Arrived yest., 11/21, at Isla San Francisco, 24deg. 49'N/110deg. 34'W. 54 hrs. at sea, 40 hrs. under sail in XLNT conditions – NW-NE breezes at 10-15 kt., all day, all nite. Only 4 other boats anchored here. Weather's Charlie-Charlie, place is quiet, day temps = 78F, water's a refreshing 75F. All is well. Plan =…
Does anyone else routinely keep their shoes like this? m
We didn't waste our 3+ months of time in Maz this past late summer/early autumn. In sewing projects alone, here's what I did with my trusty Pfaff sewing machine: Mending/revisions: 2 pairs of shorts; 3 shirts; a skirt; a jacket; a pair of sandals; one pair of Capri pants; a laundry bag, tote bag, geniker…
Here we go again. Having obtained a succession of two Mexican sportfishing licenses in the past two years, you'd think I'd be able to get a renewal online in less than two days. You'd be wrong. This year, CONAPESCA's online application* had a few bugs that were not there last year. Namely, its "Help Page"…
Mazatlán is a city with much to do, whether you're here during the slow summer months, or the faster-paced autumn and winter months. There are plenty of city guides and online travel sites that describe all there is in Maz and the surrounding area, but here are some of the excursions we made this past…
Rick was originally a Category 5 hurricane but had fortunately decreased to a tropical storm by the time it made landfall in Mazatlán in the early morning hours on October 21, 2009. Here at Marina El Cid, we experienced a few hours of very heavy rain on Rick's leading edge; had a short period of…
Meet the top men of Total Yacht Works in Mazatlan. Up first, we have the cool, calm and taciturn Bob Buchanan from The Great White North. Yanmar expert, takes very good care of his clients, gives each boat lots of hands-on attention. He owns and lives aboard a sailboat, himself. He is a serious-minded man.…
The Fox spent 6 full weeks on the hard, the longest it has ever been out of the water. Most of this time was spent waiting for parts to be shipped from various elsewheres. The Total Yacht Works team of mechanics took our Yanmar 4-JH3 all apart, cleaned it, buffed out the salt water damage,…
We returned to Mazatlán late this past summer, not only to hide somewhere for potentially the worst part of hurricane season, but also to visit the fine mechanics at Total Yacht Works. They'd done work for us before and the timing of our return coincided nicely with Yanmar's recommended 2000-hour engine maintenance, so we decided…
Please forgive any factual inaccuracies or omissions in what I am about to relate. This is complicated stuff and I'm an idiot. In the Lake Pátzcuaro region of Mexico's central highlands live a loosely affiliated group of indigenous tribes collectively called the Purépecha (aka "the visitors"). We've heard that the Purépecha (or….maybe it was the…