On Tuesday, January 25th, Nojan picked up the last boat part we had been waiting on from a local chandlery and we finally left El Cid Marina in Mazatlán. We departed around 3 PM and made a short hop to an anchorage known as Isla de la Piedra just south of the Mazatlán’s main commercial harbor. Isla de la Piedra is actually not an island but an island-like hill next to the commercial harbor and behind a nice sandy beach. A man-made breakwater connects La Piedra to Isla de los Chivos and the bay is also partially protected from swell by Isla Cardones and numerous shallow rocks around Cardones.

Our trip to La Piedra let us pass all the Mazatlán shoreline we’d seen from the DiDi cabs and walking along the Malecón. We went west of Islas Pajaros and Vendos. On the way to our anchorage, in view of the El Centro area of Mazatlán, we saw a whale calf breaching and turned our boat to move away from it’s path. This was a good call because before long we saw momma whale breaching, all 50 feet or so coming straight up completely out of the water and slapping down with a thunderous boom. The splash was huge and we were glad we were making distance away from them. It was quite spectacular.

Also spectacular was the view looking back up at El Faro on top of the tall tall hill and realizing from below how high we had gone on our hike. It’s no wonder they chose that hill for the lighthouse as on the sea-facing side the hill is like a very steep cone. The Isla La Piedra anchorage was calm and beautiful. Sunset was accented by swirly streaky clouds in the sky and we were treated to seeing some of the fun of families vacationing along the beach enjoying the surf and other water activities as well as the brass bands that kicked up in the evening. Although this anchorage was only a short trip from El Cid, it gave us a chance to make sure everything in the boat was working well and to get just a little distance before starting our next overnight leg south.

We had already decided we did not want to try the Isla Isabella anchorage. We’ve seen boobies nesting on a remote island in the Pacific before and were not that interested in dealing with potential lack of swell protection or getting the anchor hooked on a rock. Maybe we will check it out when we head back north. Instead we pulled up anchor in the early afternoon so the timing would work out to get to the protected anchorage at Ensenada de Matanchen during daylight the next day. There was enough wind to sail from about five or six hours but the sails came down around dinner time. We took turns on watch for 3 hours over the night and slept reasonably well in conditions that weren’t too rough.

• 

• 

We arrived and anchored in 15 feet of water just before noon on the 27th and I used the phrases in “Spanish for Cruisers” to hail the San Blas Port Captain to do the check-in formality. In Mexico it is expected that you check in and check out in with the Port Captain in areas that are controlled by the Port Captain. The check in went well and I even spelled our boat name out using the names for the letters in Spanish. Yes, I wrote down the phrases I thought I needed and practiced them before calling. My biggest anxiety ended up being radio etiquette, not the language.

The first night we were there we did not go ashore as we needed to catch up on rest post-passage. There were 3 or 4 other boats in the bay and we could see the activity at the palapas along the shore. When we woke up in the morning we decided we wanted to go introduce ourselves to one of the boats in the bay by stopping by in our dinghy on the way in to shore. It was the first time we did that – usually we are on the receiving end of it. It was worth it as the man we met ended up joining us for lunch at the far end of the jungle tour later.

Our goals on shore were to buy the famous local banana bread and go on the tour of La Tobara (or Tovara), the estuary with crocodiles and birds and more. First we pulled our dinghy all the way up on the beach (an advantage of our small roll-up dinghy and electric motor is we can easily carry it) next to a trampoline by one of the beach palapas. I asked the owner in Spanish if it was ok to leave there and she said it was. It was early so the places weren’t serving food yet, just setting up for the day, and we walked through to the road behind the long line of palapas. The area with the many large beach palapas is The dirt road brought us past stands selling more food including banana bread. Juan Bananas was the first place we asked for bread at and were told it was still being baked for the day. We saw many places that had yesterday’s loaves sitting out and decided we’d be back to Juan Bananas later.

The dirt road joined a large roundabout where the main highway did a 90 degree turn. Here many taxis asked us if we wanted a ride to town and then said “oh you’re going to La Tobara” when it was obvious that we were still walking along. La Tobara is a very short walk from the beach where we left our dinghy. And took us past many stands selling banana bread, ice cream, beach clothes, inflatable beach play toys and more. The beach at Matanchen is a popular day trip from the nearby resorts and families drive in and set up at one of the palapas for the day. Much of the shaded area under the large palapas is designed for car parking and many attendants try to wave visitors in to their lot in hopes of having them buy food and drinks at their palapa (and also to collect a parking fee). The name for this area is “Playa Las Islas.”

• 

• 

When we got to La Tobara we found it was very easy to just show up and start the tour at any time during the hours they are open. You pay 200 or 250 pesos depending on the tour you want (we did the 200 option that ends at the restaurant and swimming area) and then go to the area with all the panga boats waiting for customers. We ended up on a panga with a woman and her son. You could buy beers and sodas to take along on the trip. He kept opening beers and handing them to his mom who was a little scared of the crocodiles. It was fun to listen to the guide talking to them in Spanish and doing my best to understand what I could. The guide could also name most things in English and would let us know about things. He was also patient with us when we tried to ask him in Spanish if there were snakes. We had to ask a couple times to get the pronunciation right. Only little snakes we wouldn’t be able to see, he replied.

• 

• 

• 

The tour took us through the mangroves past crocodiles of various sizes sunning themselves, turtles (which we learned are food for the crocodiles), and many kinds of birds. There were narrow covered areas of the tour and also areas where the waterway opened wider and the fauna around us was a little different. The trees were often covered in orchids and bromeliads. It would be a mistake to go to Matanchén or San Blas without making a stop at La Tobara. The tour ends at an area where a freshwater pond and spring are separated by a chain link fence from the crocodiles and there are changing rooms and life vests available for swimming. One family showed up and had fun swimming and swinging out over the water on a rope swing. The local fish clearly were enjoying the protection from the crocodiles.

• 

• 

• 

There is a little restaurant there where we had lunch. I had a really excellent large michelada with my ceviche tostadas. It was so refreshing. Our friend from the other boat showed up there too and joined us for lunch and the trip back. Noj and I got some ice cream on the walk back and we stopped at Juan Bananas for the really excellent fresh baked banana bread. When we got back to the palapas we separated from our new friend whose dinghy was farther down the beach and decided to order some food and drinks from the place we had left our dinghy to thank them for letting us leave it there. We could feel as we were eating that the famous jejenes (no-see-ums or biting midges) were starting to nibble us but luckily later we did not have the characteristic rash. We did head back to our boat by 3 having heard that at 3:30 the jejenes become unbearable.

• 

• 

• 

On the boat we had already taped some mosquito netting over our side windows the prior night and we went back into the cover of that again. We saw a boat we knew from the Coho Ho Ho rally come into the bay and anchor. The next morning we chatted with them on radio and ended up sharing some beers in our cockpit at night. The next day we went on shore again and took a taxi into the town of San Blas to visit an ATM for cash and to walk up to the old Fort and Church. It’s a nice town and the main square was being renovated. We saw the plaza where the local artisans sell the local bead art (they had also tried to sell us some on the beach) but it wasn’t something that really spoke to me. One advantage of a small boat is that it’s easy to not be tempted by souvenirs.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I’m definitely behind on blog posts. It takes a lot of patience to add them over low-bandwidth cell connection. We are now quite a ways past this anchorage and I hope to be catching up soon – maybe there is good wifi in the marina at Barra de Navidad where we plan to be sometime next week…