Altata

We met up with our new friends and fellow Westsailors James, Deena, and Freddy from Nellie Jo and anchored just outside the channel of Topolobampo for a good night's rest before setting sail together towards Altata. Though the seas were sloppy, we had some favorable winds and made really good time to Altata. We had to hold off for a few hours outside of the entrance to wait for first light before attempting out entrance. Most cruisers don't visit Altata as its entrance is a well known difficulty. The guides don't recommend attempting it in anything but calm weather because of shoaling, breaking waves, and not being well marked. We reached the entrance after a full day and night of sailing, and to pass it up would mean yet another 20 to 24 hours underway before reaching the next possible anchorage--needless to say, we were committed in spite of the high winds. It was quite daunting looking out over a solid line of breaking waves trying to navigate our course. Though we only need about 5 feet of water to stay afloat, we began to question the prudence of our commitment as we watched our depth readings go into single digits. As frequent sailors of the Stockton Delta waters, we are no strangers to going aground--heck, not a week ago we were temporarily stuck while entering the channel to Topolobampo. However, when breaking waves come into the equations, it can be quite dangerous. We managed to make it safely into Altata and were rewarded with a nice anchorage just off the malecón of a small fishing town we quite enjoyed. Altata is known for its shrimping fleet who use colorful spinnaker-rigged pangas to drift sideways dragging their nets down the 13 miles of estuary. Seeing this was part of what drew us to Altata. But the winds that made for a treacherous entrance were significant enough for the Port Captain to close the fishing fleet down for 3 days. No problem waiting it out as there was no way we were going to attempt to navigate our way out until it was calm! This delay allowed us to see why this small fishing town had such an unusually large malecón as we watched the weekend crowds come in from the nearby capital of Culiacan to eat, drink and fiesta! So we rowed ashore, and along with Nellie Jo, joined in the festivities. Once the winds calmed down, and the estuary was re-opened, we pulled up anchor and were rewarded with the spectacular view of the shrimping fleet had come to see. Leaving the shrimpers behind, we once again faced a wall of breakers to exit the channel in spite of the calm winds. With clenched jaws we made it back across into safer waters and bid farewell to James and Deena who needed to make it to Puerto Vallarta to meet some friends so wouldn't be making as many stops along the way with us. Jim and I settled in to another overnight sail towards Mazatlan.