Cruise of the Confidence

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Marina Chiapas

The rest of our stay in Chiapas was spent at the marina as there are few places to anchor without being exposed to the Tehuantepec winds. As stated earlier, the marina is wonderful and everyone who works here is great. The only drawback is the fact that it is 25 km from town. But there is a cheap bus service (1.50 one way) and Enrique - the marina manager goes home for two hours every day for lunch and will gladly drive us to the Walmart and pick us up on the return. The facilities include potable water on the dock, fairly good power on the dock ( though voltage is a little high sitting at around 140). The washrooms are clean and the showers are wonderful - solar powered hot water! I will get into the details of the travel lift and haul out facilities when we actually haul out.

We passed the cruise ship terminal on the way into the marina. Three ships came into port during our stay.

Chiapas will be our last stop in Mexico with the town of Tapachula being 20 km from the border. We had no intention of staying this long but UPS and customs had a different agenda. So here we sit.

You are about to sense a real negativity on these next paragraphs. Sorry about that but it is also the reality of getting things shipped to Mexico. First issue is the bank cards. It took Canada Post 7 days to get them delivered to our address in Victoria - a five minute drive from the Bank! Then David's sister brought them to UPS (thank you Kathy)to arrange delivery with UPS. After paying the delivery fee of $80.00 she was assured that we would have them in 3 business days. Yeh! Not! We were able to track them to Tuxtla Guerrez - the Capitol of Chiapas State in a timely manner. And there they sat. It seems that UPS does not provide service to Tapachula and surrounding area! So what did we pay for? So after several expensive phone calls UPS finally agreed to find a way to deliver them to us - at no extra cost. Wasn't that good of them. The only problem is that they got the zip code wrong and sent them to the wrong place. They tried to blame this on us but we're not the ones who put the zip code on the parcel as we did not know there was one. That was done by someone in Canada. So now it is going to the correct location. Only it didn't as the driver did not know where the marina was. The tracking stated that it was delivered but no one was there so they would try again the next day. Well there is someone at the marina 24/7 and all traffic by the gate is logged. No sign that it was ever delivered to the marina. So we got Enrique to talk to them in Spanish - it still took him 20 minutes to clear up the issue. We were then promised that it would be delivered within 24 hours. So now I am sitting by the office in the breezeway writing this blog and waiting for it to arrive. Nothing by 3 o'clock so David called UPS for the 8 th time. Oh no, your parcel has been delivered! Enrique took the phone and he got so frustrated with them he hung up. He told David that he thinks the parcel may have been delivered to the Naval base. So they jumped in his truck and went over there. Sure enough, that is where we finally found it. I took pictures of the envelop ( marked Extremely Urgent) and the address (which was wrong) and David's name ( spelt wrong) and the return address ( wrong postal code. I will be writing to UPS to complain.

And then there is the parts shipment. Well it seems like it made it to Mexico City in a timely fashion but due to the size and value of the order it was held up at customs. And because UPS does not deliver to Tapachula they released it to Customs and washed their hands of it. Getting it here was our problem. Again - what did we pay money for? We thought it was for delivery to the marina - no one at UPS told us otherwise when they took our money. When and if we ever get those parts I think there will be another letter to the complaints department.

So then we had to arrange a customs agent. Enrique helped us out there. We were told that they required some documents before they could do anything. This included a copy of our Temporary Import Permit, David's Passport and the parts order. Of course we got this information while we were on our road trip - difficult trying to organize it from a hotel room. When we finally got it together we were told that our agent was on a long weekend and would not be back until Tuesday. By that time we were back to the boat, got proper copies made and faxed them to him. He said everything was good and the parts should be shipped by Friday. Friday came and went. Now it is Monday and we get another email from the agent to indicate that they also needed a copy of our immigration card. Okay he now has that. Now he assures us that the parts will be here on Friday. I do not know about you but I have stopped counting the number of Friday's that we are up to now. I think it is four!

So what to do to turn this very frustrating situation into something positive? Well we started with the four day road trip which really was fantastic. Possibly because we were expecting our parts to be there when we returned. But they weren't so we had to come up with some more things to do.

