Santiago Bay-
Decision
Written by Ken
At the end of December I posted a blog about trying to
decide if we should go north or south from Manzanillo. After going back up to
Tenecatita for a while we are now back in Santiago Bay, just around the corner
from Manzanillo. It is much quieter here now that Christmas vacation is over.
During the time we spent in Tenacatita, we talked to several
cruisers about their experiences going south. Chris from Legacy was very
helpful. He and his wife, Heather, had a much more positive experience as they sailed to Ecuador than
Robert on Harmony. Legacy managed to miss the bad weather on their way south
and on their return north, so we were encouraged. No Tehuantapec winds, no
Papagallos. They did have to wait for the weather windows. At one small island
they waited 20 days before they had a window to continue. Christina asked if
they managed to have enough food for 20 days. I commented that there must have
been a small store on the island and noted they have a big freezer on their
boat. Since we seem to need to provision every 4 or 5 days, I wondered how we
would do if we had to hang out somewhere for 20 days.
Chris did confirm our notion that there really is not all that
much we want to see along the way to Ecuador. They were not overly impressed
with El Salvador, Nicaragua, or the anchorages in Costa Rica. Marion on
Marionetto mentioned that with the good surfing in Costa Rica, you get the difficult
surf landings when you come into shore with your dinghy. I had been hoping for
more favorable reports of Costa Rica. The only place they really liked, and the
place most cruisers seem to like, is the Panamanian islands. Unfortunately, the
currents work out better if one heads for Ecuador from Golfito, Costa Rica and
visits the Panamanian islands on the return trip north when the currents are
more favorable.
When Legacy was considering crossing the bar to enter Bahia
del Sol in El Salvador they discovered that five or six of the last thirty
boats that had entered sustained damage crossing the bar. They skipped Bahia
del Sol. A couple I knew from San Carlos broached as they were crossing this
same bar. During the ordeal, their dingy motor got washed off the rail and they
got a bunch of water below decks.
We had planned to get residency in Ecuador, have Kyle attend
school, and spend a year or more there. If we did not obtain residency we would
have to leave Ecuador in 180 days under their tourist visa. Another piece of information
we got was from Tripp at the Puerto Amistad Marina in Ecuador’s Bahia de
Caraquez (one of the main bays cruisers leave their boats and where we intended
to leave Sea Biscuit). In an email, he told us that if you get residency you
have to have pay exorbitant importation fees for your boat.
Before we received Tripp’s email and after considerable
discussion and soul searching, we had decided we would make the 200+ mile
passage to Zihuatanejo and were planning to continue sailing to Ecuador. Yes, after our "Manzanillo Decision Point" and spending a couple weeks thinking we definitely weren't going to sail south, we decided to try it after all. Both
Christina and Kyle were excited about going someplace new. This would be the
longest passage the three of us have done and would help to decide if we should
continue south or turn around, head north, and enjoy the Costa Alegre and the
Sea of Cortez. Many world cruisers return to this area saying that these are
the best cruising grounds in the world.
We set out from Tenecatita fairly early and headed down the
coast. We motored along until the wind came up and then sailed along at 4 to 5
knots. We were running 5 to 10 miles offshore. We came across four long lines
along the way. These are long lines (miles long) set out by the Mexican
fishermen with hooks every so often. If you get one wrapped around your prop it
can be difficult to remove it as you have to dive down and cut the line off
while trying to avoid getting snagged by one of the fish hooks.
We managed to drift over the first three but snagged the
last one. We were sailing so we rolled in the jib and were starting to get the
main down when a panga with three fishermen, clearly the owners of that long
line, raced up. They pulled on the line and fortunately it came free. I really
hate long lines. Our first encounter with long lines was on our trip from Barra
de Navidad to Carrizal in December. We spotted five long lines and carefully motored
all the way around each one – adding hours and miles to our trip. Since then,
we’ve found that sliding over them while under sail or with the motor at idle
usually allows them to slip under the keel and the rudder. So far this has
worked all but once.
Back to the trip to Zihuatenejo- even though we were running
downwind the sea got really lumpy and uncomfortable as the wind built. There
was a three or four foot swell but you could barely discern the swell as the
waves were coming from all directions. As evening approached I wanted to reef
the main for the night. As I turned the boat into the wind the boat was rolling
as it came around. This pushed Kyle over the edge and when I looked over at him
his cheeks were full as he was trying to figure out where to vomit. In another
moment he sprayed it all over the starboard side of the cockpit. I got the sail
reefed and we cleaned up the cockpit. The sea was still very uncomfortable.
A bit later I went below to fix dinner. I do not have as
much trouble with sea sickness as Christina or Kyle though we were all taking
Stugeron. I managed to keep dinner from flying all over the galley and we ate
in the cockpit. I should say that Christina wasn’t plagued by sea sickness
during this trip, but had already fixed breakfast and lunch and felt she had
had enough time in the galley. She
cleaned up the dishes from dinner and seemed to be handling the rough
conditions well.
As darkness descended the seas were still uncomfortable. The
boat was pitching about. Christina and Kyle were trying to sleep in the cockpit
to minimize seasickness, although sleep was hard to come by. The cockpit is a
bit crowded with two sleeping and me keeping watch. I thought about the
hundreds of miles of remote coastline ahead of us if we went on to Ecuador.
Even the trip to Zihuatanejo would be 200 miles of remote coast with no help if
we got into trouble. We have a very sound boat so I was not too worried about
Sea Biscuit’s seaworthiness, but in the dark of night on an uncomfortable sea
with the lights of Manzanillo fading into the distance my mind was filled with
uncertainty.
Around 10:00 PM I made the decision. I asked Christina, “Do you really want to do this?”
and told her “I don’t want to take Sea Biscuit to Ecuador. Let’s go back and
enjoy Mexico.” It was an easy decision for her. She was ready. So we turned Sea
Biscuit around and headed for Santiago Bay. We motor sailed into a 15 to 20 knot
headwind right on the nose in lumpy seas. I thought it was interesting that
heading straight into the wind it was no more uncomfortable than heading
downwind. This is unusual, it should be much more comfortable running downwind.
The seas were unpleasant. There is a saying that gentlemen never sail to
weather. Sea Biscuit has pretty high freeboard and, fortunately, points into
the wind really well. Even with the bow diving into the waves the spray shoots
out to the sides and we get very little spray on deck and none in the cockpit.
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| One of our unbreakable Corel plates - it broke while in the cupboard. |
The next morning around 10:00 AM we headed into Santiago
Bay. The further into the bay we got the calmer the seas were. We anchored in
20 feet of water off the beach and have been here since.
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| Container ship we saw heading into Manzanillo - notice the brown cloud from the coal fired power plant. |
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| Ken and Kyle bringing the sails down in Santiago Bay |
I have been looking into flights to Ecuador sometime before
June. Given everything, flying seems like a much better option. For now, we
still get to swim and walk on the beach every day while all of our land based
friends are freezing back home in New Mexico.
Yesterday evening Christina and Kyle paddled the standup
paddle board back from a trip to the beach. It was about 4:30 PM when they got
back. Kyle and I jumped in the water and swam around the boat for a while before
showering in the cockpit. No coats, no scraping windshields, no hauling
firewood, no driving in the snow, no huge heating bills. Life is good.
