Mazatlan Street Vendor

Photos and text of the sailing voyages of Ketch 22

After Naty left me alone in Mazatlan, I settled into life aboard aboard Ketch 22 in Marina Mazatlan to wait for Tom and Rick, who were schedu`led to arrive in a few days.  Writing and boat chores in addition to religiously observing the happy hour ritual kept me pretty busy.  The upcoming leg was to take us into Mexico's deep south along the fabled Costo Del Oro (Gold Coast for you Gringos). The route would skirt along the Mexican Pacific coast from Mazatlan to Zihuatenejo , another jewel of the south coast, where the crew would change again.   Not having been to Mazatlan, Tom and Rick had come early in order to site see prior to our departure.   It worked out fine for me as well, as it gave me a chance to enjoy the fruits of Mazatlan a little more thoroughly.

Ciudad Centro, Mazatlan

The three of us were tourists for a couple days, provisioning and sight seeing.   Lots of things to see in Mazatlan.   We had tickets to see Mozart's Requiem at the Angela Peralta teatro prior to departure .   I lost my sunglasses there ( total bummer!! ) while seeing Mozart's Requiem with Tom and Rick and had to rely on my back-up until Zihuatenejo when Naty flew down for a solstice break.

This is the central mercado in Mazatlan.   Great produce, poultry, meat and fish!   Vegetarians, avert your eyes.

The following pictures are from the Marina Mazatlan.   Ketch 22 spent about 2 weeks here altogether, while provisioning and waiting for the crews to change.  Naty had to depart for work at Stanford, and Rick and Tom signed up for the leg to Zihuatenejo.   First stop?   Isla Isabel, an overnight short hop down the coast.

Isla Isabel

Parque Nacional Isla Isabel is a Mexican National Wildlife Sanctuary reknowned for its abundant pelagic life of all sorts. Birds of all sorts, primarily Boobies and Frigate Birds have taken a liking to Isabel and surounding islands in a big way. Tom and I did a walk about on shore and saw some amazing scenes.  Fisherman also use the island, although they are not permitted to set up permanent facilities.   Jacques Cousteau was so impressed by the variety and abundance of life there that he spent a year studying the sea birds of the area years ago.   An impressive place indeed.

After dark, I was watching the lightning storms off to the east that I must confess made me a little uneasy, but in the end, they never got too close to our location at Isla Isabel.   The next day, we ran into a cruiser who lost all their electronics due to a lightning strike in that storm.   However, luck was with us that night, but due to the weather and sea state, we had a rough night there that was made considerably worse at about daybreak, when a fisherman in a panga woke us to tell us that his much larger fishing boat had an engine failure and was dragging down on Ketch 22 as we spoke.   I had to get out of there, and quick, but unfortunately, he had dragged just enough to where he was sitting atop my anchor, which I couldn't retreive until he moved.   After explaining the situation several times, as his English was about as good as my Spanish, they managed to get three pangos with enormous outboards to move the large fishing boat out of the way, long enough for me to retrieve my anchor.   What a night!

Leaving as quick as we could, we headed over to San Blas, on the mainland, a known hotbed of activity for mosquitos.   Break out the Deet .

Click on San Blas   to continue the voyage.