We left Mazatlan at 8am on 6/13/12 and anchored at Playa Bonanza on Isla Espiritu Santo in the Sea of Cortez at dawn on 6/15/12. Passage notes can be found by clicking HERE.
I’ll add a video of the passage to this post when we have faster internet.
No seatbelts required. The seats for this TAXI are in the bed of a red pickup truck.
Off to a bullfight! Although this is not bullfight season, Mazatlan always holds a bullfight during Carnaval. This is said to be the Super Bowl of bullfights. We were to see Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza from Spain face off against Gaston Santos from Mexico.
Hey, you can't park here!
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The stadium was full to the brim but not everyone in Mexico likes the idea of a bullfight
Not everyone agrees with bullfights. They can be hard to watch. In fact we arrived with a group of ten but only five of us stayed until the end.
Santa likes bullfights... and Pacifico!
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The women received red carnations to throw at our favorite picador.
.Pablo got my red carnation!
Candy... Peanuts...Cigars...
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The event was 3+ hours long and these guys never took a break!
It seems like every single event here has live music. Love it!
Picadores. Gaston Santos (Mexico) is in white. Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza (Spain) is in blue.
Each man has the opportunity to face off against two separate bulls. Pablo has the first and third bull and Gaston gets the second and last bull. The bulls were between 400- 500lbs!
As the bullfighter remains on a horse for this match, he is called a picador. Each picador must maintain a solid relationship with his horses (they each use 2-3 horses per fight) but also must be able to accurately anticipate the bull’s next move. The horses do not wear armor.
Excite the bull
The bulls are bred to fight and bred to be angry.
Tire the bull
Each picador rides on his horse and strategically plunges a series of barbed red and white sticks into the bull’s flanks. This is intended to weaken the neck and shoulder muscles. The whole time the bull is taunted to charge at the horse several times to tire the large animal.
Aye Aye Aye!
Before the final slaying, a group of bull wrestlers enter the ring. They stand in a single file line and the first man in line taunts the bull. Once the bull charges he grabs the horns and the men behind him all pile up on the bull. The last guy grabs the bulls tail. They need to do this 1-3 times per bull. The first guy in line wears a metal plate in his red sash to prevent injury. Still, the ambulance lights were on after the bullfight.
Here is the video I took of one of the bull wrestlers getting attacked by a bull!
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Celebratory drinks thrown from the crowd
Although the crowd enjoys the fight, they appreciate the brevity as well. Bulls should not be made to suffer for longer than necessary. Points are awarded for accuracy. Two ears is a good score. Two ears and a tail is the best score.
We were told that the meat is donated to local orphanages.
Ok San Diego, we get it. Loud and clear. It is time to move on. The Christmas lights are hung at the marina, Christmas music can be heard from the restaurant upstairs and it is cold. Really, really cold. It is as if a cold front is physically sweeping us out with a broom. Get! Get!
Can you believe we actually found a place to stow all of this stuff?!
So off we go. We have done so much provisioning that we may accidentally sink out boat in the slip. We provisioned with plenty of food. We had to find a place to stash 60 beers. Hopefully we find them all over the next year! We provisioned with plenty of spares, 8 gallons of engine oil (which costs twice as much in Mexico) and 260+ feet of anchor chain! We provisioned with fishing gear- pole, fancy hooks, spear gun, trolling line, net, how to books. We even provisioned with fun water gear- surfboard, wet suits, kayak, snorkel gear. And we now have more clothes on the boat than we know what to do with. We are ready!
The first stop will be Ensenada where we will probably get a Mexican cell phone, an internet card, and a little sleep before we skedaddle down the Baja coast with a couple stops in small anchorages along the way. Our next big town stop will be San Jose del Cabo which is about 20 miles south of Cabo San Lucas. By the time we get to Cabo we will be sailing in T-shirts and shorts. Bring it!
We should (if it is working) have internet in Ensenada so we’ll be able to post one more time but then probably won’t have internet again until we get down to Cabo. The weather looks fantastic for sailing this week. Check out www.passageweather.com for a look.
We are hoping to leave on December 5th which, coincidentally is the same day my little sister is also leaving San Diego to travel through South America for 3 1/2 months. You can read about her travels at shvhiker.blogspot.com. Safe, happy, and fun travels Sabrina!
Hasta Luego!
Hasta Luego
This is the first of many posts that will detail our Moondance Refit for sailors and non-sailors alike to share what and how we made our updates.
Challenge: What dinghy and outboard motor size do you get to cruise Mexico?
Process:
We were planning to get a 8-10 foot PVC dinghy with a short shaft 8hp engine.
PVC is better for warmer climates than Hypalon and the material lasts longer. As our boat bills were rapidly piling up, we started to scour www.craigslist.org for a solution. Luckily the gentleman who sold us Moondance called and asked if we wanted to buy his dinghy and engine that he was now ready to part with. The dinghy is a soft bottom PVC dinghy equipped with a floor, one-way valves, wooden oars, dinghy pump, and seat. It comes with a 15hp Johnson engine. The engine is too large for the dinghy (which has a recommended 10hp for it’s size) but we decided to take the whole lot. The dinghy planes well and we have only had to beach it once on a rock beach on Santa Cruz Island. As of now we are not planning to attach dinghy wheels for the sandy beaches of Mexico.We did buy a handheld vhf to accompany any dinghy for ease of communication and in case of an emergency.
We also learned that the best way to blow up a dinghy so that the air has staying power is to partially blow up each section, add the floorboards, then finish blowing up the dinghy sections. If one side is blown up completely before you start filling the other sides, the dinghy will not be able to hold the air as long, as per Sal’s Inflatables.
Downside? The engine is extremely heavy and we have to attach it to a halyard to raise and lower it off of the boat and dinghy. Cross you fingers for us that we don’t drop it in the ocean!
The engine lives on the stern pulpit when not in use. I am considering spray painting it a loud and obnoxious color so it will be less susceptible to theft.
Conor tries out the oars
We practiced pumping up the dinghy on the foredeck to make sure it would fit.
Test driving the dinghy- woohoo!
