Southbound? Why do we go East?

If you follow our dot on this part of our journey you might notice we are not making much way south. Most of this route is actually easterly. It’s a bit disorienting trying to get towards the equator but having to go so far east to get there.

We left Acapulco Monday morning after a quick visit to the port captain for our exit papers, aka ‘despacho.’ We were hoping for an early exit from Acapulco so we could get 70 miles down the coast to the first potential anchorage before sunset, Bahia Dulce. Our goal was ‘no overnight sails’ for this multi-day transit to Huatulco.

We dodged many sea turtles, flying fish, and pods of dolphins, but almost no boat traffic. We got close to our first stop, a point at Mahumar, about the time the sun was dropping to the horizon, so we decided to continue through the night rather than try to anchor in the twilight. Goal quashed.

We fondly remembered our previous night’s entertainment in Acapulco – excessively loud but danceable Cuban salsa.

The sun rose Tuesday morning with us approaching what would have been our second overnight anchorage. Punta Galera, according to guide books, was a fair anchorage in good weather. But it was so early in the morning that we thought we could just continue on through the day to our next planned anchorage, Puerto Angel.

We motored into Puerto Angel. Puerto Angel was tiny and beautiful. The sun was setting and it was also full of pangas. We did not have room to anchor. A second night of unexpected sailing was our in our future. Goal pulverized. And we were getting tired.

Mary, bless her heart, did a quick boat check and found a bit more water in the bilge than normal, so went to check our prop shaft seal – the usual suspect. When she peeked, she noticed orange fluid under the engine. Coolant. Engine coolant leak. Argh.

The engine did not overheat, but it was time to shut it down. Fortunately for us, the gods were supplying adequate wind. Time to go sailing into the night. We’d deal with the coolant leak in the morning at the next port.