April 24 to 26, 2015 El Salvador, First two days

We crossed the border between Guatemala and El Salvador while sailing south to Bahia del Sol. 

On Friday, April 24th we took the dinghy for a quick exploration of the estuary and then back for breakfast. We took the dinghy over to Ratscullion (Henry and Pamela) got some information for the bus, taxi, local provisioning and costs associated. Then we had lunch at Comedor Mercy up the street from the resort where we had chicken, rice and salad, and homemade tortillas for $3.50.  We had a dog begging for food, Keith shared some chicken with her.  We watched the bus go by and come back, several cows walking up the road. After lunch we walked to the beach side of the resort.

Small palapa that serves breakfast, Chicken at lunch and papusas for dinner

Saturday we start our first journey bus in to Zacatecoluca which was awesome, breeze flying in through the windows, bus stopping to pick people up as we made our way from Bahia del Sol. Upon arriving to the bus drop off zone at Biggest Burger we went to get our haircuts, $3.00 for a cut.  We walked past a large white church, Catedral Nuestra Señora de los Pobres. We continued walking to Claro for cell phones for both our phones and Dan’s phone.  All set with the iPhone 4 but they did not have the micro sym for the iPhone 5.  We walked through the markets looking for food and were directed across the street to a two level building with food vendors on the second floor. We ate lunch at Pupuseria Bendicionde Dios, which was fantastic with a large orange juice, fresh squeezed. The pupusas were queso con loroco and ayote con queso. The people here are so warm and friendly with smiling faces and eyes.  Truly welcoming and delightful. We were watching this woman, sitting on a chair announcing tortillas for sale, she was smiling and giggled.  She got up and went down the stairs, came back to eat a donut with chocolate on it and Wayne asked where she got it, she pointed below and called the woman selling pastries.  We walked to the bottom of the stairs and got this really tasty donut with chocolate and nuts.  Wayne looked up the stairs and gave the woman thumbs up on the treat. With a smile she waved. The women near by were very flirtatious and asked Dan if we were his brothers and Kathy his wife.  She then introduced her two twin daughters, who shyly leaned into their mothers arms. Off we went to the market. 

Empty bus takes us to Zacatecoluca

Walking to the Park after we had haircuts

Catedral Nuestra Señora de los Pobres

Young girl at bread stand in the market, delicious looking bread

Vendors in the one story market, woman on the street with traditional dress and apron we see for vendors

Food courts on the second floor of the food market

Our first big walking adventure in Zacatecoluca

We caught two buses back to Costa del Sol.The first bus was crowded with standing room only. Kathy was able to sit with some of the provisions. The young guy collecting was going around making a sound "Psst, Psst, Psst" and then shook the change in his hand as he passed by every seat and person. Each stop people would get off and on, he would whistle make and announcement then bang on the bus to let the driver know he could proceed. Really smooth operation despite the bus being completely full with many people standing then we had vendors squeezing through the people to sell pupusas, water and cold drinks, assorted pastries and other food. The woman all wore lacy styled aprons to put their money, change and napkins for some.

Woman making tortillas on the street side

Vendor from bus

Walked back to the dinghy, provisions slung over our shoulders and back to the boat. We got back to the boat changed and with computer devices in the backpack we set down by the pool to update the blog.  We sat by the pool and updated the blog, while Sam and Dave stopped by from Isleña and chatted for a while about Zacatecoluca, renting a car and land travel throughout Central America.  Earlier we bumped into Don from Permanently Temporary as he was going to his boat to get his car keys as he was off to get chicken dinners from the restaurant we ate at the first day.  Our memory was they only served chicken for lunch (almuerzo) and pupusas for dinner.  He was getting food for Heavy Metal, Irie and themselves and invited us to stop by.  Keith dropped Dan and Kathy back to Lungta and returned. We started to walk back to the marina but Permanently Temporary and Heavy Metal’s lights were off. We walked back to the dinghy and noticed everyone at the restaurant. We stopped by and noticed Debbie, Gail and one of the boys, from Heavy Metal, playing cards. Keith and Wayne sat down to play Baja Rummy with Gail and Debbie.  Great time here and getting to know more people.  Making new friends with other cruisers is really awesome for us.

