We've been in Mazatlan just over a week now and have been quite busy doing some necessary work on our condo. Because we rent it, there is a bit of wear and tear. Our property managers do a great job, but we still find that we need to fix a few things that fall between the cracks and upgrade a few appliances. But, at least the rentals cover the operating costs of the condo and repairs throughout the year!

I did mention last week that we had a little adventure on our way to Mazatlan. Our trip from Isla San Francisco to Mazatlan was mostly uneventful - except for the arrival!

To get into Marina Mazatlan we need to enter a shallow and narrow channel between two rubble breakwaters. It is about 100' wide channel so, generally speaking, no problem even though it is quite shallow. However, as we approached, we noticed a large & nasty dredge anchored mid channel with submerged cables crossing to both sides. There was a guy on the dredge waving his arms, but we couldn't tell if he was waving us through, or waving us away. We had heard of other boats being told to go away and come back at the end of the day when they were finished. Because we couldn't tell what he was signalling, we approached slowly as the swells from behind built in the shallowing water.

When we were a couple hundred feet away it was apparent that he was waving us through on the starboard side of the channel. that was very good news! We were very tired after two nights of little to no sleep and were eager to get to the dock and park the boat for the summer. The remaining channel for us looked about 35-40' wide, pretty narrow for a 21' boat to pass with a sloping breakwater on one side. But, I felt up for it so we headed in. There was a strong outflow current of about 2 knots forcing us to keep the speed up, which helped steerage.

As we approached the dredge I could see that it was narrower than I thought. But, we were committed now with no room to turn around! With a steel hard grip on the wheel I headed in. I broke out in a sweat as I realized how close this was going to be. Besides worrying about the breakwater, I was also wondering how deep the cable was that I was passing over. Sheesh!

At the narrowest point, we were about 4' from the dredge on one side and about 6' from the breakwater on the other. All the time fighting the swirling outflow current. Saying it was stressful doesn't even begin to describe it. Here is where a cat makes things tough. With the wheel on one side, I can see that area clearly. But, the other hull is nearly 16' away and it is very difficult to see how close it was to the breakwater.

But, it wasn't over yet!

Once we cleared the barge I could then see his rusty steel dredge pipe and its associated floats snaking along the surface further down the channel. If I thought that passing the barge was narrow, this was MUCH worse. In fact, I wasn't sure that I could even make it. It was definitely less than 30' on the surface of the water from the rusty steel to the breakwater, not counting the underwater slope of the shore. I wanted to turn around, but with the narrow channel and the current it was absolutely impossible. We continued on.

I squeezed as close to the huge rusty pipe as I could, figuring at least it was deep on that side. I was evaluating what was the better option, hitting the pipe or hitting the bottomÉ

As we closed on the pipe I also noticed that it was slowly moving from side to side in the current. Now, my bow was at the pipe with about 18" clearance from the rusty monster that would easily shred my gelcoat. I couldn't see the edge of the water on the starboard side because it was below deck level - obviously extremely close!

We kept moving forward until at the last moment the pipe swung in our direction as it neared our stern. There was nothing that I could do except to turn to port, in the direction of the pipe, to swing my stern away from it. I was expecting to either hit the pipe or the breakwaterÉ But, within a few seconds, we were past it with no damage and I finally breathed out.

This was by far the most stressful close-in manoeuvring I have ever had to do! We came so very close to damaging the boat. I was coated in sweat and shaking from head to toe.

In hindsight, I was pretty crazy to follow instructions from a dredge operator who had probably never set foot on a boat, especially a catamaran which is much wider than he probably thought. If I had been rested up, I probably wouldn't have tried the channel and instead gone to anchor behind one of the islands till later in the day when the dredge shut down.

But, all the ends well as they sayÉ