Motored peacefully all night. In the morning, a perfect sailing breeze came up--45 degrees, 15-20 knots. So we turned off the engine, raised the sails, and enjoyed the best sail we've had in quite a while.
The Gulf of Tehuantepec is one of the windiest places in the world. Northeast winds in the western Gulf of Mexico sweep across the isthmus, gathering momentum on the way. By the time they reach the Gulf of Tehuantepec, they're usually at gale force, 40 to 50 knots, and are known as "Tehuantepecers". The safest way to cross the gulf is by staying close to shore, having "one foot on the beach," as they say. The Tehuantepecers can come up at any time, without warning. Many boats have been lost trying to cut straight across the gulf instead of going the extra 30 miles along the coast.
We had been hugging the coast as we should. There was a freighter behind us, going the same speed we were. The land fell away to the west, so I was going to turn to port and continue following the coast. Unfortunately, just then the freighter turned to port. Apparently, he was going to cut in back of us and pass us on our port side. I didn't want to confuse him by changing course, so I kept going straight ahead, getting farther and farther from land. The wind is just as strong no matter where you are, but the waves haven't had a chance to build up close to land. The farther out you are, the bigger the waves, and they're what do the damage. Suddenly, we got hit by 30-40 knot winds from the northeast. We waited until the freighter had passed; then we dropped the sails, started the engine, and headed straight towards land, bouncy, bouncy. We rounded a point and anchored in Bahia Chipehua. It was so windy, it took me half an hour just to get the anchor ready. I had to practically crawl out to the bow on my hands and knees. Waves kept slapping over the bow, giving me a shower. By the time I was through, my hair looked as if I'd set it with kindergarten paste while standing in front of an electric fan, using an egg-beater for a comb. But that's ok; the beauty contest isn't until next week.
We could see a lot of people and palapas on the beach. A panga with about eight guys in it came alongside and asked us in English where we were from and where we were going. We told them, and Roy gave them a bag of candy, which made them happy.
We ate lunch and rested a while. Talked with Salina Cruz Port Control on the VHF and got the weather report: 25-35 knot northeast wind, as we knew. I wanted to stay where we were until the wind died down, but the anchor chain was being jolted violently and frequently, so Roy decided to head north to Bahia Ventosa (Windy Bay) to get out of the wind. Okay.
Expecting a long, rough trip, I went below to take a nap. To my surprise, when I woke up two hours later, we were already at Salina Cruz! I don't know how we got there so fast.
Salina Cruz is a hot, dry, dusty, ugly industrial port. There's an oil refinery there and a lot of tanks. It's the sort of place no one would live in unless he was born there. A person would have to be totally desperate for a job to deliberately move there.
We didn't want to go into Salina Cruz, so we went around the point and anchored in Bahia Ventosa, where it was relatively calm and peaceful. We could see a lot of people on the beach and hear music playing.
We got an update on the weather from Port Control. The wind would be dying down that night, so we decided to leave at midnight. Roy lay down in the main cabin to take a nap. I updated the log, washed the brine out of my hair, and lay down in the aft cabin to take a nap.
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