Marty and Sue Wells joined us in Isla
Mujeres at the end of February for our next leg of the cruise, from
Isla Mujeres through Belize. They have cruised with us last year
through the Exumas and up to Spanish Wells. They were great guests
more than pulling their weight, and we were excited to have them
aboard for the long lee shore of the Yucatan coast.
We weren't sure what to expect of the
coast run. We did know we weren't going to attempt 250 miles of
coastline against the strong north-flowing Yucatan current with the
wind coming from anywhere near the south. Which it blew for the
first two weeks Marty and Sue were with us. Let me explain – a
sailboat can't go directly upwind, instead the boat goes upwind at an
angle and then “tacks” through the wind to go off the other way,
thereby making net progress into the wind, we can do about 100
degrees between tacks, and we sail at about 7 miles per hour, half of
that is lost to the sailing-at-an-angle thing, ie about 3.5 mph net
into the wind, and the Yucatan current runs at upwards of 3 mph in
many palces, ie 250 miles at 0.5 mph would take a very very long time
(we leave the arithmetic to the reader).
Playa Norte, Isla
Mujeres
So we waited, as sailors do, for the
winds to turn favorable. We fixed a “fix” to the main sheet exit
from the boom . Having reenginered the exit in FL, we discovered in
the gulf that our new “fix” actually caused more chafing to the
main sheet, not less. Thankfully, Joe Hanko worked up a prototype
repair, fitted to the Manta's boom, then FED-EX'ed the parts we'd
need to install. Fed Ex however, delivers to Cancun, and comes to
Isla once a week. So off Royce and Marty went to find Fed-ex, then
find the parts,.... And that was the easy part. If not for the guys
making a jig, and Marty's incredible finger calisthenics, not sure
if we'd have pulled it off. But we did, and now the fix is perfect!
No more chaffing! We explored Isla and did a lot of beaching on their
famous Playa Norte. It is a tight community of about 15,000
“Isleros”, of Mayan heritage, a very quiet and kind folk. The
tourists are generally just day-trippers over from Cancun, so after
the last ferry leaves about 6pm, the island gets really mellow and
authentic. We especially loved a little restaurant run by a very
colorful local guy, large and grandfatherly, the classic publican,
the best chile rellenos we have ever had, period. Then, we got a
window just after a cold front pushed into the Gulf of Mexico which
didn't go as far down as Isla, and turned the winds to the NE. Ideal
for our run due south. Off we went.
Sun set over Mexico
from offshore
First leg was an overnight from Isla
past Cozumel and Playa del Carmen at night, then our favorite little
bay on the land there, Bahia Solimon, at about 3am, and arrived mid-morning at
the entrance to Bahia de la Ascension at the very southerly tip of
Punta Allen and we turned in through the pass. The cruising guide
said that there was anchorage in the lee (west side) of Punta Allen
in 15 ft of sandy grass, and indeed there was. And the fascinating
little town of Punta Allen right on the beach at the tip of the
point. The village has about 300 residents and a few hardy
ecotourists who brave 3 hours of dirt road from Tulum to then take
day boats out in the largest ecopreserve in Mexico, the S'ian K'an.
Trouble was, we had cleared out of Mexico in Isla because there are
no offices of the authorities south of Cancun. Meaning we weren't
really supposed to go ashore. But we did. And glad we did. Met a
delightful local, the brother of one of the founders of an ecofishing
lodge there, he showed us around, introduced to the watering holes
(along with some very colorful locals), inquired about availability
of lobsters for a dinner for us, and then left us to our own devices.
So we enjoyed our lobster dinner by the beach and wandered our way
back to our boat. The next day was repairing the jib where the stitching
had failed. Using a sail-makers palm and too large a needle (all we
had), it was a quick 5 hour job.
The next step was to reach the
Chinchorro Banks, the northern-most coral atoll in the world, 25 miles
off the Mexican coast. We had planned to arrive later in the
afternoon so we still had light to find our way in through the reef.
But the stiff north-setting current and confused seas made for slow
going, and we bailed out into Bahia Espritu Santu at about noon and
tucked in behind the bay's barrier reef for a lumpy night. First
light we were off again, worked our way out through that reef, and
pushed again for Chinchurro Banks. Where we arrived early afternoon
and found, much to our relief that their one mooring ball was
available. The north end of the atoll is the only opening for large
boats but has very marginal anchor-holding in a thin layer of sand
over coral rock. Hence the mooring ball. They also have, on the
Cayo Norte there, a tiny Mexican Navy station manned year-round by
about a dozen Navy guys. We didn't see them all afternoon, but the
next day just after we got back from snorkeling the extensive reef
and a wrecked steamer, they turned up in a launcha. The XO and his
two men were extremely polite, asked to come aboard as if it were an
imposition on us, apologized for the their big boots on our white
decks, AND left their assault weapons with the boat pilot. These
guys are the first defense against really nasty drug runners and live
a difficult life of 6 months on duty station on a cay that is maybe 400
yards long. The XO, wish I had gotten his name, took a few photos
to document that our boat really was a yacht and not filled with
bales of contraband, filled in his forms with our passport numbers
etc, and bravely accepted our offer of rootbeer. With a cheery wave,
they stood off again and putted back to their cay. (It did not seem
like a good idea to photograph them, so no pix here) We snugged in
for the night with the plan to leave at 0-dark-30 so we would be sure
to arrive at our next stop, Ambergris Cay (San Pedro) , in time to
have high sun for running the very tricky entrance cut through their
lee-shore reef.
We made great time on the passage, it
seems that the Yucatan current finally gave us a break by staying way
offshore, and we had light winds but enough to sail well down to the
last few miles. We arrived at the pass at about solar noon, and ran
west in to the cut, successfully made the hard turn to the north just
after crossing the main barrier reef to doge a nasty reef segment
right in the middle of the straight-to-shore route, and got an anchor
in the hard-sand-over-coral-rock. Andrew, a single handle cruiser
we had met at Isla was on anchor right next to us! He bopped over
and we asked about exact local procedures for checking-in: the
cruising guides and written reviews all had slightly different
procedures detailed, and it was very confusing as there clearly was
no consistent procedure set. I loaded up with extra cash, all the
documents I could think of including Marty and Sue's boarding passes
into Cancun, leapt into the dinghy and headed ashore to clear us in.
It took nearly an hour but the they officials were courteous and
generally bored so they seemed to find the novelty of a yacht entry
with an inexperienced skipper (me) to be kind of interesting. With
guidance and some flexibility on their part (What do you need 25
bottles of wine for? You know you aren't supposed to bring that much
alcohol in to Belize? Just make sure you consume it aboard and
don't sell or give it to any locals”). A long taxi ride out through
the residents' section of town to the Port Captain's office to pay
for our 30-days of boat permit, and we were (officially) in Belize!
Phew!
From our anchorage in
Belize
Our first sunset behind
the reef
