El Cid Marina, Mazatlan

Alongside El Cid marina, Mazatlan, 2 May 2010
It has been a lazy week for J-G and Rosie while Fran has been away. Some messy projects have been done; refinishing some of the woodwork in the main salon and in the aft cabin where Fran and dust would not have been compatible. The dodger was also repainted in a brilliant white and a few more minor jobs were completed including some electronic repairs to the VHF/GPS interface and the connection to the Collision Avoidance Radar Detector (CARD) that has never worked since we bought the boat.
It was a long 10 days with Fran away but J-G and Rosie managed. Cooking for 1 is a pain when everything we have is packaged for 2 so it was the same meal every 2 nights. This marina is part of a resort so pets are not encouraged or tolerated so walks are normally taken early or late in the day. Another way around the rules is to take Rosie for a boat ride across the channel to the beach where we play fetch until she gets tired. She has taken a fancy to plastic pop or water bottles when sticks aren’t available. She likes the crunch sound when she bites down on them.
The weather continues to be excellent. We had clouds on a few days, always a welcome relief to the heat. J-G had strict orders from Fran to attend all of the poolside bingo and blackjack games. He did quite well with 5 bottles of tequila and 5 t-shirts and last night Fran won the 450 peso pot at Texas Hold-em.
Most of the week the weather has been excellent to head north, however yesterday’s gale had brought in the “noserlies”. It also caused the port to be closed for the past 36 hours. The entrance to the marina channel is quite narrow and is prone to large breakers. A powerboat came in after dark last night, not knowing that the port was closed and almost lost it at the channel entrance . Looks like we will be a few more days before we can head out. We will probably shift to the Old harbour anchorage tomorrow so that we don’t have to pay another 2 days here at the marina.
Fran reports that the operation to our daughter-in-law went quite well. She is recovering quickly and we hope that she makes a good overall recovery.
While here we have been able to get some quality time with Lin and Lee (Royal Exchange) who introduced us to this way of life.
The next issue will be from Guaymas after we arrive on or near the 12th.