Monday, January 26, 2015

Crossing the Tehuantepec

Crossing the Tehuantepec 


0800 I made a couple of egg salad sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit salad and portioned out the chili so we had ready to go meals for the next 3 days.

0900 anchor is up and we are underway.

1120: dropped the hook at Playa Tagalunda. David wanted to check the forecast one last time so we needed to be in a place where we could get on the computer. Things look good for the next three and a half days. Four other boats have also decided to do the crossing so we have a convoy! Confidence, Marova, Sea Swift, Elizabeth Jean  and Meridian.

We had some time to kill as we wanted to time our actual crossing for daylight hours the next day. So I jumped in the water and swam to the buoy line and back and then cleaned the water line of the boat. David has already eaten one of the sandwiches! We both had showers on deck and are ready to go. 

As you can see from the pictures - this beach is the one with the upscale hotels on it. 



The nice thing about Huatulco is that the beaches range from natural to high end and everything in between. Out of the nine bays we managed to anchor in 5 of them. La India was by far the best for swimming, clarity and fish.

1328: anchor up. Seas are lumpy. Steering a course of 100* at a speed of 4.7. Winds are on the nose at 5-7 knots.  We can see Marova coming out of Bahia Chiapas. Sea Swift is at the dock getting fuel and will be departing soon.

So before I go any further I think it is time to describe the Tehuantepec. This will give you an idea as to why crossing it is such a big deal for sailors. But before I get into it I must let you know that we have crossed it with ease, in fact it was almost anticlimactic as we motored for most of the crossing. And we are sitting comfortably in a marina on the other side. 

The Tehuantepec winds funnel through a 100 mile gap in the Southern section of the Sierra Madre mountain range. 



These winds start in the Gulf of Mexico and funnel across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec through the Chivela Pass. During the winter months the trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico along with the cool air from Central America blast across the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Think of the shape of a megaphone, narrow at one end and wide at the other. As the funnel gets wider, the winds get stronger and the seas get higher extending 100 miles out to sea in a NNE to SSW direction. 


Above is an example of a Grib file used for forecasting. The more flags on the arrow, the stronger the wind. This is what it looked like last week and the reason why we did not cross then. The little white box states the wind speed at 45 knots and the seas at 6.2. And they say you can add 15 knots to that to get the real picture.

The winds can last several days and reach gale to storm force. Historically the worst time to cross is December/January. What month is this? So this time of year weather forecasting becomes really important. Mother Nature decides when you leave. Trying to keep to a timeline will only get you in trouble.

Because the driver is the wind in the Gulf of Mexico you keep your eye open for a wind blowing from the northerly quadrant in Bahia de Campeche. This will be characterized by a high in Texas or the Gulf of Mexico.

They had just finished blowing for the last 10 days with only a short decline for a day or so in the middle. This was an especially long period for this time of year. The winds blew over 45 knots and seas got to 20 feet every 5-6 seconds.

The forecast is predicting a 3 and a half day lull with conditions good until Friday evening. The forecast was talking about a low developing in Texas. The crossing should take about two full days - 48 hours. So 5 boats decided to head across.

Now all cruising books will tell you to keep one foot on the beach (2-3 miles from the shore) in order to stay in the lee of the land. If the winds do pick up and have been known to do so quite uuexpectantly, then you can anchor close to shore and wait it out. Running a rhumb line 
( straight line between Huatulco and Chiapas) will save you about 30 miles and roughly 8 hours but it is not recommended. You are exposed to a larger portion of the funnel and no place to find refuge.

We decided to rhumb line it! Why? There was consensus among all five boats for the following reasons:
- good sea conditions
- light favorable winds
- large weather window for this time of year
- would miss the fishing active and long line nets along the shoreline
- less marine traffic in general

I was a bit apprehensive but I have to have faith in my captain. 3 of the 5 captains have a lot of experience so I had to trust their judgement.

Now I will get back to the crossing!

1412: big turtle, loggerhead, green or leatherback.

