Haganes – Stuck in Mazatlan –  11^th July 2012. – 23 12N – 106 22W

 

So what did we do to deserve this?

 

Arrived in Mazatlan to pick up the good ship Haganes on the 29^th June and deliver her to Tampa, Florida for the owners. She has had a major refit in Mazatlan at the Seni Ship Yard, quite a big ship yard which services the large Tuna boat fleet here and what is according to the locals, the worlds largest shrimp boat fleet. My expectation was that the boat was all set and just needed a sea trial to ok all the work and passage preparation before we could get away.

 

Not to be – gensets not working, steering hydraulics faulty, variable pitch prop not properly adjusted, bilge pumps non-operable, new electrical wiring not properly grounded etc etc. and … boat a mess.

 

Some interlopers came aboard at 1am 2 nights after I arrived, after apparently beating and tying up the night guard. They pilfered quite a bit of gear from the yard before coming aboard where they tried to remove the outboard from the tender on the cabin top. Being in the cabin underneath John heard them and his 6'3" bearded frame appeared half naked with machete in hand screaming like a banshee and charging straight for them. All 5 balaclava wearing banditos wisely and immediately dived overboard and swam to the waiting getaway boat! I’m sure the devil himself would have done the same at that sight! Last night they had 4 armed guards on. What's that _expression_ about shutting the stable door?

 

They had a wheel barrow of stuff on the dock they had pilfered from the yard which they left but a couple of them had made off with Johns new motorbike (which he was going to bring with).

 

Drama but all in a days work round here. The yard owners/managers haven’t even made contact with us this morning.

 

I think we might have been a bit lucky.

 

After a week we were making progress and, although there was more tidying up to be done, we were ready for a sea trial. The heads of department from the boat yard came aboard and we cast off and headed down the estuary, past the moored shrimp boat fleet, the naval base, a tanker and out through the breakwater that forms the narrow harbour entrance.

 

I tried calling  the port captain on the way out to make sure there was no conflicting traffic and give a T.R. (Trip Report), but there was no response. At one point there was some rapid Spanish yabbering on channel 16, I asked the Mexican guys in the wheel house “was that for us?” and they said “No, it was something else”.

 

We spent enough time outside to ascertain the prop pitch and steering were operating as they should, other systems were fine but there was still a leak in the new hydraulic connections and the autopilot didn’t work. Something I won’t be going with out given our crew number.

 

As we re-entered the harbour a military vessel came speeding towards us and after a lot of gesticulating and shouting in Spanish, escorted us to an army pier just inside the entrance.

 

The navy escort that brought us back into the military dock.

 

There we got the third degree including a drug dog search and my having to get the agent down that I had got in touch with the day before (fortunately) with the ships papers etc. After a couple of hours of banter and searching and generally standing around and waving arms, we were allowed to return to the ship yard but I was told to report to the port captains office at 10am the following morning.

 

It transpires they have had a huge drug problem here in Mazatlan. Gun battles in the streets, assassinations, corruption in the police and army and many of the fishing fleet involved in drug running and body dumping. All this has even stopped the cruise ships coming here, something that has hit the local economy heavily in the pocket.  As a result all vessels coming and going from the harbour have to apply for a permit, stop at the military pier at the entrance and get searched and have paper work checked both on the way out and in. Apparently a vessel charging out past the check point and coming back in the way we did was typical behaviour of a vessel dumping weighted bodies!

 

I turned up at the offices of the Puerto Capitane the next day expecting to get a slap on the wrist for not observing local protocol, but no. They started out by letting me know that I was to be fined at least $5,000 USD! They said that if the army had complained they might have seized the boat. Apparently though, the army was more focused on Carol the cook than our indiscretion and weren’t upset at all.

 

I couldn’t believe that the boat yard, knowing we were going and sending support crew, had said nothing about the rules. The agent said “why didn’t you tell me you were going?”, I said “Why would I? We were only going for a spin to test the gear, we weren’t leaving the country, the state or even the town”.

 

It’s now taken 3 days spending 2-3 hours each day in the Port Captains office with my agent as interpreter, to get the fine down to $250US. – paid and behind us, but the lesson is in Mexico, take nothing for granted, get an agent and do nothing with out consulting him.

 

Thought I’d post a couple of photos of my mate here in Mexico. This little guy is a stray dog here in the yard, (about twice the size of a Jack Russell). There are a few of them but this one has made his home on the derelict tanker next to us he is as smart a dog as you can imagine, very independent but has taken a shine to me. Talks to me with little woofs all the time.  I guess he scavenges during the day but I suspect the only thing he’d find to eat round here is rats. There are plenty of them and he is a very efficient ratter – I’ve watched him. Then in the evening he comes aboard the tanker and that’s his territory for the night. He has to climb up the gang plank which just consists of horizontal metal pipes welded to runners, a circus act in itself, then he climbs the ladders and gets himself all over the boat keeping a watch on shore and for rats. Anyway I went and bought a big bag of dog food and some cans of that pedigree casserole so he’s been getting a decent feed every night, while we’re here at least. I’d love to take him with us and find him a home somewhere but it wouldn’t be a smart move.

 

Although he’s the ultimate boat dog, this is his home and here he’ll stay.

 

 

And so it is Sunday 15^th July. We seem to be pretty much set to go with the exception of the autopilot which is still not functioning. I will try and get the electrician down here tomorrow and get he agent onto clearing  us out for an anticipated Tuesday departure. There seems to be a reasonably weather window with no hurricanes around just at the moment. Here’s to it!