Fun times in Maz

Sunset along the Olas Atlas

I know, we are supposed to be working on Moondance (and we are), but there is lots going on in Maz and we hate to miss it!

Carol and Dennis and the Red Truck

Plus, friends are cruising in daily and we have to show off Maz - something we love to do anyway.

Sunset at Puerto Viejo

Time for a bar crawl!  We hopped in a Red Truck and headed down to the Centro Historico district to watch the sunset.

Puerto Viejo Mariscos-Bar on the Olas Atlas is wonderful place to do that (and enjoy happy hour).  What an amazing sunset shared with some amazing friends!

Hanging with Dot and Brian at Topolo

Then dinner at El Tunel (just off the Plaza Machado) for some excellent Mexican food.  Loved the guacamole and the huge bowls of Posole and the Sopa de Tortilla. Bring your own cervezas!

Next stop, Topolo for wonderful Spanish coffees (with wonderful presentation) and mas bebidas!

Girls taking a break...

Carol and Dot needed a rest before heading to our next watering hole - Ricardo's for $8 peso cervezas served ice cold!

Taxi ride from Gus y Gus

Definitely a dive bar, but they took excellent care of us gringos. 

That was the end of our bar crawl.  A good time was had by all!

Other adventures -

There are several bars and restaurants around the Boat Yard and we have been exploring them with our neighbors on Taya and Evergreen.

Gus y Gus was one stop - beware of the Margaritas! If not, you might have to take their taxi service home. Oh my!

Late night Flamenco

La Tertulia (Bull Bar) advertises Flamenco on Thursday nights after 11pm. That's late for us, but we finally made it.

Moonrise

Unfortunately, it is Flamenco "music" not Flamenco "dancing", but we had a good time anyway. It is definitely a late-night hot spot for the locals!

And, we still have time to enjoy our beautiful view from the Boat Yard!

Our schedule (as of now) - splash back into the water on Wednesday and start heading South on Saturday.

We are ready; Moondance is ready; it is time to get going!

Land Lubbers

Moondance on the Hard

Well, kind of!

We are still living aboard Moondance, but we are in the boat yard getting lots of work done. 

E-Ticket Ride

In cruising lingo - we are living on the "hard" at the Singlar Marina in Maz.

Just imagine... a 32,000+ lb sailboat backing into a small chute, having a sling placed around the hull, slowly lifted out of the water, and rolled across the yard.

Ride in the Travel Lift

That's what happened and Singlar did an excellent job of making it safe and stress free.

It is a very strange sensation riding on Moondance as it was lifted out of the water.  Kind of like an E-Ticket ride at Disneyland, but much more expensive!

Sunset from Singlar Marina

We love the Singlar Marina - small, quiet, clean, lots of hot water for the showers, and we are surrounded by other cruisers.  Plus, we have a beautiful view. Ah - just what we were looking for.

We have a big list of projects to finish up before we head south, but have complete faith that Bob, Rafa, and the crew of Total Yacht Works will take excellent care of us.

Doug relaxing...

Our project list:

• having the bottom scraped and painted
• replacing the shaft and rebuilding the cutlass bearing
• removing our forward fuel tank (too heavy in the bow)
• replacing a thru-hull
• and lots of other exciting stuff that Doug is working on

The good news, as soon as we are back in the water, we start sailing South.  Yippee!  We are soooo ready to start the next phase of our adventure!

Movin' And Groovin'

Moondance has been docked at Marina El Cid in Mazatlan since June, so it feels absolutely wonderful to be back on the water and moving again.

Shrimper

We aren't sailing and we aren't going very far, but we love the feel of the ocean and are enjoying the beautiful views of Mazatlan.

Humpback Whales

We are breaking in our new engine and have to motor around for 50 hours - its harder than you think. We are meant to sail, plus we are anxious to start our next adventure.

It is amazing how many Humpback whales we have seen along the coast and so beautiful and BIG.

Manta Ray

We had a pod about 50 yards off our stern, but my photographer was a little slow!  We will get a better shot next time.

We have been fishing along the way, but the only thing we have caught is a big Manta Ray (very unusual).

No way we were able to bring it on board. It wore Doug out. So, it is sporting a brand new Rapala as bling!

Venados Baseball Stadium

There are lots of little projects we are finishing up, lots of shopping (which is always an adventure), and we still manage to find time for some fun - go figure.

We finally went to a Venados baseball game and had a great time.  The league is "almost" AAA and there are lots of wannabe MLB players on the team. Beautiful stadium, lots of action, and ice cold cerveza's. Couldn't go wrong.

Doug and the Ladies

And, as always, plenty of time to socialize and for Doug to dance with the Ladies. As you can see, he loves it.

There is a wonderful group of "yachties" here in Maz and we are going to miss them when we leave. Of course, most we will see again and again along the way.  Looking forward to it!

Good Eats!

We get hauled out of the water on Monday to have out bottom scraped (ouch), our propeller trimmed (yikes) and to complete some minor repairs (we hope).

After that, we set sail for Banderas Bay and Puerta Vallarta. Pacific Puddle Jump - here we come!

Our Christmas Vacation

Off to deliver cookies

We spent our Christmas in La Paz and had a wonderful, crazy, time.

Steve and Ana were excellent hosts and we enjoyed every minute of our stay. There was always something going on, people to visit with, and plenty to eat and drink.

