Mexico by way of icw.

[unbusted67]

Has anyone cruised to Mexico by way of the gulf icw? ICW ends in Corpus Christi right? It seems like there are some decent hops south to Mexico from there. It seems like a pretty obvious cruising route for folks living on the gulf or wrapping up the great loop.


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[Cowboy Sailer]

No, the ICW continues on to Port Isabel on the Mexican border. There is a marina about half way at Port Mansfield. If I remember it is about 90 miles from Corpus to Port Mansfield.
We left The bay where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf and were off the coast of Mexico when we heard lots of gunfire. "You want to go on down to Tampico?" I asked. "No, lets go back north!" she said. The next day the Brownsville paper said that 17 people were killed.

[RTB]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Has anyone cruised to Mexico by way of the gulf icw? ICW ends in Corpus Christi right? It seems like there are some decent hops south to Mexico from there. It seems like a pretty obvious cruising route for folks living on the gulf or wrapping up the great loop.

I wish it was true. We're in Rockport at the moment, hauling out for a bottom job. It sure would be nice to work your way down with stops along the way. As mentioned already, Mexico isn't a very friendly place for a ways south of Texas. Merida is a good place to check in if I am remembering right. But...the Bay of Campeche gets pretty tough on the boat and crew. It's a bash. Maybe Bob_77903 will elaborate on the subject. He's done it a few times, but says it wasn't fun.

Ralph

[RTB]

Originally Posted by ryon

The wind blows you from Florida down to Quintana Roo, and It's a darn nice place to sail to!

The Keys (or Tortugas) to Isla Mujeres is the way to go to Mexico. Cowboy is right about *some* parts of Mexico, which happens to apply to this thread. Especially, the areas just south of Texas.

There used to be a race down to Vera Cruz, but last I heard, it's not being run any longer.

Ralph

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Has anyone cruised to Mexico by way of the gulf icw? ICW ends in Corpus Christi right? It seems like there are some decent hops south to Mexico from there. It seems like a pretty obvious cruising route for folks living on the gulf or wrapping up the great loop.
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(I've got to clarify a few things here, in my home waters. Suggest looking at the appropriate charts too, distances may be longer than used to.):

The ICW continues SSE past Corpus Christi for aprx. 2°Lat/125 miles to Port Isabel and South Padre Island, TX, and the Brazos Santiago Pass (to the GOM).
Port Mansfield is roughly half way between (I've made the run many times).
(from in the Corpus downtown marina it's about 12 miles across CC Bay to this next point): You travel the "Land Cut" from the JFK Causeway/NPI area almost to PM (past Baffin Bay-- often windy), then you're in the Laguna Madre down to PI.
Pretty hard to linger in the Cut (medium barge traffic), but in the Laguna you can pull over a little and linger/fish a bit. There is not much water deeper than 5-6 feet or so anywhere except the channel, and most is 1-4' flats water.
You can of course go offshore, from Port Aransas, and do some mild beats 140 miles down to SPI/PI (the prevailing wind is from the SE most of the year, almost on the nose, a good reach coming back though).
From Port Isabel (or CC) to Tampico or Vera Cruz is quite a long offshore jump (4°Lat, or about 250 miles, each hop), with very few small harbors for shelter.
Little La Pesca would be about midway to Tampico (which is about midway to Vera Cruz from PI), and it's a rather rough fishing port .
The marinas, etc., South of Corpus are fairly crude for those used to the fancier places (but the food can be great ;] ).

Originally Posted by Cowboy Sailer

No, the ICW continues on to Port Isabel on the Mexican border. There is a marina about half way at Port Mansfield. If I remember it is about 90 miles from Corpus to Port Mansfield.
We left The bay where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf and were off the coast of Mexico when we heard lots of gunfire. "You want to go on down to Tampico?" I asked. "No, lets go back north!" she said. The next day the Brownsville paper said that 17 people were killed.

Port Isabel/SPI are not "on the Mexican border".
They are about 12 miles North as the crow flies (to the mouth of the Rio Grande/Bravo, don't even think of entering it), about 30 driving miles to a Brownsville bridge crossing into Matamoros (where most of the gunfire is, highly improbable you heard any from offshore 40 miles East. I've actually been in Matamoros during some minor uprisings, prior to the worst of the current droga stuff. It's part of the background noise in B'ville.).

