Getting on the ferry to Mazatlan

Saturday February 9…11:00pm

Packed up at Tecolote and drove the 10 minutes to the ferry port at Pichilingue. It was funny because we got to the ferry terminal entrance way right at 10:00am which is when they opened, so got to drive right past all the trucks who had showed up overnight and were parked waiting to get in.


We actually didn’t intend on jumping to the front of the line, it just happened that way when we drove in at exactly the right time. We were directed to the scales where we could be measured and weighed. They weren’t concerned about our weight for the ticket price, but if we were over 10 metres long they would have charged extra. Turns out we were just under, so it’s a good thing we took the bikes off.

Then the waiting began. The boat was scheduled to leave at 4pm, so we knew we had a few hours to kill. The boat was sitting empty, so Malcolm and I asked one of the workers sitting on the ramp to the boat if we could look around. This is mainly a trucking ferry, so they don’t have the typical tourists to deal with, so the guy said it was okay to go aboard. Keep in mind that most of this communication takes place in the form of sign language combined with the odd word of Spanish from us, and the odd word of English from the person we’re trying to communicate with. It’s really fun, actually. Anyhow, we found out that if we got on the top deack of the ferry that they would have electricity for us to plug into, so Steve made sure to mention this to the guy when loading time began.

Our ferry

The larger trucks loaded alternately with smaller vehicles…the big ones on the lower deck and then the smaller ones drive onto an elevator ramp that then lifts the entire vehicle up to the top deck. We watched this happen for hours, with the boat getting more and more full. Eventually, it got past 3pm and we still were sat outside, but then the loading guy came over and spoke to us in quite good English and it turned out he had save the last two spots for us on the top deck so that we would have the most room and be able to have electric, and be able to get off the boat fairly quickly the next day. The only drawback to what he had done was that we were placed very close to the engine exhaust stacks and it was pretty noisy. The boat left at about 4:10pm.

Sherman on the ferry elevator

Parked up on the upper deck and plugged into electricity for the night

Up on deck with a beer in hand saying goodbye to the Baja 

View of the beach at Tecolote where we were camped

We had been given two meal tickets…one dinner each, and one breakfast each. Keep in mind, this is NOT a tourist ship…there was one car on the boat, one white pickup truck, and the rest were all transport trucks and smaller trucks. Anyhow, dinner consisted of a type of beef stew, with a side plate of refried beans, rice, and flour tortillas. It was okay…not the best, but it filled the stomach.

Steve with his dinner

The ladies had showers on board that evening, and Ruth did Glen’s hair on the deck of the ship. I think some of the truck drivers got a laugh out of that…I know we did.

Ruth cutting Glen's hair on the ship deck!

Poor Whiskey is not enjoying the boat ride so far. She last went pee around 4pm just before boarding the ship, and she doesn’t like walking on the deck of the boat and doesn’t seem to want to find anywhere comfortable to go pee now. We’ll see how the rest of the night goes….

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV… 116…

February Fuel $ 30.00

February Grocery $ 61.31

February Overnight Costs $ 0