SV Yohelah – Pacific Loop

We’re on anchor in Las Hadas this morning getting ready to head south. Our trip from La Paz to Tenicatita was not as uneventful as we prefer and got interrupted by a stop in La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) to do some repairs to the boat. We’ve been fortunate that all the hard work we did in Seattle and Port Townsend has paid off and we’ve had few mechanical issues to deal with so far. But on the way out of La Paz we first discovered that our hydraulic vang had leaking seals when I found hydraulic fluid on the decks while dousing the sails at Las Frailes. Then on our second day of passage out of Frailes I was trying to unfurl the jib early in the morning while Rob was sleeping and discovered the spinnaker halyard wrapped around the swivel at the top. Rats. Later that day as dark was approaching and the wind had died we decided to speed up the engine and try to push for Tenicatita the next day and discovered low oil pressure in the engine. Double rats. No headsails and a questionable engine. Hmmm – time for a stopover.

Luckily with the help of our mechanic in Seattle Rob discovered the oil pressure was just a bent sender from his oil change before we left La Paz. One problem fixed. Then with a trip aloft we had the spin halyard back in place and second problem fixed. On our way again. Only to discover that the roller furling still didn’t roll out. In Barra we pulled down the sail and found a broken spring clip which with the help of our rigger in Port Townsend we discovered will get us to El Salvador and we can get fixed in April when I come home.

So then it was time for a big PSCC (Puget Sound Cruising Club) outstation meeting. Tim & Cindy were in Barra with us and hosted Steve & Elsie from Osprey (who we house sat for last summer). Rob & I hosted Mike & Nita from Odessa (another Baba 40 in Seattle). Also in Barra were Patty & Frosty from Angelfish for a couple of days, Roger & Karen from Meridien, and Jake & Sharon from Jake. Quite the gathering of Northwest sailors. We spent a week sharing the Gold Coast with our friends from the chilly Northwest, then put them all on a plane yesterday.

Friday at 4:00 am we’ll leave for Zihuatanejo, where we should arrive mid day on Sunday. We’ll spend a couple of days, then make a passage down to Huatulco, which is our last stop in Mexico. We’ve had a lovely time in Mexico and the Mexican people couldn’t be nicer, but it’s time to move on. We’re sad to be saying goodbye to friends we likely won’t see again, but are both looking forward to some new adventures. I’m going to come back to Seattle in April to help my sis after some surgery, then Rob & I will go to Guatemala for some Spanish immersion and to explore Mayan ruins. After that we’ll cruise Central America and take an inland trip to Peru with our niece while it’s too hot to stay on the boat over the summer.

Today on Yohelah we’re relaxing and readying for a 1,000 mile jaunt south to El Salvador……

Las Hadas is here

Quick update from Zihuatanejo. Yesterday we got to go see the school that the funds earned at SailFest last year helped build. Unfortunately it’s Easter week so there were no kids in attendance, but it was really quite incredible to see the result of all our hard work last year. There are some pix posted in the Southbound 2008 album in Gallery. We’ll be leaving for Huatulco in the morning.

Today on Yohelah we’re kind of restless and ready to go…….

Zihuatanejo is here

We’ve stopped in Marina Chauhue in what we thought was the town of Huatulco in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico to wait for a weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Upon arrival we were welcomed by the other cruisers here in the “waiting room” who are also heading south into El Salvador. Today it’s blowing 40 knots in the Gulf, making it a very dangerous place to be, so we wait.

The Gulf of Tehuantepec is the body of water adjacent to the lowlands of southern Mexico where the winds from the Gulf of Mexico cross out into the Pacific. The winds blow extremely hard when there’s a high pressure system on the Atlantic side and funnel out for three hundred miles. The seas are on your beam and quickly become very steep (easily 15′) and close together, making it a dangerous crossing. We’re told by the Enrique, the marina manager here, that about 20 people die every year in the Tehuantepec. The Tehuantepec is also the only place that weather systems from Africa can cross into the eastern Pacific and all of Mexico’s hurricanes begin here.

Fortunately with the advancements in weather forecasting it’s easier now to predict when the winds will blow and when they’ll be calm. And we’re traveling between seasons when the occurrence of high winds is lessened significantly. According to all forecasts, the current gale will finish up tomorrow and by Thursday we should have a weather window long enough to scoot across before another system develops. It’s 450 miles to El Salvador, so we’ll be 3 nights and 4 days out. Unfortunately it’s feast or famine with the winds in the Tehuantepec, so we’ll likley have to motor the entire crossing.

Tomorrow we’ll check out of Mexico and get our Zarpe for El Salvador. The Zarpe is our official exit documentation from this country that says we left in good standing, and is required by the next country we enter. It takes about 5 hours tomorrow to get all the clearances and checkouts done.

I mentioned that we thought this was the town of Huatulco because Rob found out from Enrique yesterday that it’s the area of Huatulco and the town of La Crucecita, and before 1984 there was nothing here. This is a tourist area developed by the Mexican government at the same time they built Ixtapa near Zihuatanejo, Cancun on the Yucatan peninsula, and Loreto in the Sea of Cortez. There are four areas of lovely beaches here and a small town with lots of restaurants and tourist shopping. It’s by far the cleanest city we’ve seen in Mexico, and somewhere I’d definitely recommend for folks wanting a lovely getaway to warm weather and warm water.

And if you happen to be an investor with $30 million US dollars to spare you might want to know that they’re trying to sell off the marina which is currently government owned. They’re hoping to find someone who can develop the area around it with more facilities for the boaters and make it more of a destination for the yachties and not just an in transit stopover.

When we arrive in El Salvador we’re going into Bahia Jaltepeque where the Hotel del Sol resort welcoms cruisers. It’s the worst bar crossing in Central America, so we have to time our arrival with a high incoming tide and wait until it’s calm enough to get safely inside. The hotel sends a panga out to guide you through the channel. If the waves are breaking too hard to get in there is an area we can anchor and wait a day or two for a safe crossing. But it’s a great place to leave Rob and the boat while I come back to the states to take care of my sister after some surgery. He’ll have full use of the resort including the pool and facilities for a very reasonable fee.

Today on Yohelah we’re preparing the boat for what hopefully is a very calm and boring crossing of the Tehuantepec. Then I can quit worrying about this one and enjoy the year in Central America……

Huatulco is here