On November 5th, after a few weeks in El
Salvador, we left Bahia del Sol for the next leg north. Earlier that morning, we cleared out at the customs
and immigration offices on-site and walked to the beach to check out the
breakers in front of the estuary. They
were big and steep, which made us a bit apprehensive, but it was low tide, and
we wouldn’t be leaving until high tide late that afternoon.
On the way into the estuary, we had surfed down several decent
size waves. It wasn’t so bad going with
the waves, but going the opposite direction, it would have been rough. Fortunately, by the time high tide rolled
around at 3 pm and we followed our pilot boat out, the swell had died down
considerably. The waves were around five
feet, but well-spaced and not really breaking, so it was actually less exciting
than coming in. We followed the
instructions from the pilot boat and before we knew it, the sand bar was behind
us, and we set our course for Puerto Madero, Mexico, 250 miles away.
For most of the trip, winds were from the west at 5 knots,
so we motor-sailed with just the main up.
The current was against us, so our speed was slow at 4 knots, but it was
a relatively pleasant passage as most of the nightly thunderstorms missed
us. We neared Puerto Madero early on
November 8th, and the sun rose just was we entered the harbor. Saviah coasted into a slip at Marina Chiapas,
happy to be back in Mexico.
The marina staff was very welcoming and called the Navy, who
arrived an hour later to do their paperwork and quick inspection. We then checked in with the marina office,
where the manager Enrique handled the rest of our clearance paperwork and even drove
us to the airport later that afternoon to complete our immigration
clearance.
Chiapas is the most southern state in Mexico, and Puerto
Madero is a great place to enter the country for northbound vessels. The clearance process is easy, thanks to the
marina’s help, and it is a great spot to wait for weather before tackling a
potentially difficult next leg, which involves crossing the Gulf of
Tehuantepec. The Tehuantepec is known
for its blustery winds and dangerous sea state.
From October to April, the gulf regularly has violent gales, referred to
as Tehuantepecers. These are strong
north winds that blow in from the Gulf of Mexico and funnel through the Chivela
Pass, intensifying as they reach the Pacific.
These strong winds reach hundreds of miles offshore, and create big,
steep seas as they blow over the shallow gulf waters.
We downloaded weather forecasts daily, looking for the next
available window. We debated about doing
some more land travel, as there are many sites to see in Chiapas, including several
large Mayan ruins and some colonial cities that we had heard good things
about. We wanted to head north as soon
as weather permitted, and decided it was better to hang around the boat to be
ready. So we caught up on a few boat
projects and did a lot of provisioning as well.
Although the nearest town is 30 miles away, the marina
manager, Enrique, gave us a ride in during his trip home for lunch just about
every day. There was a Super Walmart in
town, and it had been a long time since we’ve been in a store with so much to
choose from. It was nice to have so many
options for meals again, and we stocked up.
There was also a Home Depot nearby where we made one of our best
purchases ever, a box fan. The heat here
was almost unbearable, and the mosquitoes were really bad at night. Nights aboard Saviah were sweltering until we
mounted the fan in the forward hatch.
Even with all the mosquito netting up, the fan provided a good breeze
through the boat, and it made a world of difference.
After a week in Chiapas, the 50-60 knot winds in the
Tehuantepec died down, and the weather forecast showed a two-day window to
cross in almost flat calm conditions. It
was time to move on, so we checked out with the marina, had our departure
inspection from the Navy, and set off on the 245 mile passage to the Bahias de
Huatulco early on November 16th.
There are two strategies for crossing the gulf, depending on
the weather forecast. One strategy is to
sail a direct course across when you have a solid forecast for at least two
days of calm conditions. The other is
the “one foot on the beach” method, which is the more commonly used strategy
when there is uncertainty about the weather.
This option would have us sail along the 30 foot contour line, except to
clear a few headlands with shoals extending further offshore. By doing this, it increases the mileage, but
if the wind starts to blow you can stay in relatively flat waters. It also means that we would be sailing VERY
close to shore at night, where there are unlit hazards to deal with, especially
fishing nets.
There was still a little uncertainty in the forecast, so we
decided to do a modified one foot on the beach approach. Our course kept us about five miles offshore,
and we monitored the weather continually, ready to alter course for shore at
the first sign of strong winds. Since we
were sailing so close to shore, we were able to get 3G service on our cell
phone and download weather forecasts.
