Day 157. 2nd Jan.
It’s 8.30pm and we have just enjoyed a lovely evening in chairs around a fire. I even managed to cook myself, an amazing Gordon Blue meal. Sausages, eggs on toast with mushrooms and a big mug of hot tea. Gordon Ramsey, eat your heart out…:)
Back now to yesterday morning. There was no spring tide overnight but an onshore wind got up at 5.30am and I thought the Caranex was going to launch Poki and I into the stratosphere. Amazingly the pegs in the sand held.
By 10.45am we were the first in line for the ferry to Tomolobampo, (the port for Los Mochis), and were loaded by 11am. Despite our tickets being issued for the 5th.
The ferry ride took 7 hours. The children were royaly entertained by a clown act. Guess what! The 12 gig of SIM card data was gone by the time we left LaPaz, consumed by loading photos on the previous blog entry. So communication is seriously restricted when Jen is no doubt looking for reassurance during her challenging time in the UK. Not long now girl!
I have no idea how we, the Black Caps, are doing in the third test at Sydney. Hopefully they will salvage some pride after the last two hidings. Nor do I know how the Phoenix are doing in this weeks game in, Melbourne I think?
It took ages to exit the ferry as being first on, meant last off. Not wanting to be driving at 10.30pm at night we opted to find a quiet spot on the wharf and sleep the night.
Day 158. 3rd. Jan.
While you wont be the least bit interested, I had an amazing sleep and woke and had breakfast by 6am. We were on our way to Mazatlan by 6.15am with dawn breaking. Interestingly there were about 5 gunshots from not too far away!! This is Sinaloa province. Is, or wasn’t there a drug cartel in this area?!
The mainland is very different to Baja. More populated with lots of industry and agriculture. The military presence is considerable. Convoys of black pick up trucks or ute’s with 5 armed and masked soldiers in the back. Four sitting back to back and the 5th standing behind a heavy, mounted machine gun, facing forward. I’m not sure if that is reassuring, or not! Regardless of that, so far, I like Mexico.
Traveling in convoy with Sarah & Tim is working well. We are in communication by walky talky and using both iOverlander and our Sat Nav to find our way around. We are both happy travelling at around 85kph.
In Culiacan A visit to Costco was an amazing experience. (Sarah & Tim have membership) They (Costco) have an awesome range of everything you can imagine and a great deal of iron will is needed to not be walking out with a trolly load of stuff. Jen you would be impressed..:)
Tonight we are camped half way along a deserted, gorgeous beach. Someone has attempted to build a structure in the sand hills but it’s clearly been a failure. It was my task to head off along the sand first and test the surface. Safely parked, Tim, in the much heavier truck, set off but only got about 1/3 of the way along, and bogged. After dropping the tire pressure from about 90psi to 32psi, and with the use of sand ladders, he made it.
The sunset was spectacular.
Visits: 35
Something’s seriously wrong if uploading a few photos used 12GB of data. I would be surprised if the photos would need 12MB. Watching a 2 hour movie might need a few GB. Perhaps you didn’t get the 12GB you thought you were getting?
Greetings John, Yes, you are right. It seems to be the Russian modem that has stopped behaving normally. The modem asks for the password but will not accept the one depicted on the back. Using bluetooth tethering at the moment and working …OK. How are you?
Dennis