We were invited to Lin and Lou’s home, two Americans that invite the cruisers in the local marinas to their home for socialization and gathering for potluck. We traveled over with the other cruisers who are in Costa del Sol, we brought brownies for the occasion. Jamie from Lin and Lou’s arrived in a pick-up truck to take everyone. We left the resort with Marianna and Greg (Irie), Harald and Live (sweet Norwegian couple), and several other people. Upon arrival we meet our hosts and Margie and her husband, people on Konza from Australia, then Ron arrived, Gordon and Kat (Dancing with Dragons), Gail and Don (Premenantly Temporary), Rego, Debbie, Henry and Zion (Heavy Metal) and Bill and Jean.  Beautiful property on the estuary with a deep water dock, 3 pools, and manicured grounds in a “gated community” that was started by Palestinian 's leaving Israel for safe location and community. Lin and Lou are from the US and have been in El Salvador for 3 years and are among only 4 “gringo” families in Costa del Sol.  Great day spent meeting new people and having a relaxed day in the pool. potluck lunch was great.

Three pools, upper pool spills into the larger pool and the cool pool is in the gazebo with clay roof

Marinna and Greg from Irie, Harald from Norway and Zion on Heavy Metal. Potluck lunch served in the back with tables and seats for everyone. Great location...looking forward to going back on Sunday

We got back to the boat around 18:00, sat down then watch Captain Phillips.

April 20 to April 24, 2015 Leaving Mexico in flames 3 and a half days until El Salvador

Monday, April 20th, the Port Captain’s Office sends an officer to clear us to leave.  Judy from Moontide stopped over to say “see you later” and took photos of us in front of Lungta then Dan and Kathy. We said our fair wells to Jake and Danielle on Ohana as we watched Isleña pull away. We left Marina Chiapas at 16:30 behind Isleña and in front of Irie. We motored out of Marina Chiapas and as we made our way past the breakers and Port Captain’s Office we started putting up the sails. The mizzen and jib were out first then the mizzen stassel and the main stassel.  The winds slowed enough, 4 knots and put out the main sail. Really sweet being back out on the open water, wind off the beam and breeze in our hair. Looking forward to crossing the border of Guatemala.

We left Mexico in flames with a large fire off in the distance.  Wayne took the helm first shift, Keith stayed up as we both kept each other company on our respective shifts. We crossed into Guatemala at 20:50 when the winds shift right on the beam with wind gusts between 12 to 15 knots, we were moving up to 7 knots.  Kathy came up to check on us and agreed we should pull in the main sail.  Keith and Wayne pulled on the furling to get the sail in, quieting down the boat and leveling off our speed to 5 knots.  During the course of the next 3 hours the winds would shift 90 degrees coming off the starboard stern. We cut our time down to arrive in El Salvador from 3 days to 2 days and 12 hours.  Keith took the helm at 23:10 for the second shift.

Burning on the coast with heavy smoke in the sky

Tuesday, April 21st,  Keith was at the helm while Wayne kept him company until 1:30. Keith stayed awake to 3:30 before giving over the helm to Dan. Winds had died down and we slowly made our way to El Salvador. Kathy was at the helm as we all woke from our sleep. We were doing 1 knot and would make our destination in 5 days leaving us with limited opportunity to get across the sand bar into Bahia del Sol. We turned the motor on since we had a short window with the tide to get over the sand bar at the entrance since we needed more than 10 feet to get over, Lungta’s draft is 10 feet.  We spent the day on deck reading and taking some siesta time to prepare for the evening shifts.  Keith brought in a Pacific Crevalle Jack (aka Jurel). It put up a great fight but was not something to eat so we threw the fish back in. We did not weigh the fish before letting it go back but figure it weighed 12-15 pounds. Within 30 minutes the line on the port side was off and Wayne tried to bring this fish in.  The fish was a strong fighter and started to dive under the boat. As Wayne’s hands and arm were getting tired Keith took over for some assistance, the rod was given to him then back to Wayne for final catch. With a little more fight we were able to get the fish from under the boat and to the side, finally identified the fish and “YES’ another Pacific Crevalle Jack , ugh, possibly a little bigger than the other one, maybe 15-18 lbs.  Keith took over the helm at 19:45 after dinner, finished the delicious cannelloni Dan had made.  Keith maintained the helm to 22:00 then Wayne took over.  Keith slept on the settee while Wayne was watching for wind and boats, but mostly pangas in the distance fishing.  Caught a good gust of wind around 23:00 and maintained speeds of 3.6 to 4.1 knots then at 11:15 we were moving around 4.5 consistently for 35 minutes.

