March 2, 2016, had calm to light air. While most of the boats departing Isla San Francisco headed south toward La Paz, we motored northbound a mere 16 miles up-channel. We saw very few boats in the anchorages we passed at San Evaristo (just 2), Amortajada (also 2) and Nopolo (0). As we entered our…
February 2016 was almost gone. The weather in the Sea of Cortez was turbulent. Mazatlan grew hot and humid. The Port of Mazatlan was closed due to the weather but forecasts indicated that a nice 4-day weather window would soon open up. It would be an excellent chance for us to cross the Sea and…
The Great Stern Pulpit Refit of 2015-2016 came to completion. We waited for a good weather window to cross the Sea of Cortez and start a very long-delayed (and now-very-short) cruising season. In the meantime Mr. Truck was just parked there at the marina, all empty and everything. Except for the fine metal chest we'd…
For fans of antiquities like GB and me, no trip to Durango is complete without visiting the two very distinct sets of ruins at La Ferrería, about 5 miles south of Durango proper. The more recent site of La Ferrería (= "The Iron Works") comprises the 19th Century hacienda and private foundry/smelter outbuildings that had…
We spent February 2, 2016, through February 7, 2016, sightseeing in Durango (in the state of Durango, Mexico) while there was a break in the Great Mazatlan Stern-pulpit Refit action. Mr. Pickup Truck handled the new (well, just 3 years old) Durango-Mazatlan highway 40D just fine. Climbing up this highway from the coastal lowlands over…
Winters in Mazatlan are generally fairly comfortable. During our November 2015- February 2016 stern-pulpit refit, the daily Fahrenheit highs were in the high 70s-mid 80s and the nightly lows were in the comfortable 60s. Nevertheless, Mazatlan was its typical humid self with the biting insects that just love my delicate skin. While we waited for…
The upgrade of our cockpit included a new and enhanced stainless steel stern pulpit; a stern arch on which to mount our radar dome and a couple of new solar panels; and a brand-spankin'-new dodger and bimini combo platter made out of Stamoid. This entire refit took four months exactly to complete, from late November…
Warning: many f-bombs in this post. Late November, 2015. We had driven from New Mexico to Mazatlan per our usual strategy. We rolled into Mazatlan on the afternoon of November 26 and found the city was packed with people. It was difficult to get a decent hotel room at the prices we were willing to…
Some cruisers follow the lifestyle of spending half the year (the non-hurricane half) cruising Mexico aboard their boats, and the other half of the year (the hurricane-season half) with their boats safely in wet or dry storage in Mexico and themselves elsewhere, engaged in other pursuits. It's a nice kind of life. Some of these…
In 2015 we took an 8-month leave from The Fox after we'd stripped the stern of all gear, to prepare for the installation of a new stern arch. Call it "an extended hurricane-season boat-prep." We wanted the stage set for whenever Rick and his boys scheduled time to do the work. Over there on the…