And on to Acapulco

12-29-06 Friday
We are anchored in Acapulco Harbor, just off the Acapulco Yacht Club. We are a little reluctant to take a slip at the club since they want $145/night for the privilege. That buys a lot of groceries! We are thus far rather underwhelmed with Acapulco. It is big, crowded, and full of tourists (I know, we are pretending that we aren't tourists.) I'm sure that Acapulco would prefer the other kind of tourist because they are spending money like crazy. There are TWO cruise ships here and so thousands of happy consumers are supporting the local economy.
We are going out to dinner tonight with some friends we met who are also sailing South. He is 70-something and has already circumnavigated once. Now he is going back and seeing places that merit more time. The other night we were at a party on a boat in Ziwa which had two circumnavigators aboard. The other couple was from Ventura! Small world, eh?
So when we go to dinner, we will start to see the town. Right now we are anchored and waiting for a guy who has some moorings for $10/day. A mooring is a big heavy weight with chains coming to the surface and a big float so that you can pick up the end of the chain. You use it in place of an anchor. We don't really want to anchor here because 1) it is deep; 2) it is mud bottom; and 3) because there is all kinds of junk on the bottom that can foul your anchor. As I was typing this, the guy showed up so we are now moored and ready to go ashore and deal with the official paperwork, buying fuel, and then seeing the sights.
We just loved Ziwa! It is really charming. We recommend it entirely. We will upload some pictures as soon as we get them out of the camera.
Here is the Zocalo, the central square in Acapulco, during the New Years Eve celebration. We hung out here early and then went back to the boat for the midnight fireworks, which came from 8 locations all around the harbor. Pretty spectacular. The next morning, we left.
Here is a generic shot of the Acapulco harbor. Generally, we were not impressed with Acapulco. It was crowded, noisy, and had the kind of big city feel that makes you nervous. There were obvious people on drugs and just the kind of crazy that big cities tolerate, but little towns don´t (in the same way).

We like Zihuatanejo!

Dec. 21, 2006 Zihuatanejo
We have been here for 3 days now and are feeling right at home. We did a gig last night at Rick's Bar, the cruiser's center of Ziwa. We are leaving in few minutes for another gig and we have a return engagement Saturday at Rick's again. Rick is a very clever businessman who has installed free wi-fi in the harbor (which means that all the cruisers are immensely grateful to him from the beginning). He runs a very fun bar with lots of live music, paid for with tips. Somehow, the tips are more generous here than we have found them to be in the past.
Because we have had a few more days to spend here, we have been meeting people and making friends. Nice.
We'll put up some pix in due course, but for the moment we've been too busy to take any. We have regular email, thanks to Rick, so feel free to send something.

Adventures with the Mexican Navy

Dec. 18, 2006 Isla Grande
We are at a little island just around the corner from Ixtapa (of Club Med fame) which is right around the corner from Zihauatanejo, our home for the next week. It will feel good to settle somewhere for a little while. We've been hopping down the coast, staying each night in little anchorages that might hardly be suitable except for the extremely mellow weather. We went from Barra de Navidad to the Bahia de Maruata. And then to the Caleta de Campos, and finally here to Isla Grande. All of these were lovely little spots with jungle ambiance. This afternoon we will motor around to Z-town.
We read in one of the local papers that President Calderon is cracking down on the narcotraficantes in Michoacan due to their recent excesses and murders in turf wars. Well, he certainly has his navy cranked up. They were patrolling up and down the "Gold Coast" with several large ships, smaller launches, and a fleet of helicopters. We got plenty of their attention with 4 visits from launches and 3 visits from helicopters. In one of their first visits, they had us stop and wanted to check our papers. They came alongside and had me bring my book of "ship's documents" over to their launch (sort of a little PT boat). That left Andi alone on our boat for about a half hour while I showed them our papers and signed disclaimers that they had not abused or intimidated us nor damaged our vessel in any way. They were totally courteous and professional (well, except the part about having difficulty finding a working ball-point pen). I'm sure that OUR navy would have had even more forms to fill out! Finally they put me back aboard our boat and we hoisted the sails again.
But even after the personal check, they kept coming by to have a close look at us, perhaps because they couldn't tell what boat we were until they got close. But, we never saw any other boats traveling on this stretch of coast, so I suppose that they were just bored. I felt sorry for the soldiers on board, forced to carry their M-14s at the ready and wearing full jungle army outfits. As hot as it was, a bathing suit would have been plenty.
They were nice enough, but we were glad to be here in Guererro with no visible navy presence.
Last night we went ashore to see if we could get dinner, but Isla Grande's palapas cater to a tourist crowd that is all brought in by boat from mainland hotels. The boats take them all home at dark and the palapas close. So when we got ashore, everything was shut. We were just standing around, watching the sunset, when a guy stacking chairs in one of the palapas offered to cook dinner for us. He was Clemente, a chef, and took us to a restaurants on the hill where he opened the kitchen and prepared to make us a dinner. There is no electricity, so I held a flashlight while he worked. In half an hour, he had made Camarones a la diabla (spicy shrimp, huge ones), guacamole, rice, and tortillas. We sat down for dinner in the dark while Clemente and some friends sat at another table. After we finished, they walked us back to our dinghy. Now THAT is hospitality!

