Bahia Zihuatanejo to Cabo San Lucas

Every time we went ashore at Zihuatanejo, we had to land the dinghy on the beach, haul it up the sand and park it near a row of pangas. Alphonso kept an eye on it for 20 pesos a day. We had heard there was a man with a panga who would fill diesel cans and bring them out to SD. Our paths did not cross so Jeremy and I decided to do it ourselves. We hailed a taxi in the town and bought 136 litres of diesel. Meanwhile, our laundry was ready, so we collected it and had a very full dinghy to launch from the beach.

Calm anchorage outside Marina Las Hades Resort

Having checked the weather, we weighed anchor on 18^th May and motorsailed out of the bay. The wind was directly on the nose, so we tacked. Way out at sea in deep water, when Jeremy was on watch, I saw a 2 litre water bottle floating nearby. Unfortunately, it was attached to a long fisherman’s line which caught around the rudder. Jeremy dived over to free it. Almost immediately, a panga appeared from nowhere to check the line. A short while later we nearly became tangled again on another line but this time the panga was ahead of us and cut the line to let us through.

The handy fuel dock at Marina Las Hades, Manzanilla

A bright orange helicopter arrived out of the sun later in the day and circled SD, hovering close enough for me to see two persons, one of whom waved before they flew away to the south. The wind increased from 10 knots to 21knots and the sea became uncomfortable with stopper waves slowing us down. Jeremy put a reef in the mainsail and we tacked, flying a small genoa as well, motorsailing all the time.

M/V Easy aground at Punta Graham

Day two was a repeat performance with light winds to start, increasing to double figures by late afternoon and most of the night. Bahia de Manzanilla with Marina Las Hadas with its fuel berth was close by. Jeremy altered our course and we entered the bay in the dark using radar, chart plotter, GPS, AIS and depth sounder. In this way, we avoided ships, rocks, buoys and other hazards arriving safely at the anchorage. I went forward to anchor and pulled only one foot of chain up. The rest was jammed solid. Not even Jeremy could dislodge it. So at 3.00am in the dark, drifting,  with the sound of surf breaking alarmingly close by, Jeremy started emptying the front cabin to access the anchor chain locker and untangle 50 metres of twisted chain. It took a while before the anchor could be dropped and we could sleep at last.

One large seabird sitting on the pulpit....

It was a brief stop in Manzanilla but it enabled us to fill up with diesel, give copies of our papers to the marina office, check the engine, change the oil and filters, check the batteries, replace the ATF in the gear box and use the laptop to check the weather. Jeremy called the Port Captain for permission to leave and heard nothing. We left heading for Puerto Vallarta.

...and then there were two

The evening was very pleasant for a change until we hit an unidentified and unseen underwater object, which clipped the propeller. The bilges were checked for any ingress of water but, thankfully,  they were dry. Later, just as it was getting dark, I saw ship Easy, aground on the rocks at Punta Graham. It was still transmitting its AIS signal, but showing no lights. A shiver went down my spine.

Our neighbours left before we could invite them for sundowners!

The weather was settled so we decided to continue to Cabo San Lucas, accompanied only by visiting dolphins, passing turtles and a few seabirds. A couple of birds perched on the pulpit, taking a rest. That was fine until sunset approached, the birds told their mates and a flock of about 20 tried to take up residence on SD. They had no fear of humans so I had to chase them off by running forward blasting the foghorn.

More hotels at Cabo San Lucas

We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The crescent Moon rose through the dark clouds with Venus visible nearby. Stars sparkled in the sky above the misty shroud at sea level.  The night air felt cold and duvets and sleeping bags were brought into service once again. Trousers and coats were needed at night.

Isla Cello la Bufadora and Isla Cello Blanco, Cabo San Lucas

Perhaps we became a little complacent, but with only 8 knots of SW wind when we were 64 miles from Cabo San Lucas, we thought we should round the Cape and make landfall at Bahia Magdalena on the west of Baja California. Jeremy put in a waypoint for Cabo Falso and we altered course. When we were 40 miles off the wind started to blow W at 15 knots and the sea became bumpier; by 18 miles off it was blowing 19-28 with waves breaking over us. Jeremy tried for a little longer recording 30 knots of wind and then abandoned the attempt and made for Cabo San Lucas. It was then that he remembered he’d left a porthole open in the stern cabin. All his bedding was soaked.

