Archive for January 26th, 2011

Please explain that “Horsing around” title, Muggs

Ports of Call | Posted by Admiral
Jan 26 2011

OK, so I lost track of my thoughts and cut it off before I had actually finished.  This past weekend, our friend Pancho (from Los Mochis near Toopolobampo) came to Mazatlan for a visit.  But on the way, he stopped to visit his sister and brother-in-law.  We expected him to arrive around 12:00, so at 2:00 we got a call apologizing and asking if it would be OK if he got here around 6:00.  Fine with us.  We’re cruisers – schedules are for rearranging!

So around 3:30 he called again and said he would come pick us up in his sister’s car and take us to a horse show.  He was in a big hurry!  It turns out, though, we all forgot to confirm exactly where we were – Peregrine had moved from the Old Harbor to Marina Mazatlan during the intervening time since we arrived here with Pancho.  Long story short, he went to the Old Harbor!  Oy vey!  So he drove up our way and picked us up on the fly (we waited at the Pemex station outside the marina), and off we went at warp speed to the horse show!

This turned out to be an enlightening experience for me.  This show was an instructor’s exhibition of riders and horses in training.  The field looked just like a well-kept hunter-jumper field anywhere in the world, but it surprised me that the dust was so well-controlled.  The secret was Bermuda grass.  All of the acreage was planted with Bermuda grass which dies and recovers every year, with or without irrigation.  There was no sign of a sprinkler system, and I am sure that very few folks in Mexico can obtain enough water to irrigate water-thirsty lawns.  I didn’t talk to any of them about this, but I was very impressed.  The grass is extremely hardy and keeps at least some of its green during these cooler months.  I assume it is renewed during the summer rainy season.

Pancho introduced us to his sister, Rosa Maria,and her husband, Pepe, who both speak excellent English.  I took a lot of pictures, and here are the best:

Jan 2011 to 24th 010The green field

Jan 2011 to 24th 009Rosa, Pancho, and the Skipper

Jan 2011 to 24th 018Approaching a jump

Jan 2011 to 24th 019Starting a jump

Jan 2011 to 24th 045Jump!!

P1030738[1]Pancho got a better picture

Jan 2011 to 24th 027Geese!

Jan 2011 to 24th 031Weasel!  What!!  Yes, they keep rabbits (dozens – it looked like the county fair!) and a weasel.  They set the weasel free from its cage, and it had the run of the whole place including the kitchen – Yikes!  Fortunately, it moves very fast and doesn’t stay in one place very long.

Jan 2011 to 24th 033The weasel is nearly in the center of this picture on the low wall.  It kind of looks like a cat here.  I tried but could not get a picture of its very cute, pointy head.

After all this fun, Pancho took us to dinner at Pedro y Lola’s, a restaurant in the Plazuela Machado.  Saturday nights turn this very pretty but usually quiet plaza into a real happening place!  The restaurants all set tables out twenty to thirty feet beyond their building, live music is set up in at least two or three different places around the square, and the plaza just buzzes with activity and lots and lots of people.  Pedro and Lola were celebrity Mexican actors.  This restaurant had amazing food.  But the most amazing thing was what Larry ate – Oysters Rockefeller!  And he really liked it!  But then he ordered beef for his main course, so I guess he isn’t yet a 100% convert.  I had shrimp cooked in a delectable sauce made of orange and cointreau.  I hope your mouths are watering!  Pancho ate another platter of the oysters for his main course, too.  I guess that is why he loves this restaurant, and, yes, they are that good.

The next morning we had FOG!  On the boat next to us, I noticed lots of birds lined up along the life lines.  They are swallows, like those that return to Capistrano:

Jan 2011 to 24th 034

Pancho had to leave fairly early, so we said good-bye and spent the rest of the morning quietly reading on the boat.  In the afternoon, we went across to Isla Mazatlan which is located in the center of this circle-shaped bay.  There is a condo development there with a restaurant, horse-shoe pits, and a small private marina.  We are going to look into keeping our boat there during Carnaval because the prices are much cheaper.  The only problem will be whether they can accommodate us.  We are waiting for the call.

Yesterday, we welcomed Scott and Monica of Scott Free to Mazatlan.  They had just arrived from La Paz.  Monica noticed that a restaurant in the Gold Zone was advertising Tuesday night all-you-can-eat spaghetti for 20 pesos (less than $2).  So we all went to dinner for my birthday.  We had a blast, and I took pictures on my cellphone.  I need a chance to get them downloaded, and I will finish the story.

Until then, the Admiral is going to go check up on Larry who is resting after an uncomfortable night with chills and shivering.  Adios!

Horsing Around in Mazatlan

Ports of Call | Posted by Admiral
Jan 26 2011

Last week, we came to Marina Mazatlan to get some work done on the boat’s engine.  We called the Port Captain for permission to pass through the narrow opening into the Old Harbor area, and then we tried to raise the anchor.  But it wouldn’t come up!!  Larry kept trying, but the clutch of the windlass was slipping, the boat was shuddering, and I yelled at him to stop.  We decided to get the hooka out (see last spring’s entries for more info on the hooka) so Larry could dive on the anchor.  Fortunately, this anchorage is not very deep – about 15-20 feet.  He put on the wetsuit, goggles, and fins, and solved the problem in about 30 seconds – after he pushed a jellyfish away with the chain!  The problem was the chain which had become wrapped around a small coral head.   This delayed our departure, so when we arrived at Marina Mazatlan the tide was very low.  Not a good plan, but we made it anyway.  Along the way, the weather was fine, so I took a couple of pics:

Jan 2011 to 24th 001

Jan 2011 to 24th 003  The Happy Skipper!

Last week, Larry finally got the engine’s heat exchanger removed.  Bob from Total Yacht Works came over to get the last few connections, and he took the heat exchanger away with him to fix it:

Jan 2011 to 24th 005

Jan 2011 to 24th 007

They are finishing reinstalling it right now.  I am going to post this and tell you about last night’s birthday celebration later.  Just as a tease, I will tell you that there was fire involved!