It is a good thing that there are always projects on a boat so we decided to tackle some of them. I cleaned the outside of the boat and cleaned and polished the stainless. David and I did some varnishing - butterfly hatch needed another coat, along with the doors to the entryway and the durad covers. We topped up the water tanks and flushed the holding tank. David removed the nonfunctioning inverter/ charger and we took part of the roller furling gear on the stay sail apart. And I worked on the Blog - having all this time on our hands might be one of the reasons that these three Blog entries were so long! If I keep on at this rate and ever decide to publish this blog it will have many chapters and many parts! We also picked up some things for the ship's stores and David gave himself some lessons on the installation of the PACTOR modem - converts a radio signal into an email format so you will be able to track our movement across the Pacific Ocean.

And for fun? Well the Marina arranged to have the Super Bowl on at the restaurant. That was a fun evening until the last minute of the game. We were all cheering for Seattle!

Tony and Maguel were arranging an evening tour to Tuxtla Chico - an annual celebration in honor of the Virgin Mary - on February 2nd. Wayne ( from Nanaimo) and I were the only ones who took part as the others were busy with haul outs and arranging delivery of parts! 5 km of the town streets are decorated with colored sawdust. It is called the parade of carpets because that it just what they look like. Designs included everything from the Tree of Life, the Virgin, various wildlife, Mayan ruins to Whinnie the Pooh and the Beatles! Various families submit their designs to the town counsel who chooses which ones will get accepted. On the morning and throughout the day of the event, the families start building these carpets. They are beautiful as can be seen in the following pictures:

After the evening mass, the statue of the Virgin

is carried along the carpets proceeded with fireworks. You only have to look up into the skies to see where they are in the procession. In some cases the families at the end of the route are just starting to build their carpets as the procession begins.

When the statue passes, the people follow in behind walking on the carpets and basically destroying them. After the procession is over the streets are swept and it looks like nothing ever took place.

Another day was spent on a day tour with the crew from Elizabeth Jean. We began the day by taking a drive along the coffee route, heading towards the Guatemalan border and then turning up into the hills towards some of the largest coffee plantations in the state. One of the interesting features is the border of teak trees along the road.

Maguel - can your bring us to the place where we can buy some teak?The coffee plantations were actually started by German immigrants in the late 1800's and are still run by some of their descendants. Mexico is the 5th producer of coffee in the world - next to Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia and Indonesia and Chiapas is the largest coffee producing state in Mexico. Most coffee plantations are less than 12 acres in size and run by individual farmers.

So of course one of our first stops was in Union Juarez for coffee. It is the starting point for anyone wanting to hike up the Tacana Volcano. Something to note and which was missing on the previous Blog - the border between Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala runs through the middle of this volcano. We also bought a kilo of coffee here. $150 pesos or $5.00 Canadian a pound. Why I didn't buy more, I will never know. Hopefully I can pick up some more in Tapachula.

Then we stopped at Santo Domingo to visit one of Chiapas oldest coffee plantations (fincas). The main house is now a restaurant and museum.

All the plantations still produce coffee like they did in the past. The beans are picked by hand and carried out of the fields on the backs of the workers. They are then dried in the sun on large cement patios.

As you drive through the towns you can see that almost all houses have at least one of these patios and you will see the beans drying - from red (freshest) to brown ( almost done). The beans are raked a couple of times a day so that all sides are exposed to the sun. In the late afternoon they are transferred into bags and put in storage for the night to protect them from the evening dew. In the morning they are again put out to dry. All organic and all hand processed!

Our tour continued onto Tuxtla Chicos - the place with the carpets. On the night of the celebration Wayne and I were taken to one of the original Cacao producers and this day I got to go again. It was very interesting. It makes you wonder how someone figured out that inside the nut of this tree were these seeds, that when roasted turned into wonderful coco! The fruit is broken in half and inside is this mass of milky slimy goo.

If you suck on it you will find that it is quite tart. If you mix it with water you get this wonderful refreshing drink. Inside the goo are the coco nuts. The nuts are then roasted on a metal pan over an open fire until they pop and the outer casing comes free.

This is removed by hand and the coco nut is ready for grinding.

Before roasting there is no aroma. After roasting is the scent of coco. A mortar is then used to grind the coco into a fine powder. Look ma - I'm making coco!

At this stage it is either left plain or blended with ground peanuts, almonds, cinnamon and/ or sugar and formed into large pellets. These pellets can be added to warm water ( traditional) or warm milk and whipped until frothy. Josephina is actually known in Italy, France and Belgium and sells her coco to some of the best chocolatiers in the world! She is famous.

