At 02.30 I was called by the bridge and informed that the wind velocity was slowly increasing. A sign that the Tehantepec “party” was about to start. The wind was hovering between 35 and 40 knots, right at the edge of the outflow boundary where we expected it to start. Then 45 minutes later it came down again to 30 knots and we all thought that the Tehantepec wind might be diminishing due to a change of wind direction in the Caribbean. Thus I returned to bed, only to be called again an hour later with the message that it had really started to blow. By the time I had came on the bridge it was blowing 50 knots and it just kept climbing. At 06.00 the anemo meter measured 59.5 knots of sustained wind (e.g. not just a wind gust); we kept that wind until 09.00 hrs when it slowly reduced again to zero by 10.00. It turned out that during the night, the axis of the Tehantepec wind had moved to the West and thus we had entered the centre of the outflow area later. As we were well prepared, there were no accidents, nor incidents or other negative outfalls from it. Housekeeping did not report any problems in the Starboard Balcony cabins either, so all the guests must have heeded my advice and kept their balcony doors closed. 55 knots blowing into your cabin can be a very interesting experience but you are better without it.
The Tehantepec outflow as seen on a weather chart.
The tehantepec phenomena is so peculiar due to the clearly defined wind/no wind boundary so while we sailed into Hualtalco with wind still weather, we could see behind us in the distance the storm still raging. Only some of the waves generated by the wind followed us into the port, but there all the wind was completely gone.
By 11.30 we had the gangway out, the ship cleared and all was ready for the guests to stream ashore. Our official arrive time is 12.00 but I always like to be a little bit early, to give The ladies from the shorex team a bit of time to set things up. Plus it takes the pressure off the gangway with the early birds waiting to be off first.
The marina behind the pier where we dock. (photo by roving reporter Lesley)
One of those early birds was my wife today, going out to explore the hinterland of Hualtalco. Where we dock is only a small resort, attached to the pier, with a marina bordering the other side. But the town itself is not too far away and was today inspected by my roving reporter. Good reports came back, as the town was very clean and organized, much more so than comparable Mexican towns. One of the reasons for this is that the people of the Oaxaca province are from a different tribal background than other parts of Mexico. Music and Culture is significantly different than other areas but it also translates in a better cleanliness.
According to the locals “in the know”, there are plans to build a sort of shopping centre just off the town, which will no doubt please the guests coming in the future years to the port but I wonder if it is not the beginning of the end with the resort changing into a new Acapulco. I hope not, as I like the place as it is. It might be awhile before any expansion happens, as a proposed motorway planned under the previous President, is delayed and the New Mexican President is from a different area and thus the money flow is being redirected.
We left at 1700 hrs. to make it on time to Puerto Vallarta. For the coming days we are expecting wind still weather and that will be a nice change from last night
Leave a Reply