Chichén Itzá

Some people have asked us about or expressed a concern about our safety in Mexico, especially with the recent news of the violence in the border regions. For us, the opposite is true. While we have not even been here two weeks, we have covered a lot of ground, and we could not feel more secure. In Merida, a fairly large city, we wandered all over and never felt even a hint of insecurity or impoliteness. We did not even hear a single police siren during our stay. The police were present in the parks, at intersections to keep the traffic flowing, and at government sites providing security. For the most part, we sought out restaurants and cafes away from the hotels, trying to avoid any that might cater to tourists. We were never disappointed and managed to communicate one way or another. Our last night in Merida, we went to a park, close by, that has free concerts every Thursday night at 9 pm. We really enjoyed the atmosphere. The gathering was huge, the performances excellent, only that the speeches to honor some event were lost on us.

We booked a tour to Chichén Itzá, which is a Mayan ruin, about 1/3 of the way on the return to Cancun. We found an option where we could start our day with a group traveling from Merida and then switch to a group that had traveled from Cancun, therefore arriving in Cancun without additional transportation. After checking out of the hotel in plenty of time for our 9 am tour, we waited, and waited. At 9:30, I asked the hotel desk to dial the tour company for me. The tour company asked us to wait a few more minutes. Finally, at 9:45, a couple of guys in a van picked us up and explained they would take us to our 19-seat tour van, which was at a gas station. Finally joining our tour group, we were on our way. Later in the day, our tour guide explained that it is not polite in Mexico to be on time and that they know many Americans have trouble adjusting to Mexican time. We were happy that we had a tour guide at Chichén Itzá to explain what we were seeing.

After leaving Chichén Itzá, we went to a cenote (sinkhole). There are no above-ground rivers or lakes in the Yucatan, but there are underground rivers and many cenotes. This particular cenote was spectacular.

After lunch, we were left to wait for our new tour group, which was much larger and traveling in a bus. While waiting, we met an interesting couple from Hong Kong. They were at the very end of a three-month vacation. They had been to Argentina, took a two-week cruise to Antarctica, visited Chile, the Galapagos, Guatemala, Mexico, and others. After about an hour wait, we were on our way to Cancun. They had told us the wait for the bus would be 20 minutes, but we knew that was not true as soon as the words were spoken. We are adjusting to Mexican time. They normally return people to their hotels, but since we didn't have one, they agreed to leave us at the ADO bus terminal, where we knew it would be easy to get a taxi to our ferry in Puerto Juarez. Our trip became very interesting once we got to Cancun, as we got a bus tour of the complete hotel district. We had been interested in seeing it, but not necessarily willing to go out of our way to do so. From our point of view, you would not know you were in Mexico in that part of Cancun. We were the last to be dropped off. A quick taxi ride, a run to catch the ferry, and a few minutes later, we were back at Isla Mujeres. We were back on Ariel at 9:30, exhausted from a week of substantial immersion into the Spanish language and Mexican culture. It was wonderful.

Hacienda Soyuta De Peón

We took a one-day organized tour to Hacienda Soyuta De Peón, which is south of Merida. Between the mid-19th century and mid-20th century, there was a boom for the fibers from the henequén plant. This grows well in the rugged, dry, and rocky Yucatan soil. The fibers are used primarily to make rope. Synthetic materials brought an end to the era.

Mérida

We decided to visit Mérida, which is in the Northwest part of the Yucatan Peninsula. To get there, we took the car ferry to the mainland (only 18 pesos, compared to the 70 pesos we paid for the high-speed ferry last week).  We then took a van to the bus terminal. Buses are leaving about every hour for Mérida, so we knew we should be able to get one soon. We got the 12:30 ADO-GL,  and then we had about a four-hour ride from Cancun to Mérida. ADO or ADO-GL is the recommended level of service. It was very comfortable. Arriving in Mérida, we then took a taxi to our hotel, which we had booked in advance. We are staying at the Gran Real Yucatan near the city center. After getting settled in and washed up, we went out searching for a place to eat. We found a place with live music and looked no further. Now that we are away from the high tourist Cancun area, the menu is more of a challenge. I think we are both just ordering by names that sound good. So far, it has been working, and we are getting to try new dishes. To get off to a good start, we booked a two-hour narrated bus tour of the city for the next morning. At breakfast, we found almost all the other guests in the hotel were with a German tour group. We shared our table with a young German couple, so we had someone we could speak with in English. Before our tour, we checked out a couple of churches close by. After our tour, we had lunch and then went to see a Dali art exhibit at the Olympio. Of course, we had to check out the shopping. Our best tip came from a local who pointed us to a Mayan Cooperative. We feel very comfortable in this city. The people are very friendly. The streets, parks, plazas, and shops are just bustling with activity. The little bit of Spanish we have absorbed is really paying off.