We were invited into her home and treated to home made tamales, tortillas, fresh cheese, baking and of course, hot chocolate. It was fantastic.

We also visited some pre- Mayan ruins in Izapa. This site is not as grand as some but the age of them makes them special. It is believed to have been established around 1500 BC. The ones in Pelanque were

from 200-500 AD. The three levels represented the heavens, our world and the underground world.

There was a big celebration here in 2012. From the Mayan calendar the 21 st of June or summer solstace represented the death of the fifth sun and the birth of the sixth. It also represented the end of the Baktaun period.

Our final stop was in Tapachula to see the original city hall and museum. The museum has been closed for several months, however due to restorative work being done since the earthquake in 2005 ( I think). The town is not very exciting but it does boast a Walmart and Home Depot. They are not here for the benefit of us gringos, as you might think but rather for the Guatemalans. Tapachula is only about 20 miles from the border and when there is a big promotion, like flat screen TV's, the Guatemalans have been known to clean the shelves in minutes. Maguel has also pointed out some other places for us to pick up supplies and has graciously offered to take David and I there when we are ready to provision, including the teak mill!

Another sideline to our visit - there are two girls staying in the marina - Zoe and Keelie. They are performers working on productions that they will put on as they travel along the coast with Keelie's husband on their boat - Insousant. They were putting on their first performance at the mall and asked us to give our input. Zoe also performs with Cirque d'Soleil. They are also going to be part of a fine dining experience in the palapa at the restaurant and will be suspended from the rafters. Wonderful girls and amazing acrobats! What a treat to watch them!

David has joined the circus!

So today is Tuesday and Friday has passed! But we got word that our parcel is in Tapachula!!!

So now back to some boat maintenance while we wait. David replaced the cooling system zincs and checked the impeller. Everything looks good.

David took me for a Valentines Day dinner at the marina - no chocolates but a fantastic chocolate brownie cake for dessert!

I had to have it - to celebrate Roz's birthday!

Two more boats left today - we really wanted to be one of them. We thought of going to Guatemala for a couple of days but FedEx could not give us a definite delivery date - sure would be pissed off if the parts arrived and we were not here to receive them and they sent them back. We did not want to take any chances.

1413 17-Feb-15 I see a FedEx truck coming down the road!! Our parts have arrived. So today was like Christmas. First things first - check the parts order with our packages - just like Tuesday's and Fridays in the Blood Bank. Everything was accounted for except David's new hat .

New Weems & Platt clock installed. Thanks Mom! New barbecue installed. Thanks Mom! All interior lights changed to LED - difficult to find the ones that fit into our light fixtures. But they work and will make a huge difference on the battery drain. Inverter/charger installed and working beautifully. We can now get shore power and keep the battery bank charged - nice to see the FULL message flashing instead of LOW! New old fashioned stove top coffee percolator - took a couple of attempts to get it right. Now we have good old " camp" coffee in the morning - good as Paul's.

And the saga continues. David decided to install the roller furling system at the dock. Disassembly of the old system went well - no seized up parts. David had a bit of a problem getting the mast climber to work efficiently.

Is it one of those system's that requires practice? Or is it one of those system's that does not deliver what it promises. Time will tell.

We got the old extrusions off - these include 6 aluminum tubes that fit around the stay sail stay ( wire that runs from the mast to the deck).

Side bar for you non- sailors: our boat is called a cutter. If you look at pictures of the boat you will see two stays at the bow of the boat. One runs from the very end of the bow up to the top of the mast. This is the forestry. About two feet behind that is another stay and requires a smaller sail. This is the stay sail stay. It is the furling system on this sail that seized up and is the sail that we like to use in heavier weather to add stability to the boat.Their are slits on one side that you feed the sail on with. Then you run lines to the cockpit and you are able to roll the sail around the tubes from the cockpit instead of having to go forward and pull the sail down by hand. This is very important when you are in heavy seas and high winds and need to reduce sail! David attempted to install the extrusions only to discover that they sent the wrong ones!!! Can you believe it?

