After leaving Bahia Navidad, we spent three nights in Las Hadas, Manzanillo in the anchorage. Not too many sailboats, but because the bay was open, there were a ton of water skiers and jet skiers, which didn’t make it too comfortable to be there. We met three very nice young guys (mid-20’s) who are sailing down to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, after they left the anchorage about two miles out their engine quit on them and they had to sail back at about 1 knot an hour. They will be laid up for about two weeks to get their parts and make the repairs, so hopefully we’ll run in to them again in Huatulco and that they make it before the hurricanes arrive anytime after June 1st.
Local Painter in Manzanillo
While in Manzanillo we were on a mission and we spent two full days and two full taxi’s getting provisions for our upcoming crossings. We spent over $1,500 on just canned goods, dry food, etc…(in addition to all the supplies we already had onboard!) but we’ve managed to fill every nook and cranny onboard. In our final destination of Huatulco we’ll finish provisioning with beverages, fresh fruits/vegetables and meat and that should then do us until hopefully near the end of July when we will be in the South Pacific.
From Manzanillo we had a good 30-hour overnight motorsail to Las Hadas, Manzanillo. Peter was disappointed that we didn’t get to sail, but I sure loved the flat seas. I’m getting less nervous about this and actually let Peter sleep in the cabin (rather than beside me in the cockpit) during my 4 hour watch from midnight to 4:00 a.m. We had an amazing experience at daybreak with over 100 bottle nosed dolphins surrounding the boat and playing in our bow wake. We were mesmerized with them and entertained for over 45 minutes. I did manage to refrain from taking a video though, so I’m keeping my promise so far not to take anymore (for a while anyway!). Just at sunset, we were again joined by a pod of smaller dolphins. They splashed and jumped and carried on like kids in a playground. From now on whenever I have another fabulous day, I’ll call it a dolphin day!
We spent a lovely two nights at the remote anchorage at Isla Ixtapa and enjoyed snorkelling and wandering the beaches. During the day it was full of local tourists, but that just added to the atmosphere and then we had the whole anchorage to ourselves after 4:00 p.m.
We have spent the past two days anchored in Zihuatanejo, staying on the boat and catching up on emails, phone calls and the internet. We got some sad news about one of our fellow puddle jumpers (that’s one of the other 40 boats that are crossing to the South Pacific this year). He is a 64-year-old single sailor and they have found his boat holed and sunk in the Marquessa Islands. They currently have a massive search out to find him, but it doesn’t look promising. Another puddle jumper left from Mazatlan to go the Galapagos (similar to our route). At this time of the year, it is very light winds and he ended up motoring most of the way. He ran out of fuel and with a 2 knot current going against him, he was forced to change course and ended up after 30 DAYS AT SEA at another island called Cocos Island. His crew now has another 10 day crossing from there to get to the Galapagos, which was the original destination. What was frustrating for him was that he said if he had of had just 20 litres more fuel he could’ve made it. We’ve run out of fuel twice before, but were able to sail to destination. We’re hoping we’ve calculated correctly with the extra fuel we are taking for this crossing!
We will be leaving tomorrow at dawn, heading down the rest of the coast towards Huatulco, our final Mexican destination and the hopping off point for the Galapagos. We’ll spend the next two weeks making final preparations.
Here’s a map of Mexico.
To give you a visual glimpse at our itinerary…..In late 2007 we came down the outside coast from San Fran to Cabo San Lucas and then wintered the boat in Mazatlan (on the mainland). The 2008 season we spent inside the Sea of Cortez and then wintered the boat again in Mazatlan. This spring we have been coming south down the coast of Mazatlan (currently in Zihuatanejo).
Until next time…..Have a wonderful 21st birthday today Kylie. So glad we got to talk to you in Australia. You are our sunshine xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox.
Until next time…..Have a wonderful 21st birthday today Kylie. So glad we got to talk to you in Australia. You are our sunshine xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox.
A special Happy Mother's Day to Lisa (Peter's Mom) and Liz (my Step-Mom) and to all the other wonderful mothers out there!
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