GB and I spent some time in Marina Chiapas paying attention to The Fox, with general cleaning, replacing the fridge's thermostat, and repairing the toilet in the head. Toilet repairs should always be rewarded with a nice trip, so we planned to end 2014 and ring in 2015 with more tourism: a visit to Guatemala.…
Boy howdy do we love us some Precolumbian ruins. Tony Alfaro delivered us to the Olmec/Mayan ruins of Izapa just a few kilometers outside Tapachula proper (more like in the Tapachula suburbs) and near the Mexico-Guatemala border. It was great. Andrew Coe, in his book Archaeological Mexico, explains that the Izapa ruins comprise about 80…
A cruiser does not have to expend much effort looking for things to do in and around Puerto Chiapas while waiting, one might say, for a weather window to take one's boat south or north. We hung around – intentionally, mind you – for almost 2 months because of the lavish exploration opportunities. Please, I…
We moved aboard The Fox in March, 2003, and by December, 2014 we had spent almost all 11 Christmases aboard. We spent some holidays by ourselves at anchor. Other times, we shared dinner with 1 or 2 other boats. Sometimes there was a typical cruiser potluck-style event. But that Christmas in Marina Chiapas in 2014…
Marina Chiapas has a lot going for it, including a small habitat around back of the restaurant, in which volunteers rehabilitate and then release back in to the wild the 2 species of turtles found in the estuary. Here we see (1) their fenced enclosure on the marina grounds – complete with its very own…
Our placing of The Fox back in the water – our reverse haulout, if you will – occurred in December, 2014, in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. I was gratified to overhear a Mexican national on our incoming flight complain about "being back in the Tapachula sauna." At least I know it wasn't just Menopausal Me who…
So. About earthquakes in southernmost Pacific Mexico: They haz them. During the summer that The Fox rested on jackstands in the boat yard at Mariana Chiapas, there was a spot of bother: an earthquake of 6.9 magnitude occurred just offshore of Tapachula, Mexico, at about 37 miles deep in the Earth's crust. There is nothing…
Late April, 2014. The 55-mile transit from Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua, coastwise across the Gulf of Fonseca to the anchorage at Punta Amapala, El Salvador, was hot, humid, smoky, and uneventful. Four-foot swells from the southeast gave us a beamish rolly passage. Breeze came and went. Two other northbound cruising sailboats joined us at anchor…
Well, OK; maybe it wasn't the absolute WORST takeoff from a dock we've ever made, but it was definitely among the top 5. Maybe one of the top 3, since a MOB (man overboard) was involved. There we were, 5:40 in the morning of April 15, 2014. Nicaragua. Looked very much like this:Sun was rising,…
Strong Papagayo winds kept us in port at Marina Puesta del Sol for a full week, April 8-15, 2014. The air was frequently hazy from the winds and smoky from the fires burning in nearby fields, which obscured the otherwise spectacular view of Volcano San Cristobal. It was breezy in the estuary and marina areas…