Southbound through Manzanillo

December 15, 2006 2PM
We're motoring along, dead downwind (what else is new?) almost to tonight's anchorage at Bahia Maruata. This is just a tiny cove behind a point of land along the coast. Hopefully, the anchorage will be settled enough that we can get a good nights sleep.
Yesterday, we left Barra de Navidad, a place we could have spent a lot more time exploring, and made the run down to Manzanillo Bay. Manzanillo is a major port for shipping and not a tourist destination to speak of. We anchored in a little cove some distance from the commercial port at the bottom of a cliff with hotels on the top. Some good soul had set up a wi-fi system and allowed us free access to the internet and we actually got to make a few phone calls via Skype. (Don't know what that is? Ask someone younger!) The wind blew off the land all night long and it actually got cool. When we awoke at 4AM, I put on levis and a sweater for the first time since California. And shoes and socks! We pulled up the anchor and sailed away. After dodging shipping for the first hour, we were outside Manzanillo Bay and didn't see any kind of vessel for the next 8 hours. It warmed up as soon as we were out of the bay, but the easterly wind continued so that we made excellent tim
e all day today. Mind you, we were motorsailing - but the sails were giving us lots of extra speed. By using both sails and motor, we have kept our fuel bills quite modest while making fairly long passages during daylight hours.
There are not a lot of settlements along this stretch of coast until we reach Lazaro Cardenas (another commercial port that we will skip) and then finally Zihuatanejo. That is our real destination. Most cruising sailors consider Z-town their favorite destination. We will spend our anniversary and Christmas there, so we hope we agree with everyone else. From tonight's anchorage, we will have about 110 miles to Z-town, so that should break up into two 50 mile runs; easy day trips. So that's all the news that's fit to print. Stay tuned.

Barra de Navidad

December 12, 2006 - Barra de Navidad
We got into Barra yesterday and took a slip at the new luxury marina here. It only cost a little more than a slip in Santa Cruz, but we have the use of the facilities of a 5-star marina. If any of you are planning a wedding, second-honeymoon, or any other very special occasion, this place could be it.

We rode our bikes around this AM and then took our dinghy over to town to do some shopping. We really like this.
Here you see the town which is located on a sand spit. We are looking from the top of the hotel.
Andi really liked having drinks at the top of the hotel with a view to die for. For an old hippie, she really likes elegance.



When we went over to town to shop, a lot of the school children were dressed up as devils and angels. They were singing Mexican Christmas Carols while they walked through the streets on their way to a pageant in the park. Their mommies were hovering over them, but here were three muppets caught in a candid moment.

Tomorrow we leave for an overnight stop in Manzanillo and then a bunch of little coves on the way to Zihuatanejo. We will try to stop every night to rest, but haven't decided yet which coves we will use.

Tenacatita

December 11, 2006 Bahia Tenacatita
After leaving Chamela, we ran down the coast for a short hop to Tenacatita Bay. It is a snug anchorage right off the mouth of a jungle river. Here is a panga passing our bow. Pangas are the nautical version of the Mexican pickup truck. They fish from them, haul tourists around, and just about everything. They are powered by 45+ HP outboard motors.

