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 Bahias de Huatulco (pronounced wah-tool-ko), which is located at the northern edge of the Gulf Of Tehuantepec, just outside the wind tunnel area. This general section of coastline has lots of small bays, and the town of Huatulco is sprawled out around a dozen or so bays that are all side by side along a 20 km stretch of land. The marina is located in the largest bay, Bahia Chahue (chaw-way), and we approached the bay at around 1100. From what we could see, the coastline is mostly jagged cliffs, with not much by way of sandy beach. There are a few buildings dotting the cliffs. The foliage is much the same as Nicaragua, filled with lots of brown trees that look as if they are dead.

When Eric was doing the route planning, he had looked at our cruising guide charts and realized they didn’t match our electronic charts at all. They weren’t even close. So, Eric had printed out a satellite photo off Google Earth, figuring that between the photo and the charts, we should be able to navigate in OK. We entered cautiously. Eric stopped to study the charts and photo. It turns out both charts were wrong. The cruising guide chart was close, but was a little off on the location a dangerous rock. The guide’s recommended approach to the marina entrance had us much too close to it. And the electronic charts had us on land in a different bay altogether. We think this is the first time the electronic charts plain wrong. There has been many a time when they were “off”, but if you can figure out the offset amount and adjust accordingly, the charts wind up being reliable.

The entrance to the channel that takes you to the marina is very hard to see. It looks like you are approaching a small beach that ends at a huge rock formation and at first glance you think you it is solid land. Actually, between the beach and the rock is a small opening. It is a natural river that has probably been expanded to accommodate boats.

We entered the channel. Many people were swimming in the channel entrance, so we kept an eagle eye out to make sure we didn’t run anyone over. We followed the channel as it rounded a corner, and there was the marina.

Three staff members greeted us and directed us to a side tie spot right next to the gate leading on and off the docks. They said the office was closed today, but we could check in tomorrow and would be assigned a slip when we checked in. The government offices were open today and we could check into the country if we wanted to, but they suggested waiting until tomorrow so that the marina office could help us. After we were done chatting, Eric retied all the lines, spending a lot of time and energy to make sure we were perfectly tied up. We put 6 lines out, all of them tied American style, which means one side of the line is tied to the boat, the other to the cleat on the dock.

The marina is nice. There is construction going on directly to the south of the docks, and we are pretty sure they are in the process of building a second set of docks. There is also a construction project in the works a little farther south that looks like they will be high end homes with private docks. To the west there is a sea wall under construction. The marina building is brand new looking and the grounds are well landscaped.

Once we were situated, the first thing we did was rinse off Kosmos and fill up the water tanks. We’ve been in water conservation mode the last few days, so it was nice to be able to take a longer shower. Once we were all cleaned up, we headed out. It was shortly before 1400 when we left. We decided to go to what is considered Huatulco’s downtown, called La Crucecita. As we were about to walk out of the marina, a taxi pulled in to drop off passengers. Cool! We hopped in and told the taxi driver to take us to the town center.

In the early 80’s, the only thing on the 20 km stretch of land that encompasses Bahias de Huatulco was a single small fishing village. The Mexican government decided this was the ideal location to build a planned resort community and relocated the fishing village. Being as this is a purpose built resort town, we weren’t surprised to see that the buildings around the marina are mostly hotels, and all look to be fairly new and very nice. There were a few buildings under construction, too. The roads are wide and nicely paved, with pretty landscape around them.

It was a short drive to town. La Crucecita must be older, the remnants of the fishing village, because the roads were narrower and not as well maintained and the buildings looked to be older. The town center looks much the same as it does in every Latin American town, a nice park with a church on one side of the park.

We ate lunch at a restaurant just a few steps away from the park. We were starving and basically picked the first place we saw. We have been eagerly looking forward to this moment for just under two long years. We were so excited we couldn’t stand it. We were about to eat real, honest to God, Mexican food.

Christi ordered enfrijoladas con juevos, which is eggs and corn tortillas smothered in a sauce made of refried pinto beans. Oh, and just in case anyone doesn’t know, tortillas are a super thin, yeastless bread, very similar to Indian roti bread. There are two types of tortillas, “corn” is made from corn flour and “flour” is made from wheat flour.

Eric ordered one of his all time favorites, chicken mole negro. Moles are complex specialty sauces, always made with chili peppers. There are 9 different types of moles that each utilize different ingredients, but the most famous is black (negro) mole, which features 6 different types of chilis and chocolate. It isn’t sweet at all, and the seasonings are on the pungent side. Black mole is a love it or hate it kind of dish. Christi hates it. It was accompanied by rice and refried pinto beans.

The food was great and the portions were big. We rolled out of the restaurant feeling like we were going to explode. We decided we were both too full and too tired to walk around. We went back to Kosmos and took a nap.

Eric was awoken from his nap when he heard quite a few people talking on the dock just outside Kosmos. Christi slept right through it. It sounded like something was going on, and he went outside to make sure all was OK. It turned out they were on their way to a party in the marina’s patio area. It sounded like fun and he decided to go. Eric tried to wake Christi up, but she said she’d rather sleep.

The party was nice. Eric met some interesting people and got some useful information. He was warned about the surge in the marina. One cruiser said that he went through a rope a week in the marina. When the party was over, Eric went back to Kosmos. As he was stepping inside and closing the door behind him, he tripped over something on the floor. Somehow, his thumb was in the door jamb as the door slammed closed on it. It hurt like hell and he knew it was going to swell up bad. Not a nice way to end the day.