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Southern Delights
by Capt. John Rains
Discover the little-known anchorages of Bahias de Huatulco
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On the southern west coast of Mexico, past Acapulco and within about 300 miles of Guatemala, Bahias de Huatulco encompasses a string of attractive anchorages that most cruisers haven't yet discovered.
Before Huatulco (pronounced What-TOOL-Co) had a port captain's office, I had ducked into its small natural bay many times while making pleasureboat deliveries, to await a weather window for skirting the dreaded Golfo de Tehuantepec toward Puerto Madero. I had always been curious about many small bays nearby that looked inviting.
But not until Patricia Miller and I began research for SIMAR's boating guidebook to the western coast of Mexico did we have time to investigate the bays of Huatulco.
Until Huatulco's new yacht basin and fuel pier were completed recently, it could not have been considered a destination for anglers and cruisers. Now, taken together, Huatulco and the 13 lovely anchorages studding the lush coastline between Puerto Angel and Salina Cruz make an especially interesting cruising area.
Even if you don't intend to cross the gulfs of Tehuantepec and Papagallo, the Huatulco region is a natural place to spend some time before turning around to begin your northward voyage.
++Southern Exposure==
Huatulco lies about halfway between Puerto Angel and Salina Cruz, where the coastline runs toward the east-northeast, into the mouth of the Tehuantepec. Bahia Huatulco provides excellent protection from northerly Tehuantepec winds during the normal cruising season, but the anchorage is open to the southeast.
Bufadero Light (15 degrees, 14.25 minutes north, 96 degrees, 7.64 minutes west) stands on the hill marking the bay's western entrance, and the short Punta Rosas peninsula forms its eastern perimeter. Piedra Blanca Reef lies south southeast of the south seaward end of Punta Rosas.
La Marina, a small hotel with a red tile roof, is a good landmark from offshore during daylight hours. It extends up a hill behind the northeast corner of Bahia Huatulco.Be careful not to confuse Bahia Huatulco with a larger bay (Santa Cruz) immediately eastward.
Two riprap jetties form the entrance to the new ,/darsena== (manmade yacht basin) in the northeast corner of the bay, and we sounded eight feet of water at low tide in the entrance channel and throughout the basin.
The port captain's office is to port, just past the entrance channel, and a floating dinghy dock is in front of the ,/Capitania==.
Local sportfishing and diving boats occupy most of the Med mooring slots along the inside seawalls, but if you request a slot, the port captain will make room for you. On the western seawall, you'll find a short concrete finger for taking fuel from a delivery truck.
Pleasureboats in transit usually prefer to use the protected anchorage outside the boat basin. Anchor in 23 to 45 feet of water over a sand and gravel bottom and land your dinghy at the floating dinghy dock inside the basin, or come ashore on the flat sandy beach west of the jetties.
Huatulco is an official port of entry, so if you wish to bypass Puerto Madero on your way to or from points south, you can clear Mexico customs here. A new health officer inspects boats entering Mexico from the south.
Wooded hills cut steeply down to the water, and five white sand beaches break up the rocky shoreline surrounding Bahia Huatulco. During dry season, the woods appear gray, but are sprinkled with pink and yellow flowering trees.
Unless you anchor off Club Med in Tangolunda Bay, your environment will be very jungle-like. We had never paid much attention to shore birds before we went ashore here, but the exotic species swooping overhead can't help but catch anyone's fancy.
Playa Huatulco, the primary beach, has six palapa cafes and two restaurants spread across it. Two hotels, two banks and a few tourist shops are situated along the four manicured streets of the village of Huatulco, not visible from the anchorage.
The tiny beaches of Playa Amor and Playa Matador are located on the Punta Rosas peninsula, and Playa Yerba Buena is west of the main anchorage. They're good places to come ashore with a dinghy, but are inaccessible by land.
Playa Entrega (meaning Delivery Beach) is a deeper cove with excellent snorkeling and scuba diving corals along its north wall. A small concrete dock lets excursion pangas bring sunbathers and scuba diving students here from the hotels.
Fishing is superb here, thanks to several underwater canyons branching off the deep-water Mexican Trench, which parallels the coast only a few miles offshore between Puerto Angel and Salina Cruz. You can almost count on catching enough dorado during a morning run out to Puerto Sacraficios to provide a delicious lunch and dinner.
Including Huatulco, we explored 14 bays, starting in Puerto Sacraficios (about seven nautical miles southwest of Huatulco) and ending in Bahia Conejo (about four nautical miles northeast of Huatulco.) In geographic order, we visited Puerto Sacraficios, Jicaral, Riscalillo, Manglillo, Chachacual, La India, Isla Cacaluta, Maguey, Organo, Huatulco, Santa Cruz, Tangolunda and Conejo.
In general, an average 50 foot boat can find swinging room in each of these bays, but smaller spots like La India, Manglillo and either niche in Sacraficios would hold only one such boat at a time.
Huatulco's anchorage could hold more than 20 offshore pleasureboats. Three 65 foot sportfishers could easily anchor off Club Med in Tangolunda, but not one was there in February.
Larger boats should anchor bow and stern in the more intimate anchorages of the Bahias de Huatulco.
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This article first appeared in the June 1, 1994 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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