December 2014: month in review

Following two action-packed months, December was fairly low-key…for me at least. Jeff, however, was a slave to his computer. In an effort to keep every available option open to us upon our return home, Jeff is throwing grad school in the mix of possible future trajectories. Consequently, Jeff busied himself with grad school applications and prep for the GREs, which turned into full-time work for a couple weeks. Marina Chiapas was a perfect place to get this done since internet and electricity were easy to come by. I continued work on some academic journal articles I’ve been researching/writing and also helped Marina Chiapas update their website (what do you think?). The highlight for me was spending hours in the office with the marina managers Enrique and Memo, who have an uncanny ability to entertain. I could sit and listen to Enrique and Memo’s stories all afternoon, and that’s usually what I did…interrupted only by Memo’s serenades (which were 99% more likely when he had a guitar on hand) or a quick trip for beer to the Modelorama.

Jeff went on a quick side trip to Mexico City to take the GRE (grad school entrance test), which he slayed. For fun we found several opportunities to visit our lovely little abandoned palapa on Playa Linda (with the requisite 6-pack, jalapeno chips and books/magazines), visited with our friends who own the best grilled chicken stand in all of Mexico (we’re not biased), hung out with other cruisers in the marina swapping stories and intel and delicious alcoholic beverages, were debriefed by exhausted boaters who came across the Gulf of Tehuantepec when it was blowing snot (50-60 kts – gross), accompanied other cruisers via dinghy over to the palapa restaurants in Puerto Madero, took some side trips to Tapachula for shopping, tacos and icecream, and generally just hung out.

Come mid-December it was time to get a move on. We said our goodbyes and crossed the much dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec. We ate more tacos (lots more tacos) in the town of Crucecita and spent a little over a week doing short hops in the Bahias de Huatulco. Christmas was celebrated with my late grandma’s Chili Relleno casserole (a midwestern take on a Mexican classic) and a bottle (maybe two) of tequila. The Bahias de Huatulco were stunning and I’m glad we had the opportunity to see them this time around. At the end of December we decided to resume our trek North with Zihuatanejo as our next intended port of call.

Here’s the quick recap in numbers!

419.8 … miles travelled

134 … hours, total travel time

3.1 … knots, average speed

34.2 … hours put on the engine

13.7 … gallons of fuel used

30.7 … mpg, fuel economy

9 … nights at anchor

6 … nights at sea

16 … nights at a marina

$832 … USD, monthly cruising expenses for November

14.5 … pesos per dollar, current exchange rate in Mexico (last time we were here it was closer to 12)

2 … nights Jeff spent in Mexico City to take the GRE

48 … degrees Farenheit, temperature at night in Mexico City during the winter (cold!)

0 … sweatshirts or sweaters Jeff packed for his trip to the city (we’ve become so accustomed to 24/7 hot)

4 … layers that Jeff slept under in the hostel to try to keep warm

20 … hours by bus from Tapachula to Mexico City

2 … hours by plane from Tapachula to Mexico City – Jeff opted for the plane ride

4 … approximate hours Harmony spent each day working in the offices at Marina Chiapas

2 … hours that she actually spent working (the other 2 hours she was shooting the proverbial with Enrique, Memo or whoever else happened along)

6 … times that Memo spontaneously broke out into song (he has a marvelous singing voice)

8 … new header photos I took for the Marina Chiapas website

$20 … pesos, the cost of battery water to top up our dry starter battery before we could leave Chiapas (no bueno!)

