Cuastecomate (Secret Anchorage), Jalisco, Mexico

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

019-13.844 N
104-43.874 W

Ahoy from the crew of the BlueJacket!

This report will appear to be out of sequence as we've been at Barra de Navidad for a while, came here and are headed back to Barra again where I'll write the Barra report.

Anyhow, we spent 5 days at Barra de Navidad and headed to Cuastecomate to escape from the marina for a while. One of the things that I didn't really appreciate when looking at this trip was how much the ocean swell was going to play in determining where one can anchor. From my short experience, the swell along this coast seems to move on a slow curve from a low of around 3' to about 6'. Believe me, the difference between 3' and 6' is huge. 3' swell generate nice calm anchorages where you can easily land your dinghy and 6' swells mean rocking and rolling and the distinct possibility that you can't get your dinghy safely to shore.

We're currently at an anchorage named Cuastecomate, aka the "Secret Anchorage". It got the alternate name due to the fact that it's so close to Barra de Navidad that everyone bypassed it on the way to/from Barra. It might also have to do with the sea state, as we bypassed it on our way in due to 5' of swell. However, when the swell is around 3', like it is now, it's a lovely anchorage located just 5 miles N of Barra.

We pulled into Cuastecomate on Easter in a partial attempt to avoid the huge crowds who flock to the beaches during Semana Santa. The day before we had walked to Melanque, which is across the bay from Barra, and were amazed at the number of people who were there. As a result we decided NOT to anchor the boat there. We were very happy when we pulled into Cuastecomate and found that we were the only boat there and it was much more sedate than Melanque.

There's a small beach which is lined with palapa restaurants and has a nice looking hotel on the S end. It was really fun to spend the afternoon among all of the Mexicans celebrating the Easter weekend. We were definitely the only gringos there, but I never noticed it as the people are very friendly and wonderful. Late in the afternoon we enjoyed a huge plate of fish ceviche and 3 beers and the total was $11. Can't complain about that!

I was also surprised to find a nice coral coated reef on the S side of the bay. I haven't seen that much coral since being on the Pacific side of Mexico. Yesterday I took my new dive camera & housing out to test out housing and familiarize myself with the controls. Sue saw a free swimming eel which we had never seen before. Despite not having any strobes mounted, the photo turned out pretty well and I identified this as a Jewel Moray. Note that they have their mouths open like that to breath and unless you harass them, they're quite docile.

Switching topics: There's a great app named "WhatsApp" that's available for all smart phones (but not tablets) which allows you to send international texts for free, as long as you have Internet access. Sue has been using it to text a bunch of friends from home and what's interesting is that even when we can't do anything else on the Internet, this app works. If you wish to text us via WhatsApp, reply and I'll give you our Mexican cell phone number.

-- Geoff & Sue

---

For the cruiser:

We anchored at about N19-13.844 W104-43.874 in about 17' over sand. Holding is good. The anchorage is open to the SW, but provides goo protection from other directions. A stern anchor is suggested to keep yourself pointed into the swell as the winds switch during the night.

The coral reef is located SW of the anchorage and you can clearly see it due to it's brown color. Anchor in the light sand patches and not over the coral.

Log ID: 2205