Passage to La Paz

As usual, we enjoyed Mazatlan more than we expected to. Every time we visit this city we find new and interesting places to visit, and meet new and interesting people . This place is working its way up toward my top five favorite places to visit in Mexico. But all things come to an end, and our time in Mazatlan ended at 1100 on Monday, April 20th as Finisterra cleared the breakwater at El Cid, and headed northwest along the mainland coast.

The forecast was for light northwesterly winds so we motored in that direction, keeping about 10 miles off the coast, with the idea that we would be in a good position to make a quick passage across the Sea once the wind veered around to North. We wanted to pass to the north of Isla Cerralvo and avoid the Cerralvo Channel, which has earned a reputation in my mind as a frequently unpleasant stretch of water.

By dusk we were some 50 miles northwest of Mazatlan, still motoring over flat seas in 2-3 knots of wind. Later that night we bent our course further toward the west, expecting the wind to shift north and build to a forecasted 15 knots. That shift didnt happen and we continued across the Sea under power through a beautiful night with a sliver of waning moon hanging low over the western horizon.

We motored along all the next day over the same glassy seas. By late afternoon, Isla Cerralvo was off our port bow. About ten miles before we passed the rocks that lie off the northern tip of the island, a wind came up out of the south. It wasnt what I expected but I was glad to have it and quickly unrolled the jib, thinking that if it lasted more than ten minutes Id hoist the main and wed have a nice close reach across the north edge of the Cerralvo Channel. Instead the wind, a Coromuel, piped up to 25 knots and veered SW and then WSW, bringing a lumpy head sea with it and erasing my thoughts of a pleasant passage through the San Lorenzo channel.

The San Lorenzo Channel lies between Isla Espiritu Santo to the north and the Baja Peninsula to the south.

San Lorenzo is a fairly short and narrow channel with hazards to navigation on both sides, and it didnt take long to get through it in spite of the Coromuel wind and rough seas. I knew that once we passed through the channel the wind would back around to SW and continue all night. So as soon as we were well clear of the channel we turned and headed southeast to Puerto Balandra. The wind was still blowing 25-30 as we approached the bay in pitchy darkness. We could see the lights of a few boats anchored there, but as we approached closer we were able to pick our way between them and came to anchor at 2330 in the southwest corner of the bay, about 100 yards off some low bluffs that offered good protection from the waves, if not the wind.

With the big Rocna anchor and 120 feet of chain down in 20 feet of water, we had a quick dinner and a glass of wine. Then Lisa turned in and I sat for a while in the cockpit watching the stars twinkling in the moonless night. I kept an eye on the GPS as well, just to make sure the anchor was doing its job, then turned in myself around 0100.  I was up again at 0300 and 0600, monitoring the GPS but the anchor, as always, kept us in place.

The next two days were spent in lazy solitude in Puerto Balandra, the Coromuel wind blew both nights, giving way each day to lighter northerly winds and overcast skies. After two peaceful days we got the anchor up and headed into Marina Palmira in La Paz, where well stay a couple of weeks.

Elizabeth Copper Ore Barge

An unusual although no less deserving and interesting boat, sadly neglected was brought to my attention by Tedd Gregg, who kindly sent in these photos and history.



Ted writes, "Lying on the shore of Lake Windermere ajacent to the Steamboat Museum is the Barge Elizabeth . Though now a ruin she is surely worth a mention.



Elizabeth was built in 1839 at Windermere by a local boat builder. She was built for the Coniston Copper Mines Company to transport Copper Ore down the six miles of Lake Coniston. There she would be off loaded and the Ore carted to the nearby estuary to be loaded onto Sailing Ships for the ore refinery in South Wales.



Alas her duties as an ore carryer were short lived, with the coming of the Railway in 1849 Elizabeth became redundant and she lay unused for the next thirty years, until she was purchased and taken back to Lake Windermere in 1880 and put to use as a Sand and Gravel Barge for a number of years .



Elizabeth was beached many years ago and is now in a very sorry state but quite unique, she is double ended, of 50 feet in length, with a beam of 12 feet.

The photos were taken by myself and are being used in my endeavours to build a model lookalike on behalf of the Steamboat Museum.

Even in her dilapidated state Elizabeth shows her fine lines and the interesting juxtaposition between the details of her construction and the ravages of nature moving inexorably to reclaim her.

We look forward to seeing Teds model (a follow up post perhaps)

Copper Canyon

Rio Fuerte winds through the canyon. Notice the stone walls enclosing a Tarahumara farm in the foreground.

Barranca del Cobre, otherwise known as Copper Canyon, is Mexico’s version of Arizona’s Grand Canyon. It’s located about 350 miles north of Mazatlan in the State of Chihuahua. It is reputedly quite a spectacle, so we decided to take a road and rail trip upcountry and give it a look.

Leaving the Honcho in Marina Mazatlan, we boarded a bus to Los Mochis, about 280 miles up the coast. The landscape for nearly the entire distance was mile after mile of rich farmland which reminded me of the intensively farmed Imperial valley of California. This area is known as Mexico’s vegetable garden.  Along the way we passed through Culiacan, which is the home base for the Sinaloa drug cartel. Our bus didn’t stop there; we just rolled right through the sand bagged police checkpoints and kept going until we got to Los Mochis where we spent the night. As usual, we were the only gringos on the bus or in our hotel. The locals looked at us a bit strangely but were all very friendly. With all the news about drug violence in Mexico, we expected a lot of tension in this city, but we saw nothing to indicate that its any more dangerous than any other city in Mexico, or the US...except for the sandbags around the highway checkpoints and police stations.

