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The Bays of Huatulco by Capt. John E. Rains |
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| 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. |
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 New
Marina Chahue a welcome addition in the blustery area |
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Historic
Shelter |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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Marina
Chahue |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| My GPS position at the entrance to Marina Chahue
is 15° 45.620’ North, 96° 07.209’ West.
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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12
Bays of Huatulco |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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T-Peck
Alerts |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| As cruising grounds go, the Bays of Huatulco
are much improved by the safety and services of the new marina. |
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| 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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