Todays Events

Another day at the dock in Tuxpan (pronounced; "tooks-pan") waiting on weather to improve before sailing to Ciudad Del Carmen Mexico this coming Monday. Ciudad Del Carmen is commonly referred to as Del Carmen which is located on the Gulf Coast 100 miles north west of the Mexico Guatemala border and twice as far (200 miles) north west of Belize. The trip down the coast from Tuxpan will take approx. 48 hours. Although it is about 450 Nautical miles to the southeast of Tuxpan, Discovery makes only 8 knots at full throttle ! I've sailed faster than that in my 1988 Hunter Legend 40' Sloop down the coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles. But that is another Sea Story.

Today we have just our crew on board as FUGRO personnel have gone home to Houston for a break and will join Discovery in Del Carmen next week.

The food and drink in Tuxpan is quite inexpensive. At the local watering holes a Cerveza will set you back about 150 pesos ($1.50 USD) but can go as high as 200 pesos ($2.00 USD). Taco's are .50 each ! Also Tuxpan is relatively close to Mexico City which is 150 miles to the southwest of Tuxpan. Although we are right on the coast the seafood isn't the best and by far the best food I've had is BBQ'ed chicken and Steak also there is a restaurant near the inland river front that serves a mean bacon cheeseburger for just 400 pesos.

The people of Tuxpan are very friendly with no problems so far. The streets are pock marked with a pothole count that would put New Orleans to shame. And that's saying a lot. Also there are huge speed bumps, more like knee high concrete cattle guards where the driver is forced to come to a complete stop and traverse sideways to keep from bottoming out.

We have a football pool going on board to make the big game tomorrow more interesting. Also our crew of cooks and steward do a great job of cooking the local cuisine with fresh tortilla's, salsa's, homemade guacamole, etc. This is a good thing.

Until later I bid you farewell.
Ben Brown