| UP THE MEXICAN RIVIERA
On the 26th December we decided to get moving again and in the early afternoon departed under sail from the anchorage. Conditions were very light but we managed a couple of hours sailing before having to start the motor to complete our journey in daylight; arriving at Isla Grande a little before sundown. Here we found a nice anchorage but were rather overwhelmed with the amount of large (crewed) yachts that were sitting here, completely filling the bay! We rolled heavily when we arrived due to the jet skies, water skies, yellow bananas full of screaming kids and the steady procession of Pangas ferrying tourists back to the mainland after their day on the island. This all died away as the sun sank into the sea and then the wind evaporated allowing the swell to hook around into the bay setting us off once more so we could roll steadily for the rest of the night. There was nothing about Isla Grande that attracted us to stay so the next morning we departed and aimed north. For the first time in Mexico, or so it seemed, we had a wonderful sail, beam reaching with the Cruising chute up in a nice light breeze, almost to the breakwaters at Lazaro Cardenas. Here we found a lovely little anchorage just inside the breakwaters where they had dredged out a basin but never put it to use. The local bird population had commandeered it and there was no shortage of wildlife, the only thing that detracted from it was the nearness of a bulk loading terminal for ships which caused continuous noise however it wasn’t too invasive and with the boat rock steady for once, we slept soundly throughout the night. The following morning we were able to get some more good sailing in a light offshore breeze however, a little before midday we were hailed on the VHF by a ship of the Armada de Mexico. Fortunately this coincided with the wind going light; getting organized to become the afternoon sea breeze, so when they decided to come over to do an inspection by boat the conditions were near perfect. During our initial exchange by radio I had asked them to please wear soft shoes; I think however that the Captain of the ship ordered them to just remove their boots before boarding, thus when they stepped on deck they were in their stockings and displaying the usual assortment of holes that haunt guys socks when there are no women around to take care of things. They were a really nice bunch of guys and the lieutenant in charge did an excellent job despite our lack of a common language. There was not really much of a search, I just showed him around the boat and opened a couple of lockers, we did paperwork but most of that seemed to be aimed towards efficiency ratings for the quality of the boarding and the politeness of the inspecting officers. So about forty minutes after they arrived we said our good-byes and they were off; before leaving however the Lieutenant gave me his ships name, the “De La Vega” and assured me that they would be around should I need any assistance between here and Maruata, the northern limit of their patrol area. He also appraised me of the local weather forecast pointing out a Cold Front to the north of us that may bring some changes in the next few days. We were very favourably impressed! As soon as they were gone we were able to get another three hours out of the Cruising Chute before the wind headed us slowly, eventually causing us to motor the last two hours into Caleta de Campos. This is a small fishing village of about two thousand people and sits remotely on an otherwise deserted stretch of coast line; there is bay with a tall bluff on what is normally the windward side, that and a small rock breakwater protects a stretch of lovely sandy beach on which the fishermen draw up their Pangas. We noted however that despite the relatively calm conditions there was still considerable surf breaking the whole length of the beach and skill was required to get the Pangas either afloat or ashore without incident. This was not a place we were going to launch the dinghy and row ashore for a visit. From our anchorage we noted that there was now some local tourism, quite a lot of Mexican families from inland towns had come down to spend time here, between Christmas and New Year being their prime holiday period; we could see at least a couple of small hotels ashore and there were quite a few tents pitched along the beach. The music coming off the beach sounded like Blackpool in the 1950’s; nickelodeon stuff I think! It was all rather quaint and fortunately it went quiet as the sun dipped below the horizon leaving us with another beautiful starlight night, a gentle rolling and the sound of the surf breaking on the sandy beach. The next day we heaved up after breakfast and motored along the coast in almost nothing of a breeze arriving at Maruata Cove soon after lunch. This anchorage like Caleta de Campos is listed as ‘marginal’ in the pilot books as they are somewhat exposed and should there be any wind or larger than normal swell from the southwest they would quickly become untenable. We were lucky with the weather I guess although a southwesterly blow would have been most appreciated at that time as we longed for some favourable wind to blow us up the coast. With our shallow draft we tucked well in behind what shelter there was thankful at least that we did not have to do overnight passages. There was a lot more surf here and getting ashore was out of the question so we sat and watched the local Mexicans having a beach holiday along the shore. They were set up in tents, most of which were pitched under ‘Palapas’ which were a more permanent feature on the beach, these are wood and Palm Fond structures that give some shelter from the sun. The locals were heavily into their celebrations and sang to us throughout the night and early morning, it was loud and well slurred and gave us a boost when it came to pulling out early and departing in the dark at 0400hrs; thankful to be underway once more! This next leg was standard for the coast with very little sailing and a lot of motoring but we were getting a favourable current along the shore and this helped us reach Las Hadas anchorage in Manzanillo Bay just before the sun went down. Las Hadas came to fame with the movie “Ten” but has slowly gone downhill since, this once premier resort now sports crumbling masonry and flaking paint and is dwarfed by its new neighbours which are newer and far more glitzy. The marina is still operating and there is a charge of fifteen dollars to use their dinghy dock and facilities; probably not so bad if you want to relax by the pool and use the spar, however if you