I ended up staying at Marina Fonatur La Paz from November 23 until December 11. Most of the time here was spent doing boat maintenance. On Saturday December 9, I caught an Aguila bus from La Paz Malecon (walked the nearly 5 miles distance to the bus station) to Todos Santos. Once there, I met my son Loren - who had flown into Los Cabos Airport on Friday December 8 - and his uncle Ted, who promptly took me to his house near El Pescodero. On Sunday, Ted drove Loren and I back to Todos Santos where we caught a bus to La Paz.

On Monday December 11 we moved Anna Marie from Marina Fonatur to Marina Palmira. Here we topped off the fuel tanks and attempted to get an early start out of La Paz on Tuesday December 12. We were delayed because I had to wait to get my $50 US key deposit back, so our "early" departure was at 0900. Once we got through the Lorenzo Channel and had rounded Punta Coyote we were able to sail most of the remainder of the total 53nm trip to Ensenada de Los Muertos. We had NW apparent wind from about 10 to 15 knots off our port quarter most of the day, arriving in Los Muertos after sunset at 1840 hours and anchoring in 30' with about 120' of chain let out.

We left Los Muertos a little after 0700 on Wednesday December 13 and set a course of 94 magnetic to carry us the 192 nm across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan on the Mexico mainland. We were only able to sail a fraction of the distance as, except for a few hours on Wednesday morning, the winds were light and variable. We arrived off Mazatlan before 1500 on Thursday December 14 in light wind, but frequent heavy rain squalls. By the time we arrived at our assigned slip in Marina Isla Mazatlan, we were quite soaked! With the heavy rain it was difficult to spot the narrow entrance channel to the estuary where the various Mazatlan marinas are located, even though I had been here a couple times previously. Loren and I spent Friday December 15 exploring the old section of Mazatlan. Plenty to see and do here thus we had an active and enjoyable day!

The following morning, Saturday December 16, we pulled out of our slip at 1040, put on fuel at Marina El Cid, and reentered the Pacific Ocean for our 133 nm trip down the coast to Ensenada de Matanchen. Duration of the trip, from casting off lines in Mazatlan on Saturday morning to dropping anchor in Matanchen on Sunday morning, was exactly 24 hours. We came within such close proximity to over 15 sizable fishing boats during the nighttime that I had little sleep. It is hard at night to understand the course of any vessel one might pass, but fishing boats, with their seemingly random zig-zag courses, offer a particularly interesting challenge.

In Matanchen, we anchored in 16' of water, but well off the beach. After Anna Marie was secured and shipshape, we inflated and launched the dinghy, and after getting the Honda outboard safely attached, went ashore (with dinghy wheels attached) and enjoyed a couple of late afternoon beers at one of the many palapa restaurants that line the shore here.

The following morning, Monday December 18, we took the dinghy ashore, and leaving it, with permission, at one of the Palapas, we hiked the short distance to where we found pangas for hire to take us up the Rio Tovara to La Tovara Spring. A nice jungle river tour with plenty of wildlife to view, including crocodiles and tortoises. In addition to the Springs, we also visited a crocadile preserve. We were joined by the crew of Sea Casa, a pair of young brothers (Connor and Chase), for the trip up the river, as well as our later taxi ride into San Blas and the old hill fort called La Contaduria.

We left Matatchen at 0630 the following morning - December 19, Tuesday - and motored the entire 52nm distance to the anchorage off of the village of Punta de Mita. We has steep, short, and relatively confused following seas the entire distance, but little wind until we round Punta de Mita. An interesting phenomenon. During the day, the autopilot started acting up. It would suddenly steer the boat hard in one direction or the other - usually starboard - and some short time later steer back to course. Sometimes it would take a gentle nudge on the wheel to get the autopilot to resume the original course. This issue seemed to get worse as the day commenced. We arrived at Punta de Mita at 1640 and anchored in 22' with 120' of chain out. The following morning on Wednesday December 20, we raised our anchor around 1040 and motored the 9.5nm to Marina La Cruz, arriving around 1230 and entering our assigned slip 9B-24.

Loren and I caught a bus into Bucerias on Thursday morning, December 21, and did some souvenir shopping and enjoyed a seafood lunch at one of the many restaurants in town. Later, after returning to the marina in La Cruz, Loren packed and took a taxi to the airport to catch his evening flight back to Portland. I will miss having him aboard! Not only did I enjoy his company but he was a good crew member.