This was a first, and it made the passage a lot less stressful. The winds were benign throughout the passage,
and we had a favorable current for much of the trip as well. We arrived at Bahias de Huatulco earlier than
expected and hove to for five hours until the sky began to lighten.
We decided to stop for fuel and rest and pulled into Marina
Chauhue near Santa Cruz, just as the sun rose.
After a couple days, we were off again for the 355 mile trip to Zihuatanejo. This three-day trip was an easy motor-sail in
light winds, and we again arrived at night and hove-to for about five hours to
wait for the sun to come up.
Years ago, Zihuatanejo was a sleepy fishing village. In the 70’s, the government decided to build
a modern tourist resort town in Ixtapa, about three miles away. Since then, Zihuatanejo has grown rapidly,
and now tourism is by far the largest industry.
It has still managed to keep a traditional small town feel, and is built
around a very well protected bay that is a popular stop for cruisers. We dropped the anchor in front of Playa
Principal, the beach in front of the town center.
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| Zihuatanejo |
We spent several days anchored in the bay and exploring the
town. We walked to the central Mercado
just about every day for fresh veggies. Like
most of these markets, a wide variety of meats hang from hooks in the warm
air. It is hard to imagine getting used
to that smell. There were also
restaurants in the market with really good cheap food, especially the chile
rellenos, which we kept coming back for.
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| Central Mercado |
After five days, we were running low on water and anxious to
do a few projects that required shore power, so we moved up the coast to the
marina at the touristy town of Ixtapa. The
marina there is a little unusual in that there are crocodiles swimming around
the fairways. Several crocodiles swam by
Saviah just about every day, and it was a little nerve-wracking walking up the
docks, just a foot above the water, knowing that these crocs could easily get
up there. However, the only warnings we
received were not to swim in the water.
So far, no incidents with crocs taking people off the docks here like
they do in Australia.
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| Marina Ixtapa, crocodile swimming behind Saviah |
We didn’t care much for Ixtapa, which was just rows of hotels
and shopping centers, but it was a nice place to do some cleaning and small
maintenance jobs. After several days, it
was time for a change of scenery, which we found at Isla Grande, just a few
miles offshore. We motored around to the
north side of the island and dropped the hook.
It was clear water and a sand bottom, so we went for a quick swim and
did some cleaning on the hull and the prop, which was past due. Then we rowed to shore for some lunch before
heading back to the marina that afternoon.
 |
| Isla Grande |
For months, we had been looking forward to a visit from our
friends, who would be arriving that afternoon, so we buttoned up Saviah and
took a cab back into Zihuatanejo. Eric
and Chris flew in from Seattle and Vermont and had rented a nice condo
overlooking the bay for a long weekend. We
spent the next few days hanging out with them and playing tourist.
We did a fishing trip that left early one morning, dragging
lines behind a small fishing boat. We
basically just hung out on the boat taking in the scenery, and they would hand
us the fishing rod if there was a bite.
After a couple hours, we had three tuna, so we stopped for a snorkel,
before our guides took us to a palapa on the beach where they cooked up the
fish for us. We even took turns doing a parasailing trip
back in the bay (all except Andrew).
As always, the time flew by, and we were bidding our friends
goodbye. It was a great long weekend,
and always lifts our spirits to see good friends. With our vacation time over, we shifted focus
to the next leg of our voyage. The
weather along this part of mainland Mexico is generally mild, dominated by the
daily land and sea breezes, so we didn’t have to wait long for a window. In the wee hours of December 10th,
we set off on the 190 mile trip north and spent one uneventful night at sea
before arriving in Manzanillo the next afternoon.
The anchorage here has been a very popular stop for cruisers
over the years, because it is right in front of the large Las Hadas
resort. They have a dinghy dock there
and for years charged only $2 per day to tie up, and you got to use the resort
facilities as well. Unfortunately, they
just increased the price to around $15/day.
We spent the morning walking around town and the afternoon hanging
around the resort pool. One day was
enough for us in Manzanillo, and the next morning we weighed anchor to head
further north.
Our next stop up the coast was Bahia Tenacatita. It was another motorboat ride for all but the
last five miles, which we were able to sail in the 15 knot NW winds. There were six other boats in the anchorage,
and we found a nice spot in 15 feet to anchor.
