April 28, 2001

We left Mazatlan last night about 7:30pm after a very nice 10 day stay. Great weather, good food and a nice rest sums up our visit at the large El Cid Hotel & Marina complex. One of our favorite stops in Mazatlan was at Thorny's Surfburgers. He makes a mean and cheap burger. Thorny's an old longboard surfer from San Diego. Now, we're off to more out of the way and rustic spots off the eastern Baja coast.

Suzy & I added to our crew for this passage. Mark Cohen, a retired surgeon from Phoenix, gets all the really tough assignments. We met Mark when we both were coming down the West coast of Baja from San Diego. Mark was aboard his Taswell 43 sailboat, Puff, and we met via ham radio. One thing led to another and now he's aboard our boat. We'll end this passage in La Paz where Puff is now. Its really nice to have him aboard...our own ship's surgeon. In fact, while loading the dinghy aboard FINAL STRAW, I purposely cut my big toe so I could see just how good a surgeon he is. I got to hear all his hemostat jokes while he put the band aid on my very minor wound.

The day before leaving Mazatlan, Clark gets a dockside haircut at El Cid.

April 30, 2001

"We spent 36 hours crossing the Sea of Cortez and arrived at a little island off of Bahia de La Paz called Isla Partida. Isla Partida is the smaller island north and separated from the larger Isla del Espiritu Santo by a small channel. We're in an anchorage called Ensenada Grande. Its a little bay that looks a lot like being at the Grand Canyon. We're sharing the anchorage with five other boats...two large power yachts and three sailboats. Right now, Suzy and Mark are preparing dinner and we're running the generator. The generator is powering the watermaker (making fresh water at 20 gal/hr), running the water heater, refrigerator and freezer while recharging our battery bank.

Speaking of dinner, they're preparing an exquisite dinner of yellowtail Suzette marinated in a special sauce and grilled. We'll have that along with salad and sushi rolls. All this thanks to Mark's catch of a beautiful yellowtail yesterday at sunset just as we were getting close to Baja. The fish was about 36" and 25 pounds. We got to see Mark's skills as a surgeon as he carefully filet the fish in our large ice chest on the aft deck. Very impressive. We've had a beautiful sunset this evening, so its been quite delightful.

Our 230 mile crossing was quite easy in light winds and calm seas. But, its always great to get to your destination and just relax...and that's what we're doing now. We'll likely stay here a night or two before making the short 20 mile trip to La Paz."

Mark reeling in the yellowtail. See Mark's crew picture for another look at this prize catch.

Sunset on April 29^th about 75 miles east of Baja in the Sea of Cortez and about 10 minutes after Mark caught the yellowtail.