After a day of laying around, we got up in the morning ready for a trip into the jungle in our faithful dinghy. The only really tricky part was crossing the bar at the entrance which has a small surf break. As it came to pass, right at the critical last moment, we had to choose between running straight into shallow water or continuing on our proper course, but taking the break not square on the stern. We took the break on an angle and I tried to give her enough gas to surf the wave. Alas, that didn't work and the dinghy tipped to a perilous angle. I was on the downhill side and fell right overboard. Andi was on the uphill side and so managed to ride the wave and then come back and get me. I was able to stand up where I was so I jumped back in with no more damage than to my pride. Here I am just past the entrance and still quite wet.

And here is the river as it winds between the mangroves. I'm sure it would be completely overgrown if someone in a panga didn't hack at it with a machete on a regular basis.


We wound through the mangroves for several miles - about an hour before we got back to a lagoon close to the coast where there were a bunch of palapas and cold beers. Here is a picture of us that I show only to demonstrate the degree to which my tummy has disappeared; not sitting at a computer all day and getting more exercise is doing the job!

Bahia de Chamela

Dec. 9, Saturday
Yesterday we had a grand sail down to Chamela - some of the nicest sailing we've had since arriving in Mexico. We had to motor a few hours in the middle as the land breeze transitioned to an afternoon seabreeze, but the rest was way great. It was only 52 miles, so we got here by 2PM and found a secure anchorage. This is a large bay with some pretty big islands in the middle of it. We are tucked up in the windward corner, just off a village that is obviously oriented towards Mexicans on vacation. There are palapas on the beach and at dusk we could hear the delighted shrieking of happy children playing in the small waves. Today we are going to visit the village and see what it is all about, but otherwise we are relaxing and doing some reading. I got into a Tom Clancy spy novel that wouldn't let me go until it was done.
None of these little villages have wi-fi, so we can't send pictures in. At least here, I have cell phone coverage so can do regular email and limited internet. But I can't move photos around without considerable expense. When we get to Barra de Navidad, you will get a burst of photos. Tomorrow we leave for Tenacatita.

Tehuamixtle

December 8, Friday
The folks who make maps call it Punta Ipala, but that's because they can't pronounce Tehaumixtle.
It's taken ME several days to learn it, so I'm sympathetic. Andi read all about this place in the travel guide that she has been reading for a year now. This book is dog-eared and all marked up with notes and little stickers all over it. She picked this town as one of the places she most wanted to visit because of it's primitive qualities. It isn't anywhere near as pretty as Yelapa. Instead of jungle, T-town is surrounded by brush and cactus that is more like Baja than tropical Mexico. Of course, there are some coconut palms if you look around. Tehuatmixtle is a snug little bay with a few palapas at the windward end. There, just as her book promised, we met the local entrepreneur, Candelario. Candelario was full of stories about the history of the region and promised to take us the next day in his truck to see the ruins of an ancient French factory and the local hot springs. We finished out the day with a little snorkeling among the plentiful tropical fish. The next day, we met Candelario and rode off to explore inland. Most of the places had absolutely unpronounceable Nahuatl names. There were a bunch of little villages where we could see how the locals lived without the influence of tourism. Things went very slowly and people always found time to talk. We saw the remains of the old French wood factory. There wasn't much left, but the cast iron flywheels were in amazingly good shape.

Here is one of the local ladies doing the laundry in the hot springs.

Andi bathed in the hot springs - they were just tiny springs with hot water. Most of the featured events of the tour were pretty tame, but the real treasures were the people we met. Just why we came here in the first place.

And I guess that I am pretty much a city boy because I got to pet this piggy, which was a first for me. The piggy liked it too.
In case you wondered where tequila came from (I know ..... bottles!) - no, it comes from plantations of maguey (sp?) cactus like this.

From Yelapa to Punta Ipala

December 7, Thursday. Anchored at Punta Ipala.
We really loved Yelapa. It looks like the South Pacific... total jungle with lots of coconut palms, but also rosewood, banyan, and all the other jungle trees. It was incredibly lush.

The bay is surrounded by jungle with some little cabins as part of a hotel and some private residences on the hillside. Most of the community is not visible from the bay.