1423: Call from Sea Swift. Barry and Armon have left Chiapas

1441: lots of Rays jumping around. They are quite acrobatic with about a 2 foot wing span.

1500: I can just make out Sea Swift on the horizon. Marova is pulling ahead of us. The swell is getting a bit bigger and the seas are getting lumpier. But this boat is so solid that you can hardly feel the lumps. How comfortable is it? Well David is sleeping and I am reading a book!

1629: another turtle. Seas are starting to calm down. Marova has really picked up speed and is slowly moving out of site. They are having some issues with their auto helm which means they could be hand steering all the way across. Could be a reason for them to pick up speed. 22 miles out. 198 to go!



1658: Captain is up. A lonely dolphin has come over to say hello. You must bear with me. When you are on watch for 3 hours and are surrounded by blue water and blue sky and no land in site it becomes a pretty big event when you see something - thus making it noteworthy!

1705: I no sooner got the last entry written when I looked up to witness a site that really was noteworthy. I guess the lonely dolphin called over his friends because we were now surrounded by about 50 of them. And these were large Dolphins, as large as 6 feet long. They started racing with Confidence and you could see six to ten of them at any given time directly under the bowsprit! Some of them were jumping out of the water - so close that they were getting me wet with the splash. It was like watching an episode of National geographic live! This show must have gone on for over an hour!

1840: the wind was starting to pick up so I decided to roll out the Genoa and motor sail. I decided against pulling back on the throttle to see what my speed would be without the motor. But I knew that if I did that David would wake up. I only had another hour on my watch so I chose to motor sail at a respectable 5.8 knots. The winds were from the SE which is unusual for this time of year but at least we had some wind.

2000: captain was up and I heated the chili for dinner. And then I went to bed.

2030: a lot of phosphorescence in the water tonight. Dozens of Dolphins "torpedoes" streaking towards the boat.

2100: radio check- in across the fleet. All is well. Everyone is anticipating northerly winds after midnight. We will see.....

2400: I am up for my watch. The wind has shifted so we moved the preventer to starboard and rolled in the Genoa. The wind was now due East on our nose. Now I know this may sound weird - you might expect that we should be heading south. Look at an atlas!

Radio check- in. It is very comforting to hear Barry's voice across the waters. He is 1.7 nm aft and we can clearly see his running lights. We can hear Marova but he is unable to pick us up on the radio. He is over the horizon and is no longer visible.We can pick up Meridian and can also see his lights about 3 miles ahead, just off the starboard side.
Elizabeth Jean is a little closer to the beach.

Ursa Major is abeam on our port side. Orion is aft on our starboard quarter. Jupiter is directly above. Polaris is aft on our port side.

Time for tea and Oreo cookies!

0101: Shooting star

0157: I have lost the smell of the land. We are approximately 30 miles off shore abeam of Santiago Astrada

0245: Genoa unfurled. Cruising at 5.5 knots. Winds NE at 8 knots

0300: check- in with the fleet. It is nice having this check-in. First of all it means someone to talk to! It helps to break up the watch though I believe that David and I take longer watches then anyone. A couple of dolphins jumped beside the boat to say hello.

0430: BA is down and the motor is off. Finally we re sailing! 5 knots

 0600: radio check- in and all is good. Marova solved their auto helm issue. Barry also had some transmission problems but managed to do a temporary fix.

0800: position is 15*22.5 N 94*44.7W
47 miles offshore

0900: Captain is taking a nap but not before he makes me a wonderful cup of coffee. That is one thing about Mexico -no end to really really good coffee! Fruit salad and egg salad sandwich for breakfast. And yes, we are still sailing!

0915: I crossed over to the starboard side of Sea Swift. Course 100* 4.5 to 6.5 knots

0945: turtle

1012: 110 nm At the halfway mark! I could make out another sailboat heading west.

1200: noon position 15*17.5N 94*24 W Wind is starting to die. 3 knots

1230: We had a visit from a very curious whale - looked like a juvenile humpback but still as long as the boat! He came beside us a couple of times and just hung around behind us. David is hoping that he doesn't want to become too amorous with Confidence! This time I even got a picture!