Bienvenidos a Mexico

Hola,

Isla Mujeres (EES-lah, moo-HEH-rehs), the island of women, is about

five miles long and maybe at most 1/2 mile wide. It is offshore,  4 miles from the mainland state of Quintana Roo and about 4 1/2 miles NW of Cancun. High-speed ferries depart every 30 minutes to provide a steady stream of tourists from the Cancun hotel district. The north end of Isla Mujeres is packed with small shops, restaurants, and golf cart rentals, and that sort of thing. Our marina, fortunately, is well away in a quiet part of the island. All of the boats in the marina are foreign-flagged. It is about 1 1/2 miles to the tourist area,  and we walk there daily, if nothing more than to get the exercise, but often for lunch.

Any boat staying in Mexico for more than six days is supposed to pay an import fee of $50. The certificate is good for ten years. Our first big adventure then was to go pay the fee. We took the ferry to Puerto Juarez, walked to the new government building, which houses Customs, Immigration, Health, and the one we needed - Banjercito. We provided forms with inventories of equipment and electronics on board and serial numbers for boats and engines. Jose at the marina reviewed our forms before we went, so it went smoothly. With our business completed, we returned, as there really wasn't much to see in Puerto Juarez.

We have been fascinated watching the installation of some new pilings in the marina. The only power tool used was a pump to pump the sand out of the hole to sink the piling. The huge pilings were delivered by road. These guys used a chain-fall to drag the pilings to the water, then floated them to the site. They erected the scaffolding you see them on, worked the piling to a vertical position, and then one guy dives down to place the suction hose while the other two wiggle the piling. It slowly sinks several feet into the sand bed. These are very hard-working men.

Crossing To Mexico

We set our departure time from Key West based on our desired arrival time in Isla Mujeres using a range of speed assumptions. We wanted to arrive during daylight, preferably in the morning with the sun behind us. We arrived at our first waypoint, just off Key West, at 9 am exactly as planned, after topping off the fuel on the way out. We rolled out the sails and turned off the engine, and spent a fantastic day sailing to our next major waypoint, 12 miles south of the Dry Tortugas. We saw several turtles along the way, get it, turtles - tortugas. We then turned south toward Cuba for a nighttime Gulf Stream crossing. We shortened sails at night, so we rolled in the jib and started the engine, running at low RPMs. A shark checked us out with its fin, breaking the surface. We saw several ships during the night as we were running perpendicular to the shipping lanes. It was really dark until 1 am, when a half-moon finally made its appearance. The Gulf Stream was rough, making it virtually impossible to sleep when not on watch. With dawn, Cuba was visible on the horizon.

Our plan was to be out of the Gulf Stream and catch a counter current which usually runs along the coast of Cuba. Unfortunately, when we reached the 12-mile limit, still in international waters, we were still in the Gulf Stream. We had little choice but to turn west directly into it. For the next 24 or so hours, we pushed against a 2-knot current. Approaching Cabo San Antonio at the western tip of Cuba, we finally found a counter current, but it was less than half a knot and didn't last long. Crossing from Cuba to Mexico, we had a period during the night with 5 plus knots of current with very high seas. Needless to say, we were very happy to finally get out of the Gulf Stream. Our total trip on the GPS was 401 miles from our Key West mooring to Marina Pariaso in Isla Mujeres, but the knotmeter recorded 488 miles, which means we traveled an extra 87 miles due to adverse conditions. Good sailing conditions (very fast) and changing our route to shorten it by 20 miles let us still arrive at a favorable time. We were tied up at the marina at 10:45 local time (11:45 EST), and that was after waiting about 30 minutes for a boat to vacate the slip they had for us.

Neither of us is prone to sea sickness, but we were concerned about the length of time at sea and the potential rough conditions. Linda put on wrist bands that place pressure on an acupuncture point. I took Stugeron, a drug known to combat seasickness, but not approved by the FDA or available in the US. Neither of us was at all seasick, so who knows. I was able to carry on all normal activities, including reading, with no ill effects.

They recommend having all the paperwork ready before arriving, to includes 6 copies of our passports, 6 copies of our crew list,  and 4 copies of our ship's documentation. I did, and it was a good thing because Jose, who became our agent, jumped aboard to help with lines, and as soon as we had the last line tied, he wanted our documentation. Within minutes, I was up to the office to meet with Health and Sanitation. Our first obstacle was explaining why we did not have Zarpe. When leaving the US, they do not clear you out of the country. Almost all countries will clear you out, and you show this to the next country to clear in. I provided the fuel receipt from Key West, when we topped off, and this was enough to get by. Within the hour, we had 8 officials aboard Ariel representing Immigration, Customs, and Health and Sanitation. Interestingly, these were all women. I wrote a letter addressed to the Port Captain explaining again why we did not have Zarpe. They know this, but it is a ritual, I guess. Jose did the running around in the afternoon to pay the fees and get the final approval from the Port Captain. The agent's fee for all this was only $30, but I tipped Jose generously. We were exhausted and were delighted we did not have to negotiate the clearing process on our own. We stayed aboard the rest of the day, even though we were cleared and went to bed right after dinner.

