Rock and Roll

That is what we did here last night and what we have done all day today. I have discovered that the Pacific Ocean anchorages are not, for the most part, as calm as most of the anchorages in the Sea of Cortez. This one has been pretty rolly in general, but not a problem. It is still not really a problem, except for making it uncomfortable to sleep. Mike says it is because there is a Tehuantepecker blowing south of us, affecting the swell in the anchorage.

I should tell you about those. "Tehuantepeckers" are winds that funnel across the skinny part of the southeastern part of Mexico, from the Caribbean to the Pacific, across the Bay of Tehuantepec. We are going to have to watch the weather very carefully when we get ready to leave for El Salvador, because we do not want to sail through one. The winds are very strong and the seas get big and hard to deal with. It is supposed to be a very uncomfortable sail at best if you plan it wrong, and it could be dangerous at worst. You have to sail close to shore, watching the depth, in order to avoid the strong fetch causing big short s waves. We will be crossing at the end of the gale season.

But for right now, we continue to enjoy ourselves here in Bahia San Augustin, aka Puerto Sacrificio. Yesterday we had to go into the little town that is close by here, because we had no cash money and there is no ATM here. So we made the acquaintance of Burro Kiko, who is the go-to guy for whatever you need in this area. He owns one of the seafood palapa cantina/restaurants (they call those restaurants "mariscos"down here) that serves wonderful food. So we went over there in the dinghy, and struck a deal for a ride the 28 kilometers into La Crucecita. It was a long ride, because a good portion was over a dirt road with lots of "topes", or rather dramatic speed bumps. We went to the bank, and then just drove around looking things over. It is a really neat, pretty, clean little town with just about all the necessities. On the way home, Burro Kiko took us to a little roadside stand where we bought a bag of ripe mangoes, and later on he cut a nice hand of bananas from a stalk in his restaurant and gave it to us to take back to the boat. Then after we returned back, we discovered that Burro Kiko (real name Roberto) had satellite TV at his little palapa restaurant, and also informed us we were welcome to stay and watch the Superbowl! We had an incredible grilled seafood platter, and drank beer and watched the game. We were joined by the waiter Juan Carlos and Burro Kiko, and were treated to shots of mescal on the house. It was a really wonderful day. We found out the peacocks in Mexico are called "pavo real" which translates as "royal turkey." We also saw some wild looking birds we have yet to identify.

Anyway, today we just kicked back here on the boat, did a few chores, and watched some movies. I didn't sleep that well because of all the rolling, so I was pretty tired anyway. I am not expecting things to be much better tonight, but I hope they do not get worse.

We don't have any kind of internet access here in this anchorage, but eventually we will check into the marina here, to get ready for the push to El Salvador. We have been reviewing all the information we have about Central America, and El Salvador in particular. I am really getting excited about it. We may stop in Puerto Chiapas after crossing the Bay of Tehuantepec, prior to leaving Mexico, but we aren't sure about that yet. As soon as I get internet access, I will be posting pictures. So - that is all for today. Time to watch another movie.

"Oh who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried,
And danced in triumph o'er the waters wide,
The exulting sense - the pulse's maddening play,
That thrills the wanderer of that trackless way" Lord Byron

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