Blog Post 41 – Huatulco to Chiapas via the dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec

04/26/16 – 05/25/16

14:41.93N – 92:23.54W

We had worried about this crossing for 2 years. It would be the most dangerous stretch of water we had covered so far in our travels. The Gulf of Tehuantepec is infamous in boating, fishing and cruising circles. It is where hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific form. The water is incredibly warm, 89 degrees +. What makes the Tehuantepec so dangerous though is the wind. Tehuantepec winds are gap winds that funnel across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the narrowest strip of land in Mexico between the Pacific and the Caribbean) from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. At its narrowest, the Isthmus is 130 miles wide and is bordered by the Sierra Madre mountain range. A few gaps are found in this range near the middle of the Isthmus, the largest being called the Chivela Pass. The trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico, combined with the cool air from Central America, blast across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and fan out into the Gulf of Tehuantepec. These winds can last for days on end, sometimes even weeks and winds reaching from gale to storm force, blast out into the Pacific causing very large seas. The winds blow north to south with winds that can be felt hundreds of miles into the Pacific Ocean. Many mariners have made the mistake of heading out to sea to avoid the wind and waves only to be caught in even worse seas. The further you get from shore, the more space the wind has to create huge waves. There are stories of boats being blown out to sea. It is a really scary place. We had planned on having an extra crew member with us for this crossing but it did not work out. So it was going to be just Jirig, Nico and I doing the crossing. We consulted fellow boaters, local fishermen and the numerous weather apps and sites we have for weather and waited for a good window to cross. We needed at least a 48 hour window of good weather to get across the gulf.  

We found our weather window and set sail at 5AM on April 24^th. It was a 230 mile run across the gulf. The winds were 3-5 knots and the seas 1-2 feet. We were apprehensive but also confident in the weather forecast. It would be a 2 ½ day run to Chiapas. Chiapas is 14 miles from the Guatemalan border, it is the last port in Mexico. Again, it was a hot and humid trip. Again we spent the evenings sleeping on deck. We have a comfortable set up on deck with cushions and plenty of room to stretch out. Bring a lightweight sheet and a pillow and you are set. There are no bugs 25 miles off shore so no worries for Nico and me there. The watch schedule was Teresa 8PM-midnight, Jirig midnight to 4AM, Teresa 4AM to 8AM, Jirig 8AM to noon and so on…. Nico takes 2 hour watches during the day, with supervision. He is really great with the electronics and is very observant when it comes to the boat. He has been cruising on it long enough to know when something goes wrong. For all the anxiety and planning that went into this crossing, it was a dull and uneventful trip. The only bad thing that happened was on my watch the second morning. I had come down into the cabin to put away my coffee cup. Jirig was worried about the heat in the engine room so both doors to it were open with fans blowing. The noise is incredible. When I got to the galley the sink was full of dirty dishes, as often happens on a passage and I decided to clean up. Big mistake. Unbeknownst to me, because I could not hear anything with the engines roaring; the autopilot failed (it will cut out occasionally and need to be re-set) and we lost our course. Because the rudder is now engaged in the last angle it was in when the autopilot went off, the boat started to turn around. We did a complete 180 and started going back the way we came. Jirig and Nico were asleep on the deck. Nico heard the auto pilot alarm and woke up and at the same time the motion of the boat changing woke up Jirig. I still did not hear or notice a thing. I was really getting in to those dishes! Needless to say it was a huge mistake on my part, one that will never occur again. That is how you learn on a boat, you make a mistake and learn from it and hopefully you did not do any damage. In this case only my ego was damaged. This benign crossing reaffirmed for us that the wise thing to do as cruisers is not to set deadlines, to wait for your weather window and only travel when it is safe to do so. This stretch of coast can present some of the worst potential weather conditions for cruisers on the west coast of Mexico and beyond and we were able to traverse it without any problems at all by being patient, informed and aware.  

The approach to the marina was very disconcerting. As it was relatively new, it did not show on our GPS. It looked like we were on land. Because of its location so close to the Guatemalan border the check in procedures were very intense. Once we docked we were told to stay on board until the marines could come and inspect and search the boat. A full contingent of marines armed with assault rifles and drug and money sniffing dog. They were very formal and serious about their work. It freaked us out to have our boat searched like that. The marina in Chiapas was amazing. Not so much because of its amenities, but for the sheer brilliance and engineering of its design. We have stayed in over 20 different marinas so far on this trip and marina Chiapas was by far the best. The two guys that run the marina, Enrique, the guy that designed and built it and his partner Momo were exceptional human beings. They were welcoming, knowledgeable and helpful beyond belief. The marina was built so effectively that you did not even realize you were floating on the water. You could have tied your dock lines with a piece of thread and been fine. After the intense surge of the marina in Chahue (Cha-weh) in Huatulco where we wore our dock lines through and almost burst our bumpers, this marina was a dream. Many people haul out their boats here, they have a brand new 100 ton Travelift, for the season. It is also very inexpensive to both stay here and keep your boat on the hard.  They had a good restaurant, although it was expensive by Mexican standards, great bathrooms and showers and a little mini mart with all the basics including ice cold beer and hard alcohol. What more could you want? Well……the only bad thing about Marina Chiapas was its location. It was very remote and a good 40 kilometers from the nearest big town, Tapachula. It was built on a former watermelon plantation and it was in the boonies. The plan had been that we would stop here for a few days rest and then move on to El Salvador.

Tapachula is a large town of about 500,000 people. It is not pretty like other towns we have visited in Mexico but it has everything you need, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Office Depot. The only thing that was lacking were good restaurants. But as Jirig and I are both good cooks, as long as we can get good groceries, we eat well.

