Mazatlan to La Paz

Sunday, March 30 - Thank you to family and friends who read and have sent comments regarding the blog. I appreciate the feedback! Hi from the Sea of Cortez! We left Mazatlan on Tuesday at 12 noon and arrived in La Paz at exactly 12 noon-how did that work out so perfectly?? It must be Terry’s great navigating skills. The two overnights were easy! I had the midnight to 4 am shift-and, I was reminded of the nights that I worked on southwing. And, of my friends who say they prefer night shift at rehab. What are they thinking? Anyway, the ocean is full of sparkle as we glide on thru -the radar becomes your best friend as that is your only way of knowing just what is “out there” in the darkness. There are the random fishing boats or cruise ships which are traveling at a fast speed. The unobstructed view of stars without any sign of light for 100 miles on the water is a very special site. Another boat did leave Mazatlan behind us-two guys from Minnesota on a boat called 40 Love (yeh, he is a tennis player) Anyway it was fun to occasionally check in via the VHF radio and know that somebody else was out there with us. They were usually within a few miles. Terry had a little bit of excitement-I was off shift and sound to sleep. One of the short stints when we were sailing . Suddenly the boat came to a stop and he realized that we had caught a long line. One of the methods of fishing used by local fishermen. Luckily the motor was off, therefore the line did not get caught in the prop-he had to grab it with the boat hook and cut it. This probably irritated a fishermen, but we had no choice. If we see these lines during the day, we do everything we can to avoid them. They usually have empty plastic bottles on the line. This one had Styrofoam attached, but no way of seeing it in the dark. Most of the time the wind was about 5 knots with the exception of the last morning-from about 0500 we had about 20 knots of wind-much of it on the nose and not great for sailing. Even with the lack of good wind, we motor with our main sail up-this provides for stability and will take advantage of even the slightest amount of wind. The first part of the trip was so mellow-it was hard to believe that we were actually in the ocean-it felt more like sailing on a lake (on a calm day). With the exception of whale sightings! What lucky sailors we are! About 15 miles out of Mazatlan we were treated to a show put on by a mother and frisky baby whale-the baby breached repeatedly and I was able to capture a photo and numerous videos. We were able to walk around-without hanging on to things, cook and eat food, read , take wonderful , long, hot showers. When we are motoring (using the diesel engine) the engine coolant circulates thru our water heater and provides us with endless amounts of very hot water. In addition to the luxury of hot water, we are able to make fresh water from the sea water while motoring. Our water maker is called a “village marine, little wonder” , and that it is! This trip would not be as much fun without it! I didn’t realize how irritating it would be to have salt water on my skin-so, we always have a solar shower (we have 3 of them) on deck. Even when we are at anchor, and not heating water via the engine we have hot water. We fill them up in the morning-lay them on the deck of the boat and before the sun goes down or when we need to rinse off the salt water, we take a solar shower. Now you know what I mean about different priorities while traveling by sea. We don’t have to worry about looking for the car keys or being late to work or even what to wear to work. We are concerned with the filling of the sun shower and being sure that our refrigerator is always stocked with food and cerveza. And, planning our next destination. Currently that would be the islands in the Sea of Cortez. After being here in La Paz since Thursday afternoon we will be “pulling the anchor “tomorrow and heading for Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. We have found the city of La Paz to be pleasant and clean . The water is clear and beautiful blue green in color. Today we enjoyed a long walk and lunch with fellow cruisers. This was our last chance to provision for a while as the next ciy we will visit is Loreto in 3-4 weeks. Sending you best wishes and happy days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I continue to miss family and friends and look forward to visiting with everyone on our return in June.