Huatulco - Bahia Chahue

These are the Bahias Huatulco in the state of Oaxaca. There are nine bays in all. They are Tagalunda, Chahue (which is where Lost Elvis is now), Cacaluta, Chachacual, Organo y Maguey, Conejos, Riscalillo, San Augustin and Santa Cruz.

This is an areal photo of the bays of Huatulco. The climate is much drier than Acapulco especially during the winter. The average temperature is 28 degrees Celsius and the humidity is about 40 - 45 % at this time of year.

Lost Elvis is in Marina Chahue, a fairly new Marina. The Harbour Master is Enrique. His email address is marinachahue@hotmail.com

It is less expensive to rent a slip for the month than by the week or day so we booked Lost Elvis for a month.

It appears that Randy's job with Southern Air may begin in May so that will give us plenty of time to bring the boat through the canal.

Effie (Mac and Alan) is leaving Acapulco (Puerto Marques) tomorrow for the 24 hour trip to Huatulco. We look forward to seeing them again.

Puerto Escondido

We spent our last evening in Acapulco with "Nacho Comacho". He is a local sailor, now supervisor of boat workers. He rides around in a huge panga with a blue patio umbrella in it. You can't miss him. He is very informative and will help you with finding anything you need for your boat or personally. We hung out with him at Bar Mitla across the street from the Yacht Club and then went to Old Town for Italian food right on the plaza.

No one at the Yacht Club seems to know where to do laundry. Laundry near the Acapulco Yacht Club is located up the street (veering left) about three blocks. It's quite a hike up a steep hill. The laundry is on the right hand side beside a nail salon. It's actually a laundry/pool store (Lavanderia/Albercas.)

Lost Elvis, Randy and Shay are in Puerto Escondido and Thea is in Vancouver with the camera. Lost Elvis sailed in a flotilla of three boats; Canela and another. The surf is going off insanely so Randy and Shay decided to just watch for now rather than get thumped.

La Quebrada

The La Quebrada Cliff Divers are a group of professional high divers, based in Acapulco, Mexico. They perform daily shows for the public, which involve diving 45 metres (148 ft) from the cliffs of La Quebrada into the churning sea below. During the night, they often hold torches while diving. Although cliff diving at La Quebrada had taken place for many years, it was not until 1934 that the La Quebrada Cliff Divers was formed.
The World Cliff Diving Championships are also held at La Quebrada in November of each year.


The divers work for tips only. One would think that part of the cover charge of $35 per person levied by El Mirador restaurant would go toward the divers who risk their lives plummeting into the forcefully churning waters of La Quebrada. These boys range from age 15 to 24. Apparently there is one female diver who followed her father's footsteps.

These boys train in the pool and at the gym 4 - 5 times per week in addition to their performances.





They admit that they are often afraid before diving but they exhibited no fear when they asked me out for a drink.

Tomorrow I fly to Vancouver for a week or two while Randy and Shay move the boat to Huatulco.

A Day in Acapulco

This is the Club de Yates de Acapulco. It was established in the late fifties. It is gorgeous. We have been cooling off daily in the huge and usually empty pool. The rates are high ($1.50 per foot per day for a mooring ball but the amenities and conveniences are worth it. There is a fuel dock and water here too. There aren't many boats though due to the global economy and the fact that most cruisers don't seem to like Acapulco. We find it quite charming. There is even a small beach a few blocks away.

99% of the taxis in Acapulco are VW bugs. It is very important to negotiate the rate before getting in the car. Even still, on a pre-negotiated rate, the drivers often try to charge more at the end of the ride using excuses such as the destination being a lot further than they thought. Another ploy is no change. How can you be a taxi driver and have no change? They try to say they have no change so they can get more out of you.

After we took our laundry in, Shay hung our new American flag.

The boys want to find a Long Horns flag to represent their homeland.

Playa Caletas is about three blocks from the Yact Club. It faces Isla La Roca and has a number of excellent beachside restaurants. We, being true sailors, bought a "bag of beer" and doritos at a little tienda across the street. They sell a six pack nestled in ice in a plastic bag for about 70 pesos.

