Mexico

THE GOLDEN COAST OF MEXICO

The golden coast is from Cabo Corrientes to Manzanillo. In this area you can sail day trips and anchor by night. This makes it really nice for us while our auto pilot is still on vacation. There are pleasant bays and some really rolling and rough bays to sleep in. We have to take what we can get.

We went ashore in Tenacatita, for the jungle river tour. You can take your own dinghy down the river. It takes about 3 hours round trip. Lots of different birds live in the mangroves. Small crocodiles climb out of the water to sun on the branches. Strange red crabs are everywhere. At the end of the river you reach a beach called Playa Escolleras. All the locales hang out there on the weekends. Carl’s kind of place, lots of palapas, cantinas and cold cerveza.

The anchorages are starting to have other boats in them now, we don’t feel so alone. It’s just nice to be able to talk to other cruisers every now and then. We are planning on stopping in Puerto Vallarta to have the auto pilot worked on. Wish us luck!

ZIHUATANEJO
MEXICO

Zihuatanejo is about 184 miles SE of Manzanillo, 110 miles NW of Acapulco. Well known to cruisers as Z-what or Z-town. This area is a turnaround point for most cruisers that cruise the Mexican coastline. The ones that want to avoid the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the Papagayo winds do not go any further then Z-town.

We arrived late into the season, not many cruisers were around. The surf on the beaches was high at the time. The locals would sit on the beach laughing at the cruisers trying to get to shore in their dinghies. It was like riding a surf board. If you got hit by a wave before you landed on the beach you were doomed. Cruisers were thrown out and dinghies turned over in the water. It was an awful sight some got hurt pretty badly. I’m lucky; Carl can control our dinghy pretty well, when he’s not drunk!

On shore Z-town is a tourists dream, tons of shops and cantinas. In the bay there is a great anchorage. Good snorkeling and scuba diving off Sacramento Reef. It’s a great place to visit, I would return if I get the chance.

I’m not going to write much about Acapulco because we just spent the night there and didn’t go ashore. The fog was real thick and there was a strange smell in the air. So even my pictures didn’t turn out good. It’s real expensive to stay at a marina in Acapulco, so we were going to take a bus back to Acapulco from Z-town to see the divers and see some sights, but it never happened. Maybe next time.

HUATULCO MEXICO
CHAHUE
Huatulco means: Place where the wood is adored. Legends says 2,000 years ago, the apostle St. Thomas floated ashore atop a gnarled tree shaped like a cross, set it into the main beach sand and taught the locals to worship it, and they did for 15 centuries.

We stayed here for a week at Chahue Marina. Bill and Martha from Shadow are here also. Carl worked on the auto pilot day and night, until he hated the sight of the thing. In these small towns in Mexico you can’t just go to a boat store and buy boat parts or even order those in on hopes that they would arrive.

Huatulco has about 15 miles of bays with tiny coves to explore. Cruise ships dock in the middle of Huatulco bay. Anchoring of any other vessels is prohibited. Town is clean and very touristy. Martha and I did a lot of shopping while the men drank Corona at the bar. NO Minimo, minimo here!

Being in Mexico all the stores, banks and Pemex gas station names are very familiar we get the feeling that we are getting closer to home. We feel a since of accomplishment arriving in Mexico, but they are mixed feelings. Do we hurry to get home or do we still stop and smell the roses? We are still filled with a sense of adventure, wanting the moment to go on forever; the sound of the sea rushing under the boat; the feel of the wind on our backs and the spray of the water all around us. We say let’s find some rosés.

GOLFO DE TEHUANTEPEC
PUERTO MADERO MEXICO

We finally got a good enough weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Our plans were to buddy boat with a couple that we met in Panama, Bill and Martha sailing on the Shadow Cat. Heading from Barillas, El Salvador to Huatulco, Mexico. It should take five days to cross the Tehuantepec. We sailed close to each other and talked back and forth on the VHF quite often; we had a great time. Carl and Bill caught lots of fish, Martha caught a few too.

Carl had a feeling that the weather was changing. The Tehuantepec winds are so strong that they can blow a sailboat off course a 100 miles in a blink of an eye. Sailors call the winds the “Tehuana Peckers.” A Mega Yacht approached and passed us by; Carl hailed them on the VHF radio. He asked them for an up-date on the weather. The yacht was very happy to help him out they were also on their way to Huatulco. They told Carl that the weather was changing and we wouldn’t make the crossing going the speed that a sailboat goes. Mega Yachts can go so much faster than us, this was a 150 foot Mega Yacht and they were in a hurry to beat the winds.
This left us no other choice then to stop in Puerto Madero, Mexico to wait for another weather window. Puerto Madero is not a place that cruisers normally stop, because it’s been said that the Port Captain is not friendly to cruisers. He goes out of his way to make things hard for you to check into the country. Martha speaks Spanish; she helped us out a lot. The Mexican Navy was waiting when we anchored our boats. They boarded each sailboat, we were second. The Navy boat was about 20 foot long with six men and a dog aboard. Only two men and the dog came aboard our boat. The men only spoke Spanish. I showed them our boat paperwork and answered his questions with my poor Spanish and hand signals. The men were very friendly. Carl showed the guy and the dog around with no problems. When they were done they left and waved good bye. Next we had to go to the Port Captains office, we found that they had a new Port Captain and he was really nice even spoke a little English. I guess that we lucked out the only problem we had was that we had to get a taxi to take us to the airport to go to immigration, then take a bus to a bank to pay their fees then back to the Port Captain to show him our receipts. Other ports make it a lot easier for cruisers to check into the Countries and don’t have dogs and the Navy board your boats.

