Leaving Banderas Bay, we began heading south along the western coast of Mexico towards Zihuantanejo. With the new couple onboard, we were ready to cross the Pacific Ocean once the right weather window presented itself. Because French Polynesia closed to tourism, Eitan had to file special paperwork for a provisional exemption to allow for the boat’s entry. Our plans for the next year teetered on this one approval, which was luckily granted just before the new crew arrived. Since its COVID restrictions and rules seem to change daily, Eitan wanted to expedite our departure and be ready to leave as soon as possible, just in case the French Polynesian government started revoking the permissions. Not knowing when we would return home next, Eitan and I booked flights from Zihuantanejo back to California to see our families one more time before crossing the Pacific.
In preparation for our visit to Zihuantanejo, Eitan and I watched The Shawshank Redemption because you can hardly say the name of the city without someone mentioning that movie. I had no idea what the movie was about and was disappointed to see that there was only one scene at the very end of the movie that was supposedly filmed there. Upon further research, I learned the scene was actually filmed in the US Virgin Island and nowhere near Zihuantanejo. But I digress…
We stopped at a handful of towns and bays along the way, heading into shore for a couple of hours before returning back to the boat for the night, and then on to the next location in the morning. The scheduled destinations varied from 10 to 50 nautical miles per day. If we arrived early enough, Philipp and Jessica would swim to the beach and go for a run, do yoga, or both. Seeing how the new couple prioritized exercise and eating right, Eitan and I discussed how we could be doing much better to live a healthier life onboard. Then, we cracked open a couple of beers and snacked on refried beans and tortilla chips while we waited for them to return. We had to keep up the American stereotype, of course!
The weather for the trip was beautiful and we had comfortable sailing or motoring most days. We were typically the only boat, or one of a few, in most of the anchorages until we got to Tinacatita, which is a winter home to around 30+ cruiser boats. This location was also home to a beautiful long mangrove-lined tidal channel that we explored with the dinghy. The next day, in Barra de Navidad, SV Sierra Wind ran aground, for the first time ever, in the shallow, muddy lagoon. Luckily, we easily pushed through the mud to the anchorage but were reminded that running aground was a legitimate risk as we passed a shipwreck departing the next day. Our last (planned) overnight stop was in Manzanillo where we anchored in front of a resort that looked like it was straight out of a postcard of the Greek coast, with the bleached white buildings terracing up the hillside. We were invited to dinner by a couple on SV Luna, who took us to a restaurant called Monster Burger where you can order a 4.3 kg burger (almost 10 lbs!). We apparently forgot to mention the dietary restrictions of our new crew members, who only had french fries to choose from for their dinner.
Leaving Manzanillo, we enjoyed a light downwind sail with the ocean so placid you could see tens of turtles drifting past us, hovering at the surface. The wind continued to build throughout the day and we heard the jingle jangle of the “fish on” alarm on the handline just as we began seeing 15 knots of wind. This fish had picked a horribly inconvenient time to take the bait! We were sailing wing-on-wing, with both the headsail and mainsail secured into their positions, making us much less maneuverable and unable to slow the boat to land the fish. Since we were low on fresh food, we decided to keep it and Eitan gave a swift cut through the gills. Just as Eitan began filleting, we started to see gusts in the 20+ knot range which was starting to overpower the autopilot, because we had too much sail out for the changing conditions. With Eitan covered in fish blood and guts, I was once again forced into hand steering the boat in the heavy wind (aka, my nightmare). The wind continued to build, so Eitan delegated the fish filleting to Phillip as he took over at the helm, and Jessica and I began reefing the sails. Although we had planned to sail through the night, the next several hours were quite uncomfortable and we decided to pull into a commercial port about 40 miles short of Ixtapa around 1 am.
We arrived at Isla Ixtapa the next day, which was a welcomed paradise. The air and water temperature were noticeably warmer and accompanied by an increase in humidity and mosquitos. This wasn’t too bad until we arrived in the marina the next day. We were unable to jump into the water to cool off because, to our surprise, this marina was also home to more crocodiles that we spotted swimming around the docks. With the lack of air conditioning on the boat, Eitan and I decided to leave a little early for the airport the following day and begin the trip back home.