This was a good place to wait for a weather window for the next hop to
La Cruz, 135 miles away. Although the
weather is generally benign along this coast, the next leg involved rounding
Cabo Corrientes, the point marking the southern end of Bahia de Banderas. Like all prominent high points that extend into
prevailing winds, this cape accelerates the winds and often has confused seas
generated by the strong currents flowing around it. The general rule of thumb is to round these
capes in the early morning hours before sunrise to avoid the rougher conditions
in late afternoon.
Despite growing tired of motoring, we watched the weather
hoping for a window of calm in which to make this transit. We liked the anchorage here, as it was a
quite protected bay with all sorts of marine life in the water. We were starting to get a little anxious to
keep moving though as we had booked flights back to the US for Christmas. After three nights, we had a window that was
less than ideal, but the best we would likely have for the next week, and we decided
to go for it.
If we had known what lay ahead, we probably would have opted
to stay in the anchorage for a few more days.
Conditions started off comfortable with NW winds at 5-8 knots and calm
seas. Nine hours later, the wind
increased to 15-20, gusting 25, with the seas building to 4-6 feet from both
the NW and NE. Saviah bashed along in
the rough short period waves until we finally backed off the throttle a little
to help with the motion. We still had 50
miles to go before we were around Cabo Corrientes, and it was going to be a
long night.
Throughout the night, the winds shifted between NE and NW,
but wind speed stayed at 15-20, gusting 25.
On a downwind course, 4-6 foot seas would be no big deal, but these
mixed up and short period waves made Saviah pound, pitch, and heave in the most
uncomfortable motion we’ve ever experienced. Hand-steering and keeping watch was miserable,
so we switched every hour in an attempt to stay rested. What made it even more frustrating was that
we were only making 2 -3 knots.
Finally we rounded the cape around 7 am, and conditions
gradually moderated until we were motoring in flat calm, having a hard time
even keeping the main full. The last 20
miles across Banderas Bay to La Cruz were sunny and pleasant, no trace of the
nasty conditions from just a few hours earlier.
We saw whale after whale on our way, and breathed a big sigh of relief
as we approached the marina. The last
time we were here was two years and eight months earlier, when we left Mexico
for the sail across the Pacific Ocean.
Since then we have sailed over 28,000 miles, visiting 25 countries along the
way. We tied up in the marina and
celebrated officially completing a circumnavigation.
We arrived in La Cruz almost a week before our flights back
to the US. Our time was spent cleaning
and preparing Saviah for a month long stay in the marina, while we were away. We had lots of laundry to do as well. After our last bash to windward, we found
that most of our clothes in the v-birth were soaked, and it was time to get our
foul weather gear out again and clean off the mold. They would be needed soon as the weather was
getting colder with each passage north.
We also needed to weigh our options for the last leg back to
Seattle. The predominant winds blow from
the northwest, all the way back up the coast.
We wouldn’t want to bash against them, but we could hop slowly up the
coast, waiting for calm conditions before motoring from port to port. This would involve many stops along the way
and very little sailing. On the positive
side, there are many places that we would like to see all along the coast, and
since our plan isn’t to return to Seattle until the beginning of summer, we
would have time to wait for the right weather windows.
The other option would be to sail out to Hawaii and then
northeast to Seattle. This would involve
only two long passages, the first would probably be pleasant, but the second
half would be cold with less predictable weather. It would also be more than double the miles,
although spending a month or two in Hawaii would not be such a bad thing. We would need a new genoa as well for this
option since ours blew out in the Caribbean, and there would be a lot of
downwind miles to Hawaii.
There would be time to research and weigh our options over
the next month as we visited our families back home. On December 23rd, we flew back to
the states, making the usual stops in Texas and New Mexico and enjoyed spending
time with our families again.
We returned to Saviah in mid-January and by that point had
decided to get back to Seattle via a coastal hop rather than going to
Hawaii. With this plan, patience is the
name of the game, waiting for the right window and then being prepared to leave
again when the next one opened. We did
end up finding a genoa when Di ran into Mike at PV Sailing and found that he
had several used sails that would work for Saviah. He gave us a really good price on one, and we
took down our small heavy jib and put up the genoa, hoping we would have the
opportunity to use it on the way back home.
