If you follow the news you may know that Mazatlan had a bit of unrest earlier this year – the arrest of El Chapo’s son led to a day of firefights and stand-offs with tourists locked inside their hotel while their bus burned outside and the airport taking fire.  It lasted all of one day (though they played it up on the news as if it was and ongoing and continuous situation).  We had been a bit concerned that it could flare up again and do have to acknowledge that Mazatlan is in Sinaloa and that state ha   Considering those things, has seen an increase of crime in recent years.  We had decided to perhaps take a pass.  However, after speaking to several people who had gone, including a couple who had spent nearly two months there, we knew it was a city we could not miss. 

We departed from La Cruz in the mid-afternoon, headed for an overnight trip to Matanchen.  Unfortunately, the wind was not in our favour (or was non-existent) and we had to motor much of the trip.   We approached Matanchen at sunrise and were thankful for our radar which brought attention to the dozens of fishing boats anchored or trolling just out of the anchorage (most with no lights!).   We wove our way in and set the anchor a fair distance off the beach.  Unfortunately, Matanchen has developed a bit of a reputation for being a spot that dinghies have been stolen lately – there was even a situation earlier this year where 3 men boarded a boat in order to cut the dinghy (along with the 15hp Yamaha outboard – which is what they really want) from the dinghy davits.   The boatowner confronted them and was injured in the process.   In that situation the dinghy was actually recovered eventually and I believe charges were even laid but the frequency with which it happens (even knowing that they really have no interest in our little dinghy or 2.5 hp Suzuki!) meant that we were not excited about launching the dinghy.   There is not a lot to see on shore – just a couple of restaurants – and the bugs are apparently terrible – so we opted for staying on board instead.    In addition, while we were in La Cruz I had been cleaning the stainless steel stancions on the boat and had somehow completely wrenched my back (I knew cleaning was hazardous to my health!).   If I sat for even a few minutes, my back would lock up and getting out of whatever position I was in would be agony – the only way I was comfortable was lying on my side.  And so that is what I did – for 3 days – curled up on the settee watching movies.   We had not intended to stay there so long but the weather was not great and I had been in so much pain on the first night passage that I just needed a couple of days to get things loosened up.  

Finally, we were able to get moving again, headed to Mazatlan, and we headed out in the mid-afternoon again, knowing that we were in for a couple of nights’ passage this time.   We had some nice sailing in the afternoons and then the wind would die out overnight leaving us motoring.   During the day we had seen signs of long line fishing – with the set ups marked only by a couple of clear pop bottles tied to a string – not exactly easy to spot in the day and impossible at night!!   We were pretty sure that we had dragged something for a bit as we were motoring incredibly slow, but there was no sign of anything on our prop when we arrived (thankfully!).   We finally motored into Mazatlan at about 8am and anchored at Stone Island.  The Stone Island anchorage fronts one of Mazatlan’s beaches and the anchorage was choked with pangas towing banana boats or taking people out for boat tours, along with the dreaded jet-skis.  It was not a quiet afternoon!!!  

The next morning, we decided to move into the old city harbour – the weather had kicked up pretty badly and the short transit around the corner was a hard beat into big waves – we quite happy to clear the breakwater and get our anchor set near the old Club Nautico.   Club Nautico has been closed for some time but there is a dinghy dock of sorts (a panga has been anchored and stern tied with boards laid over the top and a terrifyingly rickety ramp to land!!).  There is always a guard on site and the gate is locked at all hours so your dinghy is secure here (even if you are not necessarily when getting on and off the dinghy dock! Lol).   There were a few other cruisers anchored in the harbour and several boats on moorings.   The tour boats, fishing boats and booze cruises all go out from this anchorage so it is a bit active but not too bad.

We headed into shore to go check in at the Port Captain and start exploring.   The Club is out on a causeway built up to join the City to an Island just off its shore and all of the ferry boats to the beach we were anchored off the day previously, along with the aforementioned tour boats, etc. all have their departure points along the causeway – there are people everywhere selling tours, getting ready to head out (loaded down with huge coolers of beer!) – it was quite a scene!!!   After checking in with the Port Captain we headed to Centro (thinking it was more of a historical area) only to find it was just a very busy downtown area with lots of shopping and people.   We instead headed to Centro Historico (yup – where I really wanted to go in the first place) – there we find georgous old buildings, narrow, winding streets, murals, etc.    We had dinner at an Italian café with tables set up on a square that had all manner of restaurant options surrounding it.   After dinner we walked out to the Malecon and walked it back around to the causeway, making it back to our boat just at dark.  