Playa el Medano, Cabo San Lucas

Once more we approached an anchorage in the dark, our efforts to see ahead hampered by a large, brightly lit, private motor yacht. We dropped anchor at 0100 on 24^th May. This morning we have checked in with the Port Captain by VHF and by visiting his office ashore. We have permission from API to stay at anchor until Monday. On the way to the Port Captain’s Office, Jeremy took the rubbish out of his rucksack to dispose of it and noticed that oil from the filters had leaked through two plastic bags and through his rucksack. Fortunately, the boat’s papers were undamaged. Unfortunately, Jeremy has spent all afternoon trying to remove oil from his rucksack.

Lazy seal waits for fish scraps at the dinghy dock

Hasta luego, amigos.

Marina Chiapas to Bahia Zihuatanejo

Having obtained permission on VHF 16 to enter Puerto Madera/Chiapas, we were met by Ronnie at the marina. He took our lines and told us to stay on board until we had been checked by the Navy. A woman from Customs arrived first and we filled in a form for her. She was closely followed by a man from the Port Captain’s Office, another official and two Marines, one of whom had a sniffer dog that gave SD the all clear. We filled in all the paperwork and when they had gone we went to the Marina Office to check in. Guiermo or Memo was in charge, but Rolf filled in the paperwork and answered questions. Both spoke English and both had stayed late to check us in.

Helpful Marina Chiapas

The next day, Thursday 4^th May, was spent checking in with all the officials. Memo drove us round in his car, even stopping at an ATM so that we could withdraw pesos. The first office was Aduana (Customs). More forms to fill in but no charges. Then Immigration, but the officer was not there so we walked across the road to API (Port Authority), filled in another form and paid 18 pesos. Then back to Immigration where we paid 500 pesos each and had our passports stamped for entry. Finally, we drove to Puerto Madera probably to the Port Captain’s Office and filled in another form – no charges.

Memo had to go to a meeting so we either waited for an hour or got a taxi. We had met four other yachties at the Port Captain’s Office and decided to share a taxi. Somehow, six of us squeezed into and onto an illegal motorbike taxi, 4 on a U-shaped seat in front of the front wheel and 2 behind the driver on the motorbike. Thankfully, the journey was short to the centre of town where 3 of us shared a proper taxi back to the marina.

Hitching a ride

The afternoon saw Jeremy and me in another form of transport, a private ban or minibus. Daniel, the driver, took us 40 kilometres to an Immigration Office at a border town, where we paid 60USD for a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) valid for 10 years. The van fare was 1500 pesos. There are about 18 pesos to the US dollar. We had now legally entered Mexico and were free to cruise Mexican waters as long as we checked in with the Port Captain at each port or anchorage.

Jeremy worked on NECO, changing transistors, checking grub screws, reading the manual and finally, cleaning the relay switches with acetone. The last action sorted out the problem, but I can tell you, Jeremy now has less hair than he had before!

These "rocks" barely showed on the chart!

Over the weekend, we explored Puerta Madera, hitching a lift in an open truck. We tried our first tacos – very tasty but beware of the sauces unless you like hot, hot, hot food! We took a collectivo (public minibus) to Tapachula, a city about 40 minutes’ drive away and wandered round Gallerias Mall, shopping at the massive Walmart store.

Apartments at Zihuatanejo

The day after we arrived at Marina Chiapas, a yacht was towed in by the Navy and tied on the pontoon next to Sal Darago. Armed Marinas were placed to guard it. The three guys on board had made to mistake of anchoring in the port and going ashore without telling the authorities. They were probably suspected of drug smuggling, but nothing was found in spite of a thorough search by the marines and by the sniffer dog. The situation had still not been resolved when it was time for us to leave, so the armed guards stayed next to us all the time.

Birthday Girl

Jeremy spent the morning of Monday 8^th May with Memo, visiting all the officials he’d seen previously and was given permission to leave once the Navy had checked SD again. One final form was filled in, the sniffer dog checked the cabins and we were free to leave in the next 10 minutes. We motored out of the port and into a headwind. We were anxious because one weather website, Windyty, showed a tropical storm heading our way across the Tehuantepec. Two other websites showed the storm fading away before it reached Chiapas. It took us two days to cross the Tehuantepec, a notorious stretch of dangerous water in the wrong weather conditions. Generally, we had light westerlies, but also short periods when the wind came from the SE.

Tranquilo Jeremy with SD at anchor

As we passed Puerto Angel, we cheered because we had crossed the Tehuantepec safely. We were close enough to land to receive mobile data and a quick check on the weather assured us that the tropical storm had blown itself out just south of Chiapas, about 200 miles behind us.

Sometimes we tacked to fill the sails, often only the mainsail was flying and always the engine was driving us onwards with NECO steering without a blip. Sometimes there were ships; often there were no other vessels. The air became increasingly smoky and we saw whole hillsides ashore on fire. The day before we reached Zihuatanejo the weather became noticeably cooler.

