Parting is such sweet sorrow. Actually not even that sweet.

We have had a wonderful time here in Mazatlan, met some absolutely wonderful people, experienced a new-to-us culture, and participated in Carnaval!

But- it is time to move on. And moving on is something a sailboat can do.

Our plans are to head over to the Baja peninsula and homeport out of Marina Costa Baja for a while. A few reasons for this move, it's drier over there- good for laying down the new deck covering, I would like a higher bandwidth net access, and it seems like a great place to do some exploring of nature rather than the exploring of the city which we've done here.

There are a lot of experiences here that I'm going to hold dear.

The chaos of getting around is always entertaining. The Pulmonia taxis are a kick in the butt. The buses are rough and ready.

The Mega store with it's rather unique way of combining product lines in an area- the logic of which still escapes me.

Wandering about the Centro District and wondering about the history of the derelict shells.



Walking along the Malecon, particularly the southern end.

Figuring out the best line to use on the timeshare salespeople ("I live on a boat" and "I'm leaving tomorrow morning" both are pretty good).

The swarms of Jack Crevalle that chase the sardines in here causing the water to literally boil with fish.



And last, but not least- the people-

Luis. who is the young guy I wrote about earlier- always with the big smile and I see him working his ass off all around the marina.



Miguel, who is a waiter at the shallow pool area- genuinely interested in conversing with you to "practice" his English.



Gilberto, our camaron connection who drives the water taxi around the resort



Estevan, who is the "Man" to go to when you need anything



Katcia who really didn't want me to take this picture, but who is always there to help in the office



Gladis, who runs the joint



And Geronimo, the Harbor Master who thinks he runs the joint!



As a Cruiser we are finding that leaving a place where you have found such good people is going to be a regular occurrence- I find it very difficult. In a few days, I'm sure it will heal over a bit, but the change is tough. It was hard leaving our home in the Northwest, It was hard to leave San Diego and it is hard to leave Mazatlan