Space X is building a new spaceport just North of the Rio Grande and just a couple of miles inland, at Boca Chica.
IIRC, first launch may take place in 2016 or 17, and it is designed for the "heavies" .
It would be awesome to watch from the water in the PI/SPI area, across South Bay from the pads.

Most of the drug violence (~50K+ dead in a few decades) does tend to be along the TX Frontera and western MX.
It merely reflects the insanity of US imposing a different kind of prohibition, the utterly failed so-called "War on Drugs". We once had sense enough to repeal the Volstead Act after a few bad years, common sense is totally lacking with the four+ decade old lost WoD. Now the absolute worst types have become immensely wealthy (and tend to live in our best neighborhoods here now).

Originally Posted by RTB

I wish it was true. We're in Rockport at the moment, hauling out for a bottom job. It sure would be nice to work your way down with stops along the way. As mentioned already, Mexico isn't a very friendly place for a ways south of Texas. Merida is a good place to check in if I am remembering right. But...the Bay of Campeche gets pretty tough on the boat and crew. It's a bash. Maybe Bob_77903 will elaborate on the subject. He's done it a few times, but says it wasn't fun.
Ralph

Welcome to Rockport, Ralph (try Charlotte Plummers restaurant at Fulton Harbor).
Not that many stops available down here/there.
Merida, Yuc is 22 miles inland from the coast, and no rivers (and we luvs that place).
The Bay of Campeche by sail would be brutal, usually light winds (but for TS's and hurricanes), and intense heat and humidity; lots of oil rigs, vessel traffic too. And I wouldn't rule out possible piracy too, nowadays .

Somebody below mentioned going from FL to Quintana Roo, etc., that would be better.

[RTB]

Sorry, I meant the port at Progresso. Merida is the state I believe. Sorry for the confusion.

Ralph

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by RTB

Sorry, I meant the port at Progresso. Merida is the state I believe. Sorry for the confusion.

Ralph

No prob. Yucatan is the MX state, Merida is its capitol, Progreso is the major (still small) port city, on the NW side of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Only there once long ago (from Merida), doubt any cruisers would be much interested in spending any time there. Rent a vehicle and you can visit some of the more interesting places close by, like Merida and the various Mayan pyramid sites nearby.
Yucatán - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[thebootlegger]

Ralph....are you on the Hard at Hooking bull? We hauled out there in 2013...they were really nice there...

We used to live in Port Isabel and in Port Mansfield and have cruised the Texas since the 80's. We were planning heading to the Rio Dulce by going the hug the mexico coast route too but after we came back from Guatemala (by car) in 2010 we decided our plans to hop from Port Mansfield..port Isabel...la Pesca ..Tampico...Veracruz ...isla de Los lobos...progreso ..and Isla Mujeres needed to be changed because of the gang violence. We traveled all over down there since the 80's and NEVER had a problem ...always stayed on beaches...in the jungle...off of the beaten path...but for us those days are over. The drug cartels have changed that.

Don't stop in Fulon! We were going to stop there for a few days and a year later we finally said bye to the nice group there. Things are handy if you have a bike. The ladies at the harbor master's office in Rockport/Futon are so helpful...if you pay for a slip in Rockport you can also stay in Fulton. (Or at least you could when we were there). All joking aside this is a good place to provision.

We still haven't gotten back to rio dulce...we keep getting side tracked...found a cool live aboard marina up a bayou in Slidell to hang out in and enjoy the Louisiana hispitality. Looks like we are going to try and head back to Rio Dulce after this hurricane season now.

By the way...i was told the harbor in Port Mansfield is now dredged (as of about a week ago) to 12 feet. They have a friendly bar and grill (Pelican's Pub) where you can tie up and enjoy good food and friendly people.

I think the other posts have it right about heading to key west or the dry Tortugas then to Isla...good luck!

[RTB]

We'll haul out Tuesday morning at Hooking Bull, yes. We have a slip here at Cove Harbor, and will hang here for a bit. I have a friend here on his Tartan 41, and he may need some help with some projects on his boat.

We plan to head East pretty soon though. Tell me about the marina there in Slidell. Maybe we'll catch you there later.

Ralph

[thebootlegger]

Ralph...contact me in personal message so we can touch base.
-Candy on The Bootlegger