Mazatlan

Landing on shore of the Mazatlan anchorage at night, we were met by an unwelcome host: the guard dog for the dinghy dock. We took a few steps forward while scanning for potential weapons in the event the dog attacked. Shirtless and shoeless, it would have been a decent fight, but I’m sure we would have come up on top. We slid through the fence of what seemed like a military compound, escaping the dog and entering into our new port. I felt like a Mexican coming into the US, as we had no money or passports on our bodies while we searched for our Mom and her boyfriend Jimmy.

The next day, after three weeks in Mexico, we took the liberty to officially declare ourselves as guests in the country. In true van Roden fashion, we had about half of the required paperwork necessary to clear the Broken Compass and passengers. Ten people (three health officials, four immigration officers, two harbor clearance officers, and our trusty local agent) met with us to clear us into the country. The health inspector laughed when he boarded the boat and saw our lack of provisions, which we thought were more than adequate. The immigration officer was unconvinced when we threw the ignorance card at the paperwork needed to clear port (after he saw our passports were full of stamps). Our agent was happy we hid Makai before clearing the boat, as he had already spent half the day creating documents and pulling strings. A few smiles later, we were legal tourists.

After almost a week here, I would give Mazatlan 2 stars out of 5. The old town and new town are spread out over approximately 10 miles, necessitating taxi or bus service to any destination of choice. Taking an afternoon sail to an offshore island, our diving expedition yielded 4 foot visibility in the murky waters filled with sediment. Much different than the clear blue waters one would expect in a vacation spot. Points were scored for the bar Gus Gus, supped up golf cart taxis, friendly people, and a downtown market with fresh fruit and meat cut straight from a hanging cow.

Today we are provisioning and repairing the boat before continuing to Puerto Vallerta this evening. Thanks for all the comments and posts to the guestbook. We’ll be online in a few days upon arrival at our next port.