It was really nice being with Bill and Martha; she spoke her Spanish and I spoke my English helping each other say things right in the opposite language. Martha is from Columbia she tried so hard to get us the best deals on everything by saying “minimo,minimo, quanto”. She always gets it “cheaper” she would say. We got to be really close friends. She loves animals, when she saw a stray she had to stop and help out everyone that she saw. Buying food giving them water even meds if they were hurt or had ticks. She would always say “I feel sorry for the babies.” Bill was a good friend to Carl teaching him how to fish, helping him make hand lines to fish with. Bill always offered advice about fishing and boating. People are what cruising is all about. The various types and characters make up just how much a particular place is either enjoyed, or not. Cruisers are an odd lot. We travel for the sake of travel itself. We wander the face of the earth in search, not for a better place, but for a new adventure, a look at something we haven’t seen before.

We ended up waiting three days for another weather window, seeing other cruisers stop in the bay to get out of the winds just as we did.
After the check-in process was finished, Puerto Madero was a nice place to visit. The locals were really nice and the town was big enough to shop for food, fuel and get everything we needed.
When we got underway again the Gulf of Tehuantepec was very calm we made the rest of the way through without any weather problems. The last night of the crossing our auto pilot besides he wanted to take a permanent vacation and just quit steering for us. Any cruiser out there understands how much we need auto pilot! Auto is a much needed crew member. Now our watches went to two on two off all night long. With auto you can read go to the bathroom walk around without your stuck at the wheel your whole shift. What a drag.

GOLFO DE TEHUANTEPEC
PUERTO MADERO MEXICO

We finally got a good enough weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Our plans were to buddy boat with a couple that we met in Panama, Bill and Martha sailing on the Shadow Cat. Heading from Barillas, El Salvador to Huatulco, Mexico. It should take five days to cross the Tehuantepec. We sailed close to each other and talked back and forth on the VHF quite often; we had a great time. Carl and Bill caught lots of fish, Martha caught a few too.

Carl had a feeling that the weather was changing. The Tehuantepec winds are so strong that they can blow a sailboat off course a 100 miles in a blink of an eye. Sailors call the winds the “Tehuana Peckers.” A Mega Yacht approached and passed us by; Carl hailed them on the VHF radio. He asked them for an up-date on the weather. The yacht was very happy to help him out they were also on their way to Huatulco. They told Carl that the weather was changing and we wouldn’t make the crossing going the speed that a sailboat goes. Mega Yachts can go so much faster than us, this was a 150 foot Mega Yacht and they were in a hurry to beat the winds.
This left us no other choice then to stop in Puerto Madero, Mexico to wait for another weather window. Puerto Madero is not a place that cruisers normally stop, because it’s been said that the Port Captain is not friendly to cruisers. He goes out of his way to make things hard for you to check into the country. Martha speaks Spanish; she helped us out a lot. The Mexican Navy was waiting when we anchored our boats. They boarded each sailboat, we were second. The Navy boat was about 20 foot long with six men and a dog aboard. Only two men and the dog came aboard our boat. The men only spoke Spanish. I showed them our boat paperwork and answered his questions with my poor Spanish and hand signals. The men were very friendly. Carl showed the guy and the dog around with no problems. When they were done they left and waved good bye. Next we had to go to the Port Captains office, we found that they had a new Port Captain and he was really nice even spoke a little English. I guess that we lucked out the only problem we had was that we had to get a taxi to take us to the airport to go to immigration, then take a bus to a bank to pay their fees then back to the Port Captain to show him our receipts. Other ports make it a lot easier for cruisers to check into the Countries and don’t have dogs and the Navy board your boats.

It was really nice being with Bill and Martha; she spoke her Spanish and I spoke my English helping each other say things right in the opposite language. Martha is from Columbia she tried so hard to get us the best deals on everything by saying “minimo,minimo, quanto”. She always gets it “cheaper” she would say. We got to be really close friends. She loves animals, when she saw a stray she had to stop and help out everyone that she saw. Buying food giving them water even meds if they were hurt or had ticks. She would always say “I feel sorry for the babies.” Bill was a good friend to Carl teaching him how to fish, helping him make hand lines to fish with. Bill always offered advice about fishing and boating. People are what cruising is all about. The various types and characters make up just how much a particular place is either enjoyed, or not. Cruisers are an odd lot. We travel for the sake of travel itself. We wander the face of the earth in search, not for a better place, but for a new adventure, a look at something we haven’t seen before.

