Jupiter's Smile is on the hard in the secure storage yard, Marina Seca, in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico.  I will fill in the blanks to update the blog since I wrote last and now in the near future.  I will undertake this challenge from our home in Colorado!  It will be good to be home.

The Baja

Apr 14 at Los Frailes

Apr 15 0845 to Los Muertos 1700

Apr 16 0630 to La Paz 1700

Apr 17 moved to Marina Palmira

Apr 21 moved to El Cardoncito (5 hours)  Whale beached

Apr 22 moved to Isla San Francisco "the Hook?" (5 1/2 hours)

23 Punta San Telmo (8 hrs trip)  rolly

24 to Puerto Escondido (8 hr) on a mooring went into Loretto on 25th

26 to Punta Colorado (2 hr) met S/C Roy and Marline

27 to Punto Perico (4 hr) pm wind put us there

28 to Isla Coronado west side (5 hr) and

29 climbed volcano

30 to Bahia San Nicolas (6 hr) to avoid wind met trawler *******

May 1 to Coyote Bay, Posada Concepcion (8 hr)  windy

May 4 to Bahia Santa Domingo (2 hr) good beach

May 6 to Chivato (3 hr)

May 7 to Santa Rosalia (5 1/2 hr) and Marina Fonatur

May 13 0520 to San Carlos anchoring in harbor 1700

May 14 moved to Marina San Carlos - Smits

May 18 moved to Marina Seca

Mazatlan

Apr 6 anchored in Matanchen Bay off San Blas

Apr 8 anchored in Mazatlan Harbor

Apr 9 Docked at Marina Fonatur Singlar

Apr 13 0640 departed

Apr 14 1440 anchored at Los Frailes on the Baja

Banderas Bay

Mar 3 La Cruz

Mar 25 Marina Vallarta

Apr 1 back to La Cruz

Apr 3 Marina Nuevo Vallarta

Apr 4 Punta Mita

Manzanillo and Santiago heading to Banderas Bay

Feb 20 anchored off Las Hadas
Feb 23 moved to Playa Boquita off Santiago
Feb 24 explored Ensenada Carrizal, Viva stayed in Santiago, dropped anchor in Barra Navidad with Tisha Baby!
Feb 27 anchored in Tenacatita
Feb 28 anchored in Chamela  - roll
Mar 2 1800 left Chamela Mar 3 1020 anchored in La Cruz

Feb 18, 2013 Armed Robbers in Caleta de Campos!

We were not robbed, but the vessel next to us was.  At just before 2am, three young men with ski masks and one hand gun boarded the neighboring catamaran and pulled off this robbery in an amateurish manner.  They took some valuables, cash, liquor and "stupid stuff" according to the captain of S/C Moontide.  No one was hurt.

We left the next morning for Manzanillo, leaving Moontide to the task of reporting the robbery to the authorities.  Coincidently, there is a rock formation on the west side of the harbor that resembles President Nixon and I thought that remembering his quote from before he resigned as president was appropriate.

Overnight to Manzanillo was only remarkable because of the calm conditions, the several whale sightings, being able to fill our water tanks and then being able to sail in the dark for about five hours to the Manzanillo harbor.  We are anchored off the Resort Las Hadas ready to explore.

Returned from Oaxaca

We have returned from a very rewarding visit to Oaxaca and expect to depart Marina Chahue (Huatulco) tomorrow (Wednesday) to head north and west overall probably stopping in Puerto Escondido for the night, then maybe Punta Galera the next day and then overnight to Puerto Marques near Acapulco.  Barb wants to visit the Costco there and then we push on overnight to Zihuatanejo catching up with Tisha Baby, Viva and Cynosure soon.  The wind forecast is for light air so the seas will be calm, but we will probably need to motor much of the time.

Marina Chiapas, Golfo Tehuantepec to Marina Chahue, Huatulco, Oaxaca

Left Marina Chiapas after Naval inspection and the drug sniffing dog came aboard at 11am.  Motored and waited for Cynosure with Phil single handing.  Raised sails in 5-8 knots of wind so that the motor was needed.  Replacement Garmin Echo 100 depth sounder was working fine as we made 5.6 knots along the coast.  Through the afternoon and night it was uneventful until the "bilge alarm" went off at about 10:30pm.  Barb thought to try turning off our fresh water pump and the alarm stopped soon after that.  That meant that we had a leak somewhere in our fresh water supply.