Beach at Zihuatanejo

We anchored in Bahia Zihuatanejo at 1700 on Saturday 13^th May having avoided the large Rocas Potosi, which Jeremy and I had missed on the chart. We had been at sea for 6 days and found ourselves almost surrounded by apartments, hotels and beaches. Banana boats zipped past, the tourists screaming with delight, while jet skis and water taxis criss-crossed the bay. The beat of loud music could be heard ashore as holidaymakers enjoyed Saturday night.

The defunct Diesel PEMEX dock at Zihuatanejo

The next day, I celebrated my 65^th birthday with a Mexican meal for lunch. We spent the next three days buying provisions, diesel and repairing a grab rail, the fixing of which had broken. We ate at various “restaurants” including a stall in the Mercado Central, where lunch with a drink each cost 72 pesos or £3. Tomorrow, we motor into the winds once more to try to reduce the 1749 nautical miles we have left before we arrive in SF.

Tacos all round please

Pacific Panama to Marina Chiapas, Mexico

Look who's steering SD

We left Ensenada Naranjo at 0600 on Sunday 23^rd April and motor sailed all day watching dolphins playing at the bows and passing the occasional turtle. The highlight of the day was catching not one, but two tuna almost simultaneously. The downside was that we ate tuna, delicious as it was, for the next four meals i.e. lunch and supper. That night we anchored off Isla Medidor, a private island near Bahia Honda, in the western anchorage.

Almost in Canal de Isla Medidor

Our 0600 start the next day gave us a morning twilight view of a crescent Moon and Venus close together. Howler monkeys shouted from the forest. The sea was smooth as we motored towards Isla Bolanas. The sea water pump on the engine started dripping. Jeremy was busy fixing the fridge air intake mushroom vent, which had probably been kicked or caught by a line on the Panama Canal. The anchorage was untenable as the Pacific swell was breaking right into it. Fortunately, Islas Parida was only an hour away but the anchorage there is in a national park and we had heard that some yachts had been charged 100USD. We entered warily looking out for the numerous islets and rocks scattered around and for any boats that looked like park launches. No-one else was there. We had the place to ourselves. It was beautiful and sheltered. We swam and snorkelled. Jeremy replaced the leaking sea water pump.

Turn to port before the islet

Another 0600 start the following day saw us heading towards our final port in Panama, Puerto Armuelles. We anchored south of the long pier, launched the dinghy and went ashore at the steps towards the seaward end of the pier. This turned out to be a big mistake and nearly led to the loss of the dinghy. While we were ashore, the wind turned and the inflatable dinghy and outboard went under the rusty, rotting metal of the pier. We returned to find that the oars on top of the tubes had saved the dinghy from puncturing but the outboard was severely scratched and battered. The dinghy was covered in rusty streaks and half filled with water. Jeremy jumped in without even rolling up his long trousers and started baling. Fortunately, the outboard started and we made it back to SD, where a clean-up operation took place to restore the dinghy and outboard as much as possible.

Approach to Isla Perida anchorage

Puerto Armuelles was our clearing out port. The fees were as follows: $20 for Agriculture/Quarantine for an inspection of the boat that did not take place; $20 to Customs; $25 to Immigration and $6.50 to the Port Captain. The next day there was further charge of $4.20 possibly for our international zarpe. Receipts were obtained for all payments.

The long pier at Armuelles

Armuelles is good for provisioning, laundry and buying fuel. It has a bank but only one place for Wi-Fi and that was always closed. We landed the dinghy on the beach and took containers ashore to buy 185litres of fuel – a wet experience in the swell. Water at the land end of the pier is potable. That required another beach landing as the planks on the pier are too rickety for a trolley.

Pacific dawn

After two nights at Armuelles we motored away from Panama and into the waters of Costa Rica. We did not stop for the next 700 miles, passing Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. It was very hot and the winds were generally light except in squalls and thunderstorms, where gusts up to 30 knots were experienced. We sailed when we could and watched the wind slowly veer around the compass, each change of direction requiring a change of sails. Poles went up and down, reefs went in and out. It was hokey cokey sailing! Meanwhile, we dripped with sweat.

Thunder storm on radar

We saw few ships or boats. I got a bad feeling about a local fishing vessel that we passed and believed it was following us at a distance of about two miles. We hoisted a sail to give us more speed and the fishing vessel turned away. Perhaps it was heading for harbour anyway, but we didn’t hang around to ask.

Entering Puerto Chiapas

Two nights before our arrival at Puerto Chiapas, Mexico, our trusty power steering device, NECO, stopped working. We tried and tried to fix it with me at the helm at Jeremy below with his head under the stern berth. No joy, so we had to hand steer when there was no wind, which was mostly at night. Hydrovane was brought into service when motor sailing in light winds.