Shay, livin' la vida local, at a scuzzy bar in old town Acapulco.

Acapulco - Club de Yates - Old Town

Randy and Shay checked water and oil levels and gave everything the once over before we left Zihuatanejo. It was difficult to leave Zihua. As far as Mexican towns go, it's about perfect. The people, the geography, the climate and the water.

I finally found someone who could rig up my fishing gear. Shay and I lost 4 lures and had one good fight. My tackle is too light for the big fish. Next stop will be a fishing store to get a big stick. Randy kept yelling "fish on" to teases us, for the rest of the trip.

This is the bay right in front of the yacht club. Randy keeps threatening to go over to that tug, yank the ball peen hammer out of the worker's hand and throw it and the worker over board.

After a day at the Yacht Club pool, we hopped on a dingy old bust to hed for Old Town.

Acapulco is beautiful and ugly at the same time. It has a European feel with a coating of dirt. This is the church in old town Acapulco.

While eyeing some chicas guapas, Shay walked right into hole in the sidewalk. The girls giggled. Shay was lucky not to have been harpooned by rustly old rebar.

We stopped at a taco stand in downtown old town, the only thing that approximated a restaurant. Shay and I could eat there every day. 25 pesos for about 8 tacos. Randy came home and ate balogna and cheese roll ups. It's been quite hot so we all fell asleep on deck and went below when it finally cooled off.

Off to Acapulco

Today we are leaving for Acapulco at about 6:00 pm. We enjoyed the last few evenings listening to Steve and Ralph play and hanging out Captain Bob Strang from Sky. He's a retired Fedex captain whose wife Iris had to return stateside to work for abit. Randy's been teaching him how to drink beer.

The water at Las Gatas Beach is so clear it's unbelievable. We went for one last snorkel yesterday and ran into Josie Kuhn the guitar player.

If these boys weren't so expensive ($600 each). They might have become crew. It was painful to walk by the veterinary clinic every day without taking them along. Instead we picked up a crew member from the yacht, "Orion". His name is Shay. His boss Jim has been helpful in verifying our weather forcasts. Shay, 29 years old, comes from San Diego but originates from the great country of Texas. He has circumnavigated the globe twice by sailboat so I'm sure he can show us a thing or two. We expect the voyage to be about 15 hours. The new crew gets the night shift but that's nothing for a free trip to Acapulco.

Now we are cleaning, stowing and generally getting ready to "cut 'er loose" again.

We met some lovely people here. We hope to run into the SV Effie (Mac and Allan) in Acapulco. We will rent a mooring ball at the Acapulco Yacht Club to start with and then probably anchor on the other side of the bay. Bay Wolf and the catamaran "Don Quixote" are off to Isla Grande with all their kids.

Thea is heading back to the "Great White North" on January 24 for a week or two while Randy hangs in Acapulco.

This is not us

This is about a 100 ft yacht from London, England.....crew on guard all night...Enough about that.... it's another world.

We spent about 8 hours on Wednesday trying to get our water maker up and running. Well, I guess by the intro (8 hrs) you already guessed that we were unsuccessful. The thing had not been operated or even viewed for over a year and a half... go figure!

There is weather in Tahuanapec which may slightly spin over into the Acapulco area so we are not sure when our venture further south may begin.

We met a great guy on a 47 Hylas anchored here off La Ropa. His name is Bob Strang and the boat is Sky. He's an X pilot (Fedex) so tonight the boys are out talking fly guy stuff.... discussions about, taking off, landing, various cities, radio stuff and other fly guy industry babble that facinates not too many (unbeknownst to them) and only those... and then few... in the airline industry.

Others in the anchorage and this is for my sake and not yours: Effie (Mac and Allan), Bay Wolf, Don Quixote, Naiad, Sky (Rob Strang), Orion (Jeff), Blythe Spirit, Evenstar....there are many more.