SV Irie and SV Isleña in the distance

As early morning came, we were maintaining our course when Wayne was able to hand over the helm to Kathy at 1:00, all sails were out and traveling at 3.2 knots.  We woke at 7:00 with Kathy at the helm, Dan was sleeping on the settee. We were traveling at .6 knots. With us all up we motored for an hour since we needed 3.8 to 4 knots of speed to meet the weather and tide window.  We had smoothies for breakfast and still no wind. The “fleet” ( and Lungta) spoke to Bob from Nirvana to catch the weather and let him know we would plan to be into Bahia del Sol by late high tide on Thursday, which was also Selena’s plan.  Nirvana was already at Bahia del Sol in the marina. We are now 91 miles from our destination at 10:00 a.m.. Slow going day with minimal wind. We were entertained by terns flying by the boat doing figure eights around the bow then sweeping around the boat while chatting to each other. They would then take a floating seat on the sea and hold what sound like a “coffee clutch”, chipping up a storm.  Just as the day was closing and the sun started to set we saw several “fish boils” in front of the bow on the stern and port sides. Hundreds of birds diving into jumping fish making the water look as if it were actually boiling.  This subsided within an hour.  We were hailed by Isleña, they just caught a Stripped Bondito and asked if we had our lines out.  We did but no fish today. We sailed into El Salvador waters at 18:50. Wayne took the helm at 19:00 and Keith stayed up to teach him more about the electronics and use of the wind.  We sailed our way off course to get the wind and then did a jibe. Port of Quetzal in San Jose, was in the distance with a very busy commercial shipping area. We had 5-6 ships in front of us at one point with Momi Arrow approaching from the starboard side at 12.5 knots and slowing.  They passed in front of us, about 4 nautical miles ahead and then anchored. We heard them hale the port captain granting them permission coordinates to anchor.  We were looking at the chart when we notice our course was taking us close to Saucosa Rock. This rock was 5 miles off shore.  Dan came upstairs and we discussed that with him, we decided to go away from shore to go around the rock and other buoys out there, The charts on his tablet were warning of dangers in these waters with rocks off shore and reef that came out further from shore. We saw blinking lights off shore and finally passed one of them, a buoy with a 9 second strobe light about 3 miles off shore.

Photos taken during our crossing from Puerto Modero to El Salvador

04/23, Thursday woke to us moving fairly quickly at 5 knots but needing to motor some to get to Bahia del Sol at evening high tide around 16:00.  Spoke to Isleña, they were ahead of us 7 miles off shore. Irie appeared to be at the destination and would let us know how the approach was this morning for the 8:00 high tide entrance to Bahia.  We motored for an hour to get us back on course since the wind was coming directly off the bow.  Took in the sails using only the main stassel and the mizzen stassel. Caught a fish which got away, we could not identify it either. Damn!  We made it to Bahia del Sol at 16:45 and over the sand bar by 15:42.  Checked in to immigration and port captain.  Welcome to Bahia del Sol, Costa del Sol, San Luis la Herradura in El Salvador. Great with rum punch drinks and a group of familiar and unfamiliar faces greeting us to Bahia.

Sunset leaving Guatemala

Changing the courtesy flag from Mexico to El Salvador

Costa del Sol beaches and Bahia del Sol beach

Waves on the sandbar waiting to cross

Just before we take the sails down to enter across

Inside the estuary after successfully crossing the sandbar

Safe and sound

We checked into immigration and secured our Visa for 90 days for four countries, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.  We checked in with the Port Captain to registered the boat and all of us on the boat.  Irie and Isleña checked in at the same time. Back to Lungta for dinner, Dan and Kathy went off to bed while Keith and Wayne grabbed the opportunity to get some internet.  Hung out with Dave and Sam from Isleña while at the restaurant.

April 10 to April 20, 2015 Huatulco to Chiapas, MX

On Saturday, April 10th we spent the day playing Hand and Foot, had a great meal prepared by Dan. Keith and Kathy helped with stuffing cannelloni shells. While dinner was cooking was had unexpected guests drive around the boat a couple of times and then came on board. The Mexican Navy came to do a boat inspection and check all our papers. The officer in charge made a comment in Spanish, that the smell of our dinner cooking was making him hungry.  All went well, it was interesting to have 3 Naval personnel on board, one had a camera with an extended arm to look in the holds. Many photos were taken, one of the guys was drenched in sweat from crawling on the floors and looking in the holds.  After they left we set down to a fantastic dinner then a movie, An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman, nice drama.

