Stuck: Not with any kind of gear problems, or
mental issues. The port captain has closed the entry to navigation
because of big swells coming in. If you google Marina Mazatlan you can
see the dog leg entrance to the lagoon here. They dredge the channel on
a regular basis to keep the depth. However in periods of big swell
there can be breaking waves at the entrance. Hence the red flag is
flying. The port is closed. But we came in anyway.
Saturday as we sailed by old Mazatlan we could see
and feel large period swells coming into the beach. Wow! That's a big
one. Yahoo...
Nearing the breakwater I tried hailing
Fonatur marina. No answer. Marina Maz, no answer. Fuel dock, no
answer. I then got out the cell phone and called Marina El Cid which is
right there at the entrance. I got a gal on the phone and asked her if
it was safe to come in. She said, "Wait a minute"........(asked
someone) then said, " Come on in. The dredge is not in the way." So I
took that for meaning that the port was open.
We
approached and occasionally it appeared that waves were breaking but
maybe it was a side eddy or something so I kept on coming in. I tried
to space my entry in a lull then went to full power on the back of a
swell. I then saw the entire entrance break! I came in just after it
with sphincter tight. She roared through the gap, settled into a trough
and the boat went bump. Just a little bump. Connie and I looked at
each other mouthing "oh shit". And we were in. Safe. Then passing the
marina fuel dock I could see where the port captain had his red flag
flying.
We chose a slip and had a nice evening. The dock
manager said we might be able to leave Sunday at 11:00. At 11:00 the red
flag was still flying and the dock manager said we could not leave. We
could be fined. That's OK. I don't want my boat flung into the rocks
by breaking seas. So we were here another day.
It is a glorious Monday morning and the flag is now Yellow! What a nice color. We leave here in 20 minutes headed for San Jose del Cabo to pick up Scott Tobiason and to do some last minute provisioning and to check out of the country. Hawaii bound, let's hope.
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