We've moved again. Now we're at the Marina Fonatur about 9.6 miles up the coast from where were in the old harbor of Mazatlan. The stink from the sewage processing plant were just a bit to much for us to handle when the wind blew just in the right os should I say the wrong direction.

We'd taken a bus through town to take a look at the different marinas on Tuesday afternoon. Marina Mazatlan was nice but the office was closed for lunch when we got there. We wandered around and found a nice restaurant for our own needs and then walked down the short distance to Marina Fonatur. It's a government run marina that have different branches along the Sea of Cortez. We'd used one of their mooring buoys in Escondido when we were there a while ago. Most of the tour books don't talk about this one as it was just built in 2006 and is still little known. Those that do talk about it tell you to not bother to go there as it is always booked up. Well, we took a shot and we got a slip. It was reserved for another boat but they won't be in until April 10 so we can stay until then. Now Marina Mazatlan charges $1.30/foot/day to stay there. That gets really pricy fast. We've paid $120 for seven days here plus water and electricity. Believe me, that is a great deal. We jumped on it like white on rice.

We upped the anchor yesterday morning and took off. There are only certain times that you can enter the harbor as the tidal current going in and out of the small bay where it is located can reach 4 knots. Plus, it is shallow in some areas. We needed to be here by just after 0900. Up came the anchor at 0730 and off we went. What we hadn't expected was FOG!!! nice thick pea soup fog. We haven't seen fog like this since we were up on the Northwest coast. Cruise ships were entering the harbor and blowing their horns. We squeezed in between the fishing boats that were going out and took off between cruise ships entering the harbor. We had the radar running so we know what was out there.

We were slated to come into a slip with the finger that you tie up to on the port side. Something we hate as when Zephyr is put into reverse(good for stopping before you hit the dock)she slides to the starboard side--away from the dock. The marina promised us help when we got in. Either we got in early(we radioed ahead)or the two guys got lost on the way to the marina. We came in a bit hot and we took out the electrical tower on the dock. For some reason, they have placed all of them right where the bow of the boat goes into the slip. I popped the hinges that hold it down and it fell over. Apparently, we were the second boat that day that hit the little electrical towers. A few screws and it was all fixed. We're now located at 23 16.124N 106 27.366W for you Google Earth fans.

We check in and got introduced to other people on the dock and had a nice lunch and then we started in changing the valves in the stern head. We'd ripped out the black water tank last week to fix the vent and now it was time to replace the valves that keep what is flushed out out. The walls are so close to the sides of the head that I had to rip out the entire head to change the valves. To say I stunk when we were done was an under statement. I left Tracy to clean up the "water" that had escaped the head during the rebuild and took off for the showers as fast as I could.

We had a nice dinner of left overs and settled in for a quiet evening. Well, sort of quiet. There is a bar upstairs above the marina office that was playing music till about midnight. At least it was nice music.

Today, Tracy's off with a girls group exploring the town while I tackled some more projects. I finally got the main halyard and reefing lines marked with whipping twine so we will know where to stop winching in when we engage the reef on the main sail. I washed down the deck and flushed the outboard with fresh water to get the salt water residue out again. It should make the motor last a good bit longer as long as I do it regularly.

We expect to be here for a week or so exploring the region and Mazatlan before we set off North up the coast.