Our First Med Mooring

March 21; we picked up anchor and apparently took the protection away from a school of fish. They swam like crazy trying to stay under the boat. Sorry guys, but we are out of here!

Next stop Las Hadas marina and our first med mooring. Med mooring is a particular way to tie up to a dock. We understand that it is common in the Mediterranean, hence the name. We read that in Las Hadas we would need to drop our anchor in the middle of the round marina, then back up to the surrounding dock where we would tie the stern of the boat to a couple of cleats, then tighten up on the anchor to keep the boat in place. To get off the boat, simply step off the back on to the dock. OK, we can do this! We had a two-hour sail to the bay located just outside of the marina. We pulled into the bay and floated around while we prepped for entering the marina. We had to take Pomp off the dinghy davits and secure him forward or else our dinghy would be in the way of getting onto the dock from the stern of the boat. Watson (our Watt & Sea hydrogenerator) also came off the stern so we wouldn’t risk smashing him against the dock. We moved our fender step from the side gate around to the back of the transom so that if we accidentally hit the dock while backing up to it, we would have a bumper. Last we put our big orange fender balls out on each side to protect us and our neighbors should we bump into them. We called into the marina and got a slip assignment. Ready or not, here we go!

We rounded the breakwater and entered the marina which, as expected, was a big circle with boats lining the wall positioned stern in, nose out. Luckily there were several slips empty where we were to tie up. Unexpectedly though, there were mooring balls to use rather than using our anchor. Quick change of plans! Bill dove into the lazarette and got out the boat hook as I slowly navigated to our assigned ball. Bill picked up the mooring ball like a pro and looped the line on our bow cleat. I started backing up slowly at 1200 RPMs until the mooring was tight. We were still far from the dock. I slowly picked up the RPMs following the advice of Bill and the guys on the dock waiting to catch the stern lines. I was up to cruising power at 2400 RPMs with the mooring line stretched really tight and still had at least 50 feet to go. The mooring ball line was too short. I eased off the throttle while Bill rummaged in the bow locker for a line. Bill tied a 50 foot line to the mooring ball line and I started again, slowly increasing the RPMs until I had the engine revved to 2400 bringing us to within 5 feet of the dock. Glad Bills knot held! Yikes! Bill tossed the lines to the guys and we were tied up on our first med mooring!

We decided to go for a hike around the resort. As we were coming in, we saw a very nice-looking neighborhood on the point and we thought it would be fun to admire some mansions. It turns out it is very exclusive and “you can’t get there from here.” The resort was really interesting though with different towers and overlooks.

After exploring, we went to the reception desk of the resort to find out what was available to us poor folk at the marina. We have found that some marinas have a deal with the resorts allowing use of the pool or restaurants and some are completely closed to the marina and open only to guests of the resort. We were hoping we could use their WIFI. They said that for $80 each, we could have an all-inclusive day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, pools, towels, the works! Sign us up! We came in early for a nice breakfast with Baileys in our coffee and took advantage of the fast internet for a couple of hours. Then we hit the pools and had our own bartender who we generously shared with nearby guests (LOL!). We had a nice lunch and continued pool time. We returned to the boat to get spiffed up for an evening wine and dine. I would say we got our money’s worth- fabulous! It was nice to be totally pampered for a day because for the next couple of days we would need to hop from anchorage to anchorage down the coast to Marina Ixtapa near Zihuatanejo. That stretch of coast does not have many well protected anchorages.

March 23, we extricated ourselves from the med mooring which was potentially tricky. The bow mooring line was stretched tight. If Bill was on the dock and let loose the stern dock lines, the boat was going to spring forward and how would he get aboard? If we released the bow first we would definitely spring back and hit the dock. I thought we could leave the dinghy at the dock for Bill and he could just row back to the boat. I promised not to leave him there! Instead, Bill untied the first stern line and put it on the deck then he untied the second stern line but held it still with one loop around the dock cleat and calmly stepped aboard with the line. Next, he allowed the line to slide from under the cleat letting us come forward to our mooring ball. Then he went forward to untie our line from the mooring ball line. I don’t think anyone knew this was our first med mooring! We motored out around the breakwater and free floated in the bay again to get Pomp back into the dinghy davits and put fenders back where they belonged. We were underway by 9:30am for the 9 hour sail to Cabeza Negra.

We had clear skies and light winds for the trip. We saw more and more turtles. Some sleeping turtles had birds standing on top, hitching a ride! There were also turtles on turtles, an awkward way to make baby turtles! According to Google, they can mate for several days like that. The anchorage at Cabeza Negra was barely protected by a rock formation jutting out into the Pacific. It did knock down the swell a bit but it made for a rolly night.

We had the anchor up at 5am and we were on the way to Coleta de Campos, our last stopover before setting off on an overnight sail to Zihuatanejo. Again, we saw hundreds of turtles. Love it! We pulled into the anchorage with the setting sun, passing an impressive blowhole on the way in. There was a big breakwall that looked like it provided nice protection. As we approached, a local fisherman warned us away from the sea wall waving dismissively at the area, shaking his head and yelling “No Bueno! No Bueno!” We thanked him and turned, aiming for the middle of the bay and dropped the anchor in 40 feet of water. Anchored in 40 feet in the middle of the bay should be safe! The water was clear so we turned on the generator and started making water to fill the tanks. We noticed that our batteries were not charging well. They have been slowly getting worse but we are hopeful they can make it until December when we will be back in the U.S. Coleta de Campos is known as a surfing spot, and we noticed the swells breaking off the end of the sea wall, thankful the fisherman had warned us away from anchoring there.

We were awakened early in the morning by the sound of breaking surf way too close and the feeling of the boat heaving against our anchor. We scrambled out of bed to take a look. The waves had grown in size overnight and they were walling up about 10 feet past us. Yikes! We had to go! We had to leave even before coffee! For an overnight passage! At least the sun was up and we had gotten some rest. We were relieved we had decided not to deploy a stern anchor the night before to hold our bow into the swells- the wind was minimal and from the same direction as the swells, so we had decided it wasn’t necessary. If we had put it out we would likely have had to abandon it because we couldn’t have backed up to retrieve it! Better lucky than good sometimes!!