The blue thing in the picture is our awning. Let's you know just how close he was to our boat. At one point he was even closer!

1300: David noticed that the shackle on the Genoa was hanging down. The pin had worked its way out. He got the container out and luck was on our side this time as he was able to find a replacement pin - the correct size. This time he put an extra electrical tie on it so it couldn't back off.

Speed down at 2 knots so we started the motor and rolled in the Genoa. I decided to whip up some Hot and Sour soup for lunch.

1634: we are seeing a lot of turtles again. Also a large school of fish and lots of Rays jumping out of the water. Too far away for pictures but pretty clear with the binoculars.

1700 BA tries to lay down. Just got to sleep when I was woken by voices and no motion with the boat.
David was doing a radio check when he noticed a panga approaching at a rapid speed. He had picked up a long line with baited hooks on the lower bob stay fitting. Immediately put the boat in neutral. He was able to unhook it with the boat hook and it sunk below the boat. Whew! The fisherman told him that he should be clear for the rest of the crossing.

You really do not expect to see a panga fishing 60 miles offshore but I guess they were taking advantage of the weather window also!

1900: Hot and Sour soup for dinner. Time to try and get some more sleep.

1935: moon rise. Orange sliver of a moon which Venus close by!

2100: radio check- in. Elizabeth Jean also picked up a long line but were able to back off on it and carry on

2123: shooting star. It is a clear and starry night. Moon has already gone to bed but the starts are so bright that you can still make out the horizon quite clearly. We are picking up a bit of wind but not enough to sail and we are fighting a 1 knot current.

2200-0200 David took over the watch.

0600 check-in and all is good. David is sleeping well so I have decided to let him sleep til he wakes up on his own. I am feeling remarkably well and want to finish my book! Guess it's all those years on the night shift!

0641: The sun has risen and the world is waking up. There is a short chop. Winds are less then 5 knots from the SW

I am thinking of one of BA's famous skillet scrambles for breakfast!

0700: several Dolphins have arrived to greet the day and play in the bow wake.  39 miles to go" and I can smell land again.

0722: Captain finally rises

0735: unfurled the Genoa. Light NW'ly  We still have a 1 knot current against us.

0900: Meridian ahead of us with an ETA at the marina of 1200. Mirova's ETA is 1300. Confidence is 1519. Sea Swift is 1730. Elizabeth Jean still has 40 nm to go as they hugged the beach til the 16* before rhumb lining it.

0915: watermarker on. First taste test was good.

1045: large naval vessel just barely visible on the port side.

1130: seas uncharacteristically calm. Shrimper on the port side. Which means fresh shrimp in Chiapas!
You can see how calm the seas are!



Puerto Mederes - just before the marina and site for the cruise ship and shrimpers and tuna boats


1500: Entrance to the marina




1519: lines secured at Marina Chiapas! Very impressive Marina. The marina manager and staff were on the dock to receive our lines. The port captain and immigration officers were contacted and came to the marina to check all of us in. We were boarded for the first time - complete with dog. We were told that they have a dog for sniffing dope that they use on boats heading north and a dog for sniffing money ( money laundering) for those heading south. Do not know how true that it. And of course two guys with guns - one on the dock and one on the bow. But everyone was very friendly and the process was very efficient.

We were all commenting how anticlimactic the crossing was after all the angst we were feeling getting ready for the crossing. There was an 85 foot boat in the marina that crossed a couple of days before us - he was on a schedule and did not wait for the weather window. The winds were over 50 knots, he did an accidental gibe (winds changed direction and boom came flying across). Boom was bent, mainsail was torn and one of the winches was sheered off. They figure over $100,000 in damage. So all of a sudden we were all very happy with our anticlimactic Tehuantepec crossing! We are happy to leave the wild stories for someone else! 

Celebratory dinner at the fine palapa restaurant at the marina.


We did it!