There are two major palapas on the beach at the heart of the cove and a river running through the middle. That is what has made the cove so deep; it has always been a river mouth.
The anchorage was a bit dicey. Most of it is very deep and there is a narrow shelf on either side of the bay that was shallow enough to anchor on. There were lots of pangas already anchored there, but we pushed in and found a good spot. A panguero named Ricardo helped us set a stern anchor so that we would stay on the shelf. Then Ricardo gave us a ride ashore and introduced us to the restaurant (palapa) of his family. After a nice lunch we went to explore Yelapa.
The guidebooks mentioned a waterfall, so we wandered off to find it. The main river went inland through the trees, but ran slowly through flat country, so we knew the waterfall wasn't there. We decided to check out the main village that was up on the hillside. We followed signs to a very steep stairway that eventually put us on a road that ran along the hillside. As we followed it, we were surprised to see that there were a number of bars (!) with live music, all advertising with flyers on the walls. Considering that there aren't any roads into Yelapa and that everything must come by boat, we were surprised to find a large permanent settlement there with shops and bars catering to tourism. But I must emphasize that we are not talking Cabo San Lucas - no, this was primitive and truly quaint.

The few little shops along the road had folks who sat in them because that is what they did - they didn't know when they were going to get their next sale. We always go out of our way to greet people in Spanish and they answer back with evident friendliness.
We continued through the village until we saw an arrow pointing to "cascada". That is how we found the word for "waterfall". We followed the path upward through what has got to be one of the most charming little villages imaginable. Finally we arrived at the end of the path and the cascada.




Naturally, there was a bar there, so we could enjoy a cold beer while enjoying the waterfall. It is 157' high, in high jungle and here is a photo of Andi swimming under it. She liked it so well that I think that I might have worked off some demerits that day!


We can't say enough about Yelapa, but the anchorage made us nervous and so the next morning we took off around Cabo Corrientes, which is the Point Conception of Mexico. If you look at a map of Mexico, you will see a hard knuckle right in the middle - that's Corrientes. It has a nasty reputation, so we wanted to be around it before the afternoon winds came up. We made that, but after we got around the corner, the winds came up anyway and eventually reached 30 knots. But it was behind us, so we just took down the mainsail and roared along to Punta Ipala under just the jib.
Ipala is a snug little cove tucked in behind a point with excellent holding ground. There is a little town here called Tehuamixtle, which is Nahuatl for something or other. Andi read all about this place in her guide book and has been looking forward to it ever since SC. So we went ashore to explore and what we found will have to be the next chapter...because enchiladas are ready as is a large margarita made with our racilla. We found out that racilla is the word for "moonshine" tequila. OK, tomorrow we'll finish.
Thanks to those of you who wrote to say that you are enjoying the blog. That gives me encouragement that somebody out there is actually reading this. Hugs to all.

A palapa in Yelapa

Dec. 5, 2006 Leaving Puerta Vallarta
We are going to find out if there is any truth in the old saying "a palapa in Yelapa beats a condo in Redondo". Here we are approaching Yelapa. We'll stay a night there and then go around Cabo Corrientes to Punta Ipala. Then we'll try Chamela, Tenacatita, and finally Barra Navidad. These anchorages are all a short day trip apart, so there will be time for exploring ashore while still keeping to our schedule moving south. This is a highly regarded cruising zone so we are looking forward to it. It looks like the weather is decently settled if lacking in wind.
We have been amazed at the Christmas preparations we saw in PV. There were carols playing in the supermarket and the condos around the marina are starting to put up their lights. I'm sure that, back in the cold country, you have been listening to carols since turkey day. With the heat and tropical environment, we can't even begin to get into the idea of Christmas. We plan to spend that day in Zihuatanejo and I'm sure by then we'll cook up a little spirit. Don't expect cards from us. We'll send an email.
In PV, I replaced the fishing line that the marlin stole and we are fishing again. I think I'll go check on it.

El Tuito

El Tuito is a little village in the hills about 44 kilometers from PV. Andi found it in her touring guide. El Tuito is famous for its raicilla - which is what they call mezcal. There are several distilleries there, but just as many home distillers. We went to get some authentic Jalisco mezcal. When we got to town, it was downright dead. We bought a lunch and started talking to the locals. After a while, the raicilla started coming out of the woodwork. We also bought some organic coffee from the roaster.
More of the central plaza.
Here I am with a gallon of raicilla in a second hand bottle. As I write this, I am drinking a margarita made with it. I prefer mezcal to tequila, mezcal having a more smokey flavor - sort of like single-malt scotch whiskey. The ride out there and back on the bus was an adventure of its own.

More downtown PV

Puerta Vallarta is a totally charming town. It has no industrial base like Mazatlan, so everything is either residential or retail/restaurant. The streets are almost all cobblestone since there are at least 3 rivers running through the city that bring lots of good rock down to the city. The houses climb the hill so that many of them have views of Banderas Bay. Some of these classic houses could be purchased and would be a VERY good investment. Above you see just a typical street. The whole town looks like this.

