San Blas

Our delayed departure from Mazatlan for Chacala gave us a chance to spend more time with David Winter, the owner of a cutter named Gambol. David is a long time resident of British Columbia, originally from near Cambridge, England, who has spent the last several seasons sailing in Mexico. This season, he had been in San Blas, 25 nautical miles closer to Mazatlan than is Chacala, for three months. Because we were concerned about the San Blas reputation for the small biting insects called jejenes (no-see-ums), we had avoided that pueblo last year and intended to do so again this year and head straight to Chacala. We have no mosquito nets for our portlights (windows) and hatches, and we had no desire to experience bothersome insects, itching and, in the worst case, a possible tropical disease.
 
David convinced us that San Blas' bad reputation for insects is undeserved, that the bugs are only really around at sunup and sundown, and that with a little effort you could avoid them at those times. In any case, Sally had bought some wedding veil type netting in La Paz and had some ideas for rigging it up in the hatches and portlights. So we decided to visit San Blas, if possible.

Why might it not be possible? San Blas is located at the point where a river enters the sea and it is necessary to cross a sandbar in order to enter the river estuary and harbor. At times that the ocean swell is high, it can be dangerous to cross this bar.

Fortunately, the sea was quite calm when we arrived early Monday morning, after a 24 hour passage from Mazatlan. On David's recommendation, I had downloaded a short "San Blas Cruiser's Guide" which contained a list of five GPS waypoints for navigating the bar. I entered these waypoints into our chart plotter and they lead us into the estuary without a problem.

On the journey from Mazatlan we saw our first whales of the season. Two sightings, in fact -- one in the morning and one in the evening. And during the moonless night we experienced an amazing new delight. A group of dolphins played in our wake, diving under our bow, making passes in pairs over and over again. We would just think they were gone when there would be a nearby "whoosh!" and yet another pair engulfed in phosphorescence would swoop by. They accompanied us for a full 15 or 20 minutes. Dolphins often seem drawn to boats -- we speculated that perhaps they were further encouraged that night by the phosphorescence that already surrounded Norwegian Steam.

San Blas has an interesting history. Although the Spanish arrived here in 1531, for almost two centuries the area remained nothing more than a place for ships to reprovision and to get fresh water from the nearby Tovara spring.Then in 1768 the Spanish recognized a need to protect their interests in Alta California and the Pacific Northwest, in response to the Russian development of Alaska. They chose San Blas as the base for colonizing their territories to the north, and established a naval base here. The town grew quickly, eventually reaching a size three times that of the current population. In 1810, early in Mexico's war of independence, the town was taken by revolutionaries and a long slow decline began. Today San Blas survives on agriculture, fishing and tourism.

On Tuesday, we went on a "jungle tour" into the Tovara National Park with David and Betty Lou Walsman from SV Decade Dance, Marie Hoiland from SV Saben and Molly and Steve, two of David's friends from his Peace Corps days in El Salvador. With Jose, our very knowledgeable guide, we motored slowly in a panga through a large mangrove swamp full of protected wildlife. At close range we saw a number of crocodiles of varying sizes, from babies to a large male that must have been a dozen feet long. We also saw, and photographed enthusiastically, dozens of different kinds of birds, including great gray and great blue herons, boat-billed herons, and egrets. The panga tour finished and turned around at the Tovara spring, which pours fresh water into the swamp. Some visitors opt to travel at a higher speed on the tour, preferring a swim in the spring to ogling the wildlife. We think our leisurely trip was the most interesting choice.

After the jungle tour, we walked to the top of a hill called Cerro de San Basilio. First we explored a cemetery with many colorful graves and mausoleums, then toured the ruins of the El Templo de la Virgen del Rosario, a church built in 1769. With the decline of San Blas, the church was abandoned in 1872. The church bells that had rung for many years from the site on the hill were first moved to a church in the pueblo, and then were consigned to storage, hanging from a crude timber scaffold. In 1882 a travel article in Harper's magazine about San Blas mentioned the bells. A line drawing depicting the bells hanging from the wooden timbers illustrated the article. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, nearly on his deathbed at the time, was so moved by the article and especially the plight of the beautiful church bells now stilled and languishing from disuse that he wrote "The Bells of San Blas," in their honor. It was to be Longfellow's last poem -- a few days later he died.


At the top of the hill are the remains of the fort built in 1770 as part of the Spanish expansion of San Blas as a center of naval power. From the fort's hilltop vantage point we could see for miles into the countryside, down the river and out to sea.

Having always avoided eating at the golden arches in our travels, we can now say we ate at McDonalds in San Blas. This McDonalds, however, is a local San Blas eatery established by a Mexican family named McDonald in 1952. We also ate at Chef Tony's La Isla restaurant, which houses a fabulous collection of sea shell art. We felt we were dining in a veritable octopus' garden, as the song goes. All the shell collages, "chandeliers," mirror frames, and hanging planters  were created over a 30 year period by the grandfather of the people who currently run the restaurant.


Tomorrow morning we leave for Chacala, 25 miles to the south.

Our current position is N 21 32.642, W 105 17.569 (GoogleEarth format).