Sailing on Starshine
| Vessel Name: | Starshine |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Outbound 44 |
| Hailing Port: | San Francisco, CA |
| Crew: | Pat and Melodie Williams |
| About: | We have been "working the plan" since 2004 when Pat began taking sailing lessons. That lead to a few sailing vacations on sailboats. Melodie took some classes too. We purchased our boat in 2011. |
27 February 2019 | Alameda California
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico
01 May 2018 | El Cid - Mazatlan
09 April 2018 | Marina Mazatlan
07 March 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
23 January 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
04 December 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
24 October 2017 | Oakland, CA
04 September 2017 | South Lake Tahoe CA
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Redmond Oregon
17 July 2017 | Polson Montana
31 May 2017 | Our new Camper in Ira Texas
04 May 2017 | Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit Mexico
04 April 2017 | La Cruz Anchorage
12 March 2017 | Chamela Bay
12 March 2017 | Tenicatita Bay
18 February 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
Recent Blog Posts
27 February 2019 | Alameda California
Goodbye Starshine
Melodie and I have accepted an offer on Starshine. We close escrow on March 8, 2019.
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco
The Baja Bash
Preparing for the Baja Bash (the trip north from Mexico to California). They call it “The Bash” because the prevailing winds and waves are from the northwest. So you are basically going uphill (if that makes any sense).
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico
Summer 2018
As many of you who have followed our blog over the last four years you’ll note that I have not given it any attention since last spring. So let me fill in the blanks.
Mazatlan El Cid Marina
12 April 2015 | Mazatlan
Pat - Raining
Today is Sunday April 12, 2015.
The last two weeks have been busy. We came to El Cid Marina on Monday April 1 for a two week stay. During this time I took a trip back to the USA to reset my 180 day Mexican Tourist Visa.
I took a Tufesa bus from Mazatlan to Phoenix AZ, then I caught the airport shuttle up to Dewey AZ where my parents live. I got to spend a few days visiting. While I was there my nephew Johnnie showed up for a visit too.
The Mexican bus experience was a good one. The bus was clean and on time. They have two styles, normal and executive. I took a normal bus on the way north. There were four seats across, two on each side of the aisle. They had wifi and played American movies dubbed in Spanish. They stopped about every two hours and people got on or off. They changed drivers about half way to the US (11 hours). The bus stations were clean and had bathrooms, as did the bus. The stations also had little snack bars to grab a drink or something to eat.
I took an "Executive" bus back south. It only had 3 seats across, a single on one side of the aisle and a double on the other. It was interesting that when we crossed into Mexico I got off and got my US Passport stamped. My luggage stayed on the bus. No security or customs personnel sorted through my stuff. I had all my boat papers to show I didn't need to pay any taxes or customs fees, but no one asked anyway.
It was nice to catch up and spend a few days enjoying the simple pleasures of cable TV and 1st world infrastructure. I was also able to stock up on much needed boat supplies. There were several reasons to take a bus despite the 26 hour ride. First off was the price. Now that I'm retired we've got more time than money. The other was baggage. I carried 160 lbs of checked luggage without any additional fees.
When I returned to Mazatlan other friends had arrived. It was good to catch up with Agave Azul and Wind Dancer.
The highlight of the week was attending the Grand Parade of Motorcycles on Saturday night. This is the 20th Motorcycle Week in Mazatlan with over 15,000 bikes in town. They had a parade down the Malicon beginning at 4:00 pm. They use the word parade loosely here. There wasn't any real structure, they just closed off about 2 miles of beach boulevard for only motorcycles. There were all kinds of Harley's, sport bikes, trikes, and even quads. There were no rules and no police supervision. There were police doing traffic control, but it was "anything goes" on driving. There were burn outs, wheelies, multiple passengers, open beers, speeding past standing onlookers. It was crazy.....and LOUD!. Many of the sport bikes enjoyed revving their engines and bouncing off the rev limiter. It was quite a show.
Several boats left for La Paz today. We will leave next week after we have some work done in the middle of the week.
The last two weeks have been busy. We came to El Cid Marina on Monday April 1 for a two week stay. During this time I took a trip back to the USA to reset my 180 day Mexican Tourist Visa.
I took a Tufesa bus from Mazatlan to Phoenix AZ, then I caught the airport shuttle up to Dewey AZ where my parents live. I got to spend a few days visiting. While I was there my nephew Johnnie showed up for a visit too.
The Mexican bus experience was a good one. The bus was clean and on time. They have two styles, normal and executive. I took a normal bus on the way north. There were four seats across, two on each side of the aisle. They had wifi and played American movies dubbed in Spanish. They stopped about every two hours and people got on or off. They changed drivers about half way to the US (11 hours). The bus stations were clean and had bathrooms, as did the bus. The stations also had little snack bars to grab a drink or something to eat.
I took an "Executive" bus back south. It only had 3 seats across, a single on one side of the aisle and a double on the other. It was interesting that when we crossed into Mexico I got off and got my US Passport stamped. My luggage stayed on the bus. No security or customs personnel sorted through my stuff. I had all my boat papers to show I didn't need to pay any taxes or customs fees, but no one asked anyway.
It was nice to catch up and spend a few days enjoying the simple pleasures of cable TV and 1st world infrastructure. I was also able to stock up on much needed boat supplies. There were several reasons to take a bus despite the 26 hour ride. First off was the price. Now that I'm retired we've got more time than money. The other was baggage. I carried 160 lbs of checked luggage without any additional fees.
When I returned to Mazatlan other friends had arrived. It was good to catch up with Agave Azul and Wind Dancer.
The highlight of the week was attending the Grand Parade of Motorcycles on Saturday night. This is the 20th Motorcycle Week in Mazatlan with over 15,000 bikes in town. They had a parade down the Malicon beginning at 4:00 pm. They use the word parade loosely here. There wasn't any real structure, they just closed off about 2 miles of beach boulevard for only motorcycles. There were all kinds of Harley's, sport bikes, trikes, and even quads. There were no rules and no police supervision. There were police doing traffic control, but it was "anything goes" on driving. There were burn outs, wheelies, multiple passengers, open beers, speeding past standing onlookers. It was crazy.....and LOUD!. Many of the sport bikes enjoyed revving their engines and bouncing off the rev limiter. It was quite a show.
Several boats left for La Paz today. We will leave next week after we have some work done in the middle of the week.
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