Fuel berth in Puerto Chiapas

One week after leaving Panama we arrived in Mexico and checked in at the pleasant, friendly and helpful Marina Chiapas. Jim from Sea of Tranquillity was about to leave. He gave us loads of helpful advice about sailing north to the States back in Shelter Bay Marina, and he recommended Chiapas, so it was good to see him. On another pontoon was the yacht on which we were going to be line handlers. It thus proves we are not the only mad people sailing (motoring) up the Central American Pacific coast.

Sunset over Marina Chiapas

SD in her berth at Marina Chiapas

Pacific Panama

NO GREEN FLASH

We paid $80 for three nights at Balboa Yacht Club, about the same per night as Shelter Bay Marina. There were showers, a laundry and a restaurant ashore. The first job was to find a dentist. Jeremy recalled that he had been to one in Balboa village seven years ago, but the office staff did not seem to have heard of it. We walked to the village and found the dentists’. An appointment was made for the following day. We bought courtesy flags at Islamadora, which is an agency for Admiralty charts and books.

The next job was to find some meds for me. We needed to buy bus passes as most of Panama City transport is now cashless. First, we ate very good local food from a popular street vendor. Arriving at Albrook Terminal on a bus that still took cash (25c) we bought bus passes for $2 and charged them with $2. Jeremy continues. Then we entered the vast Albrook Mall, which runs parallel to the Albrook transport hub. It seems to be a two storey structure running one mile from end to end. There were three farmacia, one at each end and one close to the middle. The best chance appeared to be at the north end at a huge shop called Arrocha. We walked. They did not have the correct meds. We walked to the Super 99 at the south end: they did not have the medicine. They suggested we try Arrocha. We bought some supplies as Super 99 is a big supermarket (no Weetabix). We walked to the north end to catch the bus back to Amador which is near Balboa Yacht Club. In went the washing, we had a beer each and eventually, after the drier had finished, collapsed back at Sal Darago.

We caught the bus to Albrook at 0820 the next day, walked about half a mile to the subway station and took the metro to San Tomas, next to a big hospital. We tried a farmacia, but no joy. After a short walk we entered a Western Union money exchange, where we reluctantly changed 200 Eastern Caribbean Dollars, worth 73 USD, for only 50USD. Pat Denham had kindly given them to us in the UK and we had tried all the Caribbean islands we had visited to change them without any success. (I think I would have taken 10 USD!) Back at the hospital and we caught a bus to Riba Smith, a Waitrose lookalike. Way hey, hurray – WEETABIX. We also purchased a few other items. Their farmacia did not have the meds. Another walk, another bus and we were back at Albrook, but it was too late to return to Sal Darago for lunch. We walked briskly back to Arrocha, and bought the tablets which we had turned down yesterday. We ate at KFC and caught the bus to Balboa, where I had my tooth glued back for 85 USD. Across from the dentist was a large local supermarket, where we were to buy our supplies. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a large café. We wearily took the bus back to Albrook and shopped in Super 99. Again it was late when we stepped aboard SD, but Kathy needed a shower and more clothes had to be washed so she took the launch ashore, while I packed away the shopping, swam and showered on board.

On Thursday, at 1100, Sal Darago was on the fuel berth for diesel and water. We had had the most frustrating morning. T-mobile had taken £50c from our account because of automated calls being charged as Voicemail at £1.50 for three seconds. This had happened 34 times. We finally managed to get T-mobile to turn off our voicemail. (Thank goodness for Skype).

A rather exposed Otoque anchorage

We motor sailed to the Island of Otoque. The best anchorage was taken by a yacht called YoYo from the Cook Islands. We cooked a mince stew, despite the roll of the swell.

Up at 0500, we left at 0600 motorsailing until 2330 when we anchored at Ensenada Benao, a surfers’ paradise. Much to my delight, the anchor dragged and it was nearly midnight before we settled. Aside from the dolphins, flying fish and occasional turtle, we had seen rays leaping from the water and somersaulting back in. Quite spectacular. It appears surfers do not like to sleep as the bay reverberated to the sound of partying until we left at 0600 for another day on the engine. The ambient temperature is close to 30C so the saloon is hot. With no wind, it can be a little sweaty. However, our anchorage on Saturday night at Ensenada Naranjo, was a beautiful, clean bay with a couple of houses. We swam, showered and had sundowners as the sun sank and the sky became a magic pattern of reds, gold and yellow. I remembered why we like sailing.

Anchored off Isla de Canales De Tierra