We cruised the
Central America from Panama to Mexico. We left the canal area in mid April and arrived in Chiapas in July. Our intent was to
cruise slowly and stop in some nice places. This was a
cruise, not a
delivery. We like "bullet proof"
anchorages, not open bays so that limited our stops somewhat. We found the winds to be inconsistent. More on that later.
This is lonely cruising. You will rarely see another boat. Most of the stops will be at places where there are no services for a boat. There are beautiful places, however.
Panama: Panama city itself is a fantastic place to visit. After the canal transit we anchored in La Playa (which is not too much fun) and visited Panama City for days on end.
The Perlas are nice but the weather this time of year is not conducive to hanging out. Plus we were intimidated by the park
fees although we were never stopped. If you want peace and quiet, Boca Chica, while tough to get into, is peaceful. We bused to David for
shopping. Checking out of Panama at Puerto Amuelles was difficult due to no good way to get ashore. Be careful of the weather leaving the Gulf of Panama, Punta Mala is not ill named.
Costa Rica: We stayed a while in Golfito, which is very protected. It rains there, a lot. Most other places in Costa Rica we skipped due to open roadsteads and high marina prices, however we had a nice stays at Ballena Bay and Playa del Cocos. The town of Punta Arenas is very non-touristy but the
marinas are also quite tricky to get into. There is some good cruising ground in this vicinity. Playa del Cocos was a blast; when Costa Rica was doing well in the World Cup the Ticos just about destroyed the town in celebration.
Provisioning there is excellent.
Bahia Santa Elena is gorgeous and protected, and
remote. We had good sailing there as we closed on in the area of "Gap Winds".
Gap Winds and (Papaguyos): From the Costa Rica Border you have several places where gaps in the land mass allow
wind from the
Caribbean to blow through. You need to get grib files or web pages such as Windy to see how they are doing. We avoided these by picking our transit times. A hint: They are stronger during the morning and lighter in the afternoon when the onshore winds oppose the Gap winds. That being said, we never had impossible breezes, however our boat does very well going to weather or on close reaches.
Nicaragua: We stopped in
San Juan Del Sur, which is a trippy little surf town with lots of shops and restaurants.
Anchoring there is also a trip. You are hanging off a surf beach with 30 knots blowing off shore and a big swell from behind. The
boats do a ballet there. Other stops in Nicaragua, Corinto and Puestra del Sol were less interesting.
After that we sailed all the way to Chiapas Mexico.
Mexico: Chiapas is a terrific little marina and the town of Tapachula is good. We spent months there before crossing to Huatulco in November. The Gulf of Tehuantepec was easy, you just wait in Chiapas for a window.
From Huatulco to
Puerto Vallarta and north you are exposed to hurricanes. The season is June 15 to November. It is not advisable to proceed up the coast of Mexico unless before or after Hurricane season. We came in December. It's a lot of light air sailing and motoring. You can sail from noon to 6:00PM and from midnight to 6:00M if your boat does well in light air.
PS We used the Sarana's Guide
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Sailing is a sport, an athletic activity, not a sedentary one.
Fred Roswold-Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico
WINGSSAIL - Cruising Log of Wings - Serendipity 43 - Fred Roswold & Judy Jensen