By 0300, I had fixed it.

We sailed smartly to Salina Cruz then turned into the wind to motor into the choppy seas at an agonizing 3-4kts until about 0300 when we got beyond Cabo something or other and the seas calmed somewhat the remaining 54nm to Huatulco and Marina Chahue.  Came in through the breakwater and tied up at 0900am Wednesday.  We went much faster across the last half of the Golfo, but much slower from Salina Cruz to Huatulco so we came in about the time we planned.  We earned a good rest so I will leave you here.

Trip Inland to San Cristobal and Palenque

January 16, 2013

I will post this entry on the sailing Blog and leave it for a time and then move it to the While Jupiter’s Smile is Docked Blog since it describes our inland travel in Chiapas, Mexico.  When we checked into Mexico, on Jaunary 5th, we were greeted by Greg from Lucky Goose, Roy from Saucy Lady and Ed from Time Out.  These three boats had been staying at the marina for a while.  Roy and Wynona were planning to travel to see the old city of San Christobal and the ruins at Palanque and suggested that we join them.  The next day, Scott and Joyce from Life is Good arrived and since the Tuahantepec winds were blowing and impeding their progress farther north (as it was for us) they decided to wait at the marina and use the time to travel inland with us as well. Enrique took one person from each of the three boats to the bus depot in the evening on the 7th, so we could buy our tickets for our departure the next day, hopefully.  Enrique translated for us and secured a cab ride for us back to the marina as well.  There were no seats on the bus to San Cristobal the next day, but the agent suggested we take the 0700am bus to Tuxtla Gutierrez ($316ps[Mexican Pesos-about $25USD]/person) and from there buy a ticket for the bus that runs every hour to San Christobal.  We left the boat in the care and capable hands of the staff of Marina Chiapas.

Cabs picked us up at 0600am on the 8th ($200ps/car) and we arrived at the bus depot in plenty of time, boarded the bus and thoroughly enjoyed the trip along the coast and then the climb into the mountains to the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez.  We immediately obtained tickets ($40ps/person) for the 1:30pm bus to San Cristobal de las Casas, a one hour ride.  The bus depot in Tuxtla Gutierrez is in a nice mall and Barb went into the Soriana (like a Super K-Mart) and got us some lunch from the deli bar ($36ps) while I watched our packs.  The bus ride was constantly uphill for the entire hour on a very good mountain highway until we reached San Cristobal de las Casas at 7,200ft.  Wynona had obtained a recommendation for a bed and breakfast hostel, Le Gite Del Sol, from cruisers who had just returned from the trip we were taking so we took a cab ($50ps/car) there seeking beds for the six of us.  Roy, Wynona, Barb and I shared an “apartment” with a bathroom between two bedrooms ($240ps each room) where we thought we might stay two nights, while Scott and Joyce took a private room with a bathroom ($320) for one night.  Scott and Joyce wanted to get back in time for the weather window that would allow them to transit the Tehuantepec on Monday and Tuesday so they planned to travel on to Palenque to see the ruins while we stayed in  San Cristobal to explore a couple of the surrounding villages.  Scott and Joyce are headed back to the United States to put their boat up for sale and to work. 

Through Denny, the owner of Le Gite Del Sol, we booked a guided tour for the next day ($200ps/person) to explore the villages of Zinacantan and Chamule.  Denny can also sell and print bus tickets on any of the bus lines so he is, in effect, a full service travel agent for land travel in Chiapas - very convenient.  Not knowing that ahead of time, we had already purchased our tickets to Palenque for the 10th ($312ps/person) at the bus depot when we first arrived in San Cristobal (and got the front seats.)

So, we spent that afternoon and evening exploring San Cristobal, staying out later with Scott and Joyce for nightcaps before turning in.  

