Chamela
We are delighted to have arrived at Chamela, the first natural anchorage on the Mexican mainland that we have visited that does not have uncomfortable swell (Mazatlan harbour is also nice, but it is man-made). We anchored in the middle of the north cove in 10m, sand bottom, along with a half dozen other boats. […]
Punta de Mita
We stopped for two nights at Punta de Mita, the northern point of Banderas Bay. The large anchorage is in the shallow bay south of the point. The bottom shallows gradually so you can pick your depth. We anchored in 6m. Even in calm winds, surfers ride the waves along the shores of the anchorage […]
Isla Isabela
Isla Isabela is an isolated island about 2km long and less than 1km wide about 30km offshore. It is a nesting ground for sea birds, including the blue footed boobie. For this reason the island is a national park. Isabela has three anchorages, none of them very good. We anchored in the most popular anchorage, […]
Mazatlán
Mazatlán is a city of 400,000, Mexico's largest commercial port, and our first port of call on the Mexican mainland. Mazatlán is a pleasant surprise. Mazatlán has both a strong tourist industry and non-tourist activity as well. Mazatlán has a first-rate harbour protected by islands and breakwaters. There is room for close to a hundred […]
Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser's Guidebook
We obtained a copy of Breeding and Bansmer's invaluable cruising guide before we arrived in Mexico. When we left the US we could not imagine how bad the official charts are in Latin America. The official charts are often over a century old. The Latitudes and Longitudes of major features are often incorrect by a […]
Wildlife Repellant Failure
One of the maddening things about living on a cruising boat is that things break. All the time. Something is always on the blink, needing work or just plain broken. However, sometimes that's not as bad as other times. The most recent thing to decide to fail on board is the Wildlife Repellant feature of […]