That first night, we were trying to get our dinghy raised up in its hip-tie bridle and it was super hard to grind up for some reason.   We figured out why the next morning when we went to lower the dinghy – the halyard was completely jammed into the block at the top of the mast.   We put another halyard on the bridle and got the dinghy off the jammed halyard and lowered.    I found a boat store on google and we decided to head out to buy a new block.   We dropped our laundry off on our way out and were thrilled when she said she would run it back to the Club once it was complete (she left it with the security guard, saving us from dragging it back later in the day!).  We knew it was going to be an hour or so walk to the boat store but saw it as an opportunity to explore.   We wandered out past the main port area, checking out murals that were just being painted along the wall surrounding the port.   Unfortunately, at some point I was walking along when suddenly I was on the ground, with a cracked phone to boot!!!   I had crossed over a driveway that had a strip of super slippery tile going up the center of it and before I knew what was happening, my feet went out from under me sideways and I landed hard on my wrist and hip (causing the aforementioned cracking to the bottom corner of the phone I had been carrying).  Luckily nothing was broken (though I did have a doozy of a bruise on my hip for weeks!).  We finally made it through a very commercial area, over the train tracks (with a full-on slum built up on other side), through an industrial park and finally to the boat store – the closed boat store!!!!!   It was Semana de Santos that week (the week leading up to Easter Sunday) and even though it was Thursday, they were closed – nothing on their website to indicate it but closed all the same!!!   We opted to call an Uber at that point and had them drop us off back in the Centro Historico.   We wandered around there a bit more and then headed back out to the Malecon where we headed out the opposite direction to the Club and explored a bit more.   We ended up having dinner at a lovely lobby bar restaurant in a hotel on the Malecon (great burgers!) and then grabbed a Pulmonia back to the boat.   Pulmonias are really cool, open air taxis – many are made from the frame of a bug.   When they were first introduced in Mazatlan in the 1960’s, the taxi drivers tried to fight back against this new form of transport by telling people they were going to get Pneumonia from riding in the cars – the drivers decided if you can’t beat em, join em – and named the cars Pulmonias (Spanish for Pneumonia!). 

 

While walking back on the first day we had spotted the Observatorio 1873 and decided it was a tourist attraction worth checking out so we headed there the next day.   The Observatorio was the site of a Fort meant to protect the city and the site has been turned into a museum/ animal rescue.   There is a funicular on site and we were excited to go for a ride in it – only to find out it was out of service when we got there!!   Instead, we had a long climb up a staircase that meandered through terraced gardens (they did have the option to been driven to the top but the gardens were so beautiful it was worth the trek).   We first visited the Iguana refuge where we saw green Iguanas as well as Tortoises and various birds in a large cage (Parrots, Toucans, etc.).   The next area we explored was the El Nido bird sanctuary, a netted enclosed space that allowed the rescue birds kept there to fly more freely (and to eat out of my hand!!!)  There was a tour describing the process of making tequila but we just walked through that section without a guide and then went to explore the museum set up on the old fort building.   It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and we were so happy that we had gone!!!  They even had a little stand selling AMAZING ice cream!  We walked along the Malecon again – now completely packed, as it was Good Friday and many locals travel for Easter week and weekend.   We enjoyed the spectacle down there and then called an Uber to take us to the grocery stores on the other end of town – after a terrifying ride there (the driver was not paying attention, driving like a maniac, and only avoided rear-ending a car by swerving in between it and a parked car!) we got our shopping done and had a, thankfully, more tame driver to take us back.

The next day we decided to tackle El Faro – the lighthouse on the Island at the end of the causeway – we headed there at about 9:30 thinking we could get it done before it got too hot – we did not count on the huge line-up to get in (an hour wait while the day just got hotter and hotter!).   We did finally manage to tackle the climb (750 metres of steady incline, followed by 334 steps).   Owen went out on the skybridge – a glass floored platform out over the water (I was too terrified) and then we trekked back down.  

As our intention was to leave the next day to head over to La Paz and the fuel docks are at the Marina District, about 8 miles north of the old harbour, we decided to move the boat up to the Islands near the Marina entrance.   We arrived there mid-afternoon and anchored amongst all of the party boats.  Owen scraped tons of barnacles off of the hydro-vane rudder and gave the water line a quick scrub – all the while being tossed around in the dinghy in the wake of all the danged jet skis flying around.   Luckily, as the sun was setting, all of the party boats hauled up anchor and headed out and, in the end, we were the only boat left.   The view of the City skyline was beautiful from the now peaceful anchorage.

The next morning, we motored over to the Marina district, following the very narrow dredged channel in, headed for the fuel docks.  I was just approaching the dock, intending to loop around to it to dock port to, when a catamaran backed out right in front of me – I now had no space in the very narrow channel to make my turn, and no choice but to continue on past the first fuel dock.   We decided instead to head to the dock that we knew was further in the marina district, only to find that they were having computer issues and couldn’t dispense any fuel!!  We headed back to the first fuel dock and found the boat that had backed out in front of me was now parked on the fuel dock waiting to pick up his passengers.   After a half our wait to get onto the dock, and then having the fuel attendant fill a boat that came in after us first, we were finally fueled up and headed out (oddly the attendant did not get a tip!!).

We made our way back out the channel and pointed the boat in the direction of La Paz, some 250 miles away.