Adios La Cruz!


We had a good weather window before a nasty northerly was due to blow, so with our fingers crossed that the timing of the forecast would prove correct, we said goodbye and headed north. Oh yea. It feels good to be out once again. We anticipated about 29 hours to make the 175 mile passage. Piece of cake. The day turned out gorgeous with humpback whale sightings and dolphins swimming in our bow waves. The night was breath taking with the stars illuminating the sky for us until the moon took over in the early morning hours. I would call this a stellar passage, except for the fact that Auto, our beloved auto pilot, decided he'd had enough. He couldn't take it anymore and pooped completely out on us. We thought we had a workable spare drive, but turns out the spare that came with the boat doesn't actually go with this boat. Bummer. So, from 6pm until we arrived in Mazatlan the next morning, we hand steered. Hand steering is no big deal if you're out sailing in the bay for a few hours, but it makes for an exhausting overnight passage. It worked out just fine though, taking turns every few hours throughout the night. When the sun came up and we were getting closer to Mazatlan, we were shocked to see thick fog had rolled in and the air temperature was much cooler, bringing back memories of our trip down the Oregon and northern California coast! We had made really good time and were ready to head into the marina shortly after 8am. We got the binoculars out to locate the marina entrance. It's really hard to spot but we were pretty sure we were looking in the right place, but all we could see were big breaking waves. The closer we got the clearer it became. Yep that's the entrance. Hold on kids!!! I felt like we were preparing for a beach landing in our 49 foot sailboat! Here...we...goooooo....bam! Evidently low tide is not an ideal time to cross. Our captain, who is cool, calm, and collected, hardly reacted when our hull touched the bottom. He just waited for the next surge...ok then the next one... and yes! We were off! No worries! We leisurely putted the rest of the way, past El Cid Marina and into Marina Mazatlan where the kind marina attendants were there waiting patiently to take our lines on dock 3. Welcome to Mazatlan!