A Taste of Cruising Mexico

We disappeared for a few weeks since our last blog posting, but we really didn't sink. The last time we left you we were headed for the infamous Cabo Corrientes. We left Chamela after dark hoping for an easy motor sail up to the cape, timing to round in the early morning before things got too boisterous. It was not to be. As soon as we left Chamela we were slogging into 5-7' seas coming from two different directions. And very oddly, there was very little wind. We motored to weather all night for 55 miles making only about 5 knots over the ground. We had had to slow way down to keep the pounding to a minimum in the short, square seas. About sunrise the wind did kick up to 20-25 kts as we were approaching Punta Ipala 15 miles south of the cape. We decided we had had enough for one day and dropped the hook in the anchorage behind Punta Ipala. It blew 20-30 kts all day. Late in the afternoon, the weather charts were hinting that it would lay down the next day. And the wind did die after dark and was still calm the next morning. The photo is the sunrise in the anchorage as we were getting under way. The rest of the day was an uneventful and easy trip around the cape, across Banderas Bay, and up to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. We did see humback whales, but caught no fish.

After four months of living "on the hook", we decided to take advantage of a few weeks in the brand new marina here at La Cruz. I'd say we're quite enjoying taking two (long!) hot showers every day, being able to walk to town without getting wet in the surf landings, and just enjoying the town here. We're catching up on a lot of deferred maintenance including buffing and waxing the topsides, polishing all the stainless, and cleaning the canvas.