The following morning Keith was up early, Wayne woke to the sound of the anchor coming up. We all prepared to set sail across the Tehuanapec and Bahia Ventosa. While leaving Salina Cruz and looking back to the sky over the City, we could see pollution above the bay from trash burning.  After getting around the point that protected us while we were anchored, we saw oil refineries and Bahia Ventosa but not the mouth of the Tehuanapec River. At 9:30 we were more then half way across and just below the beginning of Laguna Superior and along San Mateo del Mar (photo taken). We had fruit salad for lunch at noon, Keith was at the helm then Wayne sat at the helm for a couple of hours. We watched a naval vessel approaching in the distance, 1.54 miles away, then swung starboard across of bow and sail off ahead of us. It looked like a small frigate patrolling the waters of southern Mexico.  We were traveling at 4.4 knots and cruising southeast to our next destination Puerto Modero and Marina Chiapas. At 14:55 we were passing the mouth of Laguna Superior and Laguna Inferior. At this time we were 1.3 miles off shore and traveling at 4.8 knots with Dan at the helm. We were listening to some great music from Dan’s play list, reflecting tastes of an abundance of artists from the Bee Gees, The Beatles, The Buffalo Springfield, Allman Brothers, Billy Joel and Alan Parsons Project. A song was playing and Dan said to Wayne you will not guess who this is, low and behold yup got it, Buffalo Springfield.

Set sail across the Tehuanapec and Bahia Ventosa

Heading away from the Tehuanapec River mouth

Sunset on the gulf

Wayne caught his first fish, a 5lb Spotted Bonito. Keith was bringing another fish, this one that out a lot of line, and just before we had the fish to the side of the boat he pulled off the hook getting away. An hour later another hit on the line, this time a Jack.  We let this fish go.

On Tuesday, April 14th,  Keith was at the helm at 2:00 while Kathy stayed with him until 4:00 due to erratic wind patterns. Wayne was up at 5:00 while Keith stayed up as the wind shifted to the bow then Kathy came up to assist. We ended up having to tack and lost the wind while facing land. Finally auto pilot corrected to turn us and we started to move when Dan got up at 7:40.

The current started to take us at about 1 knot with half a knot of wind. We could see a the Sierra Madre mountain range I the distance as we were passing El Majagual towards Solo Dios with Pijijipan (pronounced Pi hi hi pan) in the distance. We have 81 miles until we Chiapas and it looks like sometime on Wednesday at this moment.

Pleasant morning sail, rolling along slowly waiting for the wind in the distance to come on shore. We have the sails set for wind off the beam. The coastline has changed to denser foliage and less palms with grey sand beaches, reminiscent of volcanic soil beaches. Heavy wave breaks seen from 3/4's of a mile out. We are approaching some small coastal villages, Tolomita, El Boqueron, El Pasito and Masgual. 

Photos taken 6 miles before Tolomita along the coast from Mar Muerto south. At 14:30 we were traveling at 7.3 knots passing Tolomita quickly with consistent wind speeds of 12 with gusts of 15 knots. We topped out at 7.5 knots.  

We were only 51 miles from Chiapas when Wayne went to bed at 20:00. We clicked away a lot of miles today with strong winds pushing us south east. 

Wednesday, April 15th, Wayne took the helm from Dan at 2:00 stay 1 mile off shore, if winds get to 10 knots call him. Stayed on course for 40 minutes then the wind started to push 1.25 miles away even with corrections. Woke Keith for help and we maintained until 4:45 when we tried to tack and Dan woke. We tacked and just started to turn toward shore when the winds picked up. We were near our course but stayed off shore with a 10 knot push which increased to over 12 while Dan and Wayne pulled in the main sail. The Lightning show we were watching and the storm forming ahead of us on radar turn quick in 18.6 knots of wind. We then took in the jib.

After that storm and wind event we had cloudy skies and clear sailing while closing in on our destination Puerto Modero (Chiapas).