 


Sunday, January 25, 2015

Huatulco Part Twp

Huatulco Part Two

02-Jan-15 to 19-Jan-15

The next two and a half weeks were spent at the marina socializing, swimming at the Marina Park Hotel, swimming at Playa Santa Cruz, provisioning and getting the boat ready for the next part of the adventure.



It was nice to have friends in the marina. Al and Sandie on Marova (Vancouver) and Barry and Armon on Sea Swift (Seattle area). Then there were our new friends, Chris and Gerry on Misty Michael (Nanaimo), 




Jim and Linda on Liebling (Everette), Dominique, Heinz and Margarite on Meridian (California) and Jan and Ramona on Jatimo. That made for lot of socializing and story swapping.

We went to a great Blues concert on the beach with Barry and Armon. David Rotunda is from Montreal and puts on this benefit concert every year to help raise money for a centre in town that supports physically and mentally challenged children. This year he was backed up by several musicians from around the world - Spain, Argentina, Toronto and Los Angeles. The money that they made from the concert alone pays for one third of the operating cost of the centre which is not very much money at all. The music was a mixture of Blues and Rock and Roll and it was fantastic.

We also went on a roadside adventure with Al and Sandie to Cascadia Majica. We rented a car as the guys figured that we could cut the costs in half. Myself - I was pushing for the guided tour as we really did not know where we were going. I lost. Let's just say that a high clearance 4X4 would have been a better choice. We passed through several mountain passes and quaint villages and then finally descended down to the river bottom ( not literally). It is a good thing that David is such a good off road driver as we were on less than perfect roads. It's all the experience that he gained driving around the country in Napal.
David was more concerned about driving back out as the roads had many ruts, loose sand and our tires had little tread. 

When we got to one of the four waterfalls we were directed to the "reception" area by some guy walking through the jungle with a machete! There was nothing official looking about this place, just a girl sitting there asking us to pay 400 pesos in order visit the falls. Her English was non existent and David could not understand her explanation of what the 400 pesos was for. Al and David were able to barter her down to 240 pesos which makes one wonder if we were being scammed. But then we saw two tour vans, got directions to the falls, were told that the money was a park fee and carried on, this time on foot.

So we followed the river for about 15 minutes and came out to this ....



It did not take any of us very long to get into the water. 



And it was glorious. The water was crystal clear, with a combination of sand and limestone. The best was swinging on the rope swing into the large pool of water beneath the falls.



 Sandie and I were in no rush to get out of the water so the boys went on ahead to see if they could find the second cascade. So here we are, two women, in the middle of the jungle, clad in bathing suits, alone! Did we feel safe? Absolutely!!

Upon their return, we were urged to get out of the water and follow them further up the path. We had to pass through two arches in the Rock 



and then voila! Cascade number two. 





The limestone rocks were not slippery and we proceeded to walk across a part of the falls with a bamboo railing for support. 



We ended up at one of natures own natural infinity pools inside a cave. There were no bugs or slime or crawly things - just cool, clear water. It made the entire two hour drive worth it.





After we left my skin felt as if it had just had a spa treatment. Oh to swim in fresh water again!

We made it back to the highway without incident all due to David's excellent driving. But he was really ready for a cerveza by then!

When we got back to the boat we found out that our alternator would not be shipped from the factory until the 21 st of January. That meant that we would not receive it until the end of the month. There was a nice weather window coming up, for crossing the Tehuantepac so we started thinking of a Plan B.

Plan B involved having the parts sent to Chiapas instead. We could get hauled out there and do some of the installations on the hard. It is also time to have the bottom painted. Also haul out fees are really low in Chiapas - so the money we would save there could go towards the parts order.

We also asked David's sister to mail our interact cards to Chiapas. Oh right, I did not tell you that story! So pay attention you world travelers!

