Time to roll on out of Mexico. We’d probably cruise Mexico forever if there were new places to visit and explore, but the Caribbean coast really has very few spots for cruisers. We enjoyed Isla Mujeres, but three months was enough for us, we were all anxious to move on.
Can’t go anywhere without having laundry finished up.
Seriously, how many times do we have to be the stereotypical parents and say, “Keep your gum in your mouth or it’s going to end up in your hair.”
I love the busyness of small town Mexico. Everyone is out doing something.
Our nearly nightly Isla Mujeres routine was coming to an end. We’d go straight from riding in the Plaza, to home, and to the shower.
A weather window had opened up beginning Sunday, with calms predicted for about three days headed south. We checked out of the country on Friday, and with Zarpe in hand we left on Saturday for the fuel dock and one last night anchored in the bay.
This boy cracked me up—doing exactly what I’d have done at his age if tourist boats full of drunk gringos were cruising past on catamaran tours all day long. If you can’t figure out what he’s doing, you are a pure soul.
It took nearly an hour to get diesel thanks to a dock assistant who wasn’t about to be pressured by anyone into working hard. Frustratingly, we didn’t even have to fuel up, but always figure it’s best to just play it safe and leave on a passage with full tanks.
Leaving Isla Sunday morning.
We had 10-15 knots on the beam, which wouldn’t have been a big deal, but I seriously underestimated the Gulf Stream running between Isla and Cozumel along the coast. The seas were incredibly lumpy. But even so, our boat handled it like a champ with the stabilizers working overtime. We went past this guy hobby horsing and swinging wildly side to side and all I could think about was how miserable monohull life can be.
By dinnertime we were sitting serenely in Playa El Cielo. An hour later all the dive boats and Cozumel tour excursions had left for the day, leaving us alone to get a good night’s sleep before heading out again the next day for a quick overnighter to our next stop.
If we wouldn’t have had a weather window to capture, we would have spent a few days here. There’s nothing ashore, and the bay fills with tour and dive boats during the day, but the water was spotless and we could have snorkeled all the best spots in the evening when everyone left. On this day, only the kids had the energy to spare.
In case you missed my hard hitting exposé on Trawler vs. Sail, read it now.
13 Comments on “Adios Mexico”
Sorry we missed you. Have been following you for many years. We were pulling into Puerto Morelos early Sunday morning, probably as you sailed past.
Happy sailing!
Bummer! Have a great time on Isla.
Re: Drunk Gringos touring by all day on catamarans and a young boy. Apparently I am pure soul but too vain to admit it, so I’ll just wait, quietly, in the shadows for someone else to ask the question: What is he doing?
Hi
OK I will ask.
Which boy and what is he doing
cheers
Wow . . . I guess I’m not a pure soul, then. 🙂
The boy on the camera-left side of the pic is simulating holding his giant “stick” and taunting the gringos with suggestions on just what he can do with it or what they can do to it for him. His compadres apparently find this hilarious.
TJ
You could fit a washing machine in your engine room couldn’t you? and you have a nice large capacity water maker. Small size ones must be available in Mexico, and you wouldn’t need a dryer, as you are in the tropics.
Sure, with some rearranging. Would probably consider one in the second bathroom as well – when in a marina with shore power it would be really easy, not sure if our old generator would be able to handle the load though. And no drier in winter months would be good, but the rainy tropics…not so much. We always find a place to drop it off (all around the world) without too much trouble.
I thought he was referring to the boy on the right, who appears to be making the universal sign for jerking off.
300 nautical miles / 8.5 knots = 35 hours x 1.7 gph fuel consumption = 60 gallons of diesel x $3.25 avg. diesel price = $195 passage fuel cost.
Is this in the ballpark?
Trawler life looks very, very sweet.
Did y’all consider going to Blue Hole?
No, it’s closer to 2 m.p.g. (4 gal/hr). So 300 miles = 150 gallons x $4/gal in Mexico = $600 for the passage
For me, the cost really comes down to what you plan to do. If you are only going to cruise 1,000 miles/year then the cost is pretty negligible. If you are planning to circle the entire Caribbean each year, then it’s going to really add up. Our current plans probably put us at about 2,000 miles per year average, so maybe $4,000 per year, or $333/month.
Yes, we considered it. We consider a lot of things. In the last week alone we’ve considered Bali, Colombia, Panama, and South Africa.:)
Ja, your considerations sound a lot like our considerations….. Columbia, Chile, Spain, Guadalajara…… we will see once middle school is done.
High school is a good time for us to move forward.
Thanks for a nice read.
Pat: If you are getting marine diesel at USD 4 per gallon, fill’er up! Here on the Pacific side, prices are closer to USD 5.10. Most marine fuel docks add a “dockage fee” per litre – in the old days this was how they got around the regulated fuel prices, and it hasn’t gone away with fuel price deregulation (they just raised the fuel price……). Even Pemex regular for our truck in Baja is now around USD 4 per USG. in our experience, fuel in Mexico is now more expensive than in either the US or Canada – I don’t know how the average Mexican manages, as the price of fuel makes transportation very expensive, and that affects anything that is transported by truck, or caught by the fishermen in their gas powered pangas. At least Pacifico is still affordable, and street tacos are a great deal, but you can’t live on cerveza and tacos al pastor forever ?
Here is a real world example. We just finished a 2 day passage from La Cruz to La Paz (374 NM) in our trawler. We used 210 USG (1.78 NM per USG, about 4.38 USG per hr). At USD 5.14 per USG (diesel price in La Cruz, Marina Riveria Nayarit) that is about USD 1,081 for the passage. Admittedly, our boat is larger (50’) and probably a fair bit heavier than yours. However, that passage represents probably about 50% of our spring cruising this year, as we generally like to travel less and hang out in remote anchorages more. So, even assuming we do a similar amount of cruising when we come back here in the fall, that still represents only about a USD 5,000 fuel expense for the year. And the experience of cruising Mexico, especially the Sea of Cortez, to escape the ice on the lake at home over the winter…….priceless?.