We entered the Marina Chaipas at 11:00 after a comfortable cruise after the storm. Greeted by the Marina and Enrique. Judy from Moontide, then Phil and Danielle from Ohana greeted us.  The Port Captain came to inspect our papers.  After checking in we take the dinghy for a ride back to the Cruise Ship dock and up and estuary to see the local area.

Men fishing in the lagoon along the Cruise Ship docking area

Entering the estuary, to the left bank people live along here

Many fishing boats at dock

Hundreds of rays around the dinghy, an amazing sight

We were able to watch the Travel Lift in operation on Friday while we were at the Marina. Enrique the Marina manager told us about the sail boat, Algo coming out on this date.  We went over to watch the Italian boat come out of the water for dry dock.

Owner operating the boat to the travel lift.

Boat has been lifted and getting ready to move onto land.

Power washing the underside before moving to dry dock area.

Saturday came quickly and we spent the day getting the boat ship shape for Enrique’s son’s 6th grade graduating class, they would be entering High School at 7th grade.  On the way back from the shower, Brenda (Enrique’s wife) stopped us to confirm we were with Lungta and the time she would come over with the graduates only.  Each of the graduates were having individual photos taken by a photographer.  21 students came over to the boat for photos, Ohana gave the photographer permission to go on their boat to taken photos from the bow sprit.  Keith ran on board to show them how the graduates could sit and stand on the bow sprit. What a great time, smiles all around from the students.  At 15:30 the students and some parents came on board for a ride into the lagoon and back.  We were sailing out for about an hour before returning to parents standing on the hill of the restaurant waving and taking photos.  Other owners of cruise boats came over to the dock to add to the charm and share in the event. 

6th Grade Graduating Class

Keith's idea to have the group photo on the bow sprit, brilliant.  It looks great!

On Sunday, April 19th on our walk out from Marina Chiapas. A woman with her three children who picked us up in her car and dropped us off at the airport.  We rented a car rental Europacar from the Airport, we traveled to Izapa Mayan ruins first then off to Tuxtla Chico. We grabbed lunch at  Chinese restaurant and walked through the Sunday market. Back into the car, traveling in elevation and explored Cacohoatan, Santo Domingo and Union Juarez. The road had tight turns which turned amongst themselves further up as we continued to climb elevation to the volcano. Once we were through Union Juarez town we got to a part of the road we decided not to climb further since the asphalt was splitting to the left then a complete section to the right collapsed and a 2,000 foot drop.  We turned around back into Union Juarez and stopped for coffee at Rustico in the clouds near the square.  We then stopped for ice cream at Walmart. We dropped off the provisions and put all the freezer and refrigerator items away then off to Playa Linda to see Dave and Joan.  We had dinner with them at a palapa on the beach.

Izapa Mayan ruins

Mirimba players at local market in Tuxtla Chico

Local market in Tuxtla Chico

Woman begging approaches Keith

Union Juarez

Park in Union Juarez

On Monday, April 20th check out time, we went to immigration in Enrique’s pick-up truck with Sam and Dave from Isleña, Ken from Irie and all of us from Lungta, back to Lungta and breakfast which turned into brunch then lunch with David, Joan, Kathy, Dan, Keith and Wayne.  Keith and Wayne were on the internet by the office earlier in the morning when they met Mason Willaims from Terrapin.  Keith and Wayne went over to Terrapin after lunch to visit with Mason and Catherine. The boat is registered in Morehead City, NC. Cleaned up a little and waited for the Navy to do the inspection of the boat to allow us to leave for El Salvador.  

March 22 to April 9, 2015 Zihuatenajo to Hualtuco, MX

Over the course of a few days, we walked the streets of Zihuatenajo, stopping at markets for provisions, supplies for repairs and pastries.

On Sunday, March 22 we set sail for Bahia Papanoa (Bahia de Tequepa) aka Puerto Vicente Guerrero a small harbor 31 miles southeast of Bahia de Patatlan.  We motored out of Bahia Zihuatenajo with so little wind, once we had all the sails up we were sailing south to our destination. Along the way we had some hitchhikers, frigate birds on the spring line.  The night before we had Steve (Wiki), Nikki and Phoenix from Penn Station over for dinner. Great deal of laughs and relaxation on the stern deck.  Upon getting closer to our destination and a stiff wind to our backs we decided to sail on to Acapulco. Dan and Wayne took the 19.30 to 23.30 shift. Winds average ws 10-12 knots with white capped waves rocking the boat and 5-6 knots speed. At 24:00 we were 45 miles from Acapulco. We jibed around 23:00 and notice the mensal was torn, we took down the sheet to see the seam completely tore about three quarters up the sail.  Wayne took the helm while Dan jibed the jib and main sail. Leaving for a needed slumber Keith and Kathy took their shift to 5:00 a.m.  Woke to a slow sail at 1.5 knots.