The interact machines could no longer read my card. And David's was intermittent. We were not sure of the activation process so I emailed my Financial adviser ( as she told me to contact her anytime we had a problem) and asked her to arrange new cards for both of us. Her instructions to make sure that David's original card was not inactivated until he got the replacement and to send them out by FedEx. We offered to pay the shipping fee - they could simply take it out of our account. Problem was, this was not her area of expertise and our instructions were not possible. Rather than consult with us the bank just sent out new cards via Canada Post to Mexico! and inactivated David's card. So we have no way of getting cash out of our account! After several more emails and delays I finally called card services myself. It seems that the bank does not deal with FedEx or UPS - just Canada Post. In this day and age of world travel I found this hard to believe. I informed them that regular post to Mexico could take up to 2 months at which time we would not be there any more. So they had to cancel those cards and send new cards to our Victoria address. Then we have to get David's sister to FedEx them to us. The cards still haven't even made it to the Victoria address yet! We are hoping that she will send them out by Monday or Tuesday. Good thing we were planning on staying here for a couple of weeks! 

And Good thing our Visa is paid off every month. So we transferred a credit onto the Visa and are able to take cash out without paying interest. We do have a TD account that we could use in a pinch - something to keep in mind when you are traveling, for sure. Till then we are using our Visa as much as possible and holding onto those precious pesos for those places that do not take Visa ( and there are a lot of them)

So Monday we fueled up. Hours on the motor are now 3049.8. We took on 270 liters for $4020 pesos. Not bad as the last time we filled up was back in La Paz.

We left the dock at 1300 hrs. Our plan was to go to a couple of the other anchorages while the other boats got ready for the crossing.

1340 Abeam of Santa Cruise where we got a look at the Stattendam Cruise ship in port.



1630 anchored in 14 feet of beautiful clear water in Bahia La India.




Snorkeling gear on and David and I went looking for fish. And boy did we find them. Huge schools of them. I was hoping to use my GoPro but it was too late in the day and the camera could not pick up the fish. 

Back on the boat for a wonderful dinner of a variation of Osso Bucco - small beef short ribs instead of veal shanks - garlic mashed potatoes and peas. Yes - peas! The captain was in heaven. And lots of leftovers for another day.

The anchorage stayed calm all night so we had a good night sleep in preparation for our 220 nm crossing.

David securing the ladder for our departure.







Friday, January 9, 2015

Oaxaca and Felix Ano Nuevo

Oaxaca City



Oaxaca state has one of the largest Indian populations, along with Chiapas in Mexico. This includes the Zapotec and the Mixtec Indians.
So many people have told us that we must go there - so what better pace to see the year end.

We took a deluxe bus from La Crucecita at 2315 for less than $30 each. The bus took us along the coast and then inland over the highlands and 4 mountain passes in the Sierra Madres. We decided to do a night run because we were only able to find accommodations for two nights and traveling at night would give us an extra full day in Oaxaca City.

This area is famous for its crafts and corn and Mescal ( made from the agave cactus like tequila but roasted in the ground first to give it a smoky flavor). Today a lot of families make a living selling their crafts of pottery, rugs and wood carvings (alebrijes). The families who weave the rugs have their own sheep, shear and spin the wool, dye the wool with natural dyes (cochineal - bark, indigo plant, plants and insects)
and then weave them in patterns specific to their families. I have to say that all of the " souvenirs" that we have seen since arriving in Mexico that I have bought or really liked have come from this area. But the heritage of the area really comes from growing corn. The ceremonial centre of Monte Alban ( one of the ruins) depicts this.

Oaxaca City, the Capitol of the state is a product of three centuries of colonial society. It has its own style of architecture and displays of the buildings and the green stone is evident everywhere you look. Buildings have low, thick walls to protect them from earthquakes and gives the city a very Europian provincial feel to it.

So we arrived at 0700 after a long but quiet "wavy" drive. We both took a Gravol to help us sleep on the bus. Upon arrival we walked to the town centre to find a place for breakfast and then went to our hotel. Azucenas is a lovely bed & breakfast run by a Canadian from Quebec.  It reminded me a lot of Susan's B&B In Belize. The rooms all face into an open court yard. The common area is on the roof where a continental breakfast is served. It is not included in the cost of the room - about $60 a night - but can be purchased for an extra $4. There was always fresh orange juice, cereal, yoghurt, granola and an array of fresh fruits and baked goods. You got quite a view from the roof top. And it was within walking distance to most of the points of interest.




