The Gulf of Tehuantepec can have winds at gale force due to cold fronts coming from the Gulf of Mexico. In a typical year it will blow over 50 knots for 3-4 days then be calm for 3-4 days. This is not a typical year since it is blowing constantly for days at a time. We need to cross this bay of 200+ miles to get out of Mexico. However, first we needed to enter the north part of the bay to get to Marina Chahué where we will wait for a window to cross. We held up in Acapulco and finally got a window to make the two night trip. The first day we had one of our most enjoyable sails yet. With the current and wind in our favor we were moving along at over 7 knots for eleven hours and making such good time we were looking at an anchorage to spend our second night in. All that came to a screeching halt the second day when the current and wind turned against us. The worst was on our approach to the bay where we had a 3 knot current against us and we were doing 4 knots. So our hopes of getting a good nights sleep went out with the current.

On our passage we were discussing that we hadn’t seen many whales this season. About 1:30 am on our second night I was looking for lights along the shore when about 100 yards away a whale breached not once but twice. Luckily he was moving in the opposite direction and not towards us. I went over to the rail to see if there were any more coming and a fish taller than me jumped out of the water right in front of me. He continued jumping as he moved along. I always wonder if they are being chased or that is their idea of a fun time. Who needs coffee when you have all this to keep you awake!

We arrived at Marina Chahué at 3:00 am and anchored outside the marina until it opened the next morning. Trying to navigate an unknown marina in the dark is never a good idea. As it was, we had submerged rocks to navigate around just to get into the tiny bay where the marina is. We had a hazy full moon, but it wasn’t helping much. Gary stayed up in the cockpit until sunrise to make sure we didn’t drift off in the surge. He didn’t want to put out much chain since we had rocks all around us. Our reward was a nice sunrise with this view of where home will be for at least a week.