Andi caught me admiring some sculpture.

We set up our bikes while we were here and explored around the Marina a bit.

Downtown PV

December 2. Puerta Vallarta.
I am responsible for getting the boat from place to place, but when it comes to shoreside activities, Andi has been researching that for over a year. Consequently, I just ask "where are we going today, dear?". She comes up with great stuff. You could just plop me down pretty much anywhere and I could sit on a corner and enjoy the ambiance, but she comes up with the best corners to sit on. Above you see the River Cuele as it runs through downtown PV. There is an island in the river and there are some beautiful restaurants, museums, and art centers on the island. We had a delightful lunch at the River Cafe. You can see a little of their gazebo at the left of the picture. This is jungle, folks. There are iguanas all around our boat in the marina, we hear parrots squalking, and the vegetation is deep tropical. This whole island was like that.

Here you see yours truly leaning on a banyan tree. I don't know if it really is a banyan tree, but it sounds good, huh?
Below is our princess testing one of the suspension footbridges that connect the island to the rest of the city.

And here is the upper end of the island where the two branches of the river split. Nice, yes?

Marina Vallarta

December 1 - We arrived at Marina Vallarta. All the cruising guides said that we would need a reservation to get a slip, since the marina was always crowded. We tried calling them on the radio all day, but they never answered. So we just went in and stuck the boat in an empty slip counting on the old adage "it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission". Sure enough, a bunch of the dock employees turned up and after much talking on the radio, put us in the only slip left. It had no electricity or water since those things had broken and nobody ever bothered to fix them. This marina, although not cheap and loaded with megayachts, had lots of deferred maintenance. The public showers had no hot water and apparently this has been the case for weeks. We were just glad to be here. We have heard that the other marinas in Nueva Vallarta are perfectly maintained, but they are also very 'American'. The atmosphere is insufficiently Mexican. We didn't come here to be in American enclaves, so we are happy where we are. Not only that, we are much closer to the city center. This marina is totally charming, with about 8 outdoor restaurants scattered around the perimeter. In the morning, our slip is in the shade of the nearby condos. That shade is gratefully received. It isn't all that hot by the thermometer, but the humidity is about 88%, which means that with any effort, you are dripping. With no electricity, we have no air conditioning, so we rigged up our canopy and are decently comfortable, especially with several showers per day.

Isla Isabela

We left the anchorage early the next morning and sailed down to Isla Isabela - about half-way to Puerta Vallarta. We got to the Isla just about sundown and quickly anchored. This island has a lot of underwater rocks and has a reputation for fowling anchors. So that was in our minds when we went to bed. Around midnight we awakened to a considerable increase in the wind. A norther was forecast in the Sea of Cortez with winds to 40 knots in the center of the sea. 30 knot winds were expected to reach down as far as us. It didn't take us long to figure out that we didn't want to have to hunker down in a marginal anchorage to face heavy winds, so we got the anchor up quickly and headed off to Puerto Vallarta. Fortunately, the anchor came up without any drama. After we got to PV, we ran into another cruiser who had been anchored there on nylon line (not chain, like us). He almost went onto the rocks when his anchor line got sawed right through on an underwater rock. We were doubly glad we left.
Since the wind had come up, we got to do some sailing and had a most pleasant passage down to Banderas Bay (where PV is). Along the way, I hooked a marlin (not my intention) and he made off with all the line on my reel as well as our favorite lure. Now I need to buy more fishing gear.

Leaving Mazatlan

 
What's a palapa? I used to hear this word and never had a clear picture of what it was. Here are some palapas - just outdoor restaurants on the beach. We left Marina Mazatlan and sailed just a few miles and anchored in this little cover just below the main Mazatlan harbor. Here are the palapas on the beach and the beginning of the biggest coconut plantation in Mexico.
And here is the sunset that we got in the anchorage, showing Mike and Marilyn's boat. 

Steve's Photos

We just got an email from crew Steve Peterson, now back home in Santa Cruz. He has placed his photos on the web where you can view them all. That is much better than the occasional photo that we get to put up on the blog.
Check it out. I hope the link works (you may have to cut and paste this into your browser - do all the following lines together):
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2099091662&code=25510376&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite