Thursday, January 26th, 2010, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

last update, January 12th, Puerto Aventuras, Mexico

 

     For some reason, we got it into our heads that Tulum was a place we had to go check out.  After our failed attempt to do so earlier in the month, we tried again after leaving Puerto Aventuras.  It is true that it is a spectacular beach but it really isn't a very good anchorage.  We stuck it out for three or four days regardless, and then set sail for Cancun to meet our very special visitors.  We figured out that this is the sixth time that my parents have orchestrated a rendezvous with us on Zia.  How lucky are we that they are able and willing to keep tracking us down on our travels?  This visit proved to be just as special as the others.

     One of the things that we are learning by spending so much time in this area is that our usual wind prediction tools (windfinder mostly) tend to underestimate the strength of the wind.  With 15 to 20 knot winds out of the northeast, changing first to the east and then to the south, forecasted over the next three or four days, we decided to give this supposedly questionable anchorage in Tulum a try.  I have to admit that one of the attractions of Tulum was the kiting school there and the conditions looked promising for some good "sessions."  The wind was pretty light our first full day there but it really kicked up on day two.  It kicked in so hard, as a matter of fact, that we were too nervous about leaving the boat to go kiting.  The bottom in the anchorage consists of a foot or two of sand over hard limestone or coral, making for perfect dragging conditions.  We had already set two anchors our first night there and decided to put out a third just for safety's sake.    In the end, we managed to get in a couple of hours of kiting on Friday before leaving to head back north on Saturday.

     At this point, we made the worst decision of our cruising careers so far.  Despite the fact that the wind had been blowing at 25 to 30 knots for the last two days, we hauled up anchors to get out of there.  The problem is, there is a fairly narrow cut in a coral reef that you need to negotiate to leave Tulum.  With that much wind for that long, the waves were quite large as well.  When you have ten foot waves rolling in from very deep water, then getting compressed by both a narrow cut and a much shallower bottom, you get a very hairy situation.  We didn't fully appreciate how dangerous this can be for a boat until it was too late to turn around.  Here is Joe's account of the scene:

The cut is about 100 yards wide but the depth goes from 1500 feet to about 30 feet and then to 12 very quickly.  Since it had been blowing so hard all day and night the waves were exploding on the reefs and rolling pretty hard thru the cut.  I judged them to be about 10 feet or so and sort of breaking near the top - we had been in similar conditions before so it was not too bad.  So off we went into the cut - the first 5 or 6 waves were what I expected and what I originally saw.  Zia cut right thru them with just a lot of vertical pitching.  But then I saw  two waves coming while we were towards the ocean side of the cut - easily twice as big as the others - and breaking.  I told everyone to hang on and the first one hit - the boat felt like it went vertical from front to back and then slammed down into the trough- both engines must have been out of the water because I lost power at that critical instant and the boat started to slide off to the side.  If we had gotten sideways, that would have be really really bad.  The second wave just clobbered us.  We were nose down in the trough as it was starting to break.  We took green water over the most of the boat - and it soaked me at the helm as it went over the bimini.  Thank goodness the engines bit and I was able to keep the nose into the wave.  We made it through and then faced another bunch of 10 footers and we were through.

Of course, the girls were sitting inside absolutely petrified.  I was sitting at the computer in front of the nav software trying to keep Joe steering in the right direction to keep us away from the reef.  In the thick of it, his job was to keep the boat steering directly into the waves.  We were very lucky that we got out of it without any serious damage.  It could have very easily ended up very badly.  It was a humbling experience.  Never again will we take a chance like that. 

     Our original plan had been to anchor overnight in Cozumel and then continue to Cancun the next morning.  It was still blowing strong out of the southeast and our forecast called for it to lighten up and switch around to the north in the morning.  When we arrived at the anchorage in Cozumel, a local catamaran crew warned us that it was going to come in strong from the north overnight.  While protected from the southeast, there is no anchorage in Cozumel with good protection from a northerly wind.  Given the fact that we were heading 32 more miles to the north the next day, and despite the fact that we were all looking for a break from the requirements of sailing the boat, we decided to keep on going to Cancun.  With a swift current in our favor and the strong winds still pushing us along, we knew we could arrive before dark.  We already had a track to follow into the anchorage and the cut through the reef there was about five times wider than the one in Tulum.  If it looked too bad, we would keep going north to Isla Mujeres and come back down the next morning. 

