La Paz and Bandalera

3/25/11
Short stay in La Paz, didn’t do it justice, but we have had more than our share of city life of this trip.

Sunday we headed out to find the Crossroads church friends had told us about. It is especially difficult because most streets have no signs, a common theme of Mexican cities, and it is a very small church tucked behind a store, so unless you see the sign up high on the building, you will miss it. Entrance is a walkway between two buildings. A small church, but Marcus and I liked it very much. Met “Two Can Play” and they were very nice, as we have found cruisers to be.

Walked to the former CCC to provision for our trip North, as there will be few stores, and of course the prices will be much higher. We were surprised that the food here in La Paz costs more than in Mazatlan, but I have been told it is because it needs to be imported. Both at the grocery store and the Mercado, we found the produce left a lot to be desired.

We really liked the feel of La Paz, it feels welcoming and inviting, and there are fewer bars on the doors and windows. Less crime here.

Headed to Bandalera, where we spent a rocky night. Just cannot seem to get away from those corumels. A corumel is a brisk wind that comes up from the south, southwest during the night, most of the time unexpectedly, and can be anywhere from 10-20 knots. Because of this, you need to be very careful when anchoring, projecting where the boat might swing with tides and wind changes.

Didn’t head out too early, hoping to take advantage of early afternoon winds, but early enough for the tides to be in our favor. We put up both the mail and the jib and sailed North/west, we wanted to go North, but it seems, wherever you are headed, that is where the wind comes from. Sailed NW for 1 ½ hours out and 1 hour NE and made all of 1 mile towards our destination. Welcome to our world of sailing. Just a few miles from Caleta Partida, our next stop, we decide to motorsail a more direct route. Coming up behind us, we see Talion, a boat we have been seeing along the way. The were anchored at Balandra with us, and left after we did. Once again, they cruise past us and we long for a bigger engine.
We have had to resign ourselves to the fact that we tend to be slower than other boats. We have been trying to figure out if there is something we can do, as this boat is designed to be pretty quick, more of a racer cruiser. It seems most boats here have bigger engines, and can cut right through chop and waves. We can point very high is this boat, which means we can sail almost into the wind. Our sails are old and tired, and we would do better with a new mail sail, possibly next year we can find a nice used main that will suit our needs. Seems here in the Sea of Cortez there is either too much wind or not enough.

Catching Up

3/20/2011 Spent Saint Patrick’s day eating at El Carbon, listening to some killer jazz, and celebrating Marcus’s birthday with new and old cruiser friends. It was so much fun!! Closed the place down, course it was only 9:30, but that is late by cruiser standards!

The next morning we jumped up, and headed for La Paz, actually Calita Lobos, just outside La Paz. La Paz is 58 miles, and didn’t want to trying to enter in the dark. We sailed several hours in more wind than anticipated, it was exciting, and really cooled off a warm day. Seem there is much more motoring than sailing happening so it was very nice.

Anchored at Caleta Lobos, choosing not to go to the back of the little cove, close to the mangrove swamp and bugs, but still felt like it was a good spot. During the night the winds picked up and we knew the back of the cove is where we should have been, the 3 boats anchored there were not bouncing around, however we were rocking like a hobby horse. I told Marcus to pretend he was being rocked to sleep. Like being rocked to sleep by an angry mother.

Another lesson learned, this trip has been more like an education rather than a vacation most people assume we are on.


Sometimes you are so busy looking for the beautiful sunset, you miss the amazing moonrise behind you.

Bahia de los Muertos-Bahia de los Suenos

Made it to Ensenada de los Muertos and are very happy to end a 36 hour trip that took us 73 ½ hours; 3 days and 3 nights. We didn’t have enough fuel to motor the entire way across the Sea of Cortez, so we ended up sailing much further south before being able to turn north.

We are really happy to be in this quiet bay with clean warm water, and you can see the bottom! Marcus has already been swimming. Temp around 80 and sunny. NICE!

Pretty secluded bay, but it is starting to be developed, and has a restaurant where I can get wifi! It has been known as Bahia de los Muertos, or "Bay of the Dead" but it has been renamed "Bahia de los Suenos" or Bay of Dreams. I guess the ultra fancy resort built here believes people would rather visit the bay of dreams rather than the dead.

This particular spot has great meaning to us. Five years ago, Marcus and I vacationed in La Paz and came to this bay to go snorkeling. There was a sailboat anchored in this lovely secluded spot, and we talked of being in our own sailboat anchored in that bay, someday. That was one of many seeds that were planted and germinated in this trip to Mexico, and as we sailed into the bay, we were moved at the realization of a dream come full circle. Bay of Dreams indeed.

Foggy Start

So looks like today is the day. Bittersweet as we have grown to love Mazatlan. I realized I have not done much posting about the city, so I plan to work on a few observations on living in Mazatlan.

Waiting for the fog to lift, then we join 3 other boats heading towards LaPaz.

We are excited, and a bit nervous as we try to remember what we need to do to head out on a passage. I have been cooking since yesterday, prepping fruit, making soup and potatoe salad, it is much easier to have everything ready to heat up than to cook while underway.

The minimum it should take us to get to Los Frailes/Los Muertos is 30 hours, so I figure 45 hours is about right. Even though we have checked several weather reports, you just don't know what the weather is going to bring. Supposed to be very light winds, which, unfortunatly means motoring. However that is better than high winds and choppy seas.

Off to make one more water run!

Vineyard Church Mazatlan

We have been going to church here, it is a "gringo" church at 9am with Spanish church at 11; it's focus is reaching the poor of Mazatlan. This allows the people who come here, Canadian and US alike to reach out to the needy. There are scores of people who vacation here regularly and thousands that have retired here, heading North for a couple of months each summer to escape the heat.
There are "tours" of the dump ministry and the childrens feeding centers that we have been able to go on. It is wonderful to see the work they do and the strides they are making in helping the poor here.
There are a segment of people here who live near the dump who live in primitive homes and are called "dump scroungers" They go through the trash salvaging bottles, plastic, cardboard, and anything they think may be of value. It is hard work in a hostile environment. Smelly, dusty and dirty with very little to show for it, but they eke out an existence.
Every Tues. and Thurs. visitors and members of the church make 300 sandwiches, and 220 bottles of clean, cold water. We passed out all the sandwiches and water in just a few minutes. I cannot speak for the people that work there, but it felt good to help in some small way.

Another day, we went to a small village very near where our boat in anchored and visited Isla Piedra where a building has been built for the feeding center for some of the children of the village, I believe they feed 90 children there every Sat morning. We were there on a Thurs afternoon, and they were having a childrens church with a few of the children. It was hard to follow what was going on as it was naturally in Spanish, but kids are kids all over the world, the squirmy boys, and the eager to please girls.
As we were watching the women teach the kids, we became aware of a group of women outside the front doors and realized they were having a Bible study.

They have 12 centers currently and the goal is 30. What a great work.

Too Long

Random Images:
At the top of "El Faro" or the lighthouse

It is the 2nd highest lighthouse in the world!

View of our anchorage

Veggies hangin around!




It has been a while since I checked in. Seems like we are just kind of marking time, and I never know if the interesting little things about living in Mexico will translate well, but I'll see how it goes.

The other day we were taking the bus home and the man next to us was playing music videos on his phone. He didn't have earphones, so we were all enjoying the oldies, rock and roll he was playing. Then Queen came on, We Will Rock You. We quickly reallized the bus driver was tapping his air brakes to the "stomp/clap" of the song, only in Mexico!!

Lots of funny little stories, and mostly it seems, ya just had to be there!

Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbors Boat

We helped move a Downeaster 38 to the Fonatur Marina across town today. Oh my, is only 3 feet larger than our boat, but so roomy inside and out! We decided that will be our next boat.
Everyone says you need a light air boat to sail in Mexico, we so far we have had either no wind or a LOT of wind, and have motored 60% or more of our passages. Most of the time is spent at anchor, and it would be really nice to live large in a bigger boat.
Now if we only had a few more pesos . . .