We headed out of Acapulco at 9:30 after taking on fuel.
After that, we were off on a 32 hour passage to Huatulco. We did not suffer. Barbara made a nice mango cherry pie with ice cream to help the hours pass by. These were the mangos that were given to us by the guy that owned the Acapulco mooring buoy. He took quite a liking to Barbara.
After 32 hours of runtime, we decided not to go into Huatulco proper, but stay in a small cove that was more convenient. It was a little beach club on a nice beach, but we did not launch the dinghy, we just had a safe arrival beverage, swam for a couple of hours and went to bed. The next morning we needed to be off again as we were looking at an amazing weather window for crossing the Tehuantepec.
The Tehuantepec is an isthmus between the Caribbean and the Pacific. Because of the pressure differences between the two seas, the low terrain and a funneling effect of the terrain, the wind gets very strong making very dangerous passages.
Winds commonly hit 50 mph across this pass and there are only two strategies to deal with them. 1. Follow the shoreline in 20 feet of water and the winds will not have enough fetch to make huge waves. Don't run aground. 2. Wait out a window when the wind is not strong and run like hell straight across the gap.
We were very fortunate to have a weather gap and we were anxious to make it across. We left at 7:30 in the morning to make the run, even though we would have liked to stay a few days to recover from the last 30 hour passage. This was a 32 hour run to Chiapas (the most southern port in Mexico) and we were off using strategy 2. Run like hell.
The waves and the wind were calm, the passage was calm and uneventful and per the plan, we pulled into Chiapas at dusk. After 64 hours of run time over the last three days, we were ready to get some sleep.
Technical Data:
Time: 32 h 2 m ( 09:31 to 17:34 ) Distance: 241.09 nm
Fuel: 95.44 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.98 GPH Fuel Economy: 2.53 NM/G
Avg Speed: 7.84 kn Max Speed: 9.60 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3572.50 Hours Runtime End: 3603.80 Hours Fuel: 95.44 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.98 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 8.06 GPH Avg RPM: 1254.57 Max RPM: 1443.50 Avg Oil Pressure: 52.36 Low Oil Pressure: 1.16 Avg Temperature: 191.08 Max Temperature: 192.20
Time: 31 h 19 m ( 07:34 to 14:53 ) Distance: 227.88 nm
Fuel: 91.71 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.93 GPH Fuel Economy: 2.48 NM/G
Avg Speed: 7.35 kn Max Speed: 10.07 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3603.80 Hours Runtime End: 3635.15 Hours Fuel: 91.71 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.93 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 4.25 GPH Avg RPM: 1253.44 Max RPM: 1299.50 Avg Oil Pressure: 52.21 Low Oil Pressure: 31.33 Avg Temperature: 191.04 Max Temperature: 192.20
Your strategy paid off! Thank God for another successful passage. I am looking forward to Barbara's visit to San Diego. Hope your plans continue to work out. Rita