Zihuatanejo is the place where you either decide to head back north into the Sea of Cortez, start the ‘Puddle-Jump’ with the first stop in the Marqueses or continue south into Central America. We are in the ‘heading south to Central America’ group along with approximately a dozen other boats.
The picture to the left is of us with the owner of Rick’s Bar in Zihuatanejo. His name is Rick. Go figure. It’s customary to leave one’s yacht club burgee at other yacht clubs if you have had a really good time. We had a really good time and Rick really took care of us boaters. He was also instrumental in the Sail Fest fundraiser for the local schools which we participated in. That’s why we bestowed our burgee upon Rick’s bar (it’s the one hanging directly over Rick’s head).
We left Zihuatanejo and traveled a grueling 35 miles to the very small harbor at Papanoa. Okay, so we sailed out of Zihua Bay and then the wind died. It was a motor-sail!
We pulled in on a Sunday afternoon. The whole village turns out on Sundays to picnic and swim at the wharf.
We spent two nights and finished installing our solar panels. It was nice to just hang out on the boat. We didn’t even launch the dinghy to go ashore. We needed to decompress after a month of parties and dinners and spending money!
Next, we stopped in Acapulco. The bay is huge and lined with hotel after hotel after hotel. We actually anchored in a smaller bay, Bahia de Puerto Marques, just to the south of the main bay.
One of the highlights of Acapulco was the Cliff Divers. Many of you have probably seen them on the Wide World of Sports, but it is much more impressive in person!
Many of the public busses were custom painted and wired for sound. They were as much fun to look at as they were to ride.
We spent a couple of nights in the very quaint village of Puerto Angel. The water was the clearest and warmest so far and the snorkeling was great. Lots of colorful fish, sea urchins, and anemones.
Carrie had a boyfriend named Gene there. He would canoe over to the boat with his friends and seashells and talk for a little bit in the hopes of getting Hershey’s kisses. We might have spent one more night in Puerto Angel if Pat wasn’t afraid of having his entire chocolate stash wiped out!
Terra Firma at anchor amid the fishing boats in Puerto Angel.
Nothing beats a spinnaker run! Our friends on Enchilado (red boat below) left Puerto Angel with us and we rendezvoused with our friends on Loon III (silver boat below) just outside the bay and had a great run under spinnaker all the way to Huatulco. Woohoo!!!!
Enchilado (left) and Loon III (right)
This is probably going to sound funny to most of you, but when we reached Huatulco, we took a vacation. We took the boat to the marina and bathed her in hundreds, maybe thousands, of gallons of fresh water. (We bathed as well!). Once all was clean we took an inland trip to Oaxaca with Ian and Aly on Loon III. We visited the Cultural Museum and saw many of the artifacts excavated from the Monte Alban ruins. One fascinating piece was a skull with turquoise inlay.
We all worked up an appetite after the Cultural Museum (it’s huge!) so we found a little place for snacks and beers. We ordered the sampler platter and enjoyed grilled beef, chorizo, Oaxacan cheeses, grilled pork, quesadillas, and GRASSHOPPERS … yes, honest to goodness grasshoppers! (They are in the little bowl in the center of the tray.) They were actually pretty good eaten with a little guacamole on a tortilla. Besides, what doesn’t go well with a Dos Equis Oscura?!
The Museum of Contemporary Art had a single artist show on display. The entire show was comprised of 3-5 foot sculptures. There were literally thousands of them!
The Rufino Tamayo Museum is a must-see. The pieces in this museum were collected primarily for their aesthetic qualities. The pieces dated between 700 B.C to 1200 A.D.
The ruins of Monte Alban were very impressive. Pictures cannot describe just how immense the complex was. This is one of over three dozen structures. Most of the structures are situated around the main plaza that is approximately three football fields long by two football fields wide. It seemed that not very much is known about the use of the structures other than most of them were used for religious ceremonies and had temples at the top. We took the overnight bus ride back to Huatulco and plan to spend approximately a week exploring the bays before crossing the Tehuantepec. Stay tuned!
[amazon_link asins=’B00PQDOXZO,B07G477LQZ,B01D9452U6′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’vinohikcom-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3b047536-d86e-11e8-9b47-5daf7e8a5e71′]