- Port of departure: Manzanillo
- Departure date and time: Wednesday, May 8 at 10:00am
- Port of arrival: Acapulco
- Arrival date and time: Wednesday, May 15 at 1:00pm
- Total travel time: 7 days and 3 hours
- Miles traveled: 328
- Engine hours: 1036.1 – 1057.4 – 21.3 hours
- Forecast: You guessed it, light and variable! The forecast shows wind from every direction imaginable, generally in the 5 knot range, and rarely, if ever, exceeding 10 knots. There appears to be a pattern though, with winds from the SE in the morning, moving around to the SW by late morning, to the W in the afternoon, dying around sunset and swinging to the NW in the evening. Presumably we should be able to make the most progress from mid-day through the night when the wind isn’t on our nose. The swell is predicted to be negligible, not exceeding 2m in height.
This was our longest passage to date, both in terms of miles and in terms of days spent at sea. Our average speed was low, but we sailed most of the way and really enjoyed the easygoing pace. A lot can happen in seven days…I’ll do my best to summarize.
We were originally shooting for Zihuatanejo (188 miles from Manzanillo) because that’s where Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman meet up after doing time in Shawshank Redemption (best movie ever!) But we came across a handy book on weather in Mexico (thanks Megan and Prescott!) and it set a fire under our asses to get past the Gulf of Tehuantepec before the end of May. Tropical depressions (which evolve into tropical storms, which evolve into hurricanes) begin forming as early as the last week of May in the Gulf. Turns out this book has been aboard this whole time, but we just now (re)discovered it. It’s a gem.
It’s been strange, ever since we rounded Cabo Corrientes, I find myself constantly having to reorient. We were accustomed to traveling south (primarily) and now we’re traveling more to the east. The sun sets behind us now, rather than on our starboard side, and we relate to the wind a bit differently. Since we turned the corner, winds from the Southwest aren’t entirely terrible anymore.
This passage can be characterized by two different stages. Stage 1 involved us being determined to sail every last mile to Acapulco (288+ miles, if you assume a straight shot…which, when we sail, we can’t usually assume that). We modified this mentality almost immediately when we realized that in the first 24 hour period, we had only traveled 40 miles…and the route we were taking was not the most direct or efficient route. That’s not even a 2 knot average…
On day 2, we turned the engine on and were displeased to discover that we were only cruising at about 3 knots (hardly cruising) and the engine was producing an unfamiliar shudder. Anything less than 4 knots (in calm conditions…with a current in our favor) is cause for suspicion. Jeff suspected the alignment. We figured we would get around to fixing the engine once we reached Acapulco (or we’d overnight in Zihua) and sail in the meantime…but after another day of little to no wind (mostly on our nose), we decided to duck into Maruata anchorage and get to work. Nice to have and not need…
The Maruata anchorage was beautiful! If we didn’t have such a tight schedule, I could imagine spending a considerable amount of time there. The majority of the day was filled with engine work – installing a flexible coupler and realigning the engine. Jeff was on engine duty, though he tagged me in on occasion. I was also able to troubleshoot the problem with our winch. Glad to have that back onboard. As I was working on the winch, a panga laden with probably 15 school aged children (none of whom were wearing life vests) zoomed past. I glanced up and waved. The kids waved back with such unbridled enthusiasm that I waved with a renewed vigor.
After a hot and sweaty day, roasting in our cabin and coating ourselves in dirt and grease and soot, we went for a swim and washed up. We lazed about for the rest of the afternoon, had a delicious dinner of flautas and prepared to take off once the evening winds arrived. Overall a very productive and satisfying day.
We left the Maruata anchorage at about 9pm with the wind at our back. Dolphins swarmed the boat giving us quite a show, their bodies illuminated beneath the dark surface. A 3D light show extravaganza. They hung out with me on my entire shift, swirling about in the wake of the boat, jumping in and out of waves, leaping sporadically into the air. One even managed to splash me in the cockpit with glittering little droplets. Laughter ensued. I was glad for the company.
