-together we want to have tomorrow evening on our boat with a couple of our new friends, Bob and Sherry, from ‘Nirvana’. Then we went to the pool to relax.

Everybody wanted to try the cheese burgers at “The Shack”, so we went back there for dinner. Great burgers, great company, great service and great friends…..what more could you ask for.

12-02, Friday – I actually spent the day getting the boat and food ready for the get-together. Dick, Rudy & Sherry went to investigate the Walmart and Mega stores and Yvonne hung out at the pool.

Our gang came over at about 2:30 and Bob & Sherry, from Nirvana, came over at 5:30. I fixed my very first Quesadillas! Yummy - fixed with hazelnut manchuga & pepper manchuga cheeses served with raspberry chipotle and spicy mango salsa… We were all having such a nice time, we were quite surprised when we suddenly noticed it was 11:00. (One of those wonderful times when you spend so much time laughing so hard your face hurts the next day – D)

12-03, Saturday – Today is Rudy’s birthday. He came over to help Dick get the boat fueled up and us three girls went to town to find gifts & a cake for him. He has been wanting a shirt that says La Paz on it. Not easy to find as this is not really a tourist town. We searched around though and found some great shirts! We also got a cake to take to dinner tonight.

We all lounged around the pool, napped and read before we headed to “The Shack” again for dinner. Rudy really likes the place and wanted his birthday dinner there. A band called “The Mexican Weirdo’s” is playing there tonight. We got reservations for 7:30. They had coconut popcorn shrimp tonight (a new item on the menu) which was fantastic! (We shared Rudy’s birthday cake with everybody there and Rudy was birthday serenaded by the entire place. They had added dart boards, so at Rudy’s request, I taught him how to play 301 – D) The Mexican Weirdo’s didn’t show up until 10:00!!! They were supposed to start at 9:00. Once they did start up, they were so loud you could feel the base right to your soul (almost like being defibrillated). Their repertoire was supposed to be 60’s surfer music. It sounded like a junior high garage band and REALLY LOUD AND REALLY DISTORTED! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long. It was a fun evening anyway and the last night our friends are here. We must say good bye to them tomorrow.

12-04, Sunday – Sad day to see our friends leave us. They stopped by before they left for the airport to drop off all their unused provisions and get one more hug & kiss. Many thanks for coming and visiting, you will be missed.

Today was also the Club Cruceros Sabasta (auction) at the Marina de La Paz parking lot. So, we went there later in the morning & early afternoon to support the local charities for underprivileged children. We had a great sausage for 35 pesos & a delicious chicken tamale for 15 pesos. Then on to the 49er game which was at 2:15 (our time). So, we went to the “Tailhunter” restaurant to watch it. Yaaaaaaaaay!!! Great Game!!! We are now in the Playoffs!!

Well, based on the weather, we are not going to be able to leave for Mazatlan on Tuesday. The “Northers” have kicked up again and will be here until Thursday. It takes a couple of days for the sea to settle down, so it looks like we will be leaving on Friday or Saturday. We are going to be “buddy boating” with our friends on “Nirvana” for that trip. It will definitely be a two day trip, it is just a matter of whether or not we will stop at Los Muertos again to stay the night, or go straight from here for two days at sea. We will be finding out tomorrow when we have a planning meeting with the folks on “Nirvana”.