With the new sails all set up and ready, we prepare for our departure from Puerto Chiapas. We spend the last days provisioning, stowing gear, and getting our paperwork in order before departing for new shores. But the weather has other plans.
We were all ready to go on September 13 but the weather chose to spin up a hurricane offshore from Chiapas. So we decided to play it safe and wait out the formation of the storm in the marina before finally departing on September 20, 2022 for Playas Del Coco, Costa Rica. But not before we celebrate Mexican Independence Day with the other cruisers and delicious pozole, a traditional meat and bean stew, provided by the marina.
On the day of our departure, Memo from Marina Chiapas kindly helped us with the checkout procedure by driving us to the customs and immigration at the commercial port in Puerto Chiapas and then to the port captain in Puerto Madero. After about ninety minutes of driving from office to office, paying fees, and handing over papers, we were finally ready to untie the lines. But wait, the Mexican Navy, here called “Marina” still had to search our boat and hand us the international exit papers, also known as Zarpe.
The departure was bittersweet as it always is when you spend many weeks in the same place and meet many new interesting people.
Fair wind, friends, may we see each other again on distant shores!
