Since leaving La Cruz less than a month ago, we have put quite a few miles under our keel (at least for us slow pokes). We are in a little marina just to the north of the Tehuantepec Bay waiting for a weather window to cross the Bay. If you look at a map of Mexico, you’ll see a narrow section of land between the south end of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific ocean. The winds generated in the Gulf of Mexico typically blow south and squirt out over the land into the Pacific in a narrow band right in the middle of the Tehuantepec Bay. It’s not unusual to have 60 knots (70 mph) blowing in the bay and since we don’t really want to test our storm sailing, we’ll wait for a good window. Luckily the Tehuantepec winds are predictable (we hope) so we’ll just wait for a predicted calm then motor across as quick as we can.
When last I updated the blog, we had just arrived in Zihuatenejo. Long before we even started cruising, I had heard about Zihuatenejo and about how it was this wonderful cruiser spot. I have been looking forward to visiting since we took off, but unfortunately I was very disappointed in both the bay and the town. The bay is open to the swell and thus pretty rolly. We tried repeatedly to set a stern anchor to point our bow into the swell but the holding was poor and the anchor kept popping out leaving us beam to the swell and flopping back and forth. The town was very neat and well organized, but was very touristy and didn’t feel to me like it had any character, like Disneyland does Mexico. No little tiendas with grandmothers out front gosiping, or street taco stands. Oh well, such is life.
When in Zihuatenejo we took the bus a few miles up to Ixtapa where they have a crocodile preserve. The preserve was right in town just surrounded by a fence. There were dozens of crocodiles, turtles, birds, etc.
We left Zihuatenejo and after a few short stops, arrived in Acapulco after an overnight passage. I have heard it described at night as being in a bowl full of diamonds. Unfortunately it doesn’t have very good facilities for visiting boats like ours. We could have gone into the marina for over $200 per night (ouch) but that would be too hard on our budget. There are a number of moorings and we spent a few hours trying to find someone to rent us one before giving up and going to the other side of the bay to anchor. Our friends on Rio Nimpkish just grabbed one, but for our luck whoever owned the mooring would kick us off at 3am.
We anchored just in front of hotel row. It was good holding and not too rolly so we spent a few days on the boat relaxing and watching the crowds.
All day long was a continuous stream of jet skis, paddle boards and ski boats towing parasailers. Sunny seemed to be quite an attraction and several people came out to talk to us. Meanwhile Rio Nimpkish got kicked off the mooring they were on, but found another and found the people renting them. They arranged a mooring for us so we moved into town. This got us close enough to dingy to the dock and walk over the hill to see the cliff divers! This is quite a spectacle. The divers climb up the cliff then dive off from various heights with the last one from the very top.
Here is a video of a diver from 3/4 of the way up, hope it runs from the blog:
We then did another long passage to Huatulco where we wait on the weather. Next stop will be Puerto Madera, the last port in Mexico then onto El Salvador!
Cheers,
Carolynn & Tom
Carolynn & Tom
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