There’s a decent anchorage right outside the marina entrance, but dragging seems to be fairly standard.  We saw several boats get rescued after grounding during our time.

There are a few other marinas around: Marina Vallarta was a dump.  Didn’t even feel comfortable walking there and there are no services (or stores) anywhere near.  Marina Nuevo Vallarta was better than regular Vallarta, but not close to anything.  It was about the same price as La Cruz and not as nice, albeit closer to PV proper.  Paradise Village was my idea of Hell, but some folks really liked it.  This is where the large power yachts call home.  It’s the closest marina to the town of PV.

We hitchhiked into town as the bus apparently never came by.  Nice little town.

We visited the town of Tenacatita itself by finishing the jungle tour in the dinghy.  It’s a cool little place with great views.  We’d probably anchor in front if it next time if the swells permitted.

Santa Rosalia has a stone jetty to create its harbor.  It’s old and crumbling but provides excellent protection.  One morning we ate breakfast at a place in town that had a large photo of the harbor from 100 years ago: it showed dozens of clipper ships and steamers filling the harbor and surrounding ocean.  It’s easy to imagine what it must have been like.

The guide books show two marinas and an anchorage, which would make you think that the harbor is pretty good sized.  Don’t believe it.  Singlar has a facility there for about 20 boats and there’s another ‘marina’ towards the  north end…believe it or not it’s an honor system marina.  We anchored near this marina in the NW corner of the harbor.  There’s room for 2 or three boats back in there.  That’s about it.  It’s 24 feet of water and murky.  We dragged a little bit, then set well.  We used the honor system marina as a dinghy dock.

I walked to the Port Captain’s office to check in and they looked at me like I was crazy.  No one there spoke English and they tried to tell me that if I was at a marina I didn’t need to check in.  I explained I was at anchor and they didn’t seem to understand what I meant, so they waved me out.

The depth of the anchorage itself is mostly around 10 feet.  Preferred anchorage, once you find Singlar, is slightly SW of Singlar, near the malecon and jetty.  Water is dirty and growth is extreme here.  I’ve  never seen shit grow so fast! I don’t have any advice as to what you should do with your dinghy: Singlar does not have a dinghy dock, and their only dock gate is locked, both going in and coming out.  There didn’t appear to be a good place to leave your dinghy, other than possibly the fuel dock (a friend of ours tied off on the fuel dock for 7 days rather than risk taking his 60 wooden boat into one of their slips…he said not a single boat bought fuel during that time)

Guaymas is a far better place to spend time than San Carlos.  It’s a real city, with shops, groceries, restaurants, etc.  It’s even got a great new movie theater complex.  Bus rides cost 5 pesos, except to San Carlos, which is 12.  The only downside to Guaymas is that it’s a gigantic shrimp fishing and processing city.  About half the time it smells TERRIBLE.

Singlar told me I did not need to check in with the Port Captain, who is located near the marina in the shrimp boat part of town.

After cruising the field and the crammed anchorages, we ended up anchoring on the extreme NE corner of the mooring field, behind the last of the boats in 10 feet of water.  Be careful if you’ve got a deep draft boat here: it shallows our fairly quickly (our depth sounder beeped constantly and read 7′ not very much further N.) Due to the growth on the bottom it’s difficult to tell depths by merely looking at water color.  We’d also like to note that we had a difficult time setting our primary anchor, something we’d never struggled with before.  We ended up hauling it and re-setting.

We scoped Marina San Carlos’s facilities, as we are scheduled for a haulout in 2 days.  It’s an extremely tight, shallow marina which will be challenging to get Oblivion through.  There’s a portside turn we’re not looking forward to in really tight quarters.  We’ll see!

Mazatlan: We didn’t visit the port captain here, but were told we’re supposed to announce our arrival at the Old Harbor via VHF. There is a lot of commercial traffic in and out, and the neck of the harbor is tight. They want to know who’s coming and who’s going. We skipped the new marina district and love this little, old anchorage. Unfortunately, it’s real close to their sewage plant and can get really stinky some times. There’s a dinghy dock at what appears to be a deserted yacht club, called Club Nautico…there’s usually someone hanging around that looks like a homeless guy, but they work there and are really nice. The fee is 30 pesos per day to use the dock, bathroom, shower, and garbage. They have ice and water jugs are delivered every day at noon. Anchorage is fairly tight with a lot of boats in 24 feet of murky water. Good anchorage and well protected.