Temme Travels

Altata Sinaloa Altata is not a well known port. The well hidden and poorly charted entrance lies about 115 miles north of Mazatlan. The 15 mile long bay is hidden behind a sand dune peninsula. As we sailed north toward the pass of Altata our nerves were a bit rattled with the fact that the entrance buoy the only buoy left was bobbing around in 8 foot breaking waves. Our gps position showed that we should have been lined up for the entrance but the reality is that the sand bar had shifted and all but one lonely buoy remained after a hurricane went through there a few years ago. We bobbed around outside the entrance with our friends on Eyoni until finally a fishing panga directed us to the other side of the sandbar and led us safely through the pass. The bay of Altata was raw and beautiful, hidden by the stark sand dunes that lined the Pacific side and mangroves, on the interior of what we called an estuary, but were later told by the locals it is a bay. We made our way slow...

We are leaving today for Altata a small not so known fishing village 110 miles north of Mazatlan. The first cruising boat was reported in 2001 and has had slow trickle of boats since.  The number one thing that detours most boats is it is not in all the guides, you have to cross a sand bar to enter an estuary, and is a little out of the way. We will stop here for as long as we have fun, en route to  Topolobompo where we will leave the boat and take the world famous Copper Canyon Train Trip.  We are excited to do some inland exploring and experience the Raramuri Indians. I wish I had a kindle to download the book Born to Run, it is supposed to be an excellent book about the Raramuri runners.  They run 50 miles a day as if it was a walk in the park.  We are also looking forward to some cool mountain air, hiking and just pure family fun.   

Sienna all cozy for the night Sunset After a fun but buggy stay in San Blas we decided to push north to Mazatlan. We had a long night at sea but were rewarded with a beautiful sunset, an ocean alive with bio luminescence, twinkling stars, satellites moving at high speeds across a clear sky and a bug free night. The seas were a bit bumpy as the wind was coming from the exact direction we had to go along with a 3 knot current.  All of us are a little tired and poor Tristan who never gets seasick caught some bug and was throwing up the whole way,  More on San Blas and our epic family surf day at Mantachen Bay(worlds longest wave) were we all caught our share of rides including our little surfer girl Sienna. We all said "This one's for you Papa G" my dad surfed this break in 1968 were we confirmed a lot has changed but the bugs are still here.

 San Blas is tucked away on the northern coast of mainland Mexico.   There is a lot to this little town that lies along the bends of an estuary.  We approach town from the sea and cross over a sandbar of breaking waves to enter the calm green water and mangroves.  We have now left behind the glitz and tourist attractions of towns further south.  This a not a tourist town, at least not in the way we would think.  This a a town for local tourist who travel from the mountains and inland to vacation on the sea.  We anchor along the mangroves and are here with a few other boats that we know. The town is still in the throws of Semana Santa(spring break) and the plaza is bustling with music, local Huichol artist who have made the two day trip to sell their crafts, a variety of cuisine to satisfy everyone's taste and a lot of fun people watching.  Oh and yes slapping of bugs!  I guess this is why it has not made Foders top ten travel spots, t...

Tristan was determined to lose his tooth on Easter so with the help of Cole, ( the tooth puller), Tristan now has an offical pirate smile. Bye Bye Baby face.... Our little guys is growing up.

  Yes the Easter bunny was able to find us anchored in Punta De Mita....