A Day in the Life: On Board the Mexican Training Tall Ship, Buque Escuela Cuauhtemoc

06 August 2017

Today, we went on board the Mexican Training Tall Ship, BE Cuauhtemoc, while it was docked at the South Harbor. The ship was at our port as part of its 2017 Instruction Cruise where 4th Year cadets of the Heroic Naval Military school will circumnavigate the BE Cuauhtemoc across 15 ports and 12 countries. They are also celebrating their Centenary of the Constitution and the 35th Anniversary of the Ship.

The kids were excited when I told them that a Mexican Naval Ship was anchored near us. Despite Dylan still recuperating from coughing and fever, we took them here where the Buque Esquela Cuauhtemoc was docked because this was a once in a lifetime event. No time like the present.

We had no words when we saw the ship. From the parking lot, you could actually see the rolled sails and it was just awesome! Much more so when we came near it.

There was a list of guidelines for when you're on the ship, particularly about hanging on to your kids because they may ultimately fall into the water if you're not careful. The guards did remind us of this danger as we came in. Apparently, there were a few incidents of kids running around, so they had to reiterate the warning plenty of times.

At the time of our arrival, there were only a handful of people on board so it was easy to maneuver and most of the kids were well-behaved :)

Just a bit of history about the BE Cuauhtemoc as taken from the "Crucero de Instruccion 2017": It was built in Bilboa, Spain in 1982 and was delivered to the Mexican Navy during the same year. She has made 34 instructional trips, visited 209 ports in 59 different countries, counted a total of 5,522 days at sea and 705,012 nautical miles navigated, equivalent to 33 laps around the world. Impressive!

She has also won numerous awards and recognitions, like First and Second Places in the Boston Teapot Cup; Cutty Sark Trophy twice; First Overall Place in the Tall Ship Races in 2012; Second Place in the Regatta Colon 92 and Third Place in the Osaka 97 Regatta.

It was a real pleasure walking around the ship. Everything was clean and you would know that the crew loves their ship by the shape that she was in. You could even smell the varnish like it was applied only yesterday. Oh and the smells coming from the galley was heavenly hahaha although I was sure that's not part of the tour :) Made us crave for Mexican food though :)

Oh, if only her sails were unfurled :)

There were so many places with which to take pictures. Though there were some people on board, you just had to be patient and wait for your turn so you can get pictures without any bystanders in it. :)