Mazatlan

We had one of the nicest trips to Mazatlan.  It’s about a 400 mile trip and generally we have done it without any stops…meaning about three night passages, which I really don’t like.  This year because of all the stops we made, it didn’t seem far at all. 

 After breakfast the next day, Don got in the water to check on the keel job…all looks good.  He also pulled a small piece of fishing line off the rudder, confirming our suspicion that we had hit another long line somewhere along the way.  Since this is Sunday, the marina is not answering the radio, but as we entered the marina there was a couple in their dingy cruising about.  They picked a spot  for us, but the security guards who showed up a few minutes asked us to move to the other side of the dock.  So Ron & Beryl from Sea Bourne cast us off and we moved around to the smaller side.  We noticed after we had been tied up for a bit, that while Dock 5 is a brand new dock, there are no dock boxes here, so, we’ll have to move again tomorrow, as we need to be able to store some stuff off the boat to make room for our company, Frank & Dawn, who will be arriving from Calgary after Christmas. 

Next morning, we checked in with Elvira in the office and picked a spot on Dock 4 to move to.  Also went and did a few groceries at the new Santa Fe grocery, within walking distance of the docks.   After lunch, we took the starboard water tank out as the valve had been leaking a bit.  Discovered that we had put the o-ring in backwards and that we hadn’t rinsed the tanks when we installed them.  So now we have corrected two problems, hope we don’t encounter any more. 

It was nice and calm the next morning, so fired up the engine to hop across to Dock 4.  All was well, until I realized that the wet muffler had been disconnected yesterday to get the water tank out  and had not been re-connected.  Now we’ve got a bilge full of exhaust water to pump out !!!

 As Christmas is almost upon us, the residents of Dock 4 decided to have an early Christmas dinner at Te Amo Lucys ( I Love Lucy…a restaurant complete with I Love Lucy memorabilia)  Very tasty local cusine. 

Making butter tarts for Christmas

 And that was just the first of our Christmas Dinners, next one was a pot luck dock party with Turkey, stuffing, cranberry and all the fixings.  I made butter tarts, but since you can’t buy corn syrup here, I substituted a local caramel type syrup made with goats milk and white wine….think I like them even better than plain butter tarts, and I guess most everyone did as over two dozen of them disappeared in an instant.  

Dock 4 Xmas Pot Luck Dock Party

 Our Christmas present to ourselves this year was a stereo for the boat.  We brought the stereo and speakers with us, but it still required a few trips to town to find a bracket to mount the bracket and then a couple of days to run the wire etc, but I’m happy to report, it’s working well.  As you can see, it’s not an easy job installing anything on a boat. 

  In addition, we treated ourselves to an internet stick as the free internet at the marina is not always reliable, and with the internet stick, we should be able to connect from various locations at anchor.  We had brought our Telus stick with us in the hopes that we would be able to just purchase a new chip for it rather than buy a new stick.  Dealing with the TelCel office reminds me the the process we used to have to do in the Licence Bureau.  You get a number when you arrive, then you  wait for the next available representative.  There were only about six people in front of us, but we were in line for the better part of an hour.  However, when it was our turn the fellow we dealt with spoke perfect English, and  after taking our stick in the back office for about 10-15 minutes, he  confirmed that he could install a new chip, but it would be expensive and we would still have to buy minutes.  He said it would be a better deal for us to take advantage of their special, buy the stick for $399 pesos(about $35) and get 60 days usage.  So we said go ahead, and after getting it all set up, he needed a passport before he could take our money.  So, back to the boat we went, and returned about an hour later with passport in hand.  Fortunately, this time, we didn’t have to wait in the line, and since this time we brought the laptop with us, he installed the software for us.  Don’t know if this was just a Christmas special TelCel was offering, but I think half of the people in the marina had taken advantage of it. 

My Christmas present to me this year was a pedicure.  There is a local girl who comes to the marina and does hair cuts, manicures & pedicures.  She brings all the equipment with  her, and charges all of about $10 for a pedicure and $7 for a haircut..  What a treat !  

 

And finally, we wrapped up Christmas activities with a Boxing Day Dinner aboard Prairie SeaShell with our friends Merry & BJ  from s/v Willow.  New Year’s Eve found us at Playa Bruja (Witches Beach)with Willow and Dick & Judy s/v Boundless to watch the sunset and then dinner complete with home made Coffee Tequilla.

Seasons Greetings to one and all!