MELLOW IN MAZATLAN

As usual....time has passed too quickly here at Marina Mazatlan, tomorrow we will castoff for La Paz, across the Sea of Cortez.  Where we are now is located on north end of Mazatlan but it's easy to catch a bus or open-air taxi to the heart of the city - about 12 pesos (9 cents) for the bus and 50 to 70 pesos for the taxi. We usually take the bus to town, then catch a "Pulmonia" (open air taxi - made from a Volkswagon Bug....great ride!!) for our return trip with provisions.  Mazatlan is a great city and has many restaurants with delicious fare to choose from. Restaurants right here at the Marina area proved to have both great food and great music.... one closest to us has a great sax player. Many evenings we could hear the sax from the boat...often playing the theme from Casblanca!!

Every Monday/Wednesday and Friday, a local stops at the Marina with a truckload of fresh fruit/vegtables. The quality is excellent!!   "Grande" shrimp are also for sale for only about $4.00/lb. This is Trudy (m/v Island Grace), a new friend I met here in the Marina.  

One evening John, our cruising friend Wally (s/v Andanzas) and I went to the top the old Fremont Hotel in the "old town" district of the city.  This vantage point provides a beautiful 360 degree view of the city and shoreline, especially beautiful at sunset (Linda missed it as she was in Colorado visiting family).  It's absolutely gorgeous! After a couple of pictures and a few cervezas we walked about 5 blocks into Old Town and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at a sidewalk restaurant called Pedro y Lola.  The restaurant is across from the Plazuela Machado which is a beautiful central park surrounded by nineteenth century Mediteranian style buildings (reminded us a lot or Europe..narrow streets, sidewalk cafes...). There were several stages surrounding the park, each with different musical entertainment (folk, rock, even heavy metal!!).

We also bought a "beach landing"dinghy from a cruiser on our last day in La Cruz ....our Serena Ray tender is  too large for surf landings (necessary sometimes down here) but great for skiing/wake boarding..!!. The surf dinghy is hundreds of lbs. lighter and cheap!!!!. John spent some time fixing it up and it will work very well up in places we need it.

We recently met Del and Trudy on m/v Island Grace (a Nordhavn 46). They have been cruising Mexico for 23 years now, first as sailors, switching to a motor vessel only two years ago. They are from Bremerton, WA. (we run into MANY folks from Washington State down here, all trying to escape to warmer climates I guess). We celebrated Del's 75th birthday on their boat complete with a turkey dinner with pineapple upside down cake for dessert!  Very Cool...75 and still cruising!!

Like everywhere in Mexico it's hard to find a place that doesn't have a beautiful sunset, like this picture we took off of our bow. We will leave Mazatlan Easter Sunday (looks to be a good weather window) and run overnight to Bahia de los Muertos on the southeastern side of the Baja Peninsula (190 nm's). Our plan is to explore there a couple of days and then head north, only a one day's cruise, to La Paz...one of our favorite city's.  Until we update ..........we hope you all are doing well, spring is just around the corner.