Challenging the Tehuantepec

Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas, Mexico

After our brief stay in Huatulco, at Marina Chahue to be exact, we were ready to tackle the most dreaded of all passages on the Mexican Pacific coast, the infamous Tehuantepec.

But first, a few words about the Huatulco area.  This part of the west coast consists of a series of nine bays and thirty-six sandy beaches.  The Mexican government, in the form of the Fonatur agency, is developing this area as a medium to upscale resort area - very much a planned development.  We walked around the area where the marina is located and into the local town of La Crucecita.  The town had a bit of a Mexican small-town flavour to it but overall everything felt a little artificial to us.

A lot of the roads and buildings are less than 10 years old and it shows.  One of the big differences from other resort areas in Mexico is the lack of high-rise buildings and resorts - there is a 6-storey building height restriction for the entire area, in an effort to prevent it from becoming another Cancun or Acapulco.  Of course, we saw little of the actual resorts which were a bit too far for us to hike to in the intense heat and humidity, but from what we heard and saw as we sailed out of the bay, they were probably very nice.  If any of you are thinking of a resort getaway in Mexico, this may be a nice alternative.

Marina Chahue is a typical Mexican government-run establishment.  It is eternally almost finished.  They have created a nice paved lot for dry-docking boats but never bothered to finish the planned travelift to allow larger boats to be easily hauled out.  We watched an all-day marathon hualout of a 38-foot sailing vessel, using a variety of trucks, tractors and finally a front-end loader to drag it up the boat ramp. I would only use this facility if it was a last resort, but nice to know they could do it if they had to.  Note the promising looking Pemex sign in the accompanying photo - there are gas tanks and pumps and everything - just no actual gas or diessel to be had.  And it would be nice if they had decent washrooms and showers - they have quite a large building on the premises but nothing in it and meanwhile there is a single men's and perpetually locked women's washroom, with a bunch of security guys hanging around the doors, and a couple of completely exposed outdoor shower stalls.  They just don't seem to understand what cruisers are looking for.

The marina was fairly busy but certainly not full.  There were a few mega-yachts moored here, plus some local boats, and the few cruising yachts coming from or going to Central America.  Because of the large distances from the next port in either direction, not many yachts come here as a planned destination unto itself.  We were typical in that we were staying just long enough to get a good weather window for a passage across the Tehuantepec, and since that arrived at about the same time as we did, we did not linger here.

The Gulf of Tehuantepec spreads 260 miles from Huatulco (Puerto Angel) on the SW to Salina Cruz at its north head, down to Puerto Chiapas (formerly Puerto Madero) on the SE.  Separating the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico is the 125-mile wide Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the 75-mile gap in the Sierra Madres mountain range converges north of the head of the Gulf of Tehuantepec at Salina Cruz.  That's where the wind funnels through from the east coast, often creating gale-force winds with very little notice.  Winds in the 45 to 60 knot range are not unusual, accompanied by the resulting huge seas.  Thus, a strategy for crossing this body of water is prudent.

After consulting several cruising guides and authorities on the topic, it appears the only safe way to transit the Gulf of Tehuantepec is the "One Foot on the Beach" approach, hugging about 3-miles off the coast in about 100' of water.  This is a bit longer than just taking a direct heading across but allows you to remain in the lee of the shore in case it turns nasty - it makes a 215 mile crossing into a 245 mile passage, which is not really all that big a deal to us.  Of course, you still want to wait for at least a 2-day, preferably a 3-day, predicted weather window.  Fortunately, since these winds originate from the east coast, you can somewhat predict the likelihood of gales based on what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

For whatever reason, we had an ideal weather window predicted for at least a 3-day period, possibly much longer - most unusual for this time of year.  So we took advantage of the opportunity and headed out of Marina Chahue around 9:30AM on Wednesday.  As we headed out into the Pacific, some dark clouds appeared and we felt a few raindrops, but that cleared up almost immediately and we had a lovely, mostly sunny, very calm passage.

The down side to having such a fine weather window was that we had almost no wind to work with.  We put up the mainsail (the first time in a couple of weeks) and motorsailed in winds that rarely topped 5 knots for the first day.  We passed the busy shipping port of Salina Cruz during the night and saw absolutely no shipping traffic at all.  We did see a lot of the local fishing fleet however, all night and all the next day and night - had to keep a sharp eye on the radar at all times to avoid these large vessels (shrimpers?).

Still heading east into the sunrise each morning.

 

The conditions for the entire passage were benign.  Out of the total of 48 hours on this journey, we were only able to sail for one 6-hour stretch, on a beautiful beam-reach on the 2nd afternoon.  For the last half of the last night and early morning, we again picked up a favorable current and again had to virtually idle along to keep our speed down to under 6 knots.  We arrived at Puerto Chiapas around 9:30AM and were safely moored at Marina Chiapas by 10AM.



Threading through the Puerto Chiapas waterway.

Fishing is big business in Puerto Chiapas.

 

 

Because we are at the most southerly port in Mexico (we are only 14 miles from the Guatemala border), there is some heightened security around the port.  Before we were allowed to leave the boat, we had to wait for a visit from the local Port Captain and the Navy, complete with a drug-sniffing dog.  After a pile of paperwork, we were allowed to stay.

Marina Chiapas is brand new - this is their first year of operation.  The facilities are first-rate but there is little of interest around the area, which is quite industrial.  On the plus side are the incredibly nice showers - boy were we due!

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