23 April 2008, Huatalco de Santa Cruz.

Well the pilot in Puerto Chiapas was right; there were not the required weather conditions for a Tehantupecer and so we had a quiet and windless night again. I had hoped that he was right but as a precaution did advise the guests that we might list during the night in case one started blowing, as these winds are nearly impossible to predict. You can monitor the circumstances under which one might or might not develop but you can never be certain.

We arrived at 06.30 at the pilot station and this time the pilot decided to come out all the way to open sea. Normally he boards about a 1000 yards from the dock but this time he came 3 miles out towards the ship. It turned out that he was concerned about the very strong current that was running across the entrance. It was indeed strong almost 2 knots and when you approach with six knots speed, you set considerably. There is normally a current running here but it is never more then 0.5 to 0.6 knots, so two knots in comparison is a lot.

Thus I kept the ship under an angle into the current until we entered the bay and the current fell away. If this current was going to be there again in the evening, I would have to make two knots of speed extra to make it on time to Acapulco. So I decided to swing on arrival and dock stern in. That would save me about 20 minutes on departure. The pilot was very proud about his buoys, that denote the 10 meter depth line and especially about the fact that all the lights were working. He also solved the big mystery about why I had to dock on the west side of the pier. Yesterday I thought that I had my choice as we were the only ship in port but then the agent sent an email saying that the West side had been reserved.

When we sailed into port there was a blue tugboat parked on the East side. That’s why I had to go West. Owned by the Mexican Navy, it was involved with some work in the corner of the harbor. Normally anything navy is grey but it seems that the Mexican Navy has some sort of Army Corps of engineers, similar to the USA and they are blue; at least according to the pilot.

The new pier at Huatalco and construction on the hill side. Courtesy of my wife Lesley.

The pier at Huatalco is only a few years old, in the past we had to anchor outside the bay and tender in, and has the perfect length for the Veendam. It is a bit of a walk to the end of the pier but there is a little resort there with shops and restaurants. The area is an up and coming tourist attraction and a lot of condominium building is going on the hill sides. The area is blessed with a number of nice beaches, some large, some small and thus much potential for further development.

It was another warm day but in the afternoon a good breeze started to pick up bringing slightly cooler air from the sea. On departure we had that wind against us, slowing us down a bit more but it felt good after a number of windless days.

As planned, departure was a fast affair and we were in open waters within 10 minutes. The longest part of the operation was waiting for the pilot to get down from the bridge to the pilot ladder. This took awhile as it was rush hour in the elevators, it being close to dinner time. As soon as he was away, it was pedal to the metal and heading for Acapulco, a few hundred miles to the North West. The adverse current died down after a few hours of sailing along the coast and thus we could set our regular scheduled speed for the remainder of the night.

In Acapulco we will have the next mystery. We are docking at the cargo terminal and a cargo ship is docking at the passenger terminal. Does not make sense but no doubt all will be revealed. Not that I mind. There is less swell at the cargo dock so the gangway will move less. And yes it will be another warm day.