Woke for warmish showers and excellent breakfast. Scott and Joyce got a bus headed for Palenque. We took a guided tour as part of a group of 11 (2 Spanish, 1 Uruguayan, 2 Aussies, 2 French, 4 USA) featuring two villages. First village, Zinacantan, is known for raising flowers and weaving beautiful fabrics. We went to their main cathedral first, St. Lorenzo (St. Lawrence - yay, Larry) and it was packed with offerings of their local harvest - beautiful, beautiful, fragrant flowers. It was jaw-droppingly incredible. Here many of the indigenous indians' traditions are blended with the Catholic faith. Next we got a tour of a small weaving co-op where the women showed us their wares and demonstrated their back-strap loom techniques. Barb bought a beautiful table runner and several others bought items as well. Then the tour guide announced that Barb and I were getting married and we were dressed in traditional wedding garb. The young Aussie couple, Sean and Alicia served as best man and maid of honor. Our friend Wynona and the French woman, Simone served as attendants. The event was capped off with medicine cup sized samples of a sugarcane based alcoholic beverage (Chicha) with which we toasted many happy days to come. One sample was unflavored, one was cinnamon flavored and one was rose de jamaica flavored. I took the natural one and judged it the best after tasting the others. Then (after giving back the clothing) we sat down for tortilla tasting where the women cooked over an open fire and made tortillas, quesadillas and beans along with tomatoes, onions, mashed avocado, ground sunflower seeds and chile. I had a quesadilla and two tortillas - yummy.

Next stop, San Juan Chamula where we visited their unique cathedral. Catholicism is not practiced here and our guide fascinated us with details of the beliefs, rituals and practices of the residents of this village. The cathedral, Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, (Church of St. John, the Baptist), looks Catholic, with carvings and paintings of saints along the sides and the main altar with Saint John featured and Christ on the cross on one side, but only baptisms are done here by a priest who visits every two weeks or so. Our guide characterized this cathedral as a "hospital" where one came to pray to be healed, to pray for someone else to be healed or to pray to give thanks. There are no pews. No mass is said here, no marriages and no funerals. The rituals are more pagan than Christian. As we arrived, the marble floor was being scrapped free of candle wax by a half dozen men on their knees because the members of the village, when they pray for healing, burn candles placed on the floor. The more serious the malady, the more candles they use - like between six and sixty candles. Candles that are colored are more powerful than white ones. The floor spaces in front of each saint had various numbers of supplicants and candles. The tables in front of each saint was where candles were burning to give thanks to them. If someone is ill due to some serious lapse of behavior or of faith, a healer can be employed and he may transfer the illness to a rooster (or two) that is brought into the church and after the transfer is complete the rooster's neck is wrung. The dead rooster is either burned or buried. After the men finished scraping the floor, great bundles of long pine needles were spread over the areas of the floor (where candles were not burning) until the entire space was covered with fresh, green, fragrant needles. Every three days, the old needles are collected, the floor scrapped again and fresh needles spread. We saw folks enter the cathedral, clear a space of needles and start setting up their candles. We saw a fellow enter with a live rooster as well, but we lost sight of where he went (it is a big, busy church!). We couldn't stay to see more and of course, photography is strictly forbidden. The images in my head are unforgettable, however.  I found several photos posted by a Spanish young woman tourist when I Googled "Chamula, MX", but I will not use them since they are forbidden.  You may view them if you want to.

Jan 10th - After another restful night, warm shower and hot breakfast, we took the 10am bus to Palenque and found our way to Margarita and Ed's Jungle Hotel, just outside the gates of the park in El Panchan and at 200ft of elevation - in the rainforest.

11th We roused ourselves at twilight before dawn to join Don Pedro for an early walk through the jungle to try to spot wildlife. We saw some monkeys high up in some tall trees and heard some underbrush rustling and birds calling, but much of the wildlife was sleeping in this morning. We were very quiet and Don Pedro led us through very thick jungle with paths that were barely discernible so it was not due to lack of effort that we didn't see critters. Just after we came upon some ruins it began to rain gently, enough for Barb and me to break out our umbrellae and for Don Pedro to bite off (yes, with his teeth) some five-foot long banana leaves to serve the same purpose for Wynona and himself. Roy elected to tough it out. Roy slipped down in the fresh, slick mud once and Wynona twice, the second time taking Don Pedro down with her. Barb and I practiced our recently adopted family motto of "Stay upright" successfully by being very, very careful! Reading carefully, Mother? Returning to the Jungle Hotel we went to Don Mucho's Restaurant for breakfast and to meet Raoul for our tour of the park's ruins. It was a very interesting park tour with lots of ascents and descents of steps. Raoul fired our imaginations pointing out details in the well preserved and restored ruins and describing for us the daily routines and also the festive events and rituals documented in the glyphs on the temples, tombs and palaces. For two days after, Barb and I laughed every time we climbed any more steps in spite of the protests by our thighs. Wynona did not join us for dinner that evening, feeling ill after the long day.