Our next leg was the 290 miles from La Cruz to Cabo San
Lucas, and after waiting for about a week, had a pleasant two day trip with
very light winds and calm seas. We
arrived just in time to tie up the boat, take a quick shower and find a place
to watch the Super Bowl. Go Seahawks!
Our plan was to continue on our way whenever we could, spending
as little time in Cabo as possible.
Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate, and we ended up spending
five days there. We decided to make the
best of it and did a daily hike out to the beautiful beaches and massive rocks
on the point at the south end of the bay.
The snorkeling here is nice, too, but the warm tropical waters are
apparently behind us, because it is now really cold. We braved the frigid water a few times since
it would likely be our last snorkel for a while.
Since there are no anchorages between Cabo and Bahia Magdalena
(commonly known as Mag Bay), we had to tackle the next 175 mile stretch in one
leg. We had read that hugging the coast
for the first day keeps you out of the larger seas, so we planned to give this
a try. The forecast showed two days of calm,
so we set out on February 7th before dawn.
The forecast was right, and we enjoyed a nice trip
motor-sailing in the NW 5 knot winds.
Once we reached Cabo Tosca about 15 miles from the entrance to Mag Bay,
the wind died altogether. Gray whales
and dolphins escorted us the rest of the way in, with even more whales inside
the bay than outside. We dropped the
anchor in about 12 feet, just barely in the lee of Punta Belcher, where there
was one other sailboat.
Shortly after we dropped the hook, the other boat, Bright
Water, hailed us. Nancy invited us over
for drinks, and we gladly accepted. Taking
a shower before going over seemed like the right thing to do, and we found that
the water here is even colder. We will
have to be really desperate before taking another outdoor saltwater shower.
We had a great time chatting with Nancy and Phil, who were
heading south, but had ventured back north to Mag Bay to see the whales
again. As we later learned, these two
had taken their children on a great adventure in the Caribbean, and have
written a book about their travels. We
spent several nights swapping stories, and had a great time hanging out with them.
Mag Bay turned out to be a nice three day stop for us. The bay was filled with gray whales,
breaching all the time, and there was some good walking along the beaches and in
the nearby hills. We were on the other
side of the bay from the small town of Puerto San Carlos, with nothing around
except a small fish camp, so it was quiet.
After three nights in Mag Bay, the forecast showed what
looked like an unusually long period of calm weather. Possibly as many as five days in a row would
begin the following morning. We decided
to make the 20 mile sail to Bahia Santa Maria that afternoon, which is on the
outside of Mag Bay. We spent the night
at anchor there to give us a head start the next morning when the sun came
up. On February 12th we
headed out, hoping to at least make it to Turtle Bay, 260 miles to the
northwest, where we could take on fuel.
There was no wind at all the first day, and the seas died
down until they were nearly flat. With
only slightly more wind the following day, we continued to put more hours on
our engine, but were thankful for the otherwise comfortable conditions. By 8:30 am on February 14th, we
pulled into Turtle Bay to take on fuel.
This is a nice protected anchorage and a good spot to rest and wait for weather,
but the window looked like it would hold for another couple days. So after we filled up our fuel tank, we
headed further north. Bahia San Quintin was 183 miles away, and we
hoped to make it there in 36 hours.
As we left Turtle Bay, gray whales were again our
companions. We saw hundreds of these
massive creatures on our way up the coast.
Apparently there are over 20,000 of them that travel between Alaska and
Baja California Sur. They leave in
October and it takes two to three months to get down to the Baja peninsula,
where the females give birth and nurse in the warmer water, before heading back
north again. The annual round trip is 10
– 14 thousand miles. It is amazing to
see these animals up close, but not too close since they get up to 50 feet
long.
Our course from Turtle Bay took us by Cedros Island as
daylight faded and the full moon rose.
Conditions were calm until we reached the north end of Cedros, and the
winds kicked up to NW 15. It was a rough
ride for most of the night, and by the early morning hours a dense fog rolled
in, reducing our visibility to less than 100 yards. It’s quite unnerving to be sailing blind in
the fog, especially without radar.
Since the person on watch was standing and constantly
looking around, which can be tiring after a while, we started alternating one
hour on and one hour off. Around noon,
the fog cleared and we had a few hours of sunshine, but we could see another massive
fog bank up ahead and knew we were not in the clear yet. This fog enveloped us and was even worse than
before, and we couldn’t get to San Quintin fast enough. The calm weather was forecast to continue for
at least another day, and we wanted to keep going, but the fog was so bad we
could hardly see the bow of the boat.
