Vancouver for Christmas

We left the boat at the marina in Mazatlan. Said goodbye to the warmth and sunshine, boarded an airplane and 5 hours later arrived to snow in Vancouver. What were we thinking!

While it was fun to have a white Christmas it turned out it was an epically cold and snowy last half of December for the Vancouver region with temperatures dipping down to -15 C. Between the cold and helping to shovel driveways, we were happy to get the heck out of there. We love ya family but that kind of cold, um no thanks.

After arriving back in Mazatlan we took a couple of days to thaw out, reprovision and wait on a weather window before setting off for Banderas Bay. It’s a 180-mile trek and we chose to break it up with a stop in Chacala.

Last time we went to Chacala we encountered numerous long lines, we spent 3 hours altering our course numerous times to make our way into the Bay. Long lines are miles of 1/8 inch polypropylene rope with pieces of fishing line and hooks tied to them. They are held afloat by plastic pop bottles or bleach bottles some distance apart. This time we only saw one. Unfortunately, we did not see it soon enough to avoid and sailed over it catching it on the rudders. Luckily, we were able to push it down and out using a telescoping boat hook. After a few moments of unprintable words and work with the boat hook we were free and on our way, again. We got lucky!

Chacala was a very busy place with lots of locals enjoying the beach town. We had to go ashore to check in with the Port Captain and had a nice walk on the beautiful beach. We decided the restaurants were too busy for us in these Covid times so we headed back to the boat.

Our first stop in the Bay is La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. So named after a woman was buried in the shaded ground under a large Huanacaxtle tree on which they carved a large cross. The site became a gathering point and so began the town, or so the legend goes. The trees have very wide bases and are commonly used for live edge, slab furniture and countertops.

We have made arrangements with the local sailmaker here to change out the headsail roller furling that we’ve been packing around since Penasco and do some sail repairs too. We are currently at the marina waiting on parts from San Diego. It could be a week, or it could be 3 weeks. Its Mexico and you never really know. We use the word “stuck” in La Cruz but can’t garner much sympathy from people for the “stuck’ description.

There is a wonderful market here on Sundays, with the new Covid rules only food vendors were allowed though, none of the artisans. But nevertheless, lots of fresh fruit and veggies and all kinds of food items were available. It was impossible to leave without some fresh bread and a few other treats.  

All of this and temperatures in the high 20’s C so again “stuck” may not be the most accurate of terms.