12th Roy and Wynona decided to rest for the day, as Wynona had spent a rough night, but Barb and I booked a tour to Misol Ha and Agua Azul, the first a tall waterfall (90ft) and the other a series of wide waterfalls. Misol Ha is very beautiful in a jungle setting and it was fun to walk along the ledge behind the falls. Agua Azul is picturesque not only due to its natural beauty, but also to the variety of food and craft stands that are set up along the shoreline path of the falls. We had not brought swimming costumes with us, but we waded in the cooling waters of a natural pool. Returning to our jungle hotel that night I felt like I ate too much at dinner. It was my turn for a rough night.

13th We ordered a taxi after breakfast and took the 9:20am bus (at 10:45am) from Palenque to Tapachula and back towards the boats. We made it home after a long (almost 14 hour), cold (the bus has A/C and the driver loves it), winding (through beautiful mountain terrain), bumpy (in addition to the bumps in the two-lane road, topas - speed bumps), hungry (my stomach wasn't up for much and certainly not "road food") ride at just after midnight - the morning of the 14th.

It was a good inland trip. We have several chores to do and things to accomplish now, but we have time. The Tehuantepec winds have kicked up again so we will wait for them to settle down before heading to Huatulco, over 250 miles across the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

Photos will be added to the Blog as I get a chance (it is a slow process requiring a fair amount of time to upload each photo, depending on the local WiFi/Internet traffic at the time.)







More to come

¡Mexico!

We have checked into Mexico.  Typically, a tourist gets off the plane waits in line for the Immigration officials to stamp your passport and then the Customs officials have you press the button and if the light turns green you are free to go.  Or, if it is red they inspect your luggage.  That is if you are flying into the country. 
We sailed in from Costa Rica, bypassing Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.  As we approached the first port in Mexico, Chiapas (formerly Puerto Madera), we hailed the Port Captain and I think I understood him to have given us instructions to proceed to Marina Chiapas, our intended destination.  That is what we did at 0630 in the morning,  slowly, so that we might raise the marina on the radio and get instructions on how to get there and get a slip assignment.  We got no answer from the marina when we called, but it was only 0745 now.  Sitting at idle off the tuna fishing boat wharfs, a fellow came to the end of the wharf and indicated where to go into the marina’s channel.  His motions corresponded with my hunch so we proceeded toward the marina.  Mind you, we have no depth sounder since it quit on us on our second day out of Panama City.  It was high tide so I figured that we had at least another four feet added to dry ground so we would probably be okay.  I went ahead slowly and we got into the marina basin without a problem.  As we approached, a person came down the docks and motioned for us to bring the boat to rest at that slip, which we did.  Welcome to Mexico - Enrique, the marina manager greeted us and said that the Port Captain and the Navy inspection team, with its drug sniffing dog will be arriving shortly to begin the check-in process.
About an hour later, the Navy arrived in a panga (a stout, twenty-foot long open boat with an outboard motor) - two sailors, a naval officer, the Port Captain and the dog. They approach the slip next to us and the dog is all hot to do its work, so much so that it climbs the gunnel of the panga and falls halfway into the water between their boat and the dock.  ‘Great’, I’m thinking, ‘now we’ll have a wet dog sniffing around inside our boat.’  I asked Barb to get a towel so that the dog could be dried off a little and not dripping salt water aboard, but the sailor waved me off indicating that it would not be necessary and they proceeded to tie the dog to the inside of the panga so she could not get off their boat at all.  The officer and the Port Captain came aboard and we did the show-and-tell with documents. They filled out paperwork which I signed and received my copies.  I asked if we needed to go to Customs and Immigration, but we were told that we only needed to go to Immigration at the airport and that the Navy officer was doing the paper work for the Customs officials.  We would be getting a ride with either Enrique or Memo (Enrique’s right hand man) from the marina to the airport at about 1pm to deal with Migración (Immigration).  I went to the marina office and they took my information which they entered into their computer, filled out the Migración form online and sent the information off as an e-mail to Migración at about 11:30am.
Memo took us to the airport and confided that there were two Migración officials.  One was a man and the other was a woman.  If the woman was there, he did not get along with her; so he would wait for us in the waiting area and would not go in with us.  The woman was there. 

