20 March 2011; At Sea.

 Sailing from Puerto Vallarta to Hualtalco is basically following the coast line of Mexico. By staying at least 4 miles off the coast we are in deep water all the time and the meandering of the coastline itself might increase that distance on occasion. When we pass Manzanillo it is about 6 miles and by the time we reach Acapulco it has increased to about 18 miles and then it becomes less again. With beautiful weather and hardly any traffic the navigators were really enjoying themselves and also the bo’sun was a happy man, as with following wind you do not have brown boobies circling around the bow area and bombarding the bow with “white splashes” They prefer that the ship creates an up wind around the bow and for that it needs to go faster than the following wind, or have the wind against us, or wind still weather. With a wind force 5 in the back and the ship doing the same speed more or less, there was no updraft around the bow and thus no birds circling around. 

The navigators did not get completely bored as by the time we passed Zihuatenego (about 200 miles West of Acapulco) there were plenty fishermen around. They come out 15 to 20 miles from the shore in fairly small boats to fish exactly where our course line is (of course…..). The reason for them being there is that a bit further to the West is the Middle American Trench a deep trough or gully with depths up to 18,000 feet. There is some sort of water circulation taking place here and 10 miles to the East of the centre of the trench, where we sail, it seems to result in a very good fishing location. When we get to this area we double the lookouts as it is quite often very difficult to see the small boats in the glare of the sun. Most of the time they keep well clear from us but if they are in the progress of hauling their catch in, then a fisherman tends to forget about keeping a good lookout. My thoughts were somewhere else, as I was focusing on the earthquake that took place today. About 60 miles inland from Acapulco, high in the mountains, there was an earthquake with strength of 7.4 to 7.8 on the Richter scale. At sea, when in deep water you do not notice that but as it was close enough to Hualtalco it might affected us calling there. However the agent happily advised that they had not noticed anything and that it was business as usual. It seems that the force had travelled inland as 200 miles to the North in Mexico City there was damage.

A straight “push” through the water is not noticed by a ship but when it is forced upwards near the shore it will also lift a ship up, carry it along and slam it down somewhere else when the waves loses it energy. (Drawing: googled from the internet)

 For us it is much more dangerous if there is an Earthquake to the West of us, e.g. under water, and its force travels through the ocean. That can build up a Tsunami. Again when sailing in deep water it is not a problem as the force has room to push unhindered through the ocean. When coming close to land the water depth diminishes and the force has nowhere else to go than to come up. That builds up a carrier wave and that then runs ashore as a Tsunami with devastating power. Normally a Tsunami alert gets sent out so that all ships can run out to open sea to avoid being confronted by this wave. At 5 pm I let the whole ship know that all was well in the world and that the earthquake would not affect us tomorrow. We will pass the area while about 70 miles to the south around 1 am in the morning but we will not notice anything, even if a second quake would hit the area. I expect to be approaching the pilot station at 08.45 and to be docked an hour later. Although the port is very small, just one long pier, the maneuver takes an hour as we swing around and back in, ready for a quick sail out. It is not expected tomorrow, but the weather can change here very quickly and if it suddenly would get bad, nose out makes a quicker escape, than having to back out. We are expecting wind still weather tomorrow and temperatures up in the 90oF, so we are definitely in the tropics now.