Mexico – Puerto Morelos and Cozumel

Thursday 17 May – After leaving Isla Mujeres, heading south. Let's get as close as possible to the northeastern tip of Isla Cancun and follow the coast closely in order to escape the current that carries north. It's a succession of grand hotels along a gorgeous white sand beach. Numerous parasails and boats loaded with tourists are flying around us.
Grey weather – light wind and need to keep the engine (in addition to the sails) for a good part of the road.
The coral reef resumes at the level of the Club Méditerranéen (southern tip of Isla Cancun) and navigate through 15 a 20 meters of water. This forces us to make a few hooks when the bottom rises quickly in the 10 metres.

The barrier reef stops just south of Puerto Morales and rather than attempting to cross the reefs through more or less easily identifiable passes, We decide to make the big tour to the south of the reefs.
As we approach the last reefs, We realize that if we rely on the map we will pass among the rocks!!!
CAREFUL:  The Navionics Gold chart we have had since 2 years is strongly delayed!!!  The c-map on OpenCPN is much less bad.
Once past the reefs, We go up north in a well-marked channel to the lighthouses (the old one on the beach that looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the new one just behind).  Note that the channel beacons are illuminated at night.
We moor to one of the three moorings. I dive in to check on its condition… flawless!  We'll see tomorrow if we're asked to leave or pay….

Monday 21 May – We've had enough of the rain and gusts of wind…  but the water tanks are full!
The Puerto Morelos harbour master's office came to see us this morning… A few questions… How many of us are on board?… How many days we've been here?…  Where do we come from??…  Do we have proper papers?… When are you going?… and they welcome us before going to see the Papuans. We expected them to ask us to pay, well no, This mooring in a marine park is free!
We take advantage of a clearing around 11:30 am to leave the dead body of Puerto Morelos. The Papuans are in our wake… Not for long because they go faster than us.
Quiet sailing with a few small squalls. I put new octopuses on our lines and the result was not long in coming… a fish bites… he shoots like a madman… does some acrobatic jumps… and unhooks! tonight we'll eat sausages. The Papuans are less fortunate than us because a fish (probably huge!) snatched the rod holder from the balcony and left with rod and reel!
We were expecting a strong northward current, but we didn't notice anything!  Maybe the north wind reduces the strength of this current?
Arriving in front of the city of San Miguel we anchor in the 6 metres of water between the ferry quay and the cruise ship quay. The water is clear and Philippe (Papuans) is in the water to check its anchor, He takes the opportunity to make sure that ours is planted.
The anchorage is noisy between the city and the ferries… and the boat rolls…  Good, well, we're not going to stay long. A tour of the city, the formalities of leaving Mexico and we will be back at sea in a day or two.