Eric had not intended to buy fuel here in Huatulco. He had read about the fuel dock in Santa Cruz Bay and decided it wasn’t the right place for us to get fuel. It was shallow and there were often surges that caused the boats being filled to bang into the sea wall. Gone Native had gotten fuel there the day they arrived and had confirmed our suspicions that it was not a fun experience.
When we checked in, the marina had told Eric that a fuel truck could deliver fuel to us here in the marina, which was a big surprise to us. He debated about it for about a day, and decided to get the fuel for a couple of reasons. One, we had been planning to fill up in Cabo San Lucas, and we are told the fuel is more expensive in Cabo. Two, considering that we were in head seas, the fuel burn ratio could be higher than expected and there was a remote possibility we wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it to Cabo. And we didn’t want to have to make a special fuel stop. So, Eric arranged for the fuel truck to come this morning at 0800.
This morning at 0740, we moved from our slip to the fueling area, which is just around the corner from the slip. We tied up to the sea wall and were ready for the fuel truck by 0755. The truck didn’t arrive until 1000. The pump was fast, though, so fueling only took about 45 minutes. We took 600 gallons at $2.30 a gallon USD (159 liters at 61 cents a liter).
Since we were leaving today, we didn’t move back to the slip. Instead, we went back to the dreaded interim spot over by the gate. Eric started the fuel polishing the second the engine was off and then we hustled out the door. The fuel delay had us behind schedule, and we were a little stressed about time.
The first stop was to the Port Captain in Santa Cruz Bay to check out. No, we aren’t checking out of the country, just out of Huatulco. You are technically supposed to check in and out with the Port Captain every time you move the boat. Many boaters don’t bother, but we generally always try to play by the rules. Eric went in while Christi and Bruce waited over at the beach. We had thought they were slow for checking in, but they were even slower for checking out. It seemed to take forever.
Then we went to a bank in downtown to pay the other fees. The line was long, but we were in and out in about 20 minutes. Those fees were about $30 USD. So, the total check in was $70 for Mexico. OK, officialdom was taken care of. Now all we needed to do was get some lunch and we’d be ready to pull out.
We were wandering down the street looking for a restaurant when Saul happened to drive by. He flagged us down and asked us what we were doing. We invited him to join us for lunch and asked him to take us to a really good local restaurant. Saul took us to the beach below Mirador El Faro, which was pictured in yesterday’s post. We were surprised at how tricky it was to get to. You’d think there would be one clear road to get down there, but it more of a maze of little side streets going down the steep incline. We don’t think we ever would have found this spot had we tried to navigate it on our own.
The beach is lined with a long series of restaurants all touching one another. Each restaurant has a long, thin line of tables and chairs in front of it that goes almost all the way down to the water. The tables were shaded by palm frond roofs supported by tree branches. Most of the restaurants looked to be closed, and Saul said they only open for dinner. Saul picked a restaurant and we sat down. There weren’t a lot of people seated in the restaurants, but there were enough to get the sense that this place is geared at Mexican tourists, not gringo (white people) tourists. There were several families playing in the water.
Christi ordered the most exotic sounding thing on the menu, stuffed pineapple. It was amazing. Out came half a hollowed out pineapple shell loaded to the hilt with shrimp in a rich cheese sauce with a hint of pineapple to it. It was huge. Christi ate a ton and still barely made a dent in it. Bruce had grilled octopus, a particular favorite of his, and it was quite good. All the meals were served with huge portions.
After lunch, Saul dropped us off at the boat. While we were waiting for the fuel truck, we had gotten most of “our get ready to go to sea” stuff done, but there were a few last minute things to do still before we pulled out of port. Eric and Bruce cleaned all the sea strainers and changed the watermaker pre-filter.
We finally untied and pulled out at 1800, much later than we had originally planned on. Where had the day gone? The sun had just set as we came out of the channel into the open water. The sky was a pretty shade of deep pink, becoming richer in color as twilight turned to night.
We are pleased to report that, as the forecast had predicted, the seas were calm and smooth. The wind was light to start with, and around 2300, died altogether. The moon was half full, so visibility not bad. And, most importantly, both the water maker and air conditioning were both back online after cleaning the strainers. Yay!
And a few blog questions:
Q: Are you still loving cruising life or are you ready to go home and settle back into land life?
A: That depends on the day. Most days we love cruising and never want to stop. We relish going new places seeing the sights, experiencing new adventure, learning about other cultures. But some days we crave familiarity and routines and loved ones. Honestly, it would be ideal if we could do what most of the other cruisers do, which is cruise half the year and live in a land base the other half of the year. Then you get the best of both worlds.
Q: Why don’t you like to run the air conditioning at sea?
A: We love to run the air conditioning at sea when it is hot. Unfortunately, our air stateroom air conditioner doesn’t like to work in rough seas. More details can be found at: https://kosmos.liveflux.net/blog/2007/09/12/suwarrow-to-niue/.