Fonda - Pozole

This is a child on a ride in a FONDA..type of restaurant.

Zihua has many "fondas" which are a kind of casual, street side restaurant. I suppose it's the Mexican version of fast food; minus the fast part. They are usually downtown, cheap, street level and serve simple Mexican food such as POZOLE:

Pozole (from Spanish pozole, from Nahuatl potzolli; variant spellings: posole, pozolé, pozolli) is a traditional pre-Columbian ( check that!!! PRE- COLUMBIAN!!) soup or stew from Mexico. It is made from hominy with pork (or other meat), chile, garbanzo beans and other seasonings and garnish, such as cabbage, lettuce, oregano, radish, cilantro, avocado, lime juice, etc. There are a number of variations on pozole, including blanco (white or clear), verde (green), rojo (red), de frijol (with beans), and elopozole (sweet corn, squash, and meat).

I (Thea) prefer the verde and would love to try the elopozole. Randy prefers none. He has a quesadilla or a tamale.... with rice and cheese on the side.

A bowl of Pezole costs less than $3.00 US.

Sea Turtle Heros in Zihua

At Los Amados Restaurant at Las Gatas, it's not all about tacos and buckets of beer. When the waiters find baby sea turtles who have no chance of surviving, they rescue them and look after them until they reach about nine months. Then, the set them free because at that size and age their odds are much better.

Las Gatas Beach - Zihua

This is Randy and Thea in the local papers. It's an article, half of which is true, about our "lost" kayak. Randy and I were strolling down the Malecon when a restaurant hawker yelled out "hey, you were in the papers, weren't you?" We thought it was a trap to lure us into his restaurant but then he ran to get a copy of the papers and indeed we were featurd as victims of the theft of a kayak.

Here is some info about Zihau. The name Zihuatanejo is from the Nahuatl "Cihuatlán", meaning "place of women" because it was a matriarchal society. In pre-Columbian times, a Tarascan leader with a title of Caltzontzin (that means: He who governs countless houses) frequented the area from the modern day Lake Pátzcuaro region. Legend has it that he constructed the rock barrier on Playa Las Gatas (named for the harmless whiskered sharks that used to be found there) to provide a sheltered swimming area and harbor for the women and children, though the town's official historian says this is a myth. Nevertheless, that barrier, whether man-made or natural, continues to protect the beach to this day. With the arrival of the Spanish, the name Cihuatlan was transformed first into Cihuatlán and then into Ciguatanejo. Zihuatanejo’s current name form has only been in use for the past couple of centuries.

Las Gatas, while mostly local, is the most beautiful beach in the bay. Perhaps it's because that's where all the indian women bathed in seclusion centures ago, perhaps it's the saphire waters, the bright white sand or the rainbow fish that nibble at your fingers and toes looking to be fed... whatever it is, it's enchanting.

Las Gatas Beach - Zihuatanejo OLD POST

ZIHUATANEJO

The name Zihuatanejo is from the Nahuatl "Cihuatlán", meaning "place of women" because it was a matriarchal society. In pre-Columbian times, a Tarascan leader with a title of Caltzontzin (that means: He who governs countless houses) frequented the area from the modern day Lake Pátzcuaro region. Legend has it that he constructed the rock barrier on Playa Las Gatass (named for the harmless whiskered sharks that used to be found there) to provide a sheltered swimming area and harbor for the women and children, though the town's official historian says this is a myth. Nevertheless, that barrier, whether man-made or natural, continues to protect the beach to this day. With the arrival of the Spanish, the name Cihuatlan was transformed first into Cihuatlán and then into Ciguatanejo. Zihuatanejo’s current name form has only been in use for the past couple of centuries.
The Spanish Conquistadores believed Cihuatlán to be a land to the northwest with beautiful Amazon women, gold, and precious gems, and perhaps another name for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

We spent the day at Las Gatas Beach last week with friends. Above are some shots of us. The snorkellying at Las Gatas is amazing.

We had fish, lobster and shrip tacos for lunch accompanied by a bucket of ice cold Victorias (the local beer of preference). The further south you go, the less Pacifico you see.