     This stuff is probably pretty boring to most of you reading this but it is such an integral part of our lives on the boat that I have a hard time leaving it out of my blogs.  The decision making process on the boat is intricately tied to our safety and comfort.  Usually it is mostly comfort that is risked when we make a bad call but this time around it could very well have been the safety of the boat and all of us onboard.  How humbling to think that more than four years into it we can still make such a serious mistake.  You know we are still giving thanks to the powers that be for having made it out of there in one piece. 

     So we were all cleaned up and anxiously waiting for Gran and Gramps in the lobby of the Westin when they arrived at sundown on Sunday night.  We had no particular plans for the week, except to spend as much time together as possible.  Having the boat within walking distance was a huge help in furthering this goal. 

We wound up spending most of our time at the hotel as the wind continued to blow strong, making the boat and the dinghy ride out to it a little more than my parents wanted to handle.  Mom gets seasick in a hard shower so anything other than calm conditions makes for an uncomfortable time. 

     One of the highlights of the visit was a daytrip to Puerto Aventuras and the Eco Park Aktun Chen a few miles south.  We wandered all around the "PA" complex, watched the dolphin shows, and had lunch at "Gringo Dave's." 

We had talked about visiting a cenote and had found one of the many "eco parks" in the area that offered both a zip-line activity and cenotes.  Well, there is never enough time, even on vacation, so we settled for just the zip-line.  Gran had never tried one of these increasingly popular vacation thrill rides and given that the Yucatan is virtually flat, we figured this would be a good place to initiate her.  Ten cable lines stretched a total of one kilometer through the treetops of the jungle.  After getting geared up for the adventure

we were all ready to roll.  Although pretty tame as far as zip-lines go, it was still thrilling to whiz through the jungle suspended in mid-air from a cable.  It was even more fun as the guides all encouraged us to "break the rules" by riding without holding on or flipping upside down, or just hanging limp in the harness.  We weren't allowed to bring our own camera and the official photographer only took photos on the first run so these are pretty tame.

Half way into it we were all doing tricks and too soon were sorry to see our ride come to an end.

      Our next big excursion was south and west of Cancun along the "Ruta de los Cenotes."  Unique to the Yucatan Peninsula, cenotes are sinkholes formed when the roof of an underwater cave has collapsed, exposing underground water which is often part of a large cave system or river.  The entire region is composed of dense jungle with a thin layer of topsoil over porous limestone.  Rainwater seeps through the limestone into these subterranean rivers.  Many of these huge "eco parks" offer cenote attractions but we hoped to find one that wasn't quite so commercial.  My Hidden: Cancun & the Yucatan guidebook suggested that you can find farmers who have cenotes on their properties and get permission to swim in them for a small fee.  We had asked around but no one could suggest any close to Cancun.  Instead, I went to the internet and researched cenotes around Puerto Morelos, a quaint fishing village about fifteen miles south of Cancun.  I found a list of half a dozen possible places, all along the same road heading west out of Puerto Morelos.  I set my sights on "Siete Bocas" and hoped it would be what we were looking for.

     We pulled off the highway onto a small dirt track that led off into the jungle.  Things were looking promising for a bit more of an authentic adventure than the standard tourist trap.  About fifteen minutes later, a sign let us know we arrived.  A Mayan woman directed us to a shady spot under the tree where we left the car parked.  She showed us around a small area on her property with seven cenotes, all connected via an underground river and cave system. 

Her five year old son descended down the ladder into the first with us to show us around.  It was amazing to be floating in the fresh water over 150 meters deep and swimming beneath stalactites between the different "bocas." 

Our favorite was Boca Cinco where you could jump down into the water twenty or thirty feet below.  Even Gramps jumped! 

     Otherwise, our visit was full of good meals, rides up the Zona Hotelera in the wonderfully efficient bus, a trip to the mall to see "Avatar" - again - and lots of good quality time hanging with Gran and Gramps.  The kids spent the night in their hotel room a couple of nights and we all took advantage of the hot, plentiful water with frequent showers.  As always, it was sad to see them leave, but we are already scheming our next visit.  Where will it be next time?

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