Windsong Heading North

Ted and Alice on Windsong, after overcoming a dismasting and numerous maintenance issues, finally had to give up on the adventure when Ted received his follow-up blood test results. There is really no room for compromise in medical situations with the cruising lifestyle. They certainly could not set sail for about 72 hours with a known medical condition. It is extremely hard to continue on without them. We have traveled together for the past few months and during that time worked out our plans to visit Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. They are good friends, and we miss them dearly. Their home port is Oxford, Maryland, and they now plan to return with Windsong immediately. Their son Scott is a medical doctor, so they always have good, ready medical advice. Be safe, Ted and Alice

Key West Revisited

From early November 1968 through the beginning of May 1969, I was stationed in Key West to attend school. Our school was on a small corner of the base next to the old seaplane base. This is on the north side of Key West, adjacent to Fleming Key. We are now on a mooring not far off from that exact area. I really enjoyed my time that winter in Key West and have always wanted a return visit. It has brought back a lot of wonderful memories, and it has been interesting to see the changes, which are many. The school no longer exists. The grounds now have Key West School Board buildings and parking for the school buses. My former classroom buildings still exist, but they are boarded up. The biggest change we see is the level of tourism. Back then, there were no cruise ship visits, and now we see one in port almost every day. The area that then had a shrimp boat fleet and shrimp processing plants now has modern marinas. Duval Street is much busier and even more crowded. I took the Conch Train ride back then. It is a narrated tour of the old town part of the city. I think then they had two or three trains at most. We just took the Conch Train tour, and they now have fifteen operating. That about says it all.

The Famous "Sloppy Joes"

The southernmost point in the United States

Too Cold in Daytona

Bikers are finding it too cold in Daytona for the upcoming Bike Week. The same thing happened last year, and they had to close Duval Street to make it a parking lot for the motorcycles.

Where To From Key West?

We are in Key West, positioned, waiting for an adequate period of settled weather to continue on. It has taken a long time to get here, but we have been watching the weather in the Gulf of Mexico carefully for the past three months, and it has been unsettled as one front after another passes through, with the southern branch of the jet stream very low in the US. We arrived in Key West on March 1, taking advantage of a brief period between fronts. Before leaving Marathon, we saw the potential for a good-sized weather window (favorable conditions) in the Gulf of Mexico beginning on March 5 and wanted to be positioned for it. Why the interest in the Gulf of Mexico weather? Our next stop will be Isla Mujeres, Mexico, an island off the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula and just off Cancun. The trip will take us about three days and three nights at sea, the longest by far for us. We are still working on our exact routing, looking at the current Gulf Stream position and strength. We hope to transmit our position every few hours, which will then be posted on our blog. We will put a posting on the blog just before we leave. We have not yet decided on a Friday or Saturday departure.

Marathon (Boot Key Harbor)

Our original plan for this winter was to be in Boot Key Harbor before Christmas and to secure a mooring for a month. Boot Key Harbor is one of the major gathering places for cruisers in the winter. There are 246 moorings, ample room for anchoring, although it is tight because there are so many boats. The major attraction is that it is a well-protected harbor,  and the City Marina, which maintains the mooring field, is extremely friendly with good facilities. The delays for Windsong caused us to finally arrive here two months late. This turned out to be a blessing. While it is a nice place, we are now glad we did not spend a whole month here, especially with the unusually cool weather this year for Florida. In hindsight, spending the time in Cocoa was a much better option. We stayed a week in Boot Key Harbor and enjoyed our stay, but a week was plenty for us. We have concluded that these large gathering places where cruisers stay for extended periods with organized activities, are not our thing. John and Linda Piper now have their boat in Fort Myers. We last saw them in Solomons as they passed on their way south. They just returned to their boat after spending a couple of months back in Ohio. They drove down from Fort Myers to Marathon (Boot Key) to visit with us. While the visit was short, as they drove both ways in the same day, it was so nice to see them again, and it was the highlight of our stop in Marathon. The troubles for Windsong continue. They discovered a leak in the hydraulics for their steering after arriving in Boot Key. That has been fixed, but then Ted developed some medical problems that required a trip to the hospital. He is feeling better now, but needs a follow-up visit before being cleared to travel. We have moved on to Key West without Windsong, given the level of uncertainty that they will be able to continue. We are hopeful that they will catch up with us.