South Carolina to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, Part 1
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out derelicts has achieved the opposite result. Normally crowded dinghy docks sit mostly fallow while marina business slumps. Someday maybe Marathon will get it right, but I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway, we had a pleasant week tied up at Dockside Marina. Mariam and Mark on s/v Delphys were there and we enjoyed their company greatly. We also met Peggy and Ed on Tiempo. They are very traveled ex-sailboaters who recently acquired their 49' DeFever trawler. Ed was very helpful in dissuading us from considering coast-wise cruising Honduras and Nicaragua. If we should want to go south of Guatemala, it must be far offshore and preferably a different route. The Honduran Bay Islands, however, are safe and they encouraged us to spend a lot of time there. In the mid 90s, they stayed in the Bay Islands for about a year. The Bay Islands are about 30 miles off the north coast of Honduras. Everyone we have ever talked to has sung their praises.
Francesca and crew departed Marathon November 30. The weather window looked pretty good with forecast 5 to 6 foot seas and 10 to 15 knots from the NE. This time of year, I think that is about the best one can expect. The seas in the Gulf don't have broad swells, and waves are often separated by only a 2 to 3 seconds. Having it on the stern was clearly preferred. Our route took us a few miles off Key West, then a turn to the south brought Francesca to a course paralleling the NW Cuban Coast. The final 120 miles from Cuba's Cabo San Antonio to Isla Mujeres was more of the same relatively comfortable following sea. In all, it took 56.5 hours to go from Marathon to safe anchorage at Isla Mujeres, Mexico. I haven't added up the miles yet, but the fuel consumption for our twin Lehmans running at 1500-1550 rpm was 4.15 gallons per hour. For those interested, Francesca turns 24" x 18" props with 2:1 gear. These numbers are
as good as they get considering the long, consistent burn time and no generator run time.
The anchorage here at Isla Mujeres is only sparsely populated and we are the only non-resident power boat. Yesterday, Francesca's fuel tanks were topped off with $2.00 per gallon diesel fuel. There are only about 4 marinas within 10 miles of the anchorage. Three of which want $750 to $1000 per month for dockage. The fourth, Marina Paraiso, is somewhat less, but the place has fallen into sad repair and hardly worth it. The Marinas are only sparsely occupied (surprise!). We remain happily at anchor with good breezes, no bugs and a regular generator schedule. To our knowledge, there are almost no complaints of petty crime directed at cruisers here.
