The last flag!
14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico
David
The last flag! - Having skirted along the outer cays and atolls of Belize, we headed north to Mexico. I went to the flag bag that we have been using for the whole trip to store our courtesy flags for each country and it only had one flag left. It was the Mexico flag. All the others had been used and moved to another bag. It was sort of melancholy to pull out the flag and find the bag empty. We were definitely getting close to home.
We left Long Cay in Lighthouse Reef, Belize early on the 10th for the 250 mile run to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, that our Zarpe gave as our next port of entry. But we had just received an email from Jacque and Annet from "Pananche" saying that they were heading to the Chinchorro Banks from Bahia del Espiritu Santo on the Mexican coast. We had to go right by there so we emailed back that we were close and might stop.
Starting out we had a great run north behind Lighthouse Reef as we tucked in close. The winds were 10-15 on a beam reach and the reef gave us very calm seas. With a slight current in our favor we were doing over 8 kts SOG (speed over ground). At that rate we might make the 92 miles to Cayo Norte on the Chinchorro Banks by sunset. We were going to give it a try.
We turned off the engine and sailed past the north end of Lighthouse Reef into the open water. The seas picked up and so did the winds so we put in a reef in both the main and genoa. Even so our SOG remained over 7 kts. By 2 pm, the winds were over 20 kts and the seas up to 6 feet. We put in another reef on the main and genoa and still our speed was over 8 kts. We were flying! What a great sailing day! Even with the higher seas, the beam reach gave us a pretty comfortable ride and the reduced sail gave us less heel. That's the way it's supposed to be.
By 5 pm we were at the south end of Chinchorro Banks. All conditions were the same but now we were again going into the lee of the big atoll and the seas were calmer. We had gone 72 miles in 10 hours. Not bad. Getting close to sunset, the winds were freshening even more so we doused the genoa completely and set the little stay sail. It would be much safer and calmer for the night run even with the loss of speed. We began calling Panache on the radio but go no reply from them.
By 8 pm, we were near Cayo Norte and could see the lighthouse blinking but no anchor lights. We tried calling more times for Panache but finally decided to keep going. Getting into the anchorage after dark was iffy and they still might not be there. It was not worth the risk. Cozumel was just 92 miles away but because our speed had been so good, we were now scheduled to arrive in Isla Mujeres in the middle of the night. So, we set our goal to Cozumel and a good night sleep at anchor instead of a questionable night sleep rocking in the ocean.
By 7 the next morning, we had covered 156 miles. The goal of most cruisers is an average of 6 kts which gives you 150 miles in 24 hours. We had done this with no engine! Just good sailing. We had 68 more miles to Cozumel, about 10 hours which would put us there in the early afternoon.
We reached the southern end of Cozumel at 1 pm and got some good pictures of the old lighthouse before realizing we were in shallow water with a strong current setting us toward the shore. Oops! Tack out and get into deeper water as we rounded the famous Palancar Beach and Palancar Reef diving site. We had visited Cozumel many times in the 80's as a place to dive and party. But this was a completely different view.
We came around the island and into San Miguel to the anchorage near shore. It was 3:30. 208 miles in 32.5 hours. The anchorage had plenty of sandy spots and we got a good set. But the fishing boats were coming by very close and very fast leaving large wakes and rocking us all around. We couldn't figure out what was going on. They were everywhere. I thought they were taking their clients back to the ferry dock to catch the last one back across to Cancun or Playa del Carmen. But finally they stopped and went away. Until the next morning when it started all over again about 6 o'clock. I counted over 50 and then gave up. They were everywhere again. Until 7 when they all took off. Basically just disappeared. We had anchored in the start and finish area of a big fishing tournament! Who knew? Oh, well. We slept quietly at least.
After all the fishing boats were gone, we weighed anchor and headed for Cancun and Isla Mujeres about 42 miles away. It was another beautiful day and the winds and seas were almost perfect for our crossing. In fact just out of Cozumel we were going almost 10 kts SOG! Those of you who have dived at Palancar Reef know all about the current! And we had it going with us! Obviously we were sailing well but the current just added to the fun.
We rounded Punta Cancun and coasted along off of the Hotel Road for 7 miles. Here are all the hotels for Cancun lined one after another. A really beautiful beach and coastal area! Then just a few more miles and we were at Isla Mujeres. We were not sure where we were going to stop until we passed a very nice marina and noticed that two of our cruising friends were there already. So, we came about and pulled into an empty slip. We had made it.
From the Rio Dulce to Isla Mujeres in 7 days stopping at 5 different islands. Some of the best sailing of our trip and WD did just fine! And we were about 350 miles closer to home. And we used our last flag after we cleared Immigration the next day. So no more flags. Must be time! Til then...