MAZATLAN

There is no shortage of things to do in this beautiful port city known as “The Pearl of the Pacific.” The city itself is a lot smaller in size then Puerto Vallarta but is cherished by all cruisers that find their way to the pearl of the pacific. Cruisers stay here for years without venturing back out to sea. Mazatlan is the transitional area between the desert and the moister tropical forest area of the southern part of Mexico. The desert is only a short distance north to the Sea of Cortez.

We met up with Shadow at Marina Mazatlan. It sure was good to see Bill and Martha again. Martha found about twenty plus ferial cats on the docks. Of course she fed them every night and started a collection to have them spayed and neutered. Some cruisers thought it was a good idea and others were opposed. She had a hard time understanding why some people didn’t support her efforts. “I feel sorry for the babies” was her replay. She has a large heart and I think she should become a veterinarian.

Carl and Royce did some trouble shooting with our auto pilot while we were at the marina. It appeared that we might have problems with the prop. This really scared us. We checked out the emergency tiller and it wouldn’t turn, it was frozen! The emergency tiller is what you use if your steering would happen to fail. We decided to have the boat pulled out of the water and have a mechanic check things out, things that we couldn’t reach while Mystique remained in the water. We were so lucky a boat just left the hard and was put into the water that day. There was space for us right away. Carl had the boat hauled out while the girls went to old town shopping. Good news, the prop is fine. Bad news, Mystiques steering cables need to be totally taken out and replaced with new cable. The cables need to be ordered from Hunter in the US. This could take weeks, so we decided to sail the rest of the way home without them. Of course, the mechanic said that we will be able to make it just fine. The cables will be tight but will remain strong. If the steering would happen to go out the emergency tiller would become easy to steer. I guess our whole problem is rusty steering cables that are too tight for auto to move the wheel back and forth. We wish we found that out before we bought the boat!
We enjoyed Mazatlan a lot. We only stayed for a week, because we are getting very excited to reach the Sea of Cortez. It will take us two days and one night to reach Baja California heading toward La Paz. It’s a dream come true for us! It’s been a two year voyage and it’s so hard to believe we are so close. Again, mixed emotions good and bad about reaching our destination.