7 … ways that we now know how to say “cool” in Spanish (padre, orale, chingón and onda [Mexico], pura vida [Costa Rica], chivo [El Salvador], prity [Panama]) –padre and orale seem to be the coolest ways to say cool in Chiapas – be careful with chingón because it’s derived from the swear word chingar…not something you say to your granny J

4 … times we went to our lovely little abandoned palapa at Playa Linda

6 … times we used our folding bikes on this trip (at home in Portland, the Redwoods, La Paz, 2x Chiapas, Boca Chica)

2 … kids, Armando and Jaquelyn, who are (hopefully) stoked to be the new owners of our folding bikes – Armando watched Tack for us when we went back to the US in 2013

3 … day weather window we had for crossing the Gulf of Tehuantepec

20 … fishing boats seen during our passage across the Gulf

0.5 … miles offshore that we transited the Northernmost portion of the Gulf

10 … knots, max wind predicted on our crossing of the Tehuantepec

30 … knots, max wind experienced on our crossing of the Tehuantepec

11.9 … average number of gale force winds (>34 knots) that occur in the Gulf of Tehuantepec each cold season (Source: NOAA)

6.4 … average number of storm force winds (>48 knots) that occur in the Gulf of Tehuantepec each cold season (Source: NOAA)

64 … knots, the minimum wind speed to be considered “hurricane force” by NOAA

56 … tacos eaten between the two of us

11 … different types of tacos eaten, including some interesting ones, like ubre (udder) – we didn’t know what it was at the time – longaniza were my personal favorite

$5 … pesos per taco ($0.28 USD), the cheapest tacos we found, in Tapachula (also my favorite tacos)

$12 … pesos per taco ($0.85 USD), the most expensive tacos we found, in Crucecita (though to be fair, they were also the largest)

4 … different types of tequila “sampled” during the month of December

$42 … pesos ($3.00 USD) for 750mL, the average price of the bottom shelf tequila we buy (which I assure you is very delicious).

82 … approximate number of limes used in December

9 … the official number of bays that comprise Bahias de Huatulco over 26 km of coastline (Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huatulco)

5 … developed bays among Bahias de Huatulco (Conejos, Tangolunda, Chahue, Santa Cruz, and San Agustin)

2 … marinas in Huatulco, one for local tour boats in Bahia Santa Cruz and one for pleasure boats in Bahia Chahue – both were constructed under the supervision of Enrique, who helped to build and currently manages Marina Chiapas

12 … undeveloped bays among Bahias de Huatulco (though only 4 are formally recognized in the literature we received – Bahia Maguey, Bahia Organo, Bahia Cacaluta, and Bahia Chacacual)

5 … bays that we visited (Bahia Santa Cruz, Bahia Organo, Bahia Chachacual, Bahia Jicaral y Bahia San Agustin)

1 … number of bays visited that had an internet connection – only Bahia Santa Cruz, the rest are off the internet grid

$28 … pesos per day per person ($2.00) to be in the Parque Nacional (National Park) Huatulco (we had to purchase bracelets)

11,891 … hectares of protected lowland jungle (6375 hectares) and marine areas (5516 hectares) in Parque Nacional Huatulco – Enrique of Marina Chiapas helped to establish the protected areas in the late 90’s (didn’t I tell you he has lots of awesome stories and experiences to share) (Source: CONANP)

938 … species of known flora and fauna that live in the terrestrial part of Parque Nacional Huatulco – 430 species of plants, 15 amphibians, 291 birds, 130 mammals and 72 reptiles (Source: CONANP)

146 … of these species that are protected under Mexican law (Source: CONANP)

186 … marine species known to exist in Parque Nacional Huatulco – 12 species of coral (including this stunning purple coral), 58 marine invertebrates, and 116 varieties of fish (Source: CONANP)

5 … of these marine species that are protected under Mexican law (Source: CONANP)

0.009% … percent of the world’s seasonally dry tropical forest (selvas bajas caducifolias) that are under protection – this is one of the priority ecosystems within Parque Nacional Huatulco (Source: CONANP)

3 … hikes we went on in Bahias de Huatulco (lots of beautiful birds!)

4 … hours per day that the undeveloped bays are overrun with boats full of tourists – we would generally hang out on the boat until they left, then go exploring

18 … turtle tracks counted at Playa India

80 … percent of tourism in Huatulco that is domestic (meaning it’s mostly a vacation spot for Mexicans) – only 20% is foreign (Source: Wikipedia)

330 … the average number of sunny days per year in Huatulco with an average temperature of 82.4 degrees F – though the water was quite a bit colder than we’re used to (we’re spoiled)