I am not sure how David kept it together. I complemented him though would not have been upset if he had lost it at that point. After a couple

Of phone calls to Defenders, emails of pictures of the parts and two days of back and forth, Defender admitted to the error on their part. Apparently the parts guy grabbed the wrong thing off the shelf and no one double checked the order before packaging it up. So the correct parts will be shipped tomorrow and will get here on Friday - yes, another Friday. How many is that now? Now this is starting to get comical!

We decided to get the boat hauled out, get the bottom sanded and paints, checked the through hulls and polish some more stainless.

All done by remote control!

On the scaffolding

But something positive did come out of all this frustration. Duo Kokikizo was putting on their show in conjunction with the restaurant. These are the two Cirque d'Soleil girls. We were so involved with their preparation that we decided to splurge and go to the show.

Oh my God! Last night was the most incredible evening ever!
Duo Zokikizo performance was like watching your own private Cirque d'Soleil.

Their four acts were performed between courses and complemented them.
One act was done from a trapeze swing,

So now back to some boat maintenance while we wait. David replaced the cooling system zincs and checked the impeller. Everything looks good.

David took me for a Valentines Day dinner at the marina - no chocolates but a fantastic chocolate brownie cake for dessert!

I had to have it - to celebrate Roz's birthday!

And the saga continues.nDavid decided to install the roller furling system at the dock. Disassembly of the old system went well - no seized up parts. David had a bit of a problem getting the mast climber to work efficiently. Is it one of those system's that requires practice? Or is it one of those system's that does not deliver what it promises. Time will tell.

We got the old extrusions off - these include 6 aluminum tubes that fit around the stay ( wire that runs from the mast to the deck). Their are slits on one side of the extrusions that you feed the sail on with. Then you run lines to the cockpit and you are able to roll the sail around the tubes from the cockpit instead of having to go forward and pull the sail down by hand. This is very important when you are in heavy seas and high winds and need to reduce sail! David attempted to install the extrusions only to discover that they sent the wrong ones!!! Can you believe it?

I am not sure how David kept it together. I complemented him though would not have been upset if he had lost it at that point. After a couple

We decided to get the boat hauled out, get the bottom sanded and painted, checked the through hulls and polish some more stainless.

second was acrobats on the floor,

then a ring

and finally the long scarves.

These were all suspended from the rafters of the palapa and performed above our heads.

We have watched these girls practice on a makeshift trapeze but the real act was beyond anything that we saw. It was special because we actually were involved in some of the critiquing and choreographing. Zoe is from France and Keelie is from Vancouver.

And the food - well think of the judging that takes place on Iron Chef - that is what I felt like. Presentation, taste and creativity. We had 2 large prawns stuffed with some kind of cream cheese and deep fried with this incredible sauce,

a mango ceviche, chicken mole, deconstructed chile and a chocolate desert inserted into a balloon, inflated that you poked at your table.

So all dishes showcased Mexican food but with a flair out of this world.

It was really one of the most special things I have ever attended. It think it helped that we knew the chefs and the girls and the managers of the restaurant and Marina.

Now I think I will post this blog as it is starting to look like a chapter in a book.

Hopefully when you read the next installment our new part will have arrived and we will be on our way to El Salvadore!

Friday, February 6, 2015

The Road Trip to Pelanque

Our Road Trip in Chiapas

Confidence is waiting for their parts order. Sea Swift and Elizabeth Jean are on the hard getting their bottom painted. Meridian crew are looking for a break from the norm. So the decision was made to go on a 4 day road trip with Tours Discover.

Miguel Davilla and Antonio (Tony) Montoya own and operate the company. Tony was with us for the duration and Miguel for the last day. Fabio assisted on the first three days.

At 0530 on January 28th, Tony and Fabio showed up at the marina with a 10 person van and a 4-door Acura. We had 4 people in the Acura ( including the driver) and 7 in the van. The plan was to rotate seats on a regular basis in order to share company and levels of comfort.

We headed out on highway 200 and drove parallel to the coast. This area is called Soconusco (Pacific Coastal Plain). It is one of the state's most productive agricultural lands and the third largest producer of mangoes in the world along with bananas, tangerines, limes and various other fruits and vegetables.

We can see the two volcanoes rising out of the plains ( looks like that anyway) which are still active. You can just make them out on the horizon.

Tacana is the one on the left, nearly 4100 meters above the plain. Tacan means House of Fire in the local dialect. Sailors used to call it Lighthouse of the South in the days when the lava flow could be seen well out to sea. Tajumulco is the other and is actually in Guatemala and is higher at 4220 meters.

