Our Southbound Goal

When we first set sail from Emeryville 4 months ago, we had hoped to make it to at least as far south as La Cruz, but it would really be great to get as far as Tenacatita, which was the seasonal hangout for a couple of cruisers who helped inspire us to actually get off the dock.

We had met Robert and Virginia from S/V Harmony when we went to hear them talk about cruising Mexico at the Pacific Sail and Power Show in Richmond for several years in a row. They gave a couple of short seminars on cruising Mexico and how to find “harmony” with your partner while cruising which is also the subject of Virginia’s excellent book Harmony on the High Seas which has their cruising experiences in Mexico as the backdrop for their prescription for healthy relationships. Tenacatita is their seasonal home in the winter months and in their talks they describe it as a true little piece of paradise. Robert is widely known as the “Mayor of Tenacatita” during the cruising season. In 2019 we sat with them at their booth at the boat show talked for a couple of hours. They were an excellent sounding boards to negotiate all of my reasons we hadn’t left yet and really encouraged us to take the leap. Although we know they won’t be there this year because of the pandemic, we still wanted to see if we could get that far in our first season.

Nautical chart showing route from La Cruz to Tenacatita

The trip from La Cruz to Tenacatita rounds one last cape on the west coast of North America. Cabo Corrientes is very much like Mexico’s version of Point Conception where the cooler waters of the Baja mix with the warmer waters Costalegre. While the weather was quite pleasant in the 70’s in La Cruz, we were anxious to travel a bit further south and experience some more tropical temperatures.

We departed La Cruz on Saturday January 23rd for Ipala, a small fishing village just south of Cabo Corrientes. It’s an easy 45 mile daysail south and would be a good overnight anchorage and respite in case the conditions at the cape were tiring. After a calm morning motoring across Banderas Bay, the afternoon winds picked up just enough to carry us around Cabo Corrientes under sail.

Looking forward over Sonrisa's deck with sails up under bright sunny skies
Greg attaching the paddle to the windvane steering system

With light but steady winds, once the windvane was set Sonrisa silently steered herself on our southbound course.

Cabo Corrientes lighthouse in the distance

The sailing conditions were so comfortable that I was able to give the solar panels a quick wipe-down to the get marina dust off and boost our output just a bit. Since we wouldn’t not be running the engine much it was important to get good solar output for the day.

Greg using a long pole to wash the solar panels while under sail
Gauge showing 8.3 knots speed over ground with 16.2 knots of apparent wind from port 150 degrees and 310 feet of depth. Also showing empty AIS screen

The afternoon winds eventually filled in and Sonrisa really started moving along nicely, clocking in several miles at over eight knots.

We anchored just after 4 PM nestled in between the fish pens and anchored pangas and after a hearty dinner settled in for an easy nights sleep. There was absolutely no cell service in Ipala, so this would be just an overnight stop before continuing on to the next anchorage.

Ipala beach with pangas anchored in the foreground, several beach palapa restaurants and a few small buildings

At 8 AM on Sunday after coffee and checking in on the Amigo SSB net we were hauling in the anchor and setting sail for Chemala, a beautiful little bay another 52 miles further south. Conditions were very light, so we took advantage of the calm seas and ran the watermaker as we motored south. We arrived in Chemala at 5:30 PM. The plan was to stay in Chemala for the work week so long as the the cellular internet holds up, or continue south if it didn’t.

Chemala was a nice little anchorage with about a half-dozen cruising boats anchored there at any given time. We didn’t go ashore, but there appears to be a sheltered dinghy landing just past the pier and a row of beach palapa restaurants.

Chemala anchorage showing beach in the distance with beachside palapas and concrete pier with sailboats anchored in the foreground

Kristin had some eggplant she found at the farmer’s market to use, so she decided to make a gourmet meatless Tuesday. She created the most delicious grilled eggplant with tahini yogurt sauce, dukkah, and pomegranate. This was just one of the many fantastic meals that come from Sonrisa’s galley thanks to Kristin.

Dish of 4 slices of grilled eggplant with yogurt tahini sauce, dukkah and pomegranite
rocky point at Chemala

While the internet worked fine in Chemala and it was a beautiful place worth exploring, we felt the pull of Tenacatita a mere 33 miles away to the south. So I took a half day of vacation and on Wednesday at 12:30 PM we hoisted the anchor again for Tenacatita. We encountered light headwinds as we headed to the southeast, so we made the best of it by motorsailing while running the watermaker.

Greg at the helm wearing large brimmed hat

On the passage we were entertained by dolphins playing in the bow wake and we got an up-close visit from a couple of humpback whales.

two humpback whale spouts


“Can you believe that in a couple of hours we’ll be in Tenacatita?” I asked.

“I know. Isn’t it exciting?” Kristin agreed.

“All those years we were telling our friends and family our plans for Mexico, each time ending the long itinerary with ‘and then we’ll arrive in Tenacatita for the winter’ and now we’re here. We actually did it! I can hardly believe we’re almost there!”

As Sonrisa turned into Tenacatita Bay one by one the masts of the cruising boats revealed themselves from behind the sheltering rocky point. I felt a tear of joy emerge as the realization of our accomplishment set in. It would be days later before I tallied up all of our individual routes and found that we had traveled 2500 nautical miles – one passage at a time. Every one of those miles, whether under power or sail, gliding under Sonrisa’s stout keel. Every one of those days, just the two of us onboard, taking care of each other, taking care of Sonrisa, and Sonrisa taking care of us, buoyed by the support of fellow cruisers and warmly welcomed by our host country.

Here we are.

Stern view of Sonrisa at anchor at sunset

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