Southbound through Manzanillo

December 15, 2006 2PM
We're motoring along, dead downwind (what else is new?) almost to tonight's anchorage at Bahia Maruata. This is just a tiny cove behind a point of land along the coast. Hopefully, the anchorage will be settled enough that we can get a good nights sleep.
Yesterday, we left Barra de Navidad, a place we could have spent a lot more time exploring, and made the run down to Manzanillo Bay. Manzanillo is a major port for shipping and not a tourist destination to speak of. We anchored in a little cove some distance from the commercial port at the bottom of a cliff with hotels on the top. Some good soul had set up a wi-fi system and allowed us free access to the internet and we actually got to make a few phone calls via Skype. (Don't know what that is? Ask someone younger!) The wind blew off the land all night long and it actually got cool. When we awoke at 4AM, I put on levis and a sweater for the first time since California. And shoes and socks! We pulled up the anchor and sailed away. After dodging shipping for the first hour, we were outside Manzanillo Bay and didn't see any kind of vessel for the next 8 hours. It warmed up as soon as we were out of the bay, but the easterly wind continued so that we made excellent tim
e all day today. Mind you, we were motorsailing - but the sails were giving us lots of extra speed. By using both sails and motor, we have kept our fuel bills quite modest while making fairly long passages during daylight hours.
There are not a lot of settlements along this stretch of coast until we reach Lazaro Cardenas (another commercial port that we will skip) and then finally Zihuatanejo. That is our real destination. Most cruising sailors consider Z-town their favorite destination. We will spend our anniversary and Christmas there, so we hope we agree with everyone else. From tonight's anchorage, we will have about 110 miles to Z-town, so that should break up into two 50 mile runs; easy day trips. So that's all the news that's fit to print. Stay tuned.