So much for our genius plan to hang around Zihuatanejo for a few days.
On the morning of February 12, 2015, I pulled a weather forecast off of the SSB via Saildocs that called for increasingly sporty weather in our area some time within the next 36-48 hours. Since it takes about that long to get from Zihuatanejo to Santiago Bay, we decided to skip the resting period we'd wanted and get underway as soon as the fuel panga we'd arranged for the day before had arrived.
Underway we saw rain and heard thunder 8 miles offshore and headed in our direction of travel, but a radar check showed nothing substantial. Seas remained flat and northerly winds stayed light overnight with just a few rain drops spattering upon us. Staying 6-8 miles offshore, our way was clear as the several commercial vessels in the area all traveled about 12-15 miles offshore. Meanwhile, 3 southbound sailboats hugged the coastline only 2-3 miles offshore – something we have never felt comfortable doing, especially at night. Looking back from whence we'd come, we saw flashes of lighting near Zihuatanejo and Lazaro Cardenas.
The next morning while rounding Punta Tejupan the current turned foul and pretty much stayed that way. A quickly-moving noontime squall line gave us an hour of SE winds 18 knots astern and a 2' chop, but the day was otherwise uneventful. We saw very little vessel traffic of any kind, and very few sea critters.
At last light, we made Santiago Bay and anchored among the fleet in 28'. All seemed well until one of the anchored boats – a ketch on the other side of the sailboat in between us – got underway and called to us that the in-between sailboat was unoccupied and dragging anchor. So, in total darkness, we two sailboats shuffled our positions. The Fox reanchored elsewhere along the same 28' depth contour without incident, but the surf was loud and the anchorage became rolly due to the unseasonable easterly winds that arrived. Miles underway from Zihuatanejo = 190; hours underway = 33.25.
We spent 2 very rolly days in overcast Santiago Bay, though the wind grew fairly light. We enjoyed some time ashore at one of the several beachside palapa restaurants for a Valentine's Day chat-fest with some really nice folks from 4 or 5 other boats in the anchorage – but then, Santiago Bay is like that: lots to do on shore and in the water, and lots of fellow cruisers to do them with.
Back on board The Fox that night, the rolly ESE swell persisted, although we were happy that it was not a Panama-style, sleep-sideways-in-the-bunk kind of rolly. Nevertheless, we decided to leave the next day to try for a better night's sleep further north in Barra de Navidad….
m
Leave a Reply