Hurry up and wait...

The last several days have been a push....pushing hard to get down to Huatulco to wait for our window in the continual gales to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec.  It's been snorting pretty hard in the Gulf for several days according to all of our weather sources, so we've been timing our transit to reach Huatulco just before the winds subside.

Unfortunately, it's been mostly very light and variable winds heading to Huatulco from Zihuat.  We've squirted a lot of diesel into our engine, with just a few stretches of 5-8 hours at a time of excellent sailing for the 56 hour passage to Puerto Angel, about 25 miles west of Huatulco.

But first, let's get caught up on our time in Zihuatenejo.  This is a great town, and we really lucked out on our timing, as we arrived at the start of their carnival celebration.  Great music, dancing, costumes, and the usual politicians speeches opened the week long hooplah.  We were there for opening night, but sadly had to leave the next day.  Next time, we'll definitely try for the whole week!!! 

Easels set up in the street for kids to paint their own carnival artwork

Kids at the market enjoying another kind of "art".  This was a video arcade, Mexico style, for guys to play video games in the huge Zihuat market!!!

We didn't always understand the skits, but the Brazilian dance troupe spoke a universal language!!!

"Burning Man", Zihuat style!

Not just a tourist town, Zihuatenejo supports a huge fleet of panga fishing boats.

Anchored in a sea of pangas

From Zihuatenejo we headed SE to Puerto Angel, a very pretty little fishing village approximately 320 miles distant.  Although a slow passage wind wise, we did get in some great sailing when the wind would pick up in the afternoons.  Happily we arrived in the tight harbor just before dark, as there weren't a lot of anchoring options due to the panga fleet on moorings all around the bay.  We spent a very rolly night on the anchor, as our anchorage was wide open to the swells rolling in from the Pacific.

 We've been seeing more and more sea turtles as we've worked our way south.  Even heard a "clunk" or two during the night as we bumped a couple of sleepers.  Sorry, guys!!!  Lots of turtles serve as rafts for tired seabirds! 

We're now anchored in Huatulco, the last good anchorage and marina to hang out waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec, on the Mexico/Guatemala border.   This is a roughly 275 mile stretch of water just south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrow (120 mile wide) land bridge separating the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic side from the Pacific Ocean.  (Before the building of the Panama Canal, this bridge was seriously considered for the site of the canal).  Winds can build on the Atlantic side, and roar through the low lying valley of the isthmus, creating gales that can last for several days.  One guidebook, Charlies Charts, describes them: "Violent gales, known as Tehuante-peckers can happen at any time.....Their Force 8 or 9 winds raise treacherous, short, high seas which can be experienced as much as 100 miles offshore...." 

There are around 10 boats heading south waiting to cross the Gulf now.  As you can imagine, there's no end to the strategizing and weather guessing going on.  Conventional wisdom is to "keep one foot on the beach", traveling along the shore in around 30 feet of depth.  The idea is that if the winds come up, you're close enough to keep any waves from developing, as the winds come off the beach.  While this adds around 30 miles to the passage, it's considered a better way to go than straight across.

There are many excellent sources of weather info for the T-peckers, both on-line and via radio.  Obviously we're following closely, along with our neighbors in the anchorage.  Right now it looks like tomorrow morning or possibly Monday will give us the window we need to make the 2 day passage as pleasant as possible.

Today we filled our fuel tanks (via 7 jerry jugs in the dinghy), and we're looking forward to continuing our journey south.  Our next stop will be in Chiapas, (also known as Puerto Madero), still in Mexico, but adjoining the Guatemala border.  We will clear out of Mexico at that point.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!  We just checked online, and Cindi's ham radio callsign was just issued.  Next time you see her, you can call her KF7UPI  !!!

"On the Road Again..."

