Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta

So much has happened, it's hard to believe it's only been a week. Made some great new friends during a relatively short stay at Isla Mazatlan. Met a couple from South Africa and had a very interesting conversation with them about what life was like there. The woman grew up on a remote ranch and all her childhood friends were from the local tribes. As a consequence, she speaks five languages, three of which are tribal dialects. Also met a fascinating guy (Peter) who designed and built a variation of the Spray (Josh Slocum's famous boat). He gave me a tour of Bertie (his boat) which was also fascinating. It's more of a ship than a sailboat. He was a shipwright in Sausalito when he built her, and knew Sterling Hayden and Spike Africa. Later, he was a model builder for Lucas films. We enjoyed being part of his 70^th birthday celebration at a dock party.

We also finally made it into the central district of old Mazatlan. Took what looks like an oversized golf cart (gasoline powered) along the miles-long malecon to get there. Did the same on the way back and had a gratifying conversation with the driver (in Spanish) largely about Trump. I got to use some Spanish profanity finally! We walked around town a bit, saw a couple of cathedrals, did a little shopping in the central mercado, and wound up walking through the large flower district. Came across a great little jazz band apparently performing as a school fundraiser. Walked all the way to the malecon and a ways along it, stopping at a restaurant/bar on the sand to enjoy a couple of enormous margaritas. Made for a happy ride back....

With the weather window opening and Jim needing to get back home, we prepared for another gruelinng 35 hour/200 mile passage to Puerto Vallarta. We left at first light Tuesday morning, just barely making it out of the slip without incident. A spectacular sunrise silouetted the highrises of Mazatlan as we skirted the off-lying islands. Later in the morning we were able to get in a few hours of very pleasant sailing before the wind died completely. The rest of the passage was a motorsail, but the sea was calm so it was comfortable at least. The late night watches are a drag, but the sky is amazing. For the first time in my life I marveled at a planet so bright it's reflection painted an orange roadway on the water. We saw many seaturtles along the way as well as three whales and one lone dolphin. No boat problems other than the tach going wacky, but it cured itself later. We finally made the entrance to Nuevo Vallarta mid afternoon, but the tide was pretty low which made getting in more exciting than I would have liked, even though the swells were relatively small. Surfed through the very narrow channel at surprising speed. But we made it safely and were guided in to the slip by marina staff in a panga. The slip is way in the back, which makes it very quiet and stable, but relatively far from the many amenities of this 5-star resort, Paradise Village. Have only just scratched the surface of the local area so far, and not yet gotten into Puerto Vallarta proper. Even so, it's clearly a very exciting place to be with lots to do. Although it's very American, you are clearly in the tropics. Coconuts are floating in the water, the channels are lined with mangroves, large iguanas are common, and signs warn of crocodiles. (And the iguanas CAN swim!) Oh, it's pretty hot, too, even though its the middle of winter!

Look carefully and you will see a mother and baby whale.

Yeeeeehaaaaa!!!!!

It's tight!