By now you must be thinking: Oh my God This Is Like Those Late-Night "But Wait, There's More" Commercials! What More Can These People Possibly Say / Show About Mazatlan?
Well, maybe nothing of interest to you. But we write about our experiences and for February and March we - and some of our friends and family - experienced Mazatlan. So here goes some thoughts about that:
Bryce's recovery from hip replacement surgery is going extremely well and we have every reason to believe that we will be back aboard Abracadabra this September-ish. That said, his temporary disability has made us aware that at some point in the future one or both of us probably won't be able to enjoy sailing or living aboard Abracadabra. When faced with life changes that make living aboard uncomfortable many yatistas "swallow the hook" or "become cave dwellers" and purchase a house or condo in Mexico. They usually settle into a seasonal rotation between their Mexico home and one "back home". Our recent land lubber experience in Mazatlan suggests that this is not such a bad idea.
But we've never wanted the obligation of a second home. Which has led us to think a lot about what to look for in a long-term rental - almost all of which was met by our Mazatlan home at Condominios y Golf Serena.
The apartment was not on the beach, but was in a quiet location (quiet by Mexico standards) with a water view.
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| Masts In The Distance Are Sailboats Docked At The Isla Marina and Marina Mazatlan |
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| One of Many Beautiful Sunsets |
The swimming pool was large enough to really swim in, and also pleasantly landscaped to encourage pool-side sleeping and reading.
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| Blue Sky, Green Palms, Red Umbrella . . . Ahhhh! |
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| Plenty of Lap Swim Space |
There was water access for our new toy (which we look forward to launching from Abracadabra soonishly).
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| Inflation Of A Good Type |
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| Captain Bryce's New Command |
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| Brother Robert - Off to Explore The Mazatlan Estuary |
We had all the mod cons (washer, dryer, full "American" kitchen) so we were able to have local cruising friends over for dinner and drinks (crews of Calliope, Cuba Libre and Dolphin Tales).
And there were three bedrooms - room for long-term visitors (some we have not been able to entice with a stay on Abracadabra)!
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| Couple #1 - Brother Rob and Husband Tom |
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| Couple #2 - Frank Chan and Irene deBruijn-Chan (Fresh From The Plane and Still in Long Sleeves!) |
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| Couple #3 - Candace and Norman Thersby (aka the crew of Kyalami) Stopped In On Their Drive North |
In sum our Mazatlan experience gave us a lot of encouragement about life on land in Mexico. Our only "want" that wasn't met was that the apartment was a looooong drive to the cultural center of Mazatlan which caused us to opt out of a couple of theater and art events.
The other downside to renting is the same as with our AirBnB experiences in the U.S -- rental kitchens are never really well stocked. We've read in other blogs that some serial renters create a mobile kitchen supply box in order to take certain "must haves" with them - a good chef's knife, a good wine opener, a whisk, tongs, etc.. That still won't address the missing cast iron skillet . . . but if we launch into full-time land adventures we'll have to arrange for some kitchen items to travel with us.
Finally, because price is always a consideration for us, we were saddened when we next checked the cost of renting a unit at the condominiums to find that the monthly price had gone up by about 20%. Hmmm. That may be why people go to the trouble of buying.
Happily it doesn't seem like we're going to have to make the buy/rent decision any time soon as we are looking forward to returning to Abracadabra in El Salvador. Until then we are planning on more truck travel in Mexico and perhaps some land-based travel in Central America.
Our next posting will be of some Truck Travels we did from Mazatlan with Frank and Irene, which turned out to be good "shake-down cruises" for the longer drive we're currently on.
The other downside to renting is the same as with our AirBnB experiences in the U.S -- rental kitchens are never really well stocked. We've read in other blogs that some serial renters create a mobile kitchen supply box in order to take certain "must haves" with them - a good chef's knife, a good wine opener, a whisk, tongs, etc.. That still won't address the missing cast iron skillet . . . but if we launch into full-time land adventures we'll have to arrange for some kitchen items to travel with us.
Finally, because price is always a consideration for us, we were saddened when we next checked the cost of renting a unit at the condominiums to find that the monthly price had gone up by about 20%. Hmmm. That may be why people go to the trouble of buying.
Happily it doesn't seem like we're going to have to make the buy/rent decision any time soon as we are looking forward to returning to Abracadabra in El Salvador. Until then we are planning on more truck travel in Mexico and perhaps some land-based travel in Central America.
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| The Truck and Bryce With His New Best Friend - Oscar, Who Washes Cars At Condos Serena For Extra Income |
Our next posting will be of some Truck Travels we did from Mazatlan with Frank and Irene, which turned out to be good "shake-down cruises" for the longer drive we're currently on.
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