We came across from Mazatlan uneventfully except for the final night before reaching land. We had a very brisk wind and rough seas for a number of hours, but things mellowed before morning. We decided not to land at Isla Partida where we´d been heading, but went on further north to San Evaristo a place where we enjoyed a great hike through the red dirt and among all kinds of thorny bushes and cactus. Mike was able to catcatch the biggest dorado yet on the passage, so we had much fish to fix all kinds of ways and share with friends!

We have greatly enjoyed all the anchorages. We made it as far north at Caleta de San Juanico and loved that place. Today in Puerto Escondido, we took the hike up into the hills reputedly taken in the 40´s by Steinbeck. It was a rock scramble, but fun! We have been bird scouting ever since going on a bird adventure with Mary on the sailing vessel Quiet Priority and today saw a cardinal, little hummingbirds and heard many doves on our walk. One of the treats for me was actually scouting out a nest in a cactus when we were at San Evaristo. I kept seeing the flycatcher going from bush to bush and then up into the hole. I actually heard many more birds talking than just him, so there were some little ones in there. We also have seen cactus with flowers blooming and a cardinal on top out of San Juanico on one hike.

Our plans are to stay here for Loreto Fest, at which I´ll be teaching a watercolor class and then to take a ride or bus on up to the town of Santa Rosalia since we won´t be sailing that far north. We will head back down to La Paz to travel back to the states for Hilary´s graduation May 21st. Then, back to the Sea for more adventures!

We have a few photos of transportation in Mazatlan and our visit to Copala up in the mountains.

We made the trip up from Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan through windy and bouncy conditions, taking all day, overnight and arriving at 9:00 the next morning
It´s been a great say here getting things done on the boat and exploring the city we haven´t seen for 30 years.
Some photos show our inland trip to Copala ---an old colonial mining town that was very small and very quiet except at before
dawn when the roosters began to crow everywhere, including right outside our door. The town was built around mines that
were started by a Scot named Butters. We stayed in the old stone Butters Hotel right on the plaza. $150 pesos per night, no hot water,
but OK otherwise. That´s about $15 US. This little town closes down after the daytime tours leave in the afternoon, so
we had yogurt for dinner and hung out on the square with the kids and dogs.

We head for the Sea of Cortez tomorrow and will be staying at various anchorages at the islands along the western coast of the
gulf of California north of La Paz until around May 1 , give or take a week when we get settled and ready to fly
north to Monterey for Hilary´s graduation. We will then return to La Paz, explore the Sea some more and get the
boat settled in Puerto Vallarta for the summer, returning to Ukiah around July 15 or so.