Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Checking In and Crossing Paths with Old Acquaintances

Posted on by
Reply

Continued from yesterday… Almost as soon as we were situated, a catamaran named “Gone Native” pulled into the space we had just vacated. In a crazy small world story, it turns out that we know them. In early 2007, a friend of ours had arranged for us to meet some people who actively cruise half the year. They were really nice people who gave us a lot of good tips and advice. At the time, their boat was in Europe. We hadn’t had contact with them since. And, suddenly, here they were! Like us, they are about to stop cruising for a while and are taking their boat home to California.

In another odd coincidence story, we are now directly across from a boat named Cosmo. It was around 1115 and we were puttering around on board. Eric heard someone knocking and calling out “Hello”, but it wasn’t at our boat, so he didn’t pay attention at first. Then he looked out and saw the person was knocking on Cosmo and realized it must be the quarantine officer. Eric brought him aboard. The quarantine paperwork took 20 minutes. The only thing he wanted to see was our trash, which he looked through briefly, then left.

Now it was time to go to the Port Captain’s office. We walked out to the street and quickly caught a taxi that took us to the next bay over, Santa Cruz. Bahia Santa Cruz is definitely geared at tourists. A large cruise ship dock makes up a breakwater that splits the bay in half. The sea wall lining the inside of the breakwater is completely covered by small power boats with bimini tops, clearly intended for taking tourists on sightseeing cruises up and down the bays. There were two small military vessels in the back, too. The boardwalk is a collection of tourist shops, quite a few of them vacant. There are large hotel and/or condo complexes on the hill that separates Bahia Santa Cruz from Bahia Chahue, some of them only half completed. On the backside of the shops, on the outside of the breakwater, is a small beach.

dscf0771-small.jpg

dscf0775-small.jpg

The Port Captain’s office is in and amongst the shops. There were several armed military officers lounging around near the office. You walk in the door to see Continue reading →

Welcome to Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

Posted on by
Reply

Around 0100, the wind picked up some more. Instead of 20 – 26 knots, it became more like 21 – 27. We know that doesn’t sound like much of a difference on paper, but the gusts were now more frequently on the higher end of the spectrum than they had been before. After only an hour, it started to die down. By 0230, the wind was down to 15. Since the wind was on our side and we were so close to shore, the ride had never changed for us, so even in the worst of the winds the ride was smooth and pleasant.

In the early morning, we rolled up 29,000 nautical miles. Wow. We certainly have done a lot of miles, haven’t we? At 0800, we looked outside and noticed there were a zillion small jellyfish in the water. We made excellent time all morning. We must have a current with us for the speeds to be so good. The currents in this gulf are also notoriously strong.

Our destination was the town of Continue reading →

Passage from San Juan del Sur to Huatulco – Days 4 and 5

Posted on by
Reply

Day 4

In the very early morning, not too long before dawn, we encountered 7 pangas within a 10 mile range. Eric was on watch and had to do some evasive maneuvering to stay clear of them. Some had lights on and were easy to see, others didn’t bother to turn their lights on until we were almost on top of them. Thank goodness for radar!

This morning the seas are better. We are still bouncing up and down, but the rapidity of the swells has slowed down, which helps the ride immensely. Interestingly, the wind chop has picked up, going from 6 inches to 1 – 2 feet, yet the ride is still better. It is so true that wave intervals trumps wave height in the comfort meter.

When the sun came up, we peeked out and saw our bird was still in the cockpit. We started to worry that he may be dying. Yesterday, he would run away from us and try to hide by the little step leading to the starboard side walkway. Today he just sits sadly in the middle of the cockpit when we come out, making no effort to hide. Eric gave him Continue reading →

Welcome to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Posted on by
Reply

Continued from two days ago… We took a moment to take in the surroundings. While the outside of the bay looked almost desolate, the inside is quite built up. Just like on the outside, there seem to be a lot of trees that all look dead at the moment, with very little greenery. Directly in front of us was a nice beach lined with thatched roof buildings that we would bet are restaurants. The hills above are mostly built up, as well. It looked to be primarily residential. Most of the homes are unique, but we could see a couple of track housing developments. The tightly packed track homes with their identical roofs almost looked like a scar on the hillside. On the southeast side (our right) there was a commercial looking port building and boat yard. To the northwest side (our left), there were expensive looking houses and several mid-rise concrete buildings under construction. The top of the hill had something weird at the top of it. Eric pulled the binoculars out and saw that it is a half built statue, probably of Jesus.

dscf0655-small.jpg

In the bay there were Continue reading →