Tadd wasn’t initially convinced we should head there… but once I explained how cool it was and how unique it was, and we realized we’d likely be headed that way anyway to avoid sailing head on into the current… off we went… once more into the night.
Cayo Chinchorro is the largest coral atoll in the Northern Hemisphere, and one of only 3 that exist up here in the north, but it’s very much akin to the ones you see in the South Seas of the Pacific Ocean.
Chinchorro is a kidney-shaped ring of barely submerged coral, 26 miles long and 6.5 to 9.5 miles wide, surrounded on all sides by a steep reef, it lies some 20 miles off the coast of southern Yucatan. Dozens of ships have fallen victim to the reef here, but we felt confident in our navigation and piloting skills.
Arriving in the early morning as usual, one of the best surprises was finding 3 wonderful mooring balls… no worrying about dragging anchors!! Woohoo!!
We spent the rest of the morning chilling on the boat, and set out for an afternoon snorkel after lunch (Tadd did dive down to confirm that the mooring was legit and not some half-assed Mexican thing – all good).
The only problem there is that being so wide it’s a good mile in either direction to get to any coral… but it was well worth the dinghy ride. Within minutes we’d spotted 5 nurse sharks nervously eyeing us as we swam overhead, lots of cool fish in amongst a great array of types of coral, and a couple of cuttlefish flickered from silver to iridescent blue as they glided effortlessly by. Tadd even spotted a stingray snoozing in the sand by the edge of the reef.
Another spot further along the reef didn’t turn out to be anything special, so after a big loop around we were just about to head back, when I spotted a tortoise shell turtle (don’t ask me about the name… this is what they told us at the turtle farm in Isla Mujeres) off in the distance. Not wanting to scare it off, I swam slowly towards Tadd… all the while willing him to look up at me so that I could point it out before it whizzed elegantly off, as they tend to do, but this guy was really in not hurry – even as we approached he seemed incredibly nonplussed by us and just pootled along beneath us, keeping half an eye out for any sudden moves on our part, so we got to follow him and enjoy him for quite a while.
Back on the boat, just as we finished showering and army came along side… we’d seen them out playing and fishing on one boat, and doing what looked vaguely like training on another, but they had basically ignored us until now. They permission to come aboard for inspection … ugh… Tadd wasn’t convinced… but the big gun in the hands of some 18-year-old, who couldn’t even keep his balance in the bow of the launch, quickly made us realize we had little choice. It turned out to be nothing really – we guessed they had seen us and someone had thought they’d better come and check us out… but they weren’t even sure what information they needed to get from us!
The squall that came through on the second day
So we really had a lovely time in this spectacular place and the security of a mooring ball, so after two nights of sailing we decided to chill and get some real sleep before heading towards the border with Belize.
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