Heading to Mazatlan and Isla Isabela!
January 26th we headed to Mazatlan! We were off the dock at 3:40am to begin the four hour “trail ride” out of the long channel back to the sea of Cortez. Tits Pierre was right on our tail as we turned left and right following our old track on the chart plotter back out. Bill was up on the bow looking for buoys and pangas in the moonlight. Several bottlenose dolphins escorted us out of the inner channel and into the main channel. When a dolphin is there to say goodbye, it is good luck for the journey! We had 222 nautical miles to get to Mazatlan and we estimated that it should take 36 to 40 hours. We made it back into the Sea of Cortez just as the sun was coming up a pale pink, good! I don’t think I will ever look at a red sunrise again and think it is pretty.
We put up the main sail so that if wind did come up we would be ready. We began taking our shifts; I was on 3am to 8am, noon to 3pm, and 6pm to 10pm. We have found that we sleep better in the dark hours so we each do a longer five-hour shift then. Bill has 10pm to 3am and I have the 3am to 8am. We settled into our routine, sat back and watched the world around us. We finally started seeing more and more whales, beautiful! They were all heading north from whence we came. We had been just a little too early for them. We saw a sea turtle who we apparently woke from a nap because he popped his head up just as we were passing then pulled his head in and sat there, likely with his toes crossed hoping we wouldn’t collide with him.
The wind finally got above 10 knots in the late afternoon and we started sailing downwind. As the sun began to set, the wind stopped altogether and the seas became glassy. Back to motoring, but it really was beautiful. January 27, we wound our way through more whales, ships, and rock formations and made it to our anchorage in Mazatlan with the anchor down at 3:45pm. Beers, early dinner, and bed! Tomorrow we would explore the city. Of course, I had a whole plan.
The city tour that I had worked out started at the pier across the waterway between our anchorage and downtown. First I wanted to climb up the little overlook that was on our side of the waterway then start the city tour. The plan: walk up to the square, meet Tits Pierre for lunch, see the cathedral, check out the big market, walk across town to the beach, walk along the embarcadero taking in the sites, and end with a hike to the light house (second highest in the world). First, how do we get across to the other side? We thought about using our dinghy but to go out around the point looked like rough water and once we entered the waterway there were many very large ships (including cruise ships and container ships) coming and going. Not a good idea.
We decided to land on the beach in front of the open-air restaurants and ask someone that looked like they could speak English. We found a very nice man helping with a cooking class. He said that there was a water taxi stand just down the dirt road. Perfect! We skipped the little hike and headed for the water taxi. We just missed one as we walked up. Dang! We had no idea how long it would be before the next one. We watched as the taxi stopped on the other side, unloaded and reloaded, then came back. It was only about a 15 minute wait, not bad!
The people getting off the water taxi on our side all had their gear for a day on the beach. The bay Sacagawea was anchored in had a wide beach with gentle surf. It is lined with palapa restaurants playing party music, chairs and umbrellas, and rentals for all kinds of water fun. There are no hotels so the party ends and the beach empties by evening. We learned that the last water taxi ran at 6pm, it was almost noon now, probably not enough time to see everything but of course we would try!
We consulted Google maps and began our walk uphill from the cruise ship dock. All excursions inland must start uphill, obviously, but for a while I complained about always having to walk, jog, or ride uphill first. Then I realized it had to be that way or the towns would be underwater! We made it to the square about 30 minutes later. It was pretty, with flowers in the middle surrounded by trees, statues and benches under the trees, and shops and restaurants around the periphery. After a short wait Tits Pierre arrived and we had a very nice lunch at the first shady place we saw. After lunch we waddled our way to the cathedral. It was huge and white, impressive! Turning around we made our way across town to the market where you could buy anything from produce to t-shirts. It took up a whole city block. We continued on to the embarcadero where Tits Pierre said good bye and turned right to go to their boat located in the marina and we went left to walk back toward the light house and our water taxi stand.
There were some interesting sites along the way. A platform where cliff divers did their thing apparently when a cruise ship came in, a devil’s cave, and little patio type structures with beautiful views out over the water. It was 4:30 when we got to the intersection; left to the water taxi and right to the lighthouse hike. Bill thought if we could get to the trailhead by 5:00 we could at least climb up part way. We picked up the pace and made it in time so we started climbing. The trail was paved and even had stairs so it was quick going. We said we would turn around at 5:20 the latest to be sure we got back to the taxi in time. At 5:20 we could see the top and we should be turning back. We couldn’t help ourselves, we kept going making it to the top at 5:25. I snapped some photos and we started running back down, literally running. We made it just as the last taxi pulled up!
The dirt road lead us back to the restaurants where our dinghy was. We were starving! We entered the only open establishment. There was loud club music with a DJ. There were only two other tables, both families. It seemed odd, there were lights and music and at least 8 servers, all this for 8 of us. With the water taxis done for the day, who else would be arriving? Nobody was there to dance but the DJ took his job seriously and quit was not in his vocabulary! We ordered some well-earned beers and tacos and reviewed our successfully executed plan. Wow! We saw almost everything! Tomorrow we would do the small hike we missed today and then in the afternoon we would leave for Isla Isabel, “the Galapagos of the Sea of Cortez,” so we could arrive in the morning to anchor in daylight. We returned to the boat in the dark, tired but happy, what a great day!
