More Adventures in Mexico

Leaving Puerto Morelos

Friday, June 8th dawned beautiful, bright, clear and "calm". Seas supposedly were down to 5ft and it looked like the day to make it to Cozumel. We raised the dingy onto its davits, lifted the anchor and stowed the lines as we prepared to head out. As we left the protection of the reef the winds were gusting to 25 knots so we sailed with a reefed jib and the iron jenny. There is very strong current that runs north along the shore, part of the Yucatan Current (beginning of the Gulf Stream). For more then half the trip we faced a stiff 3.5 knot current, even though we were zipping along at 7.5 kts we were only covering 4 kts an hour towards our destination. The total distance was only about 18 miles but it took us a little over 4 hours.

Celebrating Mexican Life

We anchored right outside of San Miguel, the only town on Cozumel Island. It was a nice anchorage though a little roly. Cozumel is set up for the cruise ship industry. There was no good place to leave the dingy when you go ashore and definitely no "no wake" laws in place. But it was fun to watch all that went on and Saturday afternoon who should come sailing in but our friends from Puerto Moreles, Vlad and Attila on their boat Bettie. (http://bettiedelmar.blogspot.mx/)
Needless to say there were more sundowners and dinners. They sailed out on Monday on their way to Honduras. While we stayed and enjoyed some of the sights of the island.

Cozumel, means "land of the swallows" in Mayan. It is named for the frigate birds that still hover above the island as they fish the sea. In pre-hispanic times Cozumel was a major port for the seafaring part of the Mayan people. Goods were traded up the coast to where Merida stands today, down through present day Belize to Honduras.

The Eastern (windward) Coast of Cozumel

Ruins at San Gervasio

Cozumel, like Isla Mujeres, was an important part of the religious worship of Ix Chel. Mayan women crossed the open waters to worship at her shrine. What is left of the many shrines can be seen at the San Gervasio ruin in the middle of the island. When the Spanish came in 1518 they destroyed the shrines and built their own churches.

At first the 2000 native inhabitants of Cozumel thrived under the Spanish as ships used its leeward harbor to wait for favorable trade winds (much as we are doing). But eventually the Spaniards learned of better trading routes and Cozumel was no longer used. That and the other gift of the white man, smallpox, caused a hugh decline so that the population dwindled to less than 100 by 1570.

Mayan Ruin

In the 17th century pirates began using Cozumel and the waters nearby as hideaways. Henry Morgan had a hideout here between 1558 and 1588. Our friend, Jean Lafitte, came to Mexico when he left Galveston in 1817 and supposedly was here until he disappeared from history in 1823.

Cozumel wasn't really inhibited again until after the 1847 Mexican rebellion known as the "War of the Castes". This was a war against Spanish oppression by the Mayan people. It came close to succeeding but when fates changed and the Mayans started losing two different groups made there way to Cozumel. 51 Mestizo families, (Mestizo -  mixture of Spanish and Indian), came first; followed by several hundred poorer Mayans. Over the years these people and their descendants would be responsible for re-populating both Quintana Roo and portions of  Belize including Orange Walk (Walter's home town), Ambergris Cay and Corozal.

 Enough History - but it sure is interesting stuff, especially in the light of our own family history.

Cafe at Puerto Aventuras Marina

 On Tuesday the 12th we headed a little farther south and ended in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico's largest marina on the Caribbean. Not our usual type of stop but it has proved to be a great place to wait out the weather. It was an easy 20 mile sail from Cozumel to the mainland. While the current was still against us it wasn't as strong and being on the lee side of Cozumel meant the waves were tempered. All a good thing when it came time to attempt the entrance into Puerto Aventuras. All along the East coast of Mexico there are reefs and to gain protected anchorage you must get behind the reef. 25 years ago the developers of Puerto Aventuras blew a hole in the reef to make an entrance. This "hole" is about 50 ft wide. You must line your boat up on 2 range finders, the controlling depth is about 7.5 ft and you'd better not be going slow as you can easily lose control and end up broached on the reef. Sounds like fun? Luckily for us, neither  seas nor winds were very high and we asked for assistance from the dockmaster. He stood onshore with a hand held VHF to guide us in. I only wish he could go with us down the coast.

 We soon had taken on both fuel and water and were docked right next to... you guessed it,  someone else we'd met on our journey. This time a young guy and his veterinarian wife, Sebastian and Lily. Lily is one of the vets here at the marina where they have dolphins, manatees and sea lions. She is also on staff at several other  dolphin parks where they are all trying to accomplish a sustainable, environmental tourism market. On the day we arrived she was in Puerto Morelos helping to extract a dolphin tooth before it became infected. They have been great fun to meet and party with as well as a source of information that we would have had trouble ferreting out. Plus all that, Sebastian will come with us to help get the boat to Belize. This is a troublesome coast due to the reefs, the steady E-SE trades and the high 5 - 6ft (on a good day) seas.  On top of that the 200 + mile trip isn't filled with great anchorages.

Pictures from the underground river - this one at the end of a maze of mangrove roots

Ball Game

But while we wait it's a lovely place with a beautiful beach. Galnoir gets to get off the boat a little, she's soooo spoilt now as the only pet.

We've spent a couple of hours swimming/floating down an underground river created by water dripping through the limestone creating this river filled with waterfalls, cenotes and caves. Awesome! Went to a Mexican Spectacular show that had a re-enactment of a Mayan Ball Game  followed by traditional Mexican Music and Folk Dances. We are tourist so we're doing some tourist stuff and right now while I write the blog Roy is out sailing with Sebastian and Lilly.

Results of the sailing trip. Here are Sebastian and Lily with 2 dolphins caught trolling a couple of lines behind their sailboat. That't not their boat in the picture. They have a Morgan 43. 

Cozumel Anchorage  20 31.45N  86 57.92W
Peurto Aventuras approach 20 29.63N  87 13.41W    Call Geraldo for actual entrance. This is a very tricky reef cut.