So in we go and she seems nice enough, but she does not speak English so we struggle along with both of us straining to understand.  We fill out some paperwork and then she indicates that there is some problem and that we should get Memo to come and help us understand what the problem is.  Barb went out to tell Memo, but he said that he wasn’t going to talk to her.  The Migración lady said that we “regressan mas tarde” (come back later.)  Barb replied, Si, mas tarde. Lunes? (yes, later. Monday?) and she nodded yes and smiled.  We left and got into Memo’s truck and he began to drive away until the police waved him off the road (still on the airport grounds.)  Barb and I did not understand the exchange between Memo and the uniformed police and a man in civilian clothes.  Memo got out of the truck and the tone and gestures exchanged indicated to us that there was a major problem.  I asked Barb if the keys were still in the ignition switch in the event that if Memo got arrested, we could drive the truck.  The keys were there.  Memo came back to the truck and asked us, “Did I go into the Migración office?” We responded, “No.” He went back to the heated exchange outside the truck.  He came back and said that we were to get out of the truck and that this fellow, apparently another Migración official, would take care of this situation in his office.  We all entered the airport lobby and and went into his office.  Apparently, the Migración office had not received the marina’s e-mail with our information and that was why they would not stamp our passport and allow us to enter Mexico.  The gist of what Memo was “discussing” with the officers outside his truck was that if he was now transporting illegal aliens (us) that they should arrest him there and now.  He would call his boss and then the press and embarrass the officials, if that was what they wanted.  When we got to this second office, he told them to check their e-mail again and there was the information, sent over two hours ago.  The official’s attitude softened and he began to process our paperwork, stamped our passports and visitor’s cards and we became legal on the spot.  Memo had much to say about the efficiency of the system and we went on our way.  Memo dropped us off at the mall in the city of Tapachula where a Walmart was the anchor store and there were other shops and a Home Depot across the street.  Memo would be leaving us there to start his Holiday weekend, Epiphany, or Dia de los Santos Reyes, a gift giving day corresponding to the day when the Wisemen gave gifts to the baby Jesus.  He said that a taxi back to the marina should cost 150-180 pesos ($11-$15 USD) or that we could catch a collectivo on the other side of the main road for about 17 pesos each.
So we went to Walmart to do some food shopping.  Barb found much of what she needed, but not everything.  Mexican Walmarts do not carry everything that Walmarts in the USA carry, but they have some other things and the store is just as magnificent.  With bags in hand, we went to wait for a collectivo marked Zona Naval.  I asked a woman if we were in the right place for this collectivo and she said we were and said a bunch of other stuff that I did not understand. She was very nice.  When the Toyota nine-passenger van arrived with its ten occupants the three of us climbed in with our bags.  After three tries we were able to close the sliding door and off we went.  At the next stop a fellow got off and instead of remaining in the half of a seat that I had, I moved to his vacated seat.  I asked the woman next to me the cost of the ride por dos (for two), showing her two 20 peso bills and she responded treinte y dos (32 pesos - less than $3 USD.)  Barb had the exact change, so we were set.  The van made several stops, letting off passengers whereever they wanted along this main road and picking up people that held out a finger signaling the collectivo driver to pick them up.  And they drive fast!  Several miles down the road, they passed our turn toward the Zona Naval, but I figured that the driver would get us there eventually since that was one of the destinations printed on the windshield.  We entered the water front and fish processing town of Puerto Madera and the van now had four remaining passengers.  The driver made a U-turn and we headed back the way we came.  I leaned toward the driver and said, “Vamos a la marina Chiapas proxima la zona naval.” (we are going to the marina Chiapas next to the Naval zone) and he nodded.  This time he made the turn and then turned again into the port area where one passenger got out and despite the finger signals of some people along the roadside he picked up no more passengers.  He made the turn in the right direction and soon we came to the marina gate where he let us off and sped away with his one remaining passenger.
So, we were checked into Mexico (legally), have some grocery items and we were back to the marina, our boat and ready for a “land shower.”  The only downside is that there is no place to eat at the marina except at Chez Barbie.  It is my favorite place, but it means that Barb has to cook.  At least we are plugged into air conditioning for some comfort.  It is winter here in Mexico, but it is sunny Mexico and hot.
Meanwhile, be well.  We are.  ¡Feliz Dia de los Santos Reyes!

