La Cruz, San Blas, and back to Mazatlan

I shall remember our second stay in La Cruz for the music we shared with Tasmanian friends Joe and Adrienne of SV Bluebottle. Chris and Joe jammed on their ukeleles and we all shared good food.

We will post a video of one of the jam sessions shortly.

It was also in La Cuz that we bumped into Chris's brother's friend, Chad, from Vancouver. He was on a surfing holiday in Sayulita, just north of Banderas Bay, and while driving to Punta Mita, he stopped at the marina in La Cruz to use the washrooms. He saw Chris sitting the hall – what a coincidence!

The three of us drove in Chad's rental car to Puerto Vallarta for a walk along the malecon and comida at the vegetarian buffet. A few days later, we invited him for a day sail to the Islas Marietas. The anchorage was quite full with charter boats so we anchored a long way out and swam in to snorkel near the rocky shore.

Chad and Chris go sailing.

We departed from La Cruz on March 26^th in a light SSW breeze and had to resort to motoring for a few hours in the evening to reach Guayabitos Cove for a night's rest. Along the way, Chris caught his big toe between the jib sheet and a block, needing a winch handle to winch him free. Luckily, his toe was not crushed and rebounded to it's normal shape after some hours!

Puzzling giant concrete collander.


Lovely coastal resort.

Another day sail brought us into Matanchen Bay, San Blas. We hitchhiked into San Blas after leaving our kyak on a very crowded beach, hoping the mango salesman would keep an eye on it. A pick-up dropped us off near the town centre and we hiked up a hill to see the ruins of an old fort and Customs House.


Weekend at the beach in Mantenchen Bay.


Mango on a stick - very messy eating!

Later in the plaza, we saw local native women weaving palm fronds into decorative pieces to sell to those going to the cathedral for Palm Sunday mass. Semana Santa, the week before Easter, is huge here, and many Mexicans tourists were in town. When we hitch-hiked back to Matanchen Bay, the beach was thumping with music and hundreds of people were eating at the palapas and swimming in the water.


Palm Sunday service in San Blas.


Weaving palm offerings.


Woven palm offerings

From Matanchen Bay, we encountered such light airs that it took us 54 hours to sail to Mazatlan, a distance of 125 nMiles. We rested for a few hours each night by dropping anchor in 35-40 feet of water off the low-lying coast, using bow and stern anchors to hold the boat into the waves and prevent side to side rolls.


Trawler and birds off San Blas harbour mouth.



Our progress recorded during the 2nd night 'sailing' to Mazatlan. We took down sails and drifted during the night.

We have checked into Marina Singlar for a week to effect repairs and attend to home affairs and shall be leaving this Thursday to cross the Sea of Cortez. It was nice to meet up with old friends on Hotspur (Jim, Meri, Tim, & Carolyne – formerly of Windfall) and Hana Crew (Windfall – now renamed, with the Browns - Ann, Doug, Henry, and Chandler on board). We sold our dinghy to the Browns on Hana Crew and waved them off on their maiden voyage to Isla Isabela. Our plan is to either buy or build a sailing dinghy for the next season. We also hooked up with Ken and Lori our talented musician friends who now live and work here in Mazatlan.


Lori and Ken with friend playing at the Seafarer - a local restaurant. Thanks to fellow cruisers Dave and Mary Ann Plumb for the pic!