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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