We were promised a breakfast stop around 0930. Stop we did but breakfast was not to be. The place looked nice but the restaurant had closed since the last time Tony was there. I thought Barry was going to cry when he discovered that coffee included a Tupperware container of instant coffee and a thermos of hot water! And here we are in one of the best coffee producing countries in the world! So we loaded up with juice and water and the Mexican equivalent of Twinkie's and carried on.

When we approached the Oaxaca border we began to head northward and upward to the central plateau or highlands (Los Altos) to San Cristobal. The vistas were incredible as we climbed the Sierra Madre's surrounded by pine (piña moctezuma) and oak forests. The pines are similar to the Canadian Ponderosa Pine.

We stopped for a Kodak moment and could not get over the freshness of the air. It was glorious!

After settling into our rooms in San Cristobal we all met for a walking tour of the city centre. It is a wonderful colonial city

and what makes it special is the indigenous presence that you feel with its' architecture, crafts and people. A lot of the locals wear their traditional garb and believe me they are not doing this for the tourists.

The market was interesting and some of us were itching to drop some serious coin but Tony suggested that we wait until we get to the towns where the people who make these things live. Not only would we get a better price but we would also get to meet the artisans themselves. Our tour took us to the zocalo (square),

La Catedral de San Cristobal

and the Tempo y Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo.

Our only complaint was that we did not have more time to tour the city.

We stopped for some wonderful hot chocolate as we were all starting to feel the cold. It was probably less than 10C and would have been okay but we were not dressed for it. When we stopped for dinner we asked the proprietor to light the fire for us. It was a good move on his part as in a very short time his restaurant was full!

Getting warm by the fire!

I won't get into the history of all these places as this entry in the blog will be long enough. I guess you will just have to go there sometime. I will use my pictures to entice you instead!

The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit and hand squeezed orange juice and wonderful coffee and omelette' we headed to Agua Azul ( blue water) in the National Park. The pictures speak for themselves.

Only four of us went swimming and you guessed it - I was the first one in. Refreshing it was. Cold it wasn't - not for a true Northerner! Check out the look on my face as I proceed to climb along the banks to the rope swing. Are we having fun yet?

This was just too much fun and if I had my way we would have stayed there all day!

The synchronized swim team and memories of Belize. Me and Armon!

But there were more places to see and everyone was getting hungry.

There were several small restaurants and lots of vendors. I understand that the area turns into a madhouse during the peak tourist season so we were happy to experience it on a slow day. Lunch included homemade empanadas.

Back in the vehicles and on our way to another water falls - Cascada De Misol-Ha. The falls are 30 meters in height. The highlight is following the slippery path along the base of the cliff to discover a cave behind the falls.

We continued on our windy road to Palenque. It was dark by the time we got to our hotel and seeing as we had eaten lunch so late we decided to retire early.

The ruins are just outside the city so we were given a later start time the following morning. After another nice breakfast we headed out to the Mayan Ruins. Again I will let the pictures speak for themselves. This area is considered the crown jewel of the entire Mayan world. Not too hard to see why. To say it was spectacular would be an understatement! I cannot imagine the emotion that earlier archaeologists would have felt when they discovered them in the 1800's.

I had to refrain myself - so many pictures that I had a difficult time choosing just a few!

We appreciated having Tony and Fabio to explain the significance of the structures and the area. It was something we missed out on when we visited the ruins at Monte Alban. We were almost at the end of our two hour walking tour when this strange substance began falling from the sky - rain! This was only the fourth time that we had seen rain since leaving Canada in August of 2013!. So this may be the dry season but we are still in the rain forest.

We stopped for a lovely lunch of a traditional soup - tomato based vegetable and chicken and avocado with a hint of smokiness from a chipotle pepper. It was heavenly and warmed everyone up from the chill of the rain.

Then we were back on that windy road to San Cristobal. A few comments about the roads - there are numerous military and police checkpoints as you travel along the highways in Chiapas. One must always remember that the border to Guatemala is very close by. And the authorities are always on the lookout for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. We were always treated respectfully and simply waved through. We also experienced Zapatista checkpoints. This is a group belonging to local ejido's. They usually ask for a fee to pass through their lands. This group is not much different than the Canadian First Nation groups who are still trying to defend or claim ownership to their land. We just dealt with it as a user fee, paid it and carried on.