Leaving the Papagayos and Volcanos

Happy New Year!  It is Tuesday, January 1, 2013. We are headed out of Costa Rica aiming north and west hoping to clear the Papagayo winds of Nicaragua while they are weakened in the next few days.  As Jupiter's Smile motored out the mouth of Bahia Santa Elena with full staysail and the main reefed the wind was up and in our face a little off the nose, but we only needed to head into that wind for about eight miles before we could turn and run parallel to the coast of Nicaragua.  Once on that course, even with a strong Papagayo wind blowing off shore, we would be close enough to that shore that the waves would not have a chance to build.  That is exactly what happened.

We saw a maximum gust of forty-one knots at one point, but as the day turned to evening the winds settled some and we sailed through the night slowly, to try to time our arrival at Puesta Del Sol and its marina with a favorable tide the next day.  As dawn broke, we could see smoke rising from the side of a volcano.  We had heard the report on the radio of the eruption from a cruiser a few days earlier.  As we got closer we could see that the smoke came from the top and then ran down the top third of the mountain before heating the air enough to allow it to rise.  At least that is my explanation.  The wind and air temperature at the mountain top may have been factors as well.

In any case, the gas and ash were annoying enough over the water and probably more so at our destination on land that we decided that we would just skip Puesta del Sol, travel on and see where we might end up next.  The wind was mild and from the SSW and I adjusted course to to sail as close to the wind as I could to provide as much lift as possible and make headway, crossing Golfo Fonseca aiming to near El Salvador about 70nm away.  This was another hurdle to be crossed and since the opportunity seemed to have presented itself favorably we would take it to pass beyond the region of Papagayo winds.  The wind died just after sundown and with the motor running we continued.  We used the excess power to run the water maker.  Just before dawn the wind picked up out of the north so we sailed about three hours until the wind would not keep the sails filled.  We resumed motoring and repeated this pattern over the next couple of days of motoring five or six hours and then sailing for two or three hours as the wind and seas dictated.  Barb and I alternated watches through the nights with me at the helm until 10pm, Barb had command from 10 until 2am and then I had the watch until dawn.  We would nap during the daylight hours when we could.

In the early morning hours on Friday, the 4th, we were sailing nicely and I was standing in the open companionway looking out the open window in the dodger just enjoying the breeze and the solitude of the quiet night.  I looked up at the top of the mast and shined my flashlight to catch the position of the windex, indicating the direction of the wind.  I was checking to see if the sails should be trimmed and saw the windex easily enough, but also saw three frigate birds soaring in the wind wake from our sails just behind the windex.  Then I noticed that one was trying to land on the windex!

The windex is the arrow shaped wind indicator with the two wires to show the relative wind angle.

A bird worrying our windex

I feared that the windex would be damaged.  Noise did nothing to scare the birds off nor did turning on the anchor light at the top of the mast.  They seemed to be annoyed most by the flash from my camera.  The next morning's daylight revealed that the starboard wire of the vane had been bent.  The wind was down again so it was time to turn on the engine and we made water enough to completely fill our 160gal tank.  We motored out of Guatemalan waters into Saturday and Mexico.  At 2AM enough wind blew to allow me to turn off the motor and sail until dawn and we approached the breakwaters of Puerto Chiapas (Puerto Madero).

I called the Port Captain on the radio after he finished delivering a weather forecast, asking permission to enter the harbor and to proceed to the Marina Chiapas.  I spoke in English and he replied in Spanish, but I thought I understood him to say that I had permission for both.  As we furled the sails I could not understand why the windex was pointing in the wrong direction and immediately saw that it had been mangled even more during this final night.  We entered the harbor and found the right turn to pass the fishing fleet on the left and the Navy Zone on the right.  I had an idea where the channel was to the marina because of photos and verbal descriptions from other cruisers, but the charts showed dry land and without a depth sounder I was reluctant to go farther.  I had been calling Marina Chiapas on the radio, but received no reply.  It was just past 7am so we just floated dead in the water near the last fishing boat dock and waited.  A well dressed fellow waved to us and we waved back.  He next made a motion like a member of the ground crew at an airport indicating what I took to mean 'just head straight ahead in that direction,'  the direction I had suspected was the channel into the marina.  We decided to proceed at dead slow and by the time we reached the marina a woman on a sailboat in one of the outer slips noticed us.  A member of the marina staff ran down the next dock, motioned us to a slip and by 8am we were securely docked in Chiapas, Mexico seventy two hours after our departure from Bahia Santa Elena.  We had sailed past Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but I expect that we will visit these places, or some of them on our return trip someday.