Topolobampo

We made it here in record time - so fast, in fact, that both of us (Sundancer and Magda Jean) had to forcibly slow down the boats in order to avoid arriving here at night.  The channel is about 13 miles long, the entrance is strewn with reefs, and although marked, it zigzags around.  So no way would we enter something like this at night, especially since we suspected (and were correct in our suspicions), that our charts did not reflect reality.  There have been a LOT of changes in this harbor, and most of them are not reflected on the charts.  Not to mention that lots of the information on charts in Mexico is not exactly right.  But you use a combintion of your charts, both electronic and paper, your radar, and your own seaman's eye, to make your way from place to place.

This town so far is absolutely great.  We are about a 100 north of Mazatlan, and not that many people come here, meaning gringos.  A lot of that is likely due to the difficult channel, but really, once you have done it, it won't be hard the second time.  It is a really pretty town, that apparently got its start from a group of Americans utopists, who envisioned towns planned out in a humane manner, with lots of open space, no slums, and decent industries.  It is built into a hillside and looks a lot like pictures of some European places on the Med and the Adriatic.  The houses are all painted different pastel colors, with green hills all around.  There is another big bay attached to where we are, that is likely too shallow for our sailboat, but we can explore it by dinghy.  It is supposed to be rather jungly, something we have not yet expereinced as the furthest soiuth we have  been so far is Mazatlan, which is the very beginning of the transition from desert to jungle.  The people here have been extraordinarly friendly - one man who was here at the marina volunteered to drive all four of us into town - dropped us at a wonderful restaurant, and refused to take a dime.  He then drove back to the marina - he didn't have to go anywhere, he just gave us a ride.  And since we had been sitting on our boats drinking beer and wine all afternoon to celebrate our arrival and good sailing, I have to say he was pretty brave, as we were pretty drunk and loud.  He handed us over to the restaurant, which proceeded to bring out seafood cocktail after seafood cocktail - all kinds of things uncluding something so hot I was sweating with my nose running, to sea snails which were served cold and tasted rich and buttery, and had a firm consistency.  If anyone had asked me if I wanted to eat sea snails, I would have been hard pressed to say yes, because I have seen them underwater and they do not look appetising.  But I ate them before thinking about it and am so glad I did.  It was a refreshing althernative to that really hot stuff.  There was also shrimp ceviche and shrimp agua chile, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Later we walked along the malecon - sort of a seaside boardwalk most of these little towns have, and ended up riding back to the marina in a water taxi.  A man stopped to try and negotiate a better price for our ride home - I think he was afraid we were too drunk and would be taken advantage of.  But the driver held firm, and we were perfectly satisfied with the original price.  It was a really great ride, and all in all the topper of a really perfect day in a wonderful place.

Today (after I finish this, in fact) we are going to head into town (by dinghy) and explore the place.  I have been wanting to come here for a few years now, and so far all of whatever expectations I may have had have been exceeded.  It is about 90 degrees outside now, but last night it cooled into the seventies, and we slept beautifully, even having to use a light blanket.  I had planned to use the air conditioning here at the marina, but we haven't needed it at all.   I also plan to clean the refrigerator and freezer later today - something spilled and is starting to smell bad (I think a milk carton must have leaked) and the freezer needs to be defrosted.  It is not a hard job, just sort of time consuming.  I store the frozen things in a cooler, and everything usually stays frozen until I can pout everything back.  I have to do this about  once a month, unless there is a problem like something leaking.  But we are pretty careful.

This really may be one of our favorite places so far.  I will take pictures and post them as soon as we can.  In two days we leave for six days in the Copper Canyon area, and then another few days before we leave for Mazatlan.  But who knows, we may have to extend our visit here!

That is enough for now - Mike is getting eager to get going and explore the place.  Sometimes you just get a really good feeling about a place, and we both feel it here.   A feeling like this is a place you are supposed to be; way more than just being somewhere and liking it.  It is stronger than that - more like you are really SUPPOSED to be there, it is your place to be at that moment.  That is what I feel like here.  And I love the feeling.