Finally, around midnight, we started our slow approach to San
Quintin. The bay is quite large with
plenty of room for anchoring, and the approach is clear of hazards. We inched our way forward to the recommended
anchorage, and dropped the hook when our depth got to about 18 feet. It was eerily quiet when we killed the
engine, and we let out a huge sigh of relief to have arrived without incident.
The next morning, we woke early to more fog, and our
discussions turned to the weather. The
forecast looked good for making Ensenada, only 110 miles away, and after that
it would be blowing hard for the next five or six days. A few hours later the fog lifted, and we
could see the shore for the first time, and it was surprising to see how far
out we were. We didn’t like the idea of
making this leg in the fog, but we also didn’t want to be stuck here for
another week, so we decided to keep going.
We motor-sailed along in the 5 knot westerly winds for most
of the day. Around sunset, the fog made
its appearance, but was not as thick as the previous night. This time we saw lights from other boats, for
brief periods of time, and then the fog would become very dense, and they would
disappear again. It was truly terrifying
to proceed in these conditions, knowing there were other boats nearby. We took turns steering and keeping a look out
every hour, by far one of our most stressful watch-keeping nights of the
journey.
Finally around 6 am, the fog began to lift, and visibility
improved. By the time we got to
Ensenada, it was a clear and sunny day. We
entered the harbor and got a slip at the Baja Naval Marina. It was a relief to have the long trip up the Baja
coast behind us. Other than the fog, we
were fairly lucky with the weather. It
only took us 11 days to make the 750 miles from Cabo San Lucas to Ensenada, and
we only had to spend four nights in port to avoid head winds. We weren’t sure how long we would be in
Ensenada, which is only 60 miles from San Diego. This would be our last stop in Mexico and the
place we would clear out of the country.
Our next priority was to have the boat hauled out for bottom
paint and several other projects that needed to be done out of the water. We also had been shopping for boat insurance
for a while. We haven’t had hull coverage
since leaving Seattle because coverage for going offshore made it cost
prohibitive. Since we were now just
coastal hopping up the coast of the US, the quotes we received were reasonable
again. But first we had to have the boat
inspected by a surveyor, something that would need to be done out of the
water.
We were planning on doing all of this in San Diego, but discovered
that it was significantly cheaper across the border in Mexico. We found we liked Ensenada, the boatyard was
very close to downtown, and they had showers at the boatyard, so we could live
aboard. This would save us even more
money, so we decided to haul out here instead.
We were also able to find a surveyor from San Diego that was willing to
drive down for the inspection.
As always, when you haul out, there is some problem that you
don’t foresee. In our case, the cutlass
bearing, was worn down a bit, and we were able to grab the propeller shaft and
move it around a little bit. It wasn’t a
big job to have it replaced, but one downside to doing the work in Mexico is
that it is often difficult to get specialty boat parts. Someone at the boatyard makes the drive up to
San Diego a couple times a week to pick up parts, but this process usually
means more days in the yard. Especially,
when they forget to pick up your part on Thursday and then aren’t going back up
until the next Tuesday.
So we ended up staying a little longer in the yard than we
wanted. It wasn’t too bad though, as we
kept busy working on stuff that had been put off for a while. Andrew did lots of sanding, varnishing, and
polishing, taking advantage of the dry climate and sunshine. It was also time to address some sources of
water intrusion. He took care of patching
a few leaks in the teak decks and rebedded our portlight screws and chainplates
that had also started to leak. The
boatyard had to do all work below the water line, so we had them remove and fiberglass
over three thru hulls that we no longer needed with a single saltwater intake
system that Andrew plumbed. Di cleaned
the interior from top to bottom, and sifted through every cubby to pull out any
items we no longer needed and hoped to sell to other cruisers while in San
Diego. Our survey went well and the only
issues were expired fire extinguishers and flares which we could replace once
we got back to the US. This allowed us
to get insurance again, which was a big relief.
After eight days in the yard, Saviah went back into the water
on March 12th, and we rushed around to the various offices to check
out of the country. That evening, about
an hour before the sun went down, we motored out of the bay and started the 60
mile trip up to San Diego.