On the way from Marina Hemingway, Cuba to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, we experienced some drifting from the Gulf stream current. There was no wind, so we had to motor most of the way.
After 2 nights of sailing, we arrived at Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo. Our crew, Dave and Marilee had to return home due to family matters. We were sad to see them go, since we got along with them very well, but we do understand that they had to return home.
The check-in procedures took 7 long days to complete. Martin waited hours and hours in several different offices and got thrown forth and back in the mexican bureaucracy. We got the armada, immigration and customs sorted in Isla Mujeres. Appart from that you need a Temporarily import license(TIP) for the boat if you want to stay in Mexico for more than 10 days. The TIP could only be issued in Cancun, so we sailed to Playa Tortuga just outside Cancun to do so and anchored by the beach.
Large parts of the Yucatan east coast is built up with resorts, which are located between the public beaches and the roads behind them, blocking the passage from the beach to the road. So the beaches are not actually public.
Unfortunately, Martin didn’t get a TIP in the first run. Apparently the immigration authorities stopped making a document that authorities in Cancun needed. They wouldn’t approve anything before we had that document. The authorities are not allowed to call each other, so Martin had to take a ferry back to Isla Mujeres to get the document and then return to Cancun with the document to get the final stamps.
Already delayed from Florida, we didn’t have time for all that bureaucracy, and since we were without crew, we decided to postpone the pacific crossing till next year and wait out the hurricane season here in Central America.
For now, we’re taking it easy and moving slowly down the coast of Mexico. The coast of Quintana Roo is really beautiful to sail along. It’s home to one of the world’s largest coral reefs, The Great Mayan Reef, which stretches 700 miles from the coast of Mexico to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. While sailing here, we’ve seen many different fish, dolphins and sea turtles mating on the surface of the water. As we saw on some of the caribbean Islands, there is a large amount of sargassum washed up on beaches creating an awfull smell while rotting.
Apparently, it’s common in Mexico for marinas to be part of larger resorts. On our way south, we stopped at Marina Puerto Morelos, which is part of a larger resort filled with American tourists and again at Puertos Aventuras, which is part of a golf resort. While waiting for a good weather window to move on, we tried the par 3 course on a very hot day. The course was not well maintained, but the kids loved playing golf.
Mexico was only on our itinerary because of the Mayan archaeological sites, so we prioritized making time for that. While docked in Puerto Morelos, we rented a car and took a road trip to Merida to visit Chichen Itza, Uxmal and a Cenote at Takanch Ha. You can read about it in the post about Mayan heritage sites here. While at anchor at Maroma we met an Italian sailor who had also made the trip across the Atlantic and was also heading down to Rio Dulce in Guatemala, just like us. He came to visit us one of the days, swimming with his harpoon and two fish that he had just caught on the swim to our boat. Accompanied by some soup, it was a really nice get-together. We talked about our sailing experiences and learned a little more about the Italian system with politics and mafia all mixed up.
In Playa Del Carmen, we anchored outside the city by the cruise ship terminal and went into town for some grocery shopping. It was very touristy at the harbor with a lot of pedestrian streets with cafes and restaurants. Unfortunately, the anchorage was not well protected from waves. We were rolling all night, so we only spent two nights here.
Mahahual was another touristy town with a cruise port. We hung out at the beach, and Martin bought some second hand hooks from the local fishermen.
Although the Yucatan coast is beautiful, we found it a little cumbersome to cruise in Mexico. Not only is there no access from the coast to the cities, there aren’t many marinas or good anchorages along the coast. The charts with depth readings aren’t up to date either. We hit the ground twice; once because of the tide at Playa Tortuga, and once while we tried to anchor behind a reef at Mahahual. The water was shallower than the data from our charts. We ended up anchoring in the middle of the channel, because the locals told us it was the only place dug out deep enough.
Also, we were a bit challenged by the weather and sailing conditions. There were very frequent thunderstorms, which meant we couldn’t really do the long stretches. And there is a strong current in the water called the Yucatan current. Some of the time we had a 2-5 knot counter current, and we could only sail at 2-3 knots. When we got south of Puertos Aventuras, the current weakened, and we had good wind. At the southern part of the coast, we sailed fast, but we also had big waves and got a little seasick.
Martin is still struggling with what we think is kidney stones. In addition to the discomfort, he is also very tired. Right now we are in Belize waiting to get some tests done at a clinic before we head further south to Guatemala.
