Pat McLeish had joined us in Topolobampo, having taken the El Chepe train from Chihuahua to Los Mochis. He was to sail with us as extra crew on this leg. Pat has sailed with us a number of times as extra crew.

After two days and nights underway we arrived off Mazatlan about 3:00 am, earlier than planned and had to stand off for a couple of hours before heading to the Marina. The trip was uneventful other than catching our first Tuna, a small one but very tasty. Surprisingly, our cat was not interested in eating any. On this leg, he seemed to have become more comfortable with being a sailor cat and was only seasick for a short time before bouncing back.

As we closed with Mazatlan, the wind and sea kicked up with gusts to 25 knots. I had taken in the Genoa earlier to slow our speed and better time our arrival at dawn. However, with the wind, our speed had increased to 5+ knots under just the mainsail. We reefed the main heavily and even with this, we were still doing over 4 knots, more than the 2 Knots that I had planned on.

The entrance into the Marina channel is quite narrow and can have strong tidal currents. However, we arrived at slack water and had no difficulty mooring to the fuel dock at Marina El Cid while we checked in and obtained our slip assignment.

The Marina El Cid is the first marina in the estuary complex and is part of a much larger Hotel/Resort facility with all of the usual amenities; spas, pools and restaurants. There are a number of other marinas in the estuary and because they are further away from the channel, they do not suffer from the tidal surge that inflicts the Marina El Cid. It is interesting to see some boats moored to their slips with Cargo straps.