Monday, 27 January 2014 – Our departure from San Blas was uneventful until we were about a mile offshore when our instruments; the depth sounder and the autopilot suddenly stopped working. The autopilot had locked the steering and would not release the wheel for hand steering. We powered off the instruments to free the wheel and decided to head back to the Marina and check everything out.
We noticed the instrument pod above the chart plotter had developed slight play and I expected to find some frayed wires where they feed from the pod into the metal part of the pedestal. Such was not the case, the power cable between the Depth Sounder and its connector panel was quite short and the slight movement of the instrument pod on the pedestal must have caused a loose connection. After cleaning and re-seating all of the cable connections and tightening the instrument pod to the pedestal, we had no further problems.
During our second departure, we took photographs of the Pozo estuary as we made our way out to sea. It was now almost 10:30 a.m. but the distance to Chacala is only 26 Nautical. Miles and by 3:30 p.m. we were already turning into the small cove of Chacala. The day had been a mix of sailing, motoring, and motor-sailing as the wind, which was initially off the land, slowly moved around to the NNW by early afternoon.
We were the last boat to arrive in Chacala so we had to take what we could get. This put us out near the entrance buoy in 40 feet of water. There were over ten boats at anchor, all bow and stern. The small anchorage offers some protection if you are tucked in close to the inner part of the cove but as you move further out; you are at the mercy of the swells and swells we had. For some reason large, long Pacific swells had developed and as Chacala is really an open roadstead, the swells were making their way into the area. Chacala appears to be quite attractive with many Palapas along the sandy beach and we would have liked to go ashore. Instead, we swam off the stern of Hilbre and decided not to bother going ashore. It was already late, and we would have had to check in with the Port Captain.
Heading to Chacala 
Chacala 
Sunset at Chacala
The night was restless as we rolled about with Hilbre swinging in a wide arc due to the long swells. Just after midnight I finally dropped our 15 lb mushroom anchor off the stern with a pay out of some line which helped slow the wide swings we had been doing. Maybe next time we will find a better spot to anchor and stay longer.