Stuart and Prim had made reservations for dinner so we decided to to get a taxi and visit the ruins at Monte Alban. The place was spectacular. The Great Plaza was constructed in 300-600 BC by flattening the mountaintop. 



The site is aligned north to south  and overlooks the entire Oaxaca valley. The evacuation of this area has unearthed more than 170 tombs, ceremonial altars, stelae, pyramids and altars. There are books written on the different structures and I will leave it to you to investigate further.

Below are some of the more prominent structures. There would have been more but unfortunately a lot them were washed out. So I guess you will just have to go there and check it out yourself.

Susan should appreciate this picture. And cousin Terry too! We climbed to the top!




One of the stelae's



We spent almost three hours at the site and then returned to the hotel to have a siesta before dinner. The broken night sleep on the bus was starting to get to us.

We were able to walk to the restaurant with Stuart and Prim and they were able to point out some of the attractions that we must spend some time at. We had a fantastic Italian dinner  (where I found Santa)



and were in complete awe of the city. The architecture is lovely and the brick streets bustling with families and tourists was very welcoming. If you ever have an opportunity to come to this city, you MUST make the effort. And plan to stay for at least 4 days.



This city was designed to have a system of streets perpendicular to one another around a large central square called the Zocalo. The centre streets are walking streets so no cars are allowed except on the one way cross streets. This makes for a very relaxed but busy city core with lots of tourists, interesting shops, restaurants and numerous cafes. Coffee and chocolate are both huge products grown in Oaxaca state - sorry - no Starbucks here". The neighboring state of Tabasco grows most of the cacao beans. They are ground with almonds and cinnamon and pressed into bars. You dissolve the bars into hot milk and beat until frothy. Wonderful! They also use the chocolate in their mole paste which is one of the specialties of the area.



We spent the next day touring the Convent and walking through the museum. The Dominican order were responsible for building numerous churches and convents with the Convent of Santo Domingo being the most spectacular.


Yes this is David in a Church






The State Regional Museum is housed in the old Santa Domingo monastery. If you go make sure you rent the English video as all of the descriptions are in Spanish. The stairs, the arches, the cupolas - everywhere you look, there are lovely details in stone or in the remnants of colonial-era murals.


And a beautiful cactus garden in the courtyard.


The hotel was able to find us accommodations for New Years Eve and then we booked another night with them for the first. Now what to do for New Year's as it was pretty late in the day to be making reservations. As luck had it, we ran into the chef from the Italian restaurant and he remembered us and promised to arrange a table for an early sitting - 2000 hours - which is early by Mexican standards on any given night.

We had another wonderful dinner and then left to walk around the square. It was filled with families and musicians and balloons. I really wanted to stay til midnight but I had been fighting this flu/ cold for a couple of days now and just could not do it. But we made it back to our room in time to call Mom at midnight her time and wish her a Feliz Ano Nuevo!



A lot of things were closed on January first but I still managed to do some damage in the shops. I did add to the ship's stores: coffee and cocoa. And I did manage to buy some gifts for someone someday and souvenir's for us. And yes David - another bag! And a few pieces of black pottery and green pottery.

Scenes from the market



Grasshoppers (chapulines) - they eat these like chips! Sorry, I just couldn't go there.


All kinds of cheese


Scenes along the street


Another Church 




0930: Back on the bus and a most wonderful 8 hour bus ride - averaging 40 km. Gives you an idea as to how windy the road is. But the vistas were beautiful. 


The 8 hour bus ride was beautiful though sometimes nervy. The highway was good but there were often no guard rails. And the vistas were fantastic.



When we got back to the marina we noticed Sea Swift in one of the slips. No one aboard. We figured Barry would be at the restaurant - and he was. Finally someone has caught up to us!