Sailing to Punta Cabeza Negra from Bahia De Maruata - 2015

April 14 2015 -Currently anchored in Punta Cabeza Negra , Mexico

This is the approach from the South,to Punta Cabeza Negra with the anchorage around and inside these rocks. 

Remember our Garmin GHC 10 class A under-deck autopilot broke again so we are stopping at these anchorages each night to get some rest from hand-steering on the way north from Zihuatanejo. It is also Easter week(s) so it's "party-on" for the locals.

These three anchorages are available for stopping if you do not want to spend two days and nights at sea. That is a passage from Zihuatanejo to Manzanillo . And if you can keep 4-5 knots. We did the two overnights on the way South but in Acapulco  our autopilot broke.

Caleta De Campos
Bahia De Maruata  
Punta Cabeza Negra, Mexico -  end of March 2015

We did stop at all three and here is what we found on the way North in a heavy S - SW swell.
The next anchorage going North is Manzanillo .
Any more info please see a guide book and Charlies Charts.

According to the guidebook, there are two possible anchorages here, depending on the swell conditions.  As we passed by the South anchorage, we decided it was catching the swell too much so we went around to the North anchorage.  A stern anchor could be used at either location to handle the swell better - a little much for us just staying overnight.

We had a nice day for part of our passage to Punta Cabeza Negra.  We did get some bad seas at the beginning and end but not real bad. We saw lots of sea turtles with birds on their shells, dolphins etc. We got to Punta Cabeza Negra just before dark and got our anchor set. We deployed our flopper stopper and retired for some needed rest. We were still getting swells from the storm and they had some force behind them. Big swells! This anchorage we thought would be protected from the SW swell but we think there was too much West in it. Our flopper stopper got fouled on one if it’s lines and stopped working, of course, early morning like at 3 am. We were getting slammed sidewise with the swells, not breaking but rolling us way over side to side. Our port lazy jack that holds the Stack Pack up broke off the spreader at that point from the weight of the sail at about 3 am.

Debbie got the port side of the stack pack rolled up under the sail and we used the ties for reefing that go through the sail. We were, in-fact, going to take them off the sail as with the Stack Pack they are not necessary. Now we are glad we did not remove them.

The beach here is a private beach with no reason really to go ashore, not that we could have with the swell. It is a pretty place and it was quiet. Somehow we did not get any pictures of the beach, houses etc??

It's always interesting, coming into a new anchorage - not really sure 

where it is, especially when seeing the rocks off the point.  We always try 

to give them a wide berth as you never know what kind of reef there is off the point.

The seas seemed to have the "point effect" - winds churning up 

of the seas as we rounded to get inside.

As we got inside the point, the seas seemed to calm down - yay!

Our next anchorage going North is Manzanillo  - Santiago .