With Willie Nelson playing in my head, we finally eased 'Bravo' away from the fuel dock in La Cruz, and turned our sights southward.  Although a few weeks later than expected, we're finally heading out for new adventures, pointing our bow toward Central and South America for this next year.  It's been a terrific 1-1/2 years for us in Mexico.  The wildlife and people we've met, and friendships we've made, have surpassed all expectations.  It's this "friendships thing" that's tough to get used to in this cruising lifestyle.  Many of the boats we've come to know over the past months have become good buddies.  Our paths cross in unexpected places, creating a sort of tapestry of interweaving journeys and adventures.  Many of the boats we've become close to are heading out now for the South Pacific...the Pacific Puddle Jump, as it's affectionately known.  On the one hand, it's very tempting to join in the mass exodus from Mexico with the gang, heading off to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia together.  But we've decided to head south first, taking this opportunity to explore central and south America and the Galapagos, something we've always wanted to do.  We look forward to the tapestry growing, as our paths continue to cross with the various boats we've come to enjoy here in Mexico.

La Cruz has been a real whirlwind of activity.  First, Mexican President Calderon is expected next week to speak to a "cocktail party" of 3500 or so, hosted in the parking lot of the marina.  The town has gone through a total transformation in anticipation of his visit...paving nearly the entire town, new streetlights and infrastructure, and general cleanup.  The amount of $$$ that went into the town over the past 3 weeks has been phenomenal...I wish this guy was planning a sail on 'Bravo'!!!!!

The second big event in La Cruz coincides with the visit of the grand poo-bah.....it's called Sailboat Racing!!!  Numerous venues all centered in La Cruz over a 2 week period.  J24 international regatta, with over 60 boats from 9 countries, kite boards, wind surfing, and grand prix ocean race boats, it's really exciting for us racers to see, even those of us on cruising boats.  Mex-Orc, a major race from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta was finishing the day we left.  Very cool to see these beautiful race boats coming in.  Here are a few shots of Loe Real, a 60 foot tri from Texas.  She had a sustained 2 hour run at over 28 knots, and a 400 mile day on the trip down the coast!!!  That's FAST!!!  Here's a bit of boat porn for you multi hull enthusiasts...

Customs came aboard to clear the crew into Mexico.  Ya think they just wanted to check out the cool hardware???

I think Bravo needs a new helm seat!!!

After a last minute flurry of our own projects and chores before heading out (and a fair bit of socializing in the music rich town), we left La Cruz for the passage to Zihuatanejo, around 335 miles.  After a couple of days out, we decided to duck into Barra de Navidad to visit one of our favorite towns, and visit with friends.  Nice to visit the town, and see how well it's recovering after suffering a pretty severe hit from hurricane Jova last summer.  And the street tacos shared with S/V 'Third Day' and S/V 'Just a Minute' were hard to beat!!!!!

Sunrise just before coming off watch.

Blue footed booby rides along for a while.  Do you think our sail bag looks like patio furniture to him???  Yup, thought so!!!

The next morning we headed south to Zihuat.  Most exciting event was breaking a belt on the engine immediately AFTER transiting the channel out of the lagoon.  No worries, as the spare was quickly installed, but if it had happened less than one minute earlier, we would have certainly run aground into the muck on either side of the narrow passage.   Sometimes timing really is everything.  We arrived at Isla Grande, outside Ixtapa last night, arriving after dark after a slow, light air leg.

But it felt really good to be on our way, as we've not yet been this far south aboard 'Bravo'.  Burned a fair amount of diesel, unfortunately!  Refueled this morning, and came into Zihuatenejo Bay.  Pretty little fishing town, surrounded by some serious villas and resorts.

But as architect Robert Stern says, money doesn't buy taste!!!

Leads us to an architectural style quiz:  Which building in the following photo doesn't exactly fit with it's neighbors???  Prize for correct answer!!!  Operators are standing by for your responses!


We'll stay here in Z-town for a couple of days, before continuing on to Huatulco,  about 350 miles south.  There we'll wait for our weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec, known for it's gale force gap winds coming across from the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic.