Ole’s Birthday and Thanksgiving in Mazatlan

Marina Mazatlan

Topolo Restaurant

We passed Ole’s 60th birthday quietly last night, with dinner out at Topolo, a fine Mexican restaurant near Plaza Machado. The building is an old hacienda, and the tables are spread among the open interior courtyard and garden. The waiter was hysterical, cracking jokes in both English and Spanish…the food was superb…and the wandering sax player lent great background. It’s such a treat to eat outdoors on a balmy evening in such an “old world” atmosphere. [Read more…]

A Night at the Opera

Marina Mazatlan

Another great evening at the Angela Perralta Theater – this time for a performance of La Boheme, featuring the Sinaloa Symphony, the Theater Chorus, the Mazatlan Children’s Choir, a brass band for the “tattoo,” and great sets and lighting. The singers, all local, were superb – fully as professional and up to Puccini as anyone I’ve heard.

And opera, being opera, the story is, well, an “opera.” Starving artists squeaking by in a Parisian garrett, boy meets girl, girl gets TB and dies. All set to music. Corny as it is, that Puccini knows how to evoke emotion in music, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Mimi coughed her last! [Read more…]

Elvis Impersonator in Mazatlan?

Marina Mazatlan

With more and more cruisers coming “home” to their boats here in Mazatlan, the dock is jumping. Little did we know that just astern of our boat at slip 6-28 is the site of the nightly cocktail party, beginning at 4 pm. It’s hard to be a hermit with all the laughing, talking, and drinking just off my swimstep!

BJ and Merry off the sailboat Willow and I went down to Plaza Machado this past week for an Elvis tribute show. All I can say is wow – with a full brass section and 5-voice backup choir from Mexico City, the entire Sinaloa Chamber Orchestra, and his own 5-piece band, “Elvis” rocked the house with the whole Phil Specter “wall of sound” Vegas show. I continue to be impressed with the level of culture here in Mazatlan, with the Angela Perralta Theater, one of the finest modern dance schools in Latin America, and a full-on music conservatory with practice rooms open to the square. It’s quite a treat.

Also got bottom braces this week, just in time for my 61st birthday on the 11th and Ole’s return on the 18th. Que romantic!

Day of the Dead in Mazatlan

Marina Mazatlan

Well, a few of the regular cruisers are straggling back…and heard through the grapevine that Mazatlan has a great Halloween tradition. So a few of us went downtown to Plaza Machado to check it out.

Beer Cart Photo courtesy of Dianne Hofner Saphia at https://vidamaz.com

Instead of the traditional visit to the cemetery for All Saints Day, Mazatlan has more of a community costume party and parade…featuring the Catarin and Catarina characters…and four festive burro-drawn wagons with huge kegs that pass out free beer until it’s gone. So I joined Margy and Colin and their friends from Victoria, along with Rick from Magic Places, for a ringside seat and dinner at one of the restaurants – then a stroll around to meet the donkeys who were working so hard.

On My Own in Mazatlan…Again

Marina Mazatlan

Ole was contacted at the last minute to switch to the Azamara Quest for this contract…long story…but as usual everything worked out for him to join the ship in Barcelona.

It’s pretty empty here at the dock, with Rick and Goldene from Magic Places and Rick on Cape Star the only folks on the dock. The good news is that I do have company whether I want it or not – there’s a black cat on the dock who’s lived here on his own for nearly 11 years, scrounging and ingratiating himself with whoever strolls down the dock to feed him. In terms of feral cats, “Slacker” has it made. It’s clearly HIS dock…none of the other 40 feral cats venture down here except a timid little tabby named “Debbie” who Slacker seems to tolerate. [Read more…]

Back to Mazatlan

After 5 weeks in Norway, with Ole working like a lumberjack felling trees, chopping kindling, ripping down a storm-damaged pier with his bare hands, and generally buffing up with physical exertion, I was laid up with a bad back, lending not much more than hanging curtains, keeping the place clean and Ole fed, and “oohing and aahing” at the displays of manly skill.

We got back to Mazatlan to find Emma Jo in fine shape, and Ole impressed with the galley refit and general state of the work. He, of course, had his own punch list of little things for Marine Services Mazatlan and Rick to touch up…but all in all, she’s looking like somebody cares about her.

Ole’s got just a couple of weeks here, then he’s off to work again. I’ll be alone on the dock, pretty much, until the cruisers start coming back south in early November.

The General Chaos Continues — With Progress!

On the Hard, Mazatlan Marine Services
Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

Demolition is always way easier (and much more fun) than actually fixing things, as the following photos will show.

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High and Dry in Mazatlan — Let the Chaos Begin!

High and Dry
Singlar Marina, Mazatlan

High and Dry at Last

Here we are, high and dry, with the accompanying chaos.

Our Tuesday haulout didn’t go as planned, as the north winds kicked up and Miriam, the lift operator, plans methodically for a calm, stress-free haulout. At her recommendation we waited until Wednesday morning, which was perfect.

 

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Arriving in Mazatlan to a Warm Welcome

Singlar Marina, Mazatlan, Sinaloa

Humpback Whale Mother and Calf, Approaching Mazatlan

Well I guess we paid our dues the other night rounding Cabo Corientes in that mess.

Our 185-mile passage north to Mazatlan was … dare I say … spectacular. We had little to no wind, with the anemometer showing between 9 and 11 knots relative and subtracting our speed of around 7 knots we can safely say we saw less than 6 knots of real wind the whole 25 hours.

And with that little wind, the sea was almost mirror-calm with little cat’s paws raking the surface every now and then and a gentle swell of 0 to 2 feet most of the way. [Read more…]