2010 Hola Mexico - Missive 7
December 23, 2010: It's the holidays and time to bake! Today's mission was to bake two pies and make cranberry sauce. Boy how I wished it was 40 degrees instead of 75; didn't take long for the boat to heat up baking pumpkin and mixed berry pies. Although the marinas and town are decorated for the holiday season I just haven't felt in the Christmas spirit. Guess I am missing family and friends, it is not the same without you.

December 24, 2010: Bob and I are celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary today and again it is very strange being in a different country at this time of year. Normally, we partake in a special lunch together then join family to celebrate Christmas. When I grew up we opened presents Christmas eve after a big dinner and then Santa Claus came Christmas morning. This year, we joined other cruisers in La Paz for a large potluck dinner followed by attending a reading of the Christmas story along with singing traditional carols. This service was put on by a local English speaking church especially for cruisers down at the marina.

December 25, 2010: Merry Christmas! We spent the day on the boat enjoying the tranquility of the anchorage and talking with family.

December 26, 2010: Time to work off the good food eaten this last couple of days so we went to town to walk the malecon. This is a lovely pathway along the waterfront that goes for miles dotted with artwork and benches to relax on while taking in the views. Kids were playing with their new toys from Santa. We enjoyed the fact most people were home with family and we could stroll the town in peace. It sure takes a while to figure out a new community but everyone is very helpful and you definitely feel welcome here. Oh yeah, an ice cream cone was the treat of the day.

December 27, 2010: For the life of me I can't remember what we did today except for enjoying a wonderful dinner with Mike and Nita on Odessa. (I am catching up on our blog days later ...)

December 28, 2010: Time to leave La Paz for Mazatlan and it will take a couple days to achieve this part of the journey. So we are reversing our route back to Playa de Bonanza today and then Los Muertos on Wednesday. Lots of wind but of course wrong direction ... isn't there some universal physics rule that no matter what direction you want to go the wind is always on your nose? So far that has been our experience.

Playa de Bonanza 24 26.978N 110 18.482W

December 29, 2010: We are off the 42 miles to Los Muertos on a clear sunny day with a little wind. The mountains south of La Paz are quite impressive and behold their own unique splendor. It was an easy passage with "LeRoy" driving. It was early to bed since tomorrow we start for Mazatlan.

Ensenada de Los Muertos 23 59.313N 109 49.645W

December 30, 2010: Have I told you how much I hate getting up really early in the morning? Well I do, I never feel well and my stomach is usually upside down with indigestion; today was no exception. So add that with my tendency towards seasickness and I am already 2-0 on the strike count. And I beginning to think the anchorage at Los Muertos is a wind generator ... last night and this morning we are experiencing 15-20 knots of wind. This must be the 2nd universal physics rule of wind - it blows like snot while at anchor.

Okay so we are safely away with sails up and we are flying wing n wing directly east. This is good but we know it won't last and sure enough by noon we were lagging behind. Oh well, the motor got started and we settled into our routine for a 30 hour passage. Yuck ... I hate overnighters even more than getting up early.

But the seas settled down and the trip was uneventful. We only saw one boat the entire trip ... and yikes it was dark out there in the Sea of Cortez. At least this time I read a book on my watch which helped the time go by faster. It's easy to hunker in the cockpit in warm temperatures and admire the stars. But I can't let my imagination get the best of me; I swear there are sea monsters out there ready to sink the boat. All of a sudden the early morning rays of light look damn good!

December 31, 2010: We arrived at Marina Mazatlan about 12:30 pm after traveling 30.5 hours. We called earlier in the week and they assigned us a dock and slip number on the phone which made it easy to arrive since the office closed at 1:30 pm for New Years Eve. We had two dock hands and one security guy to help us in ... they must have seen us coming since we did not call on the VHF announcing our arrival.

After an easy check-in we crashed for nap. The world will have to bring in the new year without us celebrating; we were too pooped. But little did we know, we would be "enjoying" the music from 8 pm to 8 am - yup, the entire night was filled with loud music from the surrounding resorts and restaurants. Thanks goodness I was tired ... I must be from the old school where the bars stopped entertainment at 2 am. In fact, even in my 20's I don't remember staying up 'til 6 am dancing or drinking.

The Mexicans are a fun loving bunch with the endurance of champions!

Happy New Year to all!

Mazatlan 23 16.255N 106 27.269W