Another night in San Cristobal and then on the road to two surrounding villages. The first was San Juan Chamula, one of the largest indigenous towns in Chiapas. One might think that they were on a movie set. The first thing you notice is all the women dressed in their traditional huipiles - a simple white blouse with embroidered flowers along the neck line and thick black wool skirts cinched with embroidered belts.

This is a picture of Dominique from Meridian trying on the huipiles and learning to weave.

They also wear wool rebozos or shawls.

You might be asking how I got the pictures - well in the next town you can take their pictures if you ask them and pay them!

Remember that we are in the mountains and it does get cold here in the evenings, sometimes dropping close to freezing this time of year. The garments are all hand woven and hand embroidered on a waist loom. The wool comes from their own animals.

The men wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots and woolen tunics ( I wanted one). The black ones are warn by the police and elders and the white ones are reserved for the mayor and police chief.

We were warned about taking pictures of the people of this village. My sister Debbie will appreciate this as those of you who know her are well aware of the taboo about taking her picture. Well Debbie, there is an entire village who believe that taking their picture destroys their soul. See - you are not alone!

The most unique and fascinating church I have ever been to is in this village.

I am not sure if any words can honestly describe the ambiance of this church or the emotions that I felt as I entered it. All I know is that my hand went to my heart and tears flowed from my eyes. It is a Catholic Church but the only traditional Catholic ceremony to take place in the church is Baptism. There are no pews. The first thing you experience is the smell - pine needles, flowers, incense and candles. Then the light - thousands of candles burning and natural sunlight coming through the windows. Fresh pine needles are cut and placed on the floor every Saturday and donations of beautiful bouquets of flowers from local gardens adorn the statues of saints and the altar. The people pray more to individual saints than to God. The statues are now protected by glass as in the past if the requests to the saint was not granted than a churchgoers would come into the church and break a finger off the statue, or turn it around to face the wall or in really bad cases remove the statue and take it outside and bury its head in the dirt!

We were able to be witnesses of a funeral that took place in the nearby graveyard. You could see all the elders in their wool tunics. And you can take pictures from afar.

Notice the older graves and the mounds of dirt - not flat like we are used to.

After the ceremony the elders bring the flowers into the church to make an offering to one of the saints. The entire experience brought tears to my eyes and peace to my soul.

One of the people in our group did not take the No Pictures to heart and decided to sneak a picture of the inside of the church. He was immediately surrounded by the local police and escorted out of the church. He could have ended up in jail if not for the quick action of Miguel ( who is also a lawyer) and an immediate offer to pay a fine. When they say No Pictures they mean No Pictures!

After buying a few souvenirs we headed to another village - Zinacantan - known for its flowers and textiles. We were met by a lovely girl who took us to her Aunt's home to see how the weaving is done, in the old way.

Below is a picture of her Aunt with the waist loom weaving a runner.

You can see the runners in the background. First she weaves the runner and then she embroiders it. One runner takes her about 3 months and no two are exactly the same. We all dropped a few pesos here.

She also makes the traditional dress for weddings - men and women.

Yes, this is David and I getting married. Nothing official but the words I Do were spoken and 11 people witnessed it and a toast was made with the posh - a traditional cane sugar liquor. We were then treated to a small snack of traditional tortillas with various fillings of cheese, pumpkin seeds and tomatoes.

Back into the vehicles for one final stop before heading back to the boat. We took a panga into the Parcque Nacinal Canon del Sumidero through the canyon, up to the dam and back to the Capitol of Tuxtla Gutierrez. The canyon was 1000 meters at its highest point.

One spectacular part was the Christmas tree ( Arbil de Navidad) - a lush triangle of moss and vegetation clinging to the canyon wall. And yes it does look like a Christmas tree.

And crocodiles too! Not David. The guy on shore!

We finished off the tour with a lovely lunch by the river and then started the final 5 hour drive back to the marina.

All in all it was a wonderful four days. Miguel, Tony and Fabio were excellent guides, knowledgable and good drivers. At the end of the day we were no longer clients but friends and plans were already being made to go on a couple of smaller day tours in the coming days.

The gang!

And Tony

And Fabio

And Maguel

Monday, January 26, 2015

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!