On the water again

Another wonderful week in Mexico, we anchored in Acapulco, Bahia de Acapulco. We were anchored with Heavy Metal, Argonauta, Nirvana, Alcyne and the last to arrive was Irie. We walked to Fuerte de San Diego walked in and spoke to a tour guide who explained how the name Acapulco came to be known  from the Nahuatl language means "where the reeds were destroyed or washed away" which is a Romeo and Juliet type of story of love. Then off to the tall ship and spoke with some of the crew members, they leave for the Mediterranean on April 25 for 8 months with their first stop in Norfolk, VA. 

We toured the area near the fort

Acapulco Bay and ARM Cuauhtemoc in the background

ARM Cuauhtemoc - Mexican Navy Tall Ship

Local market in Acapulco

Inside the local market

Lunch at a quesadilla restaurant, food was delicious

We went to the cliff divers with the group to watch a must see event while here. For us the best part was walking the markets where there were no tourists or gringos but the four of us. We sat at a small restaurant eating quesidillas handmade with fresh ingredients.  Moments later we walked through a maze of vendors selling vegetables, fruits, clothing, shoes, meat and fish.  We enjoyed a really nice dock party in the marina with Permanent Temporary (Gayle and Don) put this event on at their boat. Fun evening chatting with people we have met Alcyne, Nirvana, Moontide, Heavy Metal, Irie, and Argonauta. 

Cliff divers jump from different points on the edge into the sea below as the waves bring in more water. Remarkable to see this in person after so many years of ABC Sports in our youth.

Thursday, March 26th we got ready around noon to head to shore, finally made it to the beach with no event. We got hungry and had lunch at El Chinchorro for pozolle and free wifi. We watched the fishermen bringing in several nets, captured some really good photos then we walked looking for plywood. After being in Acapulco for 5 days we set sail for Puerto Marques and set anchor in Bahia de Puerto Marques. Now we prepare to set our course to Hualtuco, 250 miles south east.

Great food and inexpensive, best view for a relaxing lunch.

Beach view for lunch at El Chinchorro

Men bringing in the harvest, fish from the bay. Each man had what looked like a sling over one arm to bring in the  net then they would go to the beginning to start over again.

The men take the fish off the beach after being tossed from the net and wash it in the waves.  Young man takes his fish for his family.

Beach overlooking Acapulco Bay

Memories of Manila jeepney as a super bus in Acapulco.

Sailed into Bahia de Puerto Marques, beautiful sail around to this bay. Small vibrant village on the water. We covered the sails and repaired the stisal with a new flange. Hopped into the dinghy to make it on shore. Beach goes down into the water with a 80 degree slope, little breakwater due to the drop off. We were assisted onto the beach by Roberto. Very proud man who grew up here and runs a diving and fishing business.

Wayne's selfie while sailing to Puerto Marques

Entering Puerto Marques Bay

We walked around town, which appeared very sleepy with businesses closing while we walked around. We did find at least one restaurant with wifi but menu prices were high. We secured some provisons at OXXO then ate our Magnum Ice Creams while we walked. We bumped into Roberto again and met his French girlfriend, Sofi and his 4 year old daughter, "the heart of his life".

Art work on the side of an elementary school

Tourist shops and restaurants all along this street that parallels the bay

Looks like the sea turtle from "Finding Nemo" we saw inside a restaurant

Puerto Marques

Man sleeping in front of his restaurant

Another day draws to an end, what a great gift. perfect sunset from the beach 

On Saturday March 28, we woke to calm seas but rocking a bit this morning. The village is waking up with the sun coming over the mountains behind it.  Another day in Paradise! 

Umberto sailed by to say hello and offer fishing, showing us his lures and explaining tourism has decreased in Mexico from corruption. He told us about college students, 43 of them were killed in this state of Guerrero. He offered to get us anything and told us to use the public dock. 