Our kind of place!

Party crowd!

We decided to throw a holiday party - a very big party - and invited everyone we knew.

They came! There was so much food and drink and so much to celebrate.

Barb and Bill - as sweet as they look!

We loved seeing our La Paz amigos again, plus a bunch of new cruisers from our old home port of Alameda.

We don't think there is anyone left in Alameda!

Cruisers Potluck

There is a lot going on in La Paz during the holidays. The local cruising community threw a Christmas Eve potluck and everyone showed. We made New Mexico posole and it was a big hit.

We should have made a double batch!

The gang at Tailhunters

A bunch of us decided to continue the party and headed to Tailhunters. It's Christmas Eve - why not?

As you can see, we had a blast.  So many stories - so little time.

Life is a beach!

Christmas day in the tropics, you got to head to the beach, so we did. We drove to Tecolote and enjoyed the sun, sand, cervezas, and lots of laughter.

Enjoying Christmas Day

Can't imagine a better way to spend Christmas Day or better company.

Back to Casa Ana for beef tenderloin and camotes for dinner, plus opening our gifts.  My best gift - Cleavage Coolers - hah!

Thanks Pam, I know I will appreciate them all the way across the South Pacific.

The Men

Our last night in La Paz was celebrated at Fern and Brian's beautiful home eating Turkey Buns - a new tradition for us. They were yummy and we didn't have to cook!

The Ladies

As you can see, a good time was had by all - especially the Ladies!

We were fortunate that the crews of Rainshadow and Sea Horse were sailing around La Paz and able to join us for the festivities. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and look forward to more.

Saying Goodbye to Sea Horse

Now, we are back in Maz and getting Moondance ready to sail away. Last big projects: exercising the new engine and getting our bottom painted. Then we are off to Banderas Bay and points South - yeah!

The challenge - saying Goodbye to family, friends, and places that we won't see for a very long time...

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and Joyeux Noel!

To our Family and Friends,

May your holidays sparkle and shine and the New Year bring you peace and happiness.

We will be celebrating the holidays with our amigos in La Paz, but we will be thinking of you all!

Love Carla and Doug

PS: Sorry - we just had to ham it a bit!

¡Tiempo del día de fiesta!

The holiday season has arrived in Mazatlan and we are enjoying it! The beautiful lights, decorations, and music - very festive.

If we weren't wearing shorts and flip flops and sitting in the sun, we just might think we were in the States - almost.

Daily, we think of our amigos up North as winter arrives (early) and are thankful we are in Maz - wish you were here too!


It is a very social time among the cruisers. Almost everyone (but us) sails south for warmer waters. So, there are lots of boats coming and going daily and we are always watching for old friends and making new ones.

We have been busy attending events and giving the newbies the grand tour of Maz. It has been our home for more than 3 months, so we consider ourselves to be experts (well kind of).

A couple of the highlights -

Queen Julie (s/v Itchen) invited several of us ladies over for a Christmas High Tea on her boat and we had a ball. Dressing up, wearing our bling, telling stories, and laughing, lots of laughing.

Attending the Nutcracker Ballet at the historic Angela Peralta Theatre. We enjoyed the ballet - especially the adorable mouse army - but the special treat was just sitting in the the beautiful old theatre and dining out at Mi Terreza with my hubby.

And, I got my first Christmas present - Doug installed my new wind generator and it works. What a gift!

Now, we can take advantage of the trade winds to help power Moondance all the way to the South Pacific.

Things are coming together!

Lots going on here in Maz!

It is a very social time and we are enjoying it - our calendar is full!

Thursday nights are Horseshoes at the Isla. Not many shoes thrown, but lots of cruisers eating and drinking, plus live music to entertain. As you can see, Doug is enjoying himself.

Everyday there are new cruisers sailing in and out of Maz. All heading south chasing warmer weather and water. It is getting a little chilly at night around here - we are such wimps!

A bunch of us crashed Linda Lee's for a wonderful dinner and it's cheap. Linda serves lunch and dinner on her garage patio. Take a left at the Comex store and bring your own beverages.

We hosted a Dock Party at Marina El Cid to meet some of the new people, plus it is a good reason to have a party. We had a very nice turnout and met lots of new people and ate lots of yummy treats.

The Old Mazatlan Art Walk happens the first Friday of the month and we had to check it out! The stores are open late and artists are showing their paintings and displaying their craftsmanship.

We didn't buy much, but enjoyed walking around the beautiful Plaza Machado area - our favorite. Just happened to find a parade and finished with dinner at Pizza Moreno - yum!

Rick and crew from Marine Services Mazatlan threw a party and invited all of the cruisers to join in. Fresh grilled tuna and cervezas were provided. Live music and lots of cruisers chowing down. The best bite - Tuna Balls - you will have to try them sometime!

Then down to the Malecon to watch the Festival de la Luz fireworks on the water - it was amazing. The Hotel Associations hosts the fireworks in celebration of the Pacific Marathon.

All of the main streets are blocked, so we had a very exciting taxi ride back - even included some driving on the sidewalks - oh my!

In between the fun stuff, we have been getting Moondance shipshape and enjoying it. No major projects, just general maintenance and all is going well.

We are definitely going to be ready for the South Pacific this year. We will start sailing south in January - yahoo!