Introducing Lost Elvis

Randy and I wanted to show everyone some photos of Lost Elvis as many of you have not seen her. She is a 50 foot Mikelson Cutter made in 1988 in San Diego and finished in Taiwan. We are

told that they only made 13 of these boats. There is another blog called "Tenacious" that is the same design.

This shot is of the foredeck. Note all of the surfboards that many of our friends have left with us. A couple of Randy's fly guy friends are also surfers and they come down to visit us from time to time to hang out and surf.

This is a photo of the stern from the cockpit. Note the kayak is hanging from the davits so it does not "escape".

This is the "promenade deck", so named from the girls whom Johnny entertained on the boat. I am told there were so many girls dancing on the promenade deck that one of the windows cracked from all the weight.

This is me on my computer in the cockpit.

This is Kiwi Dave (Burnham) hanging onto the back stay by the cockpit.

This a shot of the table and banquette in the galley.

The main salon.

Our "quarters"

We're Back in Action!!!

Zorro's Bar ... aka the 120 Bar.

This is Nathaniel, the dinghy valet. We pay him $10 or $20 pesos a day to help haul our dinghies in and out of the water. He also watches over them while we are in town. He was instrumental in the kayak rescue as it was he who roamed the streets of Zihua to find us in the "One Twenty Bar", as Randy calls it, to tell us someone found our kayak.

Randy with long hair, thinking about going to the "120 Bar" where ice cold beer is only $120 pesos (which is actually more like $1 per beer).

Thea and Randy and our pirate skull, having decided to go to the 120 Bar. Thea the net controller this morning.

We now have a new camera and have found our kayak. The kayak caper involved a reward/ransom/bribe with a sly and paunchy local fishing guide called Benny who claims to be tourist friendly. At first he denied knowing anything of our little red kayak. His idea of "tourist friendly" was us giving him the reward first and then him sending a Felipe, an innocent jet ski rental guy, to retrieve the kayak, which Benny claims was found by a fisherman two miles offshore. Felipe did not want to be involved. We refused and insisted that the reward and kayak be exchanged simultaneously. He refused, and threatened us by making it clear that he was the only person who knew where the kayak was. Eventually he agreed that Randy would accompany Felipe to retrieve the kayak from a nearby fishing boat. When Randy and Felipe arrived at the dock a nervous Mexican teen met them at the dock. He hopped from boat to boat feigning to look for the kayak until Randy yelled "This is BS; give me my **&^%-ing kayak". At this point the boy, refusing to make eye contact, was so scared he almost bolted. Finally he climbed into a large fishing tourist boat called "El Gordo II", unlocked it, climbed down into the cabin and produced our kayak (with life jacket) for which he received $2,000 pesos as a reward. We paid Felipe $1,000 for tracking us down and arranging for the pay off. The Big Benny, who loafed in the shade of a large beach umbrella during this entire adventure, probably got $500 of the $1,000 pesos we gave Felipe. We suspect he also got most of the $2,000 we paid to the deliquent on the docks.

Today I was the net controller. The net is a VHF radio sort of "meeting" on Channel 22 at 8:30 am, except Sundays. The net controller is like the chairman of a meeting. I ask first for emergency and medical, then get all the boats to check in by name and location. Other items on the agenda include, lost and found, services wanted or needed, "treasures of the bilge", general announcements, tides and weather, trivia and jokes. The Cruisers' Net, as it is known, is useful for getting information about the area, finding parts or serviced for your boat or just meeting people. For example, a catamaran called "Don Quixote" checked in this morning and advised the fleet that they had three children on board and were looking for other boats with children on board. Most anchorages and marinas have some sort of cruisers' net and it's usually on Channel 22. There are also nets on the the single side band radio which are much more formal and have more reliable weather (Amigo Net, Chubasco, Happy Hour Net etc.,).

