Still no pics. I'm all business when I cross Tehuantepecs.
It turned out we'd assessed the forecast correctly. As we left the shelter of Puerto Chiapas and came onto open water, conditions were rolly with the very last of the slop left over from the previous Tehuantepec'er. Breezes were now about 8-10 knots and dropped during the next 24 hours while sea conditions grew calm as well. The breeze had started at about 250 degrees on the compass and clocked to the north, then backed to the south. We motored, of course.
We got even luckier when we saw that we had a nice, fair current that off of Puerto Chiapas was about 1-2 knots; by the time we passed the mountain gap near Salina Cruz the current was 3-4 knots in our favor. (Protip: we'd found this terrific northbound current in about the 80'-90' depth contour, where we had no traffic but the shrimper fleet was about 6 miles offshore and about 1-2 miles away from us.) Running our engine at 2300 rpm our boat speed was 4.0 knots and our SOG fluctuated between 6.6 and 7.8 knots. We needed that kind of hustle, because the next morning's forecast on February 1 called for calm conditions during the day and overnight, with a gale expected to build in the Gulf of Tehuantepec beginning at about sunset on February 2. We therefore slightly shifted course to +/- 16 degrees latitude. We had to start dodging the shrimpers, but it put us closer to shore in case the gale arrived earlier than forecast. My anxious gloom continued. (#foreshadowing.)
Critter count underway: one green sea turtle , 3 dolphin, and one unidentified whale in the distance just after sunrise of February 1. That afternoon a flotilla of dozens of Olive Ridley turtles passed us in their southbound migration. AND!!!! Just as sunset turned to darkness, a female Orca closely followed by a male with his towering dorsal fin crossed just a few yards astern of us! What a pleasant and unexpected surprise that was!
The night of February 1 passed uneventfully with light air and seas...
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