Sailors dread crossing the Tehuantepec. The seas are huge! The winds will destroy your boat! Rumors have it that people wait for weeks and even months to cross it. They are just rumors, of course. We waited for just one day for favorable conditions. It wasn't my favorite passage but I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

A few notes on crossing the Tehuantepec.

We watched WindAlert, Bouyweather, Sailflow, NOAA, Gary’s Weather and ConAgua (the local authority on Tehuantepec weather). WindAlert and Sailflow were most accurate with predictions of wind near Salina Cruz of 17-20 knots, ConAgua was the least with wind predictions of 0. We saw a gust of 33. Talos IV, who was just a mile or two so away from us saw gusts up to 40. Sustained winds were generally in 20-25 knot range.

The wind didn’t last the whole trip though and really the winds weren’t even and issue for us. The washing machine ocean waves that were caused by previous winds really shook the boat up however.

The general advice heard in the area is to keep one foot on the beach. I don’t agree with that entirely. Keeping one foot on the beach while in the area where the gap winds originate is a great idea but when in areas that there aren’t any gap winds, stay 3 miles off. This allows you to quickly get in if needed but because you are off the shore, the seas tend to be a little smoother. We were ¼ to 1 mile off at times and the closer we got, the rougher the seas. I’ve heard many people say stay on the 35 foot depth contour. You’d have to be just a few hundred feet off shore to do this. It just doesn’t seem safe on this coast in Tehuantepec conditions.

We didn’t have hardly any wind until just about 5 miles from Salina Cruz. Once we started noticing winds, we got close to shore (about 1 mile off) and were very comfortable. Even in 25 knots of sustained wind, the sea doesn’t have much of a chance to build up waves within a mile and because the wind always blows from offshore here, there aren’t any washing machine ocean waves here.

People dread Salina Cruz not just for the wind but for the shipping traffic and shrimp fleet. Neither are an issue to be concerned with. There were 2 ships on their way out of port and two ships anchored. They are all well-lit and very easy to maneuver around. The shrimp fleet is the same. They are large vessels, moving slowly, are well-lit and show up easily on radar.

The portion of the passage from Salina Cruz to Marina Chiapas is just like any other passage. We had some current against us for about 1/2 of the way and then current pushing us for the rest.

When we arrived at the harbor we saw huge breaking waves hitting the beach and thought that we may have some difficulty getting in. The harbor entrance has two huge breakwaters, is about 1,000 feet wide and is well marked and lit. Entering was easy.

The marina is way back and isn’t on any of my charts. As a matter of fact, all three of my electronic charts say that we are parked on land right now.

The marina is new, the staff is friendly and professional.