January 29th, we dinghied back into the beach and pulled the dinghy up onto the sand, changed sandals for sneakers, and started looking for the trailhead to the overlook. We never really found a trail per se, but followed one of the many goat trails up to the top. The goats looked like farm animals, brown and white with droopy ears. There were quite a few peeking around rocks at us. We found the top and looked across at downtown picking out the places we had visited the day before. Coming back down, we still could not really find a trail. We decided to descend using a different route for fun and did find a trail halfway down. It was tempting to grab a quick lunch at the restaurant but we had things to do before we could go. We pulled the dinghy back into the water and headed back to Sacagawea to get ready for the 69-mile trip to Isla Isabel. The island is a national park known as “the Galapagos of the Sea of Cortez” with nesting Blue Footed Boobies and other sea birds. I really was hoping to get a glimpse of this elusive bird! We pulled up the anchor at 5:45 after an early dinner and set off as the sun was setting.
January 30th, as we approached Isla Isabel we were welcomed by more and more whales and treated to a show with mom and junior breaching over and over. Finally, the whales have arrived! Woohoo! At 8:30 with the sun fully up and bright, we approached the anchorage. There were birds everywhere, tons of birds flying over the little island. There were so many, it looked like a swarm of insects. We definitely identified Frigate birds and Boobies. The water was absolutely clear and Bill could see the bottom about 35 feet down. We set the anchor on the East side of the island in a patch of sand and the chain paid out amongst rocks. Not really the best but that is what was there. There was also swell that made the boat heave and rock. It was a challenge to launch the dinghy but we did it and by 10:00 we had made it around to the South side of the island, landed, changed shoes, and started hiking.
There was an old abandoned research station that campers were using for shade and shelter. It seemed like there were a lot of abandoned projects in Mexico. We saw a trail that went straight up the steep grassy hill dotted with small trees. The grass was thick and spongy, it was tough going, but we made it to the top and there they were, Blue Footed Boobies with eggs!!! There were so many! We talked to the mama birds in low calm voices hoping not to scare any of them from their eggs and carefully stepped around them. There were nests everywhere in the grass and rocks. We also saw Yellow Footed Boobies, two types of Frigate Birds with the noisiest chicks ever, and iguanas. The Frigate birds look magnificent when they are adults, especially the males with their showy red neck pouches, but as chicks they could easily win some “ugliest” contests… We walked down the other side of the hill back to the research station and found directions to the volcano crater.
This hike was through the woods up the crater rim then down to the center. The water in the crater was bright green, Saint Patrick’s Day green. We hiked the rim around and across the island to look over where Saca-g was sitting in the turquoise blue water. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a spout from mama whale behind the boat, and the still-breaching junior whale. Mom was feeding and junior was definitely playing! We hiked back to the dinghy and left the island, an amazing place!
After lifting the dinghy and having lunch we decided to leave for La Cruz. The waves were moving us around and the anchor wasn’t set well so we would have to take watches on the anchor anyway, and likely not be able to sleep well. If we left now, we would be in Banderas Bay by about 8am give or take an hour. We began the anchor lifting process and Bill noted a potential problem. Looking down in the crystal-clear water, he could see that our chain was wrapped around several large rock pinnacles on the bottom. He directed me while watching the chain. I drove a winding route, circling around the rocks unwrapping the chain and freeing the anchor. Whew! Thank goodness for daylight, crystal clear water and a wonderful husband! We literally had to dodge a couple of whales as we sailed off into another beautiful sunset, fingers crossed they would stay out of our way during the night.
We made it! Early the next morning we were in La Cruz where six friends, all fellow sailors from Flathead Lake (Dayton Yacht Harbor), were vacationing. These wonderful people had been instrumental in helping us fall in love with sailing. We were excited to share some of our adventure in person. For no less than ten years we had said, “Someday we are going to sail our boat to La Cruz and we are going to anchor right here (pointing at Google maps), right outside your condo.” Wow, now we had actually done it! I felt pretty emotional about it. Our friends had tracked us along the way and when we got close enough, they watched us come in with binoculars! We were going to have some fun! Whoop! Whoop!
I love reading about your adventures. I bet your Spanish is coming along nicely by now. We really miss you two and hope to sail with you again in the near future. Love you!
We miss you guys too! Our Spanish skills are still woefully no bueno, but we are trying to practice. Thanks for following us- we try to keep up with your posts too, but data has been more difficult since we left MX. Love you right back!
Wow! I miss you two rascles! Will you be back in the US this February? 😂😂😂 Im headed to Nola for Mardi Gras and would love to see you! Your friend, Angie
Hi Angie! How are the northern hinterlands?! 😉 We should be back in the USA in December/January, and we will be going thru NOLA, but I think a little too early for Mardi Gras. We may just travel there from wherever we are that week. 🙂 Keep in touch, it would be so fun to get together there to catch up!
Boobies and whales!? You must really miss me! – Moby T
We always miss you! And yes, you have come up in conversations frequently, lol!!
HI GUYS…….THAT WAS GREAT FUN…….IT WAS ALSO GREAT BEING IN YOUR COMPANY HERE AT DINNER LAST WEEK WITH KAREN AT CRANES TAVERN…..KEEP THE TRAVEL LOG COMING……LOVE IT AND LOVE YOU BOTH….STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE…..OXXOXOXOXOOX….STANLEY…..
Thanks Stanley! It was really nice to get some time together for sure! We will try to post blogs more frequently so you can travel vicariously with us! Love you both too, and Kristin says thanks again for the use of your lap pool! 🙂
So amazing, I can’t stand it! Boobies and Tits Pierre, I love that you can experience it all 😂😉😘! Ps When you come home for a bit, I wish you could bring a pet Boobie back for the Brennans ❤️❤️❤️❤️ friggin awesome
Kristin will have to tell you about the Masterbaiters… LOL
So glad to read another chapter in the adventure. How wonderful it was to see you at the Atlantic shore of Holden Beach. Thanks for including that in your plans. I miss you and look forward to reading and hearing about what you are doing and where you are going next.
Great to see you at the beach! Trying to catch up on the blog posts… 🙂