We went ashore to walk around town, sat in a local market area and watched the vendors and small children play. We sat with smiles on our faces watching a small boy playing with a little girl in a carriage. She jumped with glee when he pushed her off from him smiling and laughing. Walked some more closer to the playa and then sat down for lunch. Moved the dinghy off the playa and anchored 30 feet from the beach and swam for about an hour. Great day, watching people on the beach as more and more Mexican tourists arrived for the 2 weeks Easter school holiday.  Kathy got a massage while we were on the playa having lunch.

Vendor along the road

Man sharpening items on the street

Boys playing with tops 

Lunch with a view

We set sail for Hualtuco today and with us at 4 knots should take us two days to arrive.

Sunset as we leave

We are going to take the first shift on this overnight starting at 19:30 to 23:30 being relieved by Dan from 23:30 to 3:30 then on 04/02 Kathy 3:30 to 7:30. We start our watch between White Rock and Puerto Angel with 15 nautical miles left to the first bay in Hualtulco. Should take us 15 hours more of travel at the current speed of .7 knots with 3.9 knots of wind coming from the ocean. We know the wind will shift to off shore during our watch. The wind did ultimately shift as we started to round the point of Puerto Angel, we trimmed the sails toward starboard and watch the winds fill the sails coming off port. We we traveling at 2.5 to 3.8 knots with average wind speed of 4.4 knots. We gained momentum and closed the distance to Puerto Sacrificos when Dan came up on 4/2 at 12:15.

Keith at the helm

Navigation program and windworks

Wayne with Keith manning the helm

Our selfie while at the helm

6:40 a.m. sunrise over the bow sprit

We arrived in Santa Cruz, Hualtuco after anchoring in Bahia Chachacual which was crowded with boats and people. 

Rocky coast from Sacrificios  to Chachacual

Decided to go another 2.5 miles to Bahia Cacaluta and duck in around Isla Cacaluta (Black Eagle Island) where we spent a night. 

Sunset in Bahia Cacaluta

On the beach in Bahia Cacaluta

Us at the sign for the National Park which covers most of the bays in Hualtulco.

We came to Santa Cruz is check in with the Port Captain’s office but told to come back several times, probably due to Semana Sanata (Easter Weekend).  We sailed out to Maguey Bay on Holy Saturday and went to the beach. On Easter Sunday the waves were really crashing on the boat, as we observed the heavy bobbing from shore. We had settled in at a beach restaurant, Camaron Gigante, ordered food and tried to get their internet connection.  We decided after sitting comfortably for a couple of hours to leave and set sail for Santa Cruz and the safety of her harbor. We had a rough and rocky cruise with 6 foot sea swells causing havoc on the journey. Another reason we are waiting for the window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec, since the winds from there were causing these rough waters from 200 miles away.  We settled in at Santa Cruz and began the cleaning of the galley.

Moguey Bay on the beach having lunch at Camaron Gigante

US Coast Guard cutter Boutwell visits us in Santa Cruz

Wednesday, April 8,  Kathy, Keith and Wayne went snorkeling in the bay where we were anchored in Santa Cruz.  We found the water clear, warm and refreshing to see the coral reef is growing with an variety of sea life.  

Snorkeling in Santa Cruz, puffer fish and wrasse

Angel fish with healthy coral

Needle fish

Small sea snake

After snorkeling near the anchorage we took the dinghy over to the other side of the bay to Playa Yerbabuena. This area was full vacationers celebrating Seman Santa (Holy Week vacations which may last two weeks around Easter) The beach was filled with many families at splashing in the water and enjoying their vacation post Easter Sunday. 

Us standing on a cement platform overlooking the beach.

We changed and then headed to pick up Dan and spent time there getting coffee and watching the people come then took a taxi to Santa Crucecita. Got gelato and watched an amazing boy playing lead guitar in a band backed by 3 adults playing guitar, bass and drums.  Then we headed back to Santa Cruz and watch an acoustic guitarist sing and play from the band stand above the coffee shop.

Leaving Santa Cruz for Conejo Bay (Bunny Bay)

Conejo Bay

Puerto Escondido

Bahia de Santa Cruz, Huatulco

Very talented young man in Santa Cruciceta

Leaving Bahia de Santa Cruz on our way to Bahia Conejo at 8:05 a.m.