Gulf of Tehuantepec!!

1-3-07 Wednesday
In an hour, we will officially be in the dreaded Gulf of Tehantepec where the trade winds of the Caribbean are compressed and flow across the narrowest part of Mexico. But our weather guru promises a weather window of calm winds lasting until Sunday. Yesterday it was blowing 40 knots! Keeping fingers crossed!
We are running way ahead of schedule. We haven't stopped to smell the daisies very much. On the other hand, we've enjoyed driving the boat. We were so concerned about the Tehuantepec and the Papagayo winds along El Salvador that we have pushed to get past them before they get truly wicked (February). So if we have extra time, we'll spend it in Guatamala and Costa Rica.
Tonight we'll anchor in Huatulco, the last port before we start the hard part of the gulf crossing. We need to take on lots of fuel in case there is no wind. We carry 135 gallons, so that gives us a range of 800 miles.
Changing topics, yesterday we caught a fine tuna - he was almost round and cut into some dandy steaks. Sashimi was enjoyed for lunch. There is a lot more visible sea life than we have in Calif. Yesterday, we sailed through fleets of turtles - some of them with birds standing on them. A few were even having sex! We gave extra points for spotting mating turtles with a bird on top. Andi is ahead so far. Another difference is that there are no seals or sea lions. They may exist somewhere, but we never have seen any since Cabo.
New topic - vegetables in Mexico are surprisingly good. Asparagus, chard, broccoli are all very green and rich tasting. We didn't expect this, being from Santa Cruz. Mostly they are cheaper except for onions, which are very expensive.
Sorry that we haven't posted more photos. We haven't had good internet connections and I can't send photos via radio (the way you are getting this). We'll make up for it when we get internet.
We can see another sailboat. That is rare. Around harbors, there are always fishing boats, but farther out, we go for days without seeing another boat.
Well, I've been up since 0300, so my compositional skills are flagging. Breakfast is here, so I'll leave it there.