When I started to do research about the state of Chiapas I found that it was a treasure trove of natural and cultural wonders. The state of Chiapas (yes it is the name of the town, the port and the state) has many of the most amazing Mayan Ruins, Spanish colonial cities and incredible natural wonders like, waterfalls, caves, lakes etc. We quickly decided to stick around for a while, ent a car and see the sites. I will do another post dedicated to our land travels.          

This decision would have major repercussions for us regarding our cruising plans but more about that later...

By far one of the greatest things that happened while we were in Chiapas was finally hooking up with and meeting my cruising mentor Margie Benziger of SV Peregrina. Through a convoluted line of communication and friends, my friend and former colleague Dorothy Pacella worked with Margie’s daughter Lauren at a non-profit in OC called Working Wardrobes. Margie and her husband Peter were there visiting and Dorothy mentioned that she had a friend, me, that was about to start cruising. Margie gave Dorothy her boat card (a business card printed with all contact information that cruisers exchange when meeting) and there a friendship was born. Margie and Peter have been cruising the globe for 6.5 years and have just recently completed their circumnavigation. Although I have read voracious amounts of blogs, magazine articles and books on the cruising lifestyle I had never been able to actually talk to someone in person that had done it. I reached out to Margie with a long introductory email. She must have thought I was nuts, I did not know her, but immediately launched into a diatribe of questions and concerns. What do you do for insurance, route planning, preparation for cruising and then silly things like how you color your hair etc. MARGIE WAS AMAZING! She patiently and considerately answered all of my questions and posed some of her own. She was a no nonsense, practical woman. She was strong, intelligent, resourceful and honest. She was not a wimpy, or girlie girl type of woman. She was a tremendous resource for me. She gave me the confidence, drive and vision to embark on this journey. And for that I will forever grateful. We had talked about meeting up but it was a distant hope at best. When we started talking they were in Grenada and considering crossing the Pacific Ocean again to the South Pacific islands. The hope of us meeting up was dim. But as luck would have it we all ended up in Chiapas marina at the same time. They had planned to haul out for the season in Costa Rica and then we would have never met up with them but as it turns out Costs Rica is incredibly expensive for cruisers and to haul out there was prohibitively expensive.

Meeting her and Peter in person was like finding a long lost friend and pen pal. She was everything I expected, and more. We spent 2 weeks together having sundowners (cruisers getting together for drinks at sundown) potlucks and trips into the city. We had a girl’s day where we went into town for mani pedi’s and a ladies lunch and many a great conversation on our boats. It was really cool. She will be a friend for life.

Another thing that stands out about Chiapas, that was a negative, was the trash. Nico and I would ride our bikes in the morning and all along the road there was trash dumped everywhere. It really bothered us. There were piles of it. One day while we were riding our bikes Nico asked me if he could get a new X-Box game. I told him that I would not just give it to him, that he had to earn it. He asked what he could do. I had a flash of brilliance and said that if he picked up all the trash along the side of the road from the marina entrance to the Cruise ship terminal (a distance of about a mile) I would buy it for him. The plan was for Nico to pick up the trash while I followed him in the car. Just to make sure we were not doing anything wrong, I went to the marina office and told them what we planned to do. Their response was overwhelming. Both Enrique and Momo expressed their own disgust at all of the trash along the road. They said it was from beach goers from the city returning from the beach at Playa Linda just down the road. They said that people were very careful about not leaving their trash on the beach but had no problem dumping it along the road on their way back to Tapachula. Go figure. They said not only was it ok to pick up the trash but that they would help us. They said they would donate their truck and the marina workers to the effort. I said I would rally the cruisers in the marina to help. They were stunned that cruisers would want to help their community and pick up the trash. We ended up with about 16 people. The amount of trash was staggering. There was layers and layers of it. We found piles and piles of used diapers (yuck!) and more plastic bottles and wrappers than you would ever care to see. All of us cruisers were wearing rubber boots and gloves but the marina workers were using their bare hands. We picked up 5 truckloads of trash. We were 16 people, we worked for 3 hours and were only able to clear about 50 meters in both directions from the outside of the marina gates. But we made our point. The marina workers were stunned at how concerned we were about the trash and how hard we worked to clean it up. They said they would continue the effort going forward. I hope so. The cars passing along the road noticed too. One of the sad things we found was a grave marker. In the Latino culture they will always mark the spot where a person was killed as that is the place where the soul left the body and went to heaven. The marina workers told us it was the grave of a local gardener that was killed on his bike along the road about 2 years prior. We cleaned up the grave and the cross so it looked like it was when it was placed there. One of the strangest things I found was a beautiful silver spoon and a bottle of perfume. It was a great day, it was a good lesson for Nico on many levels and it brought the cruisers and the locals together. See what you can accomplish when your kid asks for an X-Box game? I was thrilled with the outcome.

Another reason we ended up staying so long in Chiapas was that our son Daniel was graduating from college back in Long Beach. There was no way I was going to miss that milestone in my sons life. Jirig did not want to leave the boat unattended so he stayed behind while Nico and I returned to Long Beach. We stayed in our old house, which Daniel now occupies with roommates and we all camped out in Daniels room. We spent the week visiting friends and eating at all of our favorite restaurants. Our oldest and dearest friends and the God parents to our sons, John and Ellen Chapman generously hosted the graduation festivities. A great time was had by all. After the graduation the three of us returned to the boat. Daniel is going to spend the next 6 weeks with us. Yeah, the family is together again!

And last but certainly not least, Nico celebrated his 13^th birthday while we were in Chiapas. He has matured, developed and grown so much in the last year. Aside from maturing mentally and emotionally, he has exploded physically. He has gained 25 lbs, has grown 3” taller and gained 3 ½ shoes sizes; he now wears a men’s size 11 shoe! He is more mature, self confident and independent than ever. If only he would grow out of his X-Box life would be grand!