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• The Bays of Huatulco by Capt. John E. Rains
 

In southern Mexico, the resort area called Bahias de Huatulco refers to the primary bay and anchorage, Bahia Huatulco, plus 11 smaller coves and indents that stretch 10 miles up and down the coast.

Huatulco is an excellent destination during cruising season, and for those who want to see all of Mexico before heading back north, it is also a good choice for the southernmost U-turn spot. But it’s not recommended during hurricane season (June 1 to November 30).

Bahia Huatulco (pronounced “wah-TOOL-koh”) always has been an important anchorage, logistically speaking, because it provides the only shelter from the dreaded Tehuantepec gales that suddenly blast across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and fan out as far as 300 miles into the Pacific. Many ships have been damaged in these blows that reach force 7 and above -- so the value of Huatulco’s small shelter is enormous.

  New Marina Chahue a welcome addition in the blustery area
 
Historic Shelter
 
Ever since 1530, when Hernán Cortez built a warehouse for Spanish colonists at Huatulco, ships have relied on its sheltered anchorage -- while preparing to cross the gulf, while waiting for a weather window to open so they could scoot across, or as a refuge in which to lick their wounds after surviving a T-peck gale. The anchorage inside Huatulco Bay was not large, and it was limited to the extreme northern end of the bay off the main beach. But when a T-peck was blowing, the anchorage had room for a few dozen cruising yachts and sportfishing boats, as well as a fleet of local pangas.
 
In the early 1980s, a small boat harbor (“darsena”) was carved into the seasonal lagoon behind the main beach at Huatulco Bay. It was designed to support the region’s expanding tourist industry, so the darsena quickly was filled with Bimini-topped pangas outfitted for taking hotel guests on the water for a few hours of sport diving, sportfishing and sightseeing through the enchanting Bahias de Huatulco.
 
Large yachts couldn’t squeeze into the confined basin, and those smaller yachts that did venture inside found only a surge-prone seawall and an occasional tank truck for taking on diesel. The anchorage off the main beach remained Huatulco’s safest prospect.  
 
Unfortunately, the historic anchorage at Huatulco Bay virtually was eliminated 18 months ago, when Huatulco’s planners built the quarter-mile-long cruise ship pier they had envisioned decades earlier. Not only does the new pier consume the sheltered northeastern end of the bay, the rest of the anchoring room that is protected during a T-peck gale was fouled by construction debris left on the bottom of the bay.
 
If the weather were perfectly flat and if no cruise ship were scheduled to dock at the pier, perhaps one or two boats could squeeze into Huatulco Bay’s remaining anchorage.
 
 
Marina Chahue
 
But, thanks to another phase of Huatulco’s development plans, the newly built Marina Chahue was ready and able to handle the needs of many private recreational vessels visiting the Bahias de Huatulco.
 
Marina Chahue (pronounced “cha-WAY”) lies inside Bahia Santa Cruz, the larger and more open bay just east of Huatulco Bay. This new marina is carved into the low terrain behind a wide and prominent beach, accessed by a narrow entrance channel with an inside turn that inhibits southerly surge. The west side of the marina’s entrance channel is a typical lighted riprap breakwater with a minimum dredged depth of 12 feet at MLW. But the east side of this channel is a sheer rock cliff -- the flank of a small hill -- which creates a dramatic and sheltered entrance.
 
My GPS position at the entrance to Marina Chahue is 15° 45.620’ North, 96° 07.209’ West.
 
Inside the dredged basin are about 90 floating slips with 30- and 50-amp shore power stations, water, dock boxes, security gates, showers, laundry and all the usual shoreside amenities of a full-service marina. The marina has room to expand its slip docks, and a Travelift services the “marina seca” or dry boat storage yard.
 
Dockmaster Enrique can make arrangements for taking tanker fuel at their diesel dock, until the marina’s diesel pumps are in operation. Enrique can get boat parts shipped down by DHL and help with many local matters.
 
To clear into or out of Huatulco, start at the Port Captain’s office in the small-boat darsena behind Huatulco Bay, which is about 3 miles away by taxi. Or go there by dinghy; but you can’t leave your dinghy very long at the floating embarkation dock located on the darsena’s west wall.
 
This marina not only provides a large number of boaters with a comfortable place to await their chance to scoot safely across Tehuantepec, it also allows them to leave their boats safely berthed while they travel inland -- to explore the Mayan ruins, to see the volcanoes or to hike the rainforest trails, all of which are nearby.
 
Provisioning is best done by taxi in the pretty town of La Crucesita -- meaning Little Cross -- 1 mile inland from the more expensive resort shops at Huatulco. You can catch a tour bus or rent a car at the marina or any nearby hotel, and the international airport is a few miles west of town.
 
12 Bays of Huatulco
 
Here are the 12 small bays and tiny coves that make up this intimate cruising ground, starting from the southwest and moving northeast: Jicaral, Riscalillo, Manglillo, Chachacual, La India, Cacaluta, Maguey, Organo, Huatulco, Santa Cruz, Tangolunda and Conejo.
 
Bahia Santa Cruz, where Marina Chahue is found, is the largest of the bays, and it contains several islands and small anchorages for fair weather.
 
Huatulco Bay no longer can be considered much of an anchorage, but it has a pretty side lobe called Playa La Entrega with an interesting history, coral formations and paved road connecting it to town.
 
Tangolunda is a native name, but Club Med beads are more likely to be found in the sand of its six beaches and four islands than native artifacts. Tangolunda has another smaller darsena for local excursion pangas, and vacation homes line the cliffs.
 
The next largest of the Bays of Huatulco is Chachacual, with a nice beach, diving rocks and a small but sheltered anchorage. This bay’s intimate little side lobe, La India, was named after a movie that was filmed on its tiny beach.
 
Maguey and Organo are twin bays that open to port and starboard. Cacaluta has a large islet almost rising from its broad beach. At the south end, Jicaral, Riscalillo and Manglillo are tiny diving coves rather than overnight anchorages. At the north end is the most remote and tiny -- Conejo (Rabbit) -- with three beaches and lots of rocks for good bottom fishing.
 
T-Peck Alerts
 
Whenever a Tehuantepec gale is threatening to form -- which happens an average of 140 days a year -- both the dockmaster at Marina Chahue and the Huatulco Port Captain are in frequent radio and e-mail contact with the port captain and Mexican navy base at Salina Cruz, the large commercial port at the very head of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.
 
Salina Cruz is where gale alerts are issued when Tehuantepec winds first break into the Pacific, or begin abating, and from there the information goes onto the national WX-fax charts. So, not only is Salina Cruz the head of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, it’s also “the horse’s mouth” when it comes to weather data for the Huatulco region.
 
As cruising grounds go, the Bays of Huatulco are much improved by the safety and services of the new marina.
 
This article first appeared in the February 2005 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.
 
 
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