The winds were light for the next several days but they mostly blew from the E, W or NW, meaning we could sail a straight line to Acapulco (more or less). Our “rule” was that if the wind couldn’t keep our sails full, then we would turn on the motor. Unfortunately, on day 4 the water alarm came on and wouldn’t go off. Jeff went to work trouble shooting the problem and fixed it (genius). When the nubbin on our tiller that connects with our autopilot broke off, he fixed that too. I can’t imagine 7 days in light winds without an autopilot. Yeah, it turns out that I married Macgyver 2.0.
We entertained going swimming that afternoon (again to wash all the grease and sweat and dirt off of our bodies), but when we glanced in the water we noticed hundreds of thousands of small algae colored jelly fish. Mmmmm…think I’ll pass on that one.
This is clearly the “land” of sea turtles. On one afternoon we passed 10 turtles within a 30 minute period. Their shells look like giant rocks until, on closer inspection, you realize that they’re green and they’re moving. Watching them move gives the phrase “awkward turtle” a whole new meaning (Jeff ed.: That’s not a phrase). Certainly gets the job done, though. We saw several turtles up to 15 miles offshore. That’s a lot of swimming. The turtles are much easier to spot when a sea bird decides to use it’s shell as a temporary rest stop. Strange to see a bird more or less standing on the water. Sea turtles are such beautiful creatures and it’s incredible to see them out here. When they lift their heavy head to glance over at you, past their small mound of a home with their empathic eyes, you feel like the world will be okay, so long as there are sea turtles in it. I spent most of my free time on watch playing spot the sea turtle. I got really good at it.
Aside from sea life we also saw a lot of commercial and panga traffic, more than usual. Lazaro Cardenas is a major shipping port on the Pacific side of Mexico and we saw at least 15 shipping freighters passing either north or south. Fortunately we managed to stay out of their lanes. This increased the chitter chatter over the radio as well. Lots of languages we couldn’t understand.
On our 5th day we saw two boats, parallel on the water, screaming towards us. We couldn’t see the boats or the passengers with any amount of detail, but it appeared that they were making a bee line to our boat. It looked like a scene straight out of James Bond with the boats bouncing off of waves, kicking up spray. Jeff and I looked at each other and ducked down below to hide all of our electronics and put clothes on…just in case. When we poked our heads back up, we noticed that they were just fishing pangas. I smiled and waved, they waved back. False alarm. Meanwhile, the potatoes were burning.
The sunsets and sunrises were particularly strange on this passage. The air has been incredibly thick and hazy and for the past few days, it smells of smoldering wood. Given all of the haze, the sun has a particularly fierce glow as it’s rising and setting.
The weather is warmer now, getting up to 90 degrees in our cabin during the day. Creating shade in the cockpit has become a high priority. We are wearing fewer and fewer articles of clothing…which will do wonders for reducing loads of laundry (me thinks). Our bodies are covered in a thin layer of permasweat.
The heat and humidity is going to be generating more dramatic weather patterns. On our 5th night we watched a dry lightning storm that spanned both of our shifts. It illuminated the coast and passed overhead, ushering in a warm sailing breeze. I love lightning storms, but it’s a bit frightening to experience one on a boat…with a big aluminum mast just taunting the clouds.
The lowlight on this trip for me was definitely having an egg break in my egg basket, leaving a sticky, smelly, nasty goo all over the basket and our cupboard. Bleck. For Jeff one of the lowlights was how long it took us to get around the point outside of Manzanillo (so SLOW!). His other lowlight was having the engine out of commission, with no wind, while a Mexican navy ship was perched half a mile away like a bird of prey. Jeff went below to work and when he emerged, it had moved on.
The highlight on this trip…oh gosh, too many to choose from. Probably the sea turtles for me…or the dolphins…or the lightning. Jeff says that his highlights were drinking cold coffee and playing Ascension together (basically an electronic card game) in the cockpit beneath our homemade sunshade. He also enjoyed the night watches and the satisfaction of successfully addressing every little problem that arose. We both also really enjoyed Maruata.
Phew, that was a tome.
