Our original plan was to head north to La Paz, but as we made our way along the coast and started rounding the east cape of southern Baja the Northerly that had been blowing for five or six days increased in strength and along with it the waves which grew to six - eight feet at about 8-10 seconds. These almost square waves were most uncomfortable and progress slowed to 3kt. It was gusting to 25kt and we hove to for a few hours thinking that if the forecast were correct it would die off soon. As we bobbed along we got to thinking that maybe it would be better to visit the Sea of Cortez in the spring and that by easing the sheets a little bit we could have a nice fast ride over to the main land. So that is what we did, shaping a course for Mazatlan. The sailing was great all through the night and into the next day, the sea mellowed and the wind dropped into the 12-15kt range before vanishing altogether. Started motoring and covered the remaining 70 nm on a glassy sea with a very near full moon arriving off Mazatlan about 2am. It was very clear until we were about 45 minutes out of the harbor when a dense fog enshrouded us reducing visibility to less than fifty meters, though the light house atop Isla Creston (the second highest in the world) remained a helpful beacon above the fog and a fixed point to pivot around into the channel. With the radar guiding us along we slowly entered the anchorage and picked what seemed like a clear area to drop the hook, about this time the Spanish voice on the VHF switched to English and asked us to move a little more along a course of 270 degrees. This was a very helpful port control officer who had been watching us on radar. The next morning after the fog had burned off we saw that we were anchored perfectly alongside about 12-15 other sailboats in the old harbor Mazatlan!