We left Acapulco the morning, Tuesday March 17, for a 48 hour sail to our next stop, Hualtuco. Along the way the sealife was active. We encountered many turtles, flying rays, rays sleeping on the surface with their fins upright in the air, and many flying fish which are always fun to watch. As the sun set, dark clouds began to form and we saw flashes of lightening in the distance. This was our first experience being near lightning on our boat. Lightning strikes on sailboats are dangerous, often targeting the mast, which acts as a natural lightning rod. We managed to stay in ahead of the storm the entire night. Whew!
It was a nice surprise when we arrived at Hualtuco. Hualtuco has a beautiful bay with sparkling clear water and the quaint town of Santa Cruz in the background. This town is a hub for cruise ships, pristine beaches, and great snorkeling. We took several passes across the narrow anchorage to find a suitable place to set our anchors (because of the wind and swell we needed to set both the bow and stern anchors to reduce the rolling). The designated anchorage is bordering a coral reef. To protect the reef we want to avoid dropping our anchor on the coral. Because of our deep draft (7.5 ft) we also need to be aware of the tides.
Once on shore, we met so many friendly vacationers mostly from Canada and Europe. People are always inquisitive when they see us arrive on an ocean beach in a dinghy. They ask lots of questions and when they hear our story of sailing from Seattle, they immediately comment we are very brave and a little crazy. There’s definately some truth to the crazy part 🙂 There is a boat in the anchorage here from Chicago which is a surprise because we don’t meet many Americans in these smaller towns.
We are noticing as we travel South the food choices are changing. We were excited to find Italian and Asian Fusion restaurants here near the beach. A nice change from Mexican food. Although we never get tired of tacos la pastor. Tacos la pastor is a popular Mexican dish of marinated pork, cooked on a vertical spit (trompo) and served in tacos with pineapple, onion, and cilantro. Yum! We are also starting to see grasshoppers on the menu and lots of coffee, chocolate, and unusual looking fruits.
Cruising in Mexico requires us to check in and out of ports with the Mexican Navy. Sometimes this is just a fomality but here in Huatulco the next port is 200 nm away and the weather can be fierce. So the officials actually care when we plan to leave. Today Kevin had to explain that we were aware the weather was bad for a few days and our departure date allowed us to be flexible. Kevin showed them his weather app and told them that he didn’t want to travel during bad weather either… “No quiero a viajar en tiempo malo”. Finally they agreed to stamp our departure form so we could be on our way. Sigh.
We moved yesterday, March 30, to an anchorage a few miles away while we wait on weather. This anchorage has a nice sandy beach but no palapas. Its a popular snorkeling site so lots of pangas bring people in and out of the bay during the day. It’s approaching Easter which is a big holiday for the Mexican people. Many of them are vacationing near the beaches which are making them busier than usual.
We are waiting on a weather window where we can get 3 good days to cross to Chiapas. Chiapas is on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. We are almost out of Mexico. Huatulco is immediately NW of the Golfo de Tehuantepec. If you look at a weather app like windy.com you may see strong winds crossing this area, the narrowest part of Mexico from the Carribean. There’s no good shelter inside the Gulf so it’s a 225 nm run to get to Chiapas (and a marina). Needless to say, we don’t want to be caught out in dangerous winds. A daily morning routine is to check the best weather apps we have for a forecast.
We have a weekly Monday morning call with a group called the Ocean Possee. One of the topics we discuss is weather. It looks like we will have good weather and calmer seas Wednesday thru Friday this week. We plan to leave either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning for our 3-day journey South.
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