The next morning we boarded another bus to El Fuerte, where we spent another night. El Fuerte isn’t much, but it does have an old fort with a rusty old cannon that was apparently used during the Mexican revolution. The fort is supposed to date from the 1500’s when the first Spaniards arrived, but it is actually a replica, built 20 or 30 years ago. There is no remaining evidence of the original fort, not even the correct location, so the fort is the towns best guess as to what the original might have looked like, and where it actually was located. Still, they put it to good use, opening part of it as a museum and converting the central courtyard to a water tank, which provides the town’s drinking water. It’s not a pretty fort, but we went ahead and paid our ten pesos each to go in and look around. Ten pesos doesn’t buy much in Mexico and this museum tour proved it.

Rio Fuerte from the parapet of the fort.

We stayed at the Posada del Hidalgo hotel in El Fuerte.  It’s a very beautiful place with good food and an excellent view of the town and its best feature, the Rio Fuerte, which runs through it. We wandered around the town square for a while, but retired early to the upstairs bar to watch the sun set over the river.

Entrance to the Hotel in El Fuerte

Courtyard in the Hotel Posada del Hidalgo, El Fuerte

Swimming pool at the Posada Hidalgo

The next morning we boarded a train, bound for Bahuichivo, which is little more than a whistle stop.
The train, called El Chepe, consists of a couple of passenger cars, dining car and a bar car and was quite nice. It hasnt been robbed in at least ten years so we felt pretty safe as we chugged up through the hills of the Sierra Tarahumara toward Bahuichivo. From there we got a car to the Hotel Mision in Cerocahui.  If Fuerte wasn’t much, Cerocahui was much less. We unloaded our bags at the hotel where they gave us a complimentary welcome margarita.  After looking around the place, I think it should have been a double. We wandered around the village, looked in on the 17^th century church, then retired to our room and built a nice fire in the wood stove and relaxed. The next morning we drove up to the high country where the views of the canyon below were impressive. By noon we were back in Bahuichivo where we boarded the train to Posada Barranca.  The railroad, which runs from Los Mochis to Chihuahua City, is 390 miles long and includes 39 bridges and 86 tunnels. By itself, it’s a remarkable achievement, and with magnificent views of the canyon, it is an awesome experience.

Farm next to the train station in Bahuichivo

This stone church was built in the late 1600s. It was surprising to see such a grandiose building in the dusty village of Cerocahui.

Train to Copper Canyon, called the Chepe.

We arrived at Posada Barranca in midafternoon and took a car to the Hotel Mirador. It’s located in a beautiful spot, perched near the top of the canyon wall. I thought it was a bit expensive for my taste until we got to our room, one side of which was all glass with a veranda and a million dollar view of the canyon below.

Hotel Mirador at Posada Barranca.

I took lots of pictures of the canyon, but it is impossible for the photos to convey the true magnitude and grandeur of the place. It is actually a system of canyons created by a combination of tectonic upheavals in the earth’s crust and erosion by six rivers which converge in the canyon to form the Rio Fuerte, which eventually flows into the Sea of Cortez. This canyon system is larger, and in some places deeper than Arizona’s Grand Canyon. One guide told me that the canyon system encompasses over 54,000 square kilometers (roughly 21,000 square miles), but I could not confirm that. However, any way you look at it, this place is BIG. 

Afternoon view from our veranda.

Looking southwest down the canyon

The indigenous population in Barranca del Cobre is called Tarahumara. These people have maintained as much of their tribal identity and culture as possible, and it appears that the Mexican government is now taking an enlightened approach to helping these people with health care and other humanitarian needs without overwhelming their distinctive way of life.  There is much to know about these people who the early Spaniards called ‘The Running People’ because they had the ability to run enormous distances throughout this rugged country, which is probably too steep and rocky for horses or mules.

Tarahumara woman.  She was selling baskets at the canyon rim.

Tarahumara basket weaving.

Beautifully crafted Tarahumara baskets. The larger ones are made of fibers of cactus-like plants, the small ones are made of the long needles of the local pine trees.

The Tarahumara are reputed to be descendants of the Aztecs.

We were able to spend only a day and a half at Posada Barranca, which is not nearly enough time. I strongly recommend that you plan to spend at least four days there, or if you’re a hiker, spend a week. There is a new cable car there, the third largest in the world, and a new zip line tour which has to be one of the most spectacular in the world as well. Unfortunately we didn’t know about either of these and only had time to take the cable car.  We’ll be back one day to do the zip line.

The new aerial tram is the third largest in the world.

Cable car descends.

Lower tram terminal deep in the canyon.

After five days in the hinterland we returned to the Honcho, safe and sound in the marina. We’ll spend the next few days here preparing to leave the Mexican mainland and sail across the southern reaches of the Sea of Cortez to Bahia de los Muertos (Bay of the Dead) on the southeastern edge of the Baja California peninsula.