We ended up waiting three days for another weather window, seeing other cruisers stop in the bay to get out of the winds just as we did.
After the check-in process was finished, Puerto Madero was a nice place to visit. The locals were really nice and the town was big enough to shop for food, fuel and get everything we needed.
When we got underway again the Gulf of Tehuantepec was very calm we made the rest of the way through without any weather problems. The last night of the crossing our auto pilot besides he wanted to take a permanent vacation and just quit steering for us. Any cruiser out there understands how much we need auto pilot! Auto is a much needed crew member. Now our watches went to two on two off all night long. With auto you can read go to the bathroom walk around without your stuck at the wheel your whole shift. What a drag.

El Salvador

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and has the third largest economy, but growth has been minimal in the last few years. Over 6.9 million live in El Salvador and almost 1\3 rd of the population is younger than 15. Many of the people appear European due to the brutal repression of indigenous people many years ago and the lack of Afro-Caribbean influence. Despite their past and the wars, most travelers find Salvadorans are the best part of their visit. They are hard working and very proud of their country’s parks, volcanoes and beaches. El Salvador’s currency is in US dollars. El Salvador’s national food is the fresh pupusas. They are made of masa balls filled with beans, cheese, chicken, pork, or fish then carefully shaped into a tortilla and grilled then served with tomato sauce and cabbage. They were great and only cost about .30 cents each.

We stayed at Barillas Marina in a protected lagoon. Approaching the entrance we had to call ahead to let the Marina know that we were coming, because they have to send out a pilot to guide your boat safely through the 10 mile long channel. We took the marinas bus into San Salvador to go to the market and to a grocery store. The market was overwhelming at first very 3rd world, a little dirty and very crowded. The people were all very nice and appreciated our business. The grocery store was nicely equipped but inside they had 5ft speakers playing real loud music down every other isle.

The next day we had a guard walk us to these locals house that the man has about 50 monkeys living in the trees on his property. He calls out the friendly monkeys names and they come down to meet you, for a piece of banana of course. They were so cute. Most of the cruisers come to visit the monkeys and bring the family food or some clothing because they live so far away from town. It was a real nice experience.

At the marina we net up with two cruisers that we met before in Panama and were heading north also. In this part of Central America when heading north to Mexico we have to watch out for the Tehuantepec winds. People have to wait for a good weather window to pass the Tehuantepec. We now have a good window for the next week or so so we will be leaving for Mexico April 2nd 2009.

NICARAGUA

Spanish is the language spoken here and the currency is the Cordoba, the exchange rate is about 20 to one US dollar. This makes it very affordable to stay for awhile. The people are really friendly and you feel really safe. Nicaragua has more population on the west coast than on the Caribbean side of the country. There is a lot of untouched land here. Heading from Costa Rica we met up with the well known Papagallo winds. They sneak up on you while you’re sailing along doing about 10 to 15 knots. Along come the Papagallo winds hitting you from the north at about 30+ knots all at once. So we had to motor most of the way and keep the sails reefed in. No sailing at night!

Our first port of entry was San Juan del Sur. The bay was always getting the Papagallo wind going through it so it was really hard to take your dinghy to shore without getting really wet. When we entered the bay we noticed a familiar sailboat anchored in the bay. Viking Heart, the rope handlers that we had through the canal, Les & Lea are crewing for Viking Heart. A great reunion it was, we toured the town together. This part of our trip is really lonely most of all the cruisers are heading to Panama. Seeing Les & Lea was really a great treat.
San Juan del Sur is a small Surf town. Lots of young Americans were all over the place, backpackers staying in the hostels having a great time. The streets were dirt or cobblestone. Property is still affordable here. The new government is stable no wars since the 80’s. I really enjoyed our stay and would come back to San Juan del Sur.

The next few stops in Nicaragua were just to sleep, sometimes that was even hard because of the Papagallo wind. We picked Puesta del Sol to exit Nicaragua. There is a nice little Marina called Marina Puesta del Sol. We stayed a few nights at the marina to get some sleep use the Internet and do some laundry. We had to wash the boat because there was so much ocean salt all over with dried in dirt the winds blew in. The marina was real small I think there were only about 10 boats there all together. The ones that were traveling were all going south. The Resort is truly beautiful and the people were great.

Our next stop will be El Salvador it will take us about two days to get there from here. We have decided not to go into Guatemala because they charge too much to enter the country and they mostly cater to the mega yachts. Then we will head toward Mexico.