just want a spot to park the dinghy this is a heavy cost. One of our reasons for coming to this anchorage was the imminent arrival of the New Year, we had decided that this was the anchorage most likely to offer the most spectacular fireworks display. The next day was New Years Eve so we went ashore early to check out what was on offer in the Manzanillo area, we were lucky enough to slip passed the dock-master without having to part with money and then we hiked up and over the steep hill on which Las Hadas is perched and caught a bus when we reached the main road. Manzanillo has some fine stores including Walmart and Commercial Mexicana, we spent the best part of the day ashore looking around and it was just as well that we did for in our absence “Mr John” was rocked and rolled heavily by the wakes of Jet-ski’s, Parasailors and Ski-boats: all of which went round and round the anchored boats in ever decreasing circles. We arrived back just before dark when I’d expected things to have quietened down however it was not to be, they continued to water-ski and jet-ski around us for the next couple of hours in complete darkness! Rushing around on a speedboat and skiing all day can be thirsty work for a group of young men so it was not a great surprise to find a boatload of them drifting around the anchorage, singing to all the yachts and their captive audience ashore. They seemed to be ‘merry’ rather than ‘drunk’ but I don’t believe any of them would have survived a U.S. Coast Guard inspection! It was however New Year and they did add a little entertainment to the evening as we all waited for the midnight hour……… When the time arrived we were able to share the moment with all the hundreds of people in the restaurants of the hotels that completely lined the small cove in which we were anchored. Champagne corks popped all round and the fireworks displays all started up together: for a private display it was very good, we spent the next half hour watching the rockets whilst keeping a bucket of water to hand in case any miss-fires came in our direction. By 0100hrs it was all over, all the boats that had come out to watch the show had gone and the bands on shore fell silent as people drifted away; for better or worse, 2008 had arrived! It was the 1st of January 2008 and we had miles to make and little reason to delay in Las Hadas, so at 0800hrs we heaved up the anchor and departed under sail finding a light offshore breeze. Two hours later and less than half way to our destination, it died and we were forced to motor the remaining distance to Bahia de Navidad where we anchored in the lagoon a little after noon. This gave us the rest of the day to explore so we wasted no time in getting the dinghy launched and making our way ashore checking out the smart new marina on the way. The Marina is located on one side of the lagoon entrance, the town on the other and they are a world apart. The million dollar mega yachts and apartments finely separated from the old fishing village with its dusty streets and flea market type stores struggling to become some sort of a tourist destination; there were plenty of Mexican tourists and they appeared to like it, the few gringos were mainly back-packers at the younger end of the scale. We were not that impressed but I guess that was because we’d had so many glowing reports on the area we were expecting more. I was looking for some treat for Paula but in the end we had to settle for an Ice Cream, there wasn’t really much else, it was that sort of place. There were plenty of yachts at anchor in the lagoon, it is about the only place on the coast where you can escape the swell however the downside to this is the bugs that fly out to visit, we were a little slow in getting stowed away for the night and I was rewarded with all sorts of bites before being driven below decks by swarms of sand fly’s and mosquitoes. The next day was Paula’s birthday so I gave her an extra ten minutes in bed as a special treat then we heaved up anchor and motor-sailed down to Bahia Tenacatita where we found quite a nice little anchorage in a sheltered cove along with about a dozen other yachts. It was probably the most appealing anchorage we’d found so far since leaving Zihuatanejo, no jet-ski’s, no hotels close by, a beach and some clean, clear water! There is also a dinghy ride that one can take into the mangroves and this got our attention as we do like to explore. It was low tide and we noted that a couple of the local Pangas that had tried to enter the little river that leads to the mangroves had been turned back by the shallow sand bar at the mouth so I was a little concerned that we would not be able to make it either. Fortunately our dinghy is well suited to this sort of work and we were able to row through the breakers and into the shallows where we stepped out and dragged it across into deeper water where we could start the motor and precede up-stream. It is unfortunate that the hotels across the bay have ‘discovered’ this inlet and market it to tourists as a “jungle cruise”, their Pangas charge up and down the narrow and twisting waterway at speed scaring away any wildlife that would dare to come close to the waters edge, we were lucky that due to the situation over the bar there were few of these boats whilst we were making our transit. During the quiet periods, when we were able to stop the motor and drift, Paula did manage to get some pictures of birds and we saw quite a good assortment; it turned out to be a nice afternoon and we quite enjoyed it; the waterway terminates at a little beach where we left the dinghy and walked across to the ocean. Here they have made a small town, mainly Restaurants and Palapas, catering for the beach crowd; there was quite a throng of people, mainly Mexicans, enjoying the beach and the food. That evening the loud speakers of one of the closest hotels reached out to us across the bay, not loud enough to destroy but enough to take the serenity out of what would otherwise have been a great anchorage. We left early trying to find some of the offshore breeze but managed very little sailing as we pushed north, following along miles and miles of beach with not a soul in sight. It was quite attractive and rugged having a back-drop of mountains; there were few dwellings however we noted that almost all the ‘strategically great’ building spots, atop of small hills close above a beautiful private beach, were already taken by multimillion dollar houses, the sort of places that film stars would have to get away from the crowds. Next stop Banderas Bay John & Paula |
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