Zihuatanejo

We had a wonderful stay at Isla Grande, near Ixtapa. We wish we could go back for the great snorkeling and clear water. There were at least 4 separate dive areas all with something different to offer and visibility in excess of 25 ft. The water was warm and refreshing. Even though the beaches were full of palapas and tourist during the day, everyone was gone by 5:00pm and the area was dead quiet. You might have noticed my comment about wishing we could go back, well it happens we are stuck here in Zihuatanejo till we get parts for our anchor windlass. Whether it is age or something else, we tore up both of the gears inside the gear box on our windlass. We almost didn't get our anchor out of the sand at Isla Grande. Once we got to Zihua I spent all day taken the unit apart only to find the worst possible news. On the bright side after 4 days of waiting for an answer, DownWind Marine in San Diego was able to find the parts in California. We also lucked out and Don Quixote's husband is up in the states and coming home next Tuesday. He is willing to bring down my parts so a really bad situation has tuned out to only be a pain in the butt, but we are stuck here in the mud till then.

Now there are worst places to be stuck. Zihuatanejo is a pretty cool place, even though it is touristy when the cruise ships arrive (3-4 per week). There is pretty much anything you could want in the area including a machine shop for when I get my parts. Helen has become involved in the planning of Z Fest next week so most days she is in town for a couple of hours. There is a central tourist district with cobblestone walking streets and all sorts of shops and restaurants. Some are ok but to get better food and much lower prices you have to get away from the normal tourist hang outs. There is a canal that runs along the town with a pathway to follow to the more commercial area of town. Everyday when we are in town we explore a little more of the older less traveled area of town. They have a flower district, a fruit district, a shoe repair district, and a doctor district. It appears they put all the competition together so the customer can see what the options are and choose the one on the left, right, or middle. The local markets are wonderful and we actually found a new fruit. It looks like a brown avocado on steroids and it has the same type of hard seed, but it has orange flesh and it taste like a fruity sweet potato. We still have one more so I will try to take a picture of it. The Z-fest supports building schools in the hills above Zihuatanejo for Indian children. We are going to take a tour of the hills on Thursday. Then next week the events and parties start. Every day from Feb 3-8 something will be going on. We will miss the famous guitar fest that they hold here, as we are still working our way south as planned.

Life is still great and we enjoy at least most of every day. Some days the heat is a bit much.

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Caleta de Campos

What a great find! We had actually thought about passing this small anchorage by because the cruising guides are not all that kind about the bay. They say it is rolly and exposed. Exposed it is, but the large swells that come through the bay are a gentle rock unlike Maruata. We ended up spending 4 day anchored in the bay that reminded us of Chacala, but better. The beach has about 6 palapa restaurants, but the rest of beach is incredibly beautiful. The line of palm trees and the rock cliff background makes it feel like the South Pacific. The beach lies at the bottom of a hill and the small town is above overlooking the bay. It is a very friendly Mexican town with very few gringos. We actually saw only two older hitch hiker type gringos the whole time we were in town. We had asked a young guy if there was a good place to get street tacos in town when we were on the beach. He told us up the hill about a 30 minute walk. We started up the hill and and hadn't gotten 5 minutes when the young guy shows up in his pickup truck and says he will take us. The ride reminded me of the wild toads ride at Disney Land, but in no time we were in front of his favorite taco restaurant. It was Sunday so the whole town was out walking about in their best Sunday clothes and sun umbrellas. It's quite a sight, plus the Taco's were excellent as well. We picked up some fruits and vegetables at the small market then browsed a couple of other stores on the way back to the beach. The next day we with Pamela and I.V. from Precious Metal came ashore for lunch. Great shrimp and fish lunch right on the sand with our boats a hundred or less yards in front of us. Helen and Pamela went to the little tienda across the street asking for dish soap. He said he didn't have it but come back in a little bit. He then drove up to town to get the dish soap from another location and brought it back. Talk about friendly people and great service. We loved our four days exploring the area. I have to say when we went snorkeling in the next bay I couldn't believe the lack of fish. There were small coral heads everywhere so the bay was healthy, but there just were no fish. I didn't spend a bunch of time looking but was very disappointed at what I found.
We left Caleta at 3am to make the trip to Isla Ixtapa and arrived at 4pm. We were able to motor sail most of the way so it was a nice trip. There is only one other boat currently anchored here with us. I know it gets hopping with tourist in a short time but right now it is beautiful. Five palapas line the beach and snorkeling is just a short swim away. We look forward to a couple of days here before moving on to Zihuatanejo. Since starting to write this three more boats have arrived. One boat we have been running into(from Californa last fall)is named Pageantry and from Las Vegas, we are yet to meet..but the afternoon seems promising for that...the life of a cruiser...wait and see what happens.

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Heading to Zihautanejo also New pictures in our Mexico Adventure file

We are on our way south after spending a great holiday season in Tenacatita and Manzanillo. It is now time to move on. Manzanillo is a great place to provision having a WalMart and two other large stores to pick from. The bus ride is 5 pesos which is about 35 cents to go to any of the stores. We limit ourselves on what we buy based on what we can carry. This time it took us three trips to get everything we wanted. While we were there we also took a two bus trip to Old Town Manzanillo. The fresh market is a city block square and has all the fresh meat, fruits and vegetables you could want and then some. Thanks to catching a 4'4" Mahi on the way over from Tenacatita, our freezer is still full so we didn't need any meat. The fish was the biggest so far on the trip and before he was finished he had knock a 6 gallon container full of water overboard and a laundry bucket followed a few seconds later. Our man overboard drill ended with me swimming to retrieve the lost items. Trying to subdue a 4+ foot fish when he is tangled up in the steering wheel and still has a gaff and a hook in him is no fun. The pictures in our Mexico Adventure tab on this page are from before he went crazy.

Last night we anchored after an overnight passage in a small bay called Maruata. It was totally open to the ocean so we rocked and rolled all night. I needed my sleep so I didn't even notice. On our trip down, in the dark of night, we were shadowed by a very large target on the radar getting as close as 1/2 mile on our side and moving back and forth between us and Precious Metal who we were traveling with. For two plus hours he was lurking off our side running in total darkness. We were unable to see a thing. We guessed it was military and when dawn broke it was confirmed. Once we were anchored we were ask, in English, for the "Favor" of a courtesy boarding and inspection. How could we refuse a request like that, actually you can't. The ship stayed 5 miles off shore and sent a launch in with two officers and two guards. One officer and guard were unloaded on Precious Metal and one came two Jammin. The interview and inspection were done very courteously and non threatening. Once they found that PM was out of water and needed some they sent the launch back out to the ship and brought back 15 gallons of water. They said they would have brought the ship in to fill the tanks but depth was an issue. It was amazing how much they wanted to help. They ask us if we needed any water or anything else before they went back to the ship. The only glitch was we had to entertain our officer for about an hour while they went back to the ship for water. It was great; we served him tea and cookies and learned he had had the night watch duty, too. We worked on our communication skills with our guest, he spoke very little English and we had a good time practicing our Spanish and he his English. The experience turned out to actually be quite a treat except we were dead tired and wanted to go to sleep. The Captain of the ship came back with the water, introduced himself, and again asked if their was anything they could do for us. Upon leaving he gave us a full weather report for the next week, told us while in Mexico we could call upon the Mexican navy for help or assistance, and to call on the radio if something came up. He also added that if we are contacted in the future by another navy ship we can refer to the paper they left with us, say we were inspected by the Armada del la Vega, and be free to continue on our way. What a pleasant encounter it was for all concerned.

Our next stop will be Caleta de Campos another open anchorage then on to Zihau.

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