This stretch of the Mexican coast (known as Costa del Sur) is not often used as a cruising ground, but rather as a means to an end...i.e. enroute to Central America, or in our case as the jumping off point for the South Pacific. The reason for this is that there are limited anchorages and they are all far apart, which makes for a bit of a slog as well as being more dangerous in the event of bad weather. Additionally at this time of year, the wind is predominantly south, and the majority of the anchorages are unprotected from the south.
As a general rule, QuickStar motors at 6 knots per hour and sails anywhere between 4 and 8 knots (below 4 knots, we motor sail, so that we can maintain 6 knots on average) - above 8 knots we reef the sails so that she isn't overpowered).
We departed Zihuatanejo at dawn and motored 37 miles to Papanoa, a remote, but comfortable breakwater enclosed harbour. The next morning we left at 4:00 to Acapulco (73 miles). We were originally going to give it a miss, but we discovered a lovely anchorage off of one of the out islands called Isla Roqueta, so we were able to avoid the major city and an extra overnight leg.
The next day we up anchored at noon and did an overnight sail to Punta Galera. (123 miles). This is a popular surf destination at this time of year and we enjoyed watching the surfers, even though we were bashing around in the sea while at anchor. During the crossing we encountered our first rain, lightening and thunder, but it was pretty mild and scattered. It was an uneventful crossing except for hitting our second turtle. They are very plentiful and we are saddened when we hit one. So far, though, it is QuickStar 2 - turtles 0.
After another 4:00 a.m. departure, we continued to Puerto Angel, where we were able to sail a great deal of the way. We are the only sailboat here and we are surrounded by local pangas who leave early to fish and return to fish in this cozy bay at dusk. As we were sitting in the cockpit watching all the activity last evening Peter said "I like it here - there is a very warm feeling". If Bucky were here, he would say "very serene". We will stay here for 3 days to explore the tiny community before making our way to our final Mexican destination of Huatulco.
Until next time..Good try Canucks..looking forward to cheering you on again next year.
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