‘Salty Dancer’ — Mexico to Costa Rica, Part 1

In December 2023, during a blow off Puerto Escondido, Salty Dancer’s mooring lines parted in the wee hours and she started drifting toward shore. Somehow missing 60-some other boats in the anchorage, the boat ended up on the rocky south breakwater. No one was aboard at the time — owner “J” Mills had flown home for the holidays just a week earlier. Luckily, one of the marina guards saw it happen, and he and the marina staff got the boat off by daybreak. She was towed to the MPE Boatyard, where she underwent repairs. When J finally returned in March, the boat, a Jeanneau 44DS, was ready to go again, and, with a new crew, he picked up where he had left off in his planned circumnavigation.

Danna, my yet-to-know crew, joined me in Puerto Escondido and we slowly cruised south through the islands and anchorages on our way to La Paz. I had made that trip many times during my previous four years in the Sea of Cortez after the 2006 Ha-Ha, but it was all still like new. We spent a week in La Paz visiting with friends and enjoying that vibrant bay and city, and then sailed south to Bahia de los Muertos, another wonderful anchorage along the inside coast of Baja, with two beachfront restaurants that we just couldn’t seem to get enough of.

From there we crossed over to Mazatlán to pick up two more crew, Diane and Margaret. The Old Town part of Mazatlán was as picturesque and fun as I recalled from my previous voyage there in 2009, but with a few more pizza places and somewhat fewer local food restaurants. Still, a wonderful place to explore as we waited for the big solar eclipse event on April 8. And it was well worth the wait, celebrating the stark transition from morning light to dusk in the middle of the day with a wonderful group of cruisers on the docks at the Marina Mazatlán. The sky grew dark, lights came on all around the marina, the dogs and the cruisers bayed at the moon as it blacked out the sun, and we all watched in awe as the light slowly returned to the world as the moon moved on. Mazatlán was literally at the epicenter of the lunar track, so it was indeed a “total” eclipse.

We departed the marina that afternoon as the sun returned, and started an overnight passage to Isla Isabela, home to the blue-footed booby and a truly wild frigate bird nesting ground. This isolated little island is a protected nature preserve, and there were a number of ecological study groups there. I had heard that a permit was needed, but none was requested during our two days there.

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