Final Days in Mazatlán

We have been in Mazatlán for 3 1/2 weeks now.  First at Club Nautico in the old harbor - not our favorite spot.  The last 2 plus weeks have been at a wonderful Marina Fonatur.  We have experienced a much more comfortable time here, the people are wonderful and most importantly our engine problems were resolved.  

I took advantage of the many miles of estuaries around the area while paddling my SUP board.  I needed to mindful of the tidal currents as they can make it difficult at times.   Here is a picture I took as I paddled along.  

This picture shows Gilligans Island and the entrance to the marina.  Yes, we had a few cloudy days and actually 2 days of light rain - the first since we left Oregon on Sept 2.

Our friends on Cinderella mentioned that some new friends of theirs had sailed to a nearby marina called El Cid and that if possible we should meet.  Naturally, I paddled over on my SUP board and met Kristi and Jon from SV Caesera.  It was not long before we decided to have a great dinner together.  That is one thing I really like about this cruising life - it is easy to connect with other cruisers.  The difficult thing is, we all move on.  Perhaps we will run into them again.  I hope so.

This little fellow was on the ramp going down to the boat.  I did not know what to do.  Eventually some men came and ran down the dock so the Iguana ran too and jumped 6 - 8 feet into the water.  I guess they are good swimmers.  I hear we will see many more as we go south.

The MOST important thing that was accomplished was a complete re-wiring of our starter system.  I will spare you the details, but if you check out Dan's blog you will learn in more detail what happened.  https://onemoretimetosail.blogspot.com.  Here is a picture of Rick our master mechanic.  He was a lucky find for us.  First he cut a hole in the head (bathroom) wall for better access.  Then he cut out old, bad corroded wires and replaced with new ones and a busbar.

Here Dan is watching and learning from Rick.

So now we can start the engine and we are ready to set sail tomorrow.  Our stay here was longer than expected but we actually got a lot of good work done on the boat and she is in very good shape.  The sunset this evening looked pretty favorable.  

"Red sun at night, a sailors delight.

Red sun in the morning, sailors take warning."

As the holiday approaches, I wish you all a Happy Holiday.   We hope to be on the hook somewhere very cool.