FW: Passage Acapulco to Huatluco part 4 (Anchored atr Pureta Angel)
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sat 27 Mar 2010 03:22
Passage length 235 NM
Distance to go:25 nM
Location: (15:39.5N 96:29.5W)
Speed: D Anchored at Pureta Angel
The day got into rhythm I was able to get 3 hours sleep in the morning, and
Tracy and boys did the same in the afternoon, but by then it was getting hot
so we were trying to get air down stairs. The swell was from the south, and
wind at 8 knots from SSW meant that we had to motor sail, as it was tight to
nose, and we had a 1.5 knot current against us. These currents are
significant especially when you come within 20 miles of a point, last night
we saw a 2 knot current against us, and this was confirmed by a boat when we
dropped anchor ("Wunderlust" who we have seen at anchor with us since La
Cruz off and on). They left a day ahead of us and got in 6 hours ahead of
us, they cannot get the same speed out of engine, (and I am not pushing our
engine) they find themselves with no wind at 3 knots. This was a long
passage as the distance was only 215 to Pureto Angel, but the current and
winds effected the time, I am very pleased that I carry a lot of fuel and am
happy to push through, also with the new engine we put in, it is running
smoothly and well and with motor sailing we get a nice lift out of the sails
as well. There is no doubt that you need a reliable engine, you motor 70 to
80 % of the time, and all the people I have spoken to who said we will sail
and have not put time into engine now regret it as they are spending their
time in anchorages working on the engine and are unable to get places, and
they are stressed as they cannot make destinations and are always waiting
for the engine to break down. (We installed a new engine last year and have
spent time running it well, and changing oil and water etc regularly and I
change fuel filters every 50 hours), by staying on top of it and monitoring
everything I am a lot more relaxed and with Tracy who wants to get to
destinations as fast as possible this is key, it is only on these last two
legs that we have had good enough wind to sail significantly, as we get into
the trades this should become more regular and this boat sails well at 12 to
20 knots of wind.
I caught 2 fish, and then hooked a turtle by accident and had to cut the
line so lost my tackle.
We had the boys on the bow for animal spotting, and they were able to see
Manta Rays off the bow very close, lots of sea turtles, and we had 100s of
dolphins playing and surfing off the bow wave, so for the boys it is like
their own private aquarium but it real. It is amazing to see how confident
they are and they pick out the sea life and birds and then point them out on
charts etc, and all they doing is going to bow and just watching as go
along.
As came up the last 30 miles we knew we fight currents and I had some lift
from the wind that had gone broad reach but we still lost time in a race to
try and get to Pureta Angel in daylight we failed by 10 miles, and this is
small harbor not with good cliffs and rocks. Reading up on it, we were able
to use a combination of radar, charts and a moon light to guide us in, and
we anchored in 30 feet in amongst the pangas (which I am sure we knock up
against one tonight) and our friends on "Wunderlust" are 100 feet away. It
is always a bit nerving to enter a new harbor at night, especially when it
is known for rocks on sides, and you have to make out the harbor entrance,
and then as you come in the lights of the town confuse you with navigation
lights as they all blend in. We could not keep going as Huatluco is too
close and that one we cannot get into a night, and we did not want spend the
night waiting off shore in sloppy seas, so we made it in, and we can get a
nights rest.
The coast line is very long beaches with jungle behind them, this coast is
well known for it's surfing spots, but the beaches are 100s of miles long.
So there are not many places to pull in, until you get where we are. We past
some other yachts going north, all in a rush now to get as far north as
possible before May 15th start of Hurricane season.
So now as I sit in the cockpit, the boys are in the bath tub in a cool bath
downstairs and we have lights around us from the town. There are two beaches
here, and beach restaurants and lost of pangas, it looks nice from what we
can see, morning will show it's full color.