Randy, aka Howard Hughes, has decided to see how long his hair will grow and has found a new bar called Zorro, owned by a Canadian from Kelowna. Ron decided to move to Zihuat to open a bar after watching the Shawshank Redemption where the main character says that he'll move to a little Mexican town called Zihuatanejo when he gets out of jail. Randy has renamed Zorro. He now calls it the 120 Bar.

Lost Elvis - Lost Kayak in Paradise

Well, Lost Elvis not only lost a camera, we also lost our red kayak. Someone either cut it loose in the night or our land lubber not tying failed. We searched for two days, one of which was spent being directed and redirected from the Port Captain to the Coast Guard, to the tourist police to the state police where we ultimately spent 3 hours while the prosecutor dictated a complaint that I swore. It was a serious affair as anything official in Mexico is. The computer printer was a dot matrix and they used carbon paper that was cut by hand.

We assuaged our pain later that day by listening to Josie Kuhn again at Rics augmented by the odd shot of Heraduras Roja. The evening ended with the best hamburgers in town again.

On the positive side, we purchased a new Sony Cybershot camera (pink) for about $300. So now we can continue the blog with current photos.

Eric is still with us. His daughter Maya is coming to visit him soon so he'll likely return to Barra or rent a room here in Zihuat.

Ken and Marilyn have been more than generous by driving us around town to pick up laundry, shop at the Commercial Mexicana and help us out with local advice.

Lost Elvis - Lost Camera

Yesterday, while snapping shots from the bow of another perfect sunset (which pictures you will have to imagine), Randy asked me to pass him my camera so he could take a picture of me in the sunset (which pictures you will also have to imagine). The pass of the camera was "incomplete" due to a fumble. My brand new Canon SD 750 something now rests in the emerald waters of Zihua Bay. Guess what my belated Christmas present from Randy will be!

Last night we went to El Pharo (formerly Ric's) to listen to Josie, an amazingly talented singer, guitar player, songwriter from Nashville. We then had late night Mexican hamburgers from a street vendor. These are the best burgers in town and cost 30 pesos and is a thin burger patty topped with processed cheese, ham, oaxaca cheese, peppers, onions, mayonaise, ketchup, mustard, avocado and I can't remember what else.

Today we are going to snorkel again in front of Los Gatos Beach.

The pelicans seem to love this panga anchored in front of the downtown beach. We pull up in our dinghy off to the left and every time a little old Mexican pops out of the palms and the fish mongers to help us drag the dinghy ashore. For $10 pesos he'll guard it for you.

Yesterday we kayaked around the bay for several hours. We found the best snorkelling since Hanama Bay in front of Los Gatos Beach. There were all sorts angel fish, bright neons and schools of little rainbow striped fish that followed us everywhere as they tried to nibble on our fingers. There is also an incredible left break by Los Gatos but it wasn't going off yesterday.

The cruise ship and most vacationers are gone. There are only three boats anchored here off La Ropa. The mayhem of motorized water sports has subsided. It's finally peaceful.

Eric, or Popeye as Randy calls him, is still with us. He has been an agreeable guest; very easy going. He's a salty dog with over 30 years of commercial fishing under his belt who can tie a double cat's paw with his eyes closed.

Today I am going to a Spanish lesson with Marilyn for an hour and then I have to draft an agreement for my client.

Randy's Beer Run

Randy had to borrow this common Mexican tri-cycle to bring all the beer back to the boat. Actually we made a run to the Commercial Mexicana in Ken and Marilyn's SUV.

We also visited the Zihuat Central Market which was a muggy maze of freshly killed chickens, hardware, sandals, produce, T-shirts, taco stands, fish mongers and toys. I could spend all day there but Randy felt a little claustrophobic.

Then I went for a kayak while Randy swam around the boat a few times. The Harbour Master lectured me for not wearing a life jacket. No one wears life jackets in kayaks or dinghys around here. I think he was just bored. I spotted a nice left break off the souther point of the bay that would be perfect for Randy. There were only about 4 locals surfing it.

We had a lovely barbeque at Ken and Marilyn's again. The Mexican steak was excellent.