Ruminations of a Sailor: Mazatlan: A new chapter for Pura Vida

Happy Birthday Mike!

A quick summer update from your friends on Pura Vida. This year marks a huge change for us as we made the decision to leave our boat in Mazatlan for the months we are in Portland. We left our boat at Marina Mazatlan, carefully tied down like Gulliver’s Travels. She is being cared for by Luis and Angel who are each providing monthly services to ensure all remains, shall we say, Ship Shape.

Songbird on Saguaro in Guaymas

A Mazatlan Marina guard

Some may laugh as it’s not even a conversation for our many friends who have circumnavigated or those who sail amazing distances around the world. But for us, leaving the boat further south is a big deal.

Since we are careful planners, we had a lot of logistical decisions to consider. Our car awaited us a 12-hour bus ride north in Guaymas and we could not carry much of our beloved ‘stuff’ we usually transport back and forth. I took the bus to buy boxes for shipping our carefully curated items. Our guy Luis graciously offered his truck to take us and our 4 large boxes from the marina to the shipping company. After a few days and a few snafus, our boxes awaited us at the Guaymas boatyard.

Our guy Luis

Our buddy boating friends - here in Muertos

Luis also offered us a late-night ride to the bus station, if we promised to take him to his favorite taco place. Before our departure from the marina, after a long, muggy day of closing up, tying down, and double checking, we were treated to a quick goodbye drink on the stern of our long-time buddy boating friends’ catamaran. They kindly had a glass of wine waiting for us, to say our fond farewells and helped schlep our stuff up the ramp. That was a very thoughtful treat.

Luis and his son picked us up after dark and we drove toward the bus station. Along the highway, he pulled into a gravel lot where we dined in folding chairs at a very popular taco stand, along with young couples, large families, scooters loaded with 3 or 4 people, the police and us, the 2 gringos. As Luis regaled us with stories of his life, we dined like kings on giant burritos under the bright halogen lights of the closed auto glass shop. Life was good.

The Sphere in Las Vegas

We took the Tufesa bus with 7 planned stops throughout the night and 2 inspections along the way. Tufesa is a great bus company with comfortable, clean buses (and no chickens). Not much sleep that night but it was mostly pleasant; even the Mexican Army stop at 3:40am wasn’t bad, where we had to exit, haul and scan our bags. Of course, there was a ‘freshly made’ burrito vendor standing at the bus ready to serve the sleepy passengers. A nice touch but we passed.

The 'burrito'

We arrived in Guaymas late morning and the scramble started! Mike uncovered and loaded the car, put the ‘burrito’ car rack on the roof for more storage and reconnected the battery. Eduardo and I carried down the 4 large boxes from the office, we said a quick hello to friends then dashed off to our semi annual teeth cleaning with our guy, Dr. Gustavo and say hi to his brother, Dr. Octavio. No time wasted!

Our fabulous door will be replaced

After our quick stay with friends in San Carlos, we traveled two weeks visiting friends and family along the way to Portland. After traveling for over seven months, we were ready to start our northwest lives plus, the weather was getting hotter in Mazatlan. Our garden is planted, with deck projects and a new front door installation underway. We are very sad to lose our stained glass door but it's time...

Our veg garden has grown quickly!

The big news here is that Mike officially retired! I am still working with my two long-term marketing clients, as I have been year around since before we started boating. Otherwise, we are free agents.

For those who’ve seen me in the last couple of years, you’re aware I’ve been experiencing increasing degradation and compromise in the functionality of my right hand. It's gotten worse and I am happy to say that I’m scheduled for hand surgery on June 20^th.