Monday 5 Nov 2012 – Topolobampo, Mexico
After an uneventful sail from San Carlos, we arrived at the marina in Topolobampo, Mexico at about 8:15 pm Saturday. I say uneventful because the weather was benign all of the 210 miles. We got some good sailing in for the first 3 hours at 6-7 knots and then the wind shifted to ESE, exactly where we were headed. At this time of the year it should be ENE which would have given us a nice sail almost all of the way. Instead it was back to motor-sailing with a few intermittent chances to put up sail.

Pasha, our cat, who is with us on this trip, was miserable for the first 8-10 hours as he coped with the motion and seasickness. However, by the next day he was on deck and enjoying the changes in his life. We left San Carlos at 6:20 am on Friday, and by Saturday, just as the sun was setting at about 6:00 pm; we approached the main commercial ship channel into Topolobampo.

It is certainly not my preference to enter an unknown harbor at night but the alternative was another night at sea standing off the entrance until daybreak.
We threaded our way into Topolobampo, even though we discovered that our chart-plotter chip was inaccurate as the buoys and channel had all moved. Fortunately, the bottom contours on the chart-plotter chip were still good, so with some care and a few GPS waypoints we had been given, we managed to make it to the Marina which is located off the main channel on a secondary channel. All of the secondary channels were buoyed which was a help.

The Palmira marina is new and lightly used although a large new 60′ power yacht did tie up in the slip next to us just after we arrived. They are still working on sections of the marina and have major plans for a resort hotel and other facilities. It is owned and operated by the same Marina Palmira group in La Paz.

On Sunday, we had lunch at the new restaurant that is a part of the marina. Anita had some fresh Abalone and I had breaded shrimp, both were nicely presented and perfectly cooked. There was plenty of food and a very tasty fish soup. The service was wonderful. The restaurant staff could not do enough for us and all of them came to introduce themselves, say hello and welcome us to Topolobampo.

For once, little English is spoken here so we are getting to practice our Spanish.