Acapulco/Puerto Marquez January 26 2017 We left Zihuatanejo on January 24. It was a two day passage to Acapulco. We were in for a real treat. What we thought was a fish feeding frenzy from afar turned out to be a pod of spinner dolphins. There must have been over 100. They were jumping and spinning in the air; they can spin two to five and a half rotations in one leap. A large group of dolphins broke from the pod and followed our boat for nearly 30 minutes. It was amazing!
We won't be stopping in Acapulco; we will continue to Puerto Marquez.
We anchored overnight in Puerto Marquez, a small bay past Acapulco. It is a small, quiet fishing village with basic amenities. They recently built private docks here, mainly for motor yachts and boats. We were not allowed to use their dinghy dock. Getting to shore was a challenge due to the surf.
We sailed on to Puerto Angel. We enjoyed this laid back fishing village. When the fishermen returned from work, they would drive their motorized panga boats as fast as they could onto the beach.
On our third evening, we ate the last of the smoked tuna we had bought at the La Cruz de Huanacaxtle market. So good with sparking wine! Thanks Armand for recommending the tuna to us!
It was an overnight sail Playa la India, a deserted beach which is part of Huatulco's national park reserve. It was a great place to rest and walk along the beautiful beach before continuing the next day to Huatulco. There was another boat at anchor, Pelican Express, with Bill and Jean and their dog Bella onboard. We were invited aboard their beautiful 60 ft. Sundeer. They had sailed the world, and we enjoyed hearing about their experiences. We arrived in Huatulco on February 2, and we stayed at Marina Chahue. The marina had no amenities, and it is not a place to get boat work done, but there were four good restaurants and a dive shop on site. It was also well located; easy to walk Sushi and to get to the grocery store. We met several young people on their boats heading north, south and to the South Pacific; they are quite adventuresome!
Bill and Jean, whom we had met at Playa la India, gave us good advice and a tip: the following Tuesday was a good weather window to cross the Tehuantepc, a 260-mile-wide bay where the ferocious wind can sink a boat, or at least blow you all the way to Ecuador. We left Huatulco on February 7; it was a two day/night passage to Tapachula, Chiapas, the last stop in Mexico. The first day, we had light windows so we had to motor sail as usual. We saw plenty of dolphins, morning and late in the afternoon. We caught a mahi mahi, and we got four delicious meals from it. We also saw a marlin jump high out of the water several times.
The second morning, the sky was a beautiful pink, and it was lovely watching the sun rise. The seas were flat, like glass. The evening sunset was also beautiful. During the day, we saw hundreds of sea turtles. It was quite a sight!
Quite an uneventul passage, we can't complain! Marina Chiapas in Tapachula has good amenties: a restaurant, bathrooms and showers. However, the marina is far from the town to get supplies.
We had met John and Anna aboard their lovely sailboat, Lucia, in Huatulco. We are always happy (and very impressed!) to meet young, experienced and adventurous people like them. They sailed to Tapachula the same day as us, and we enjoyed their great company again. After a few nights, they departed for Nicaragua. We wish them fair winds! We hauled out our boat on February 13 to have the bottom painted and stored for several months while we travel inland and visit our home in Merida.
We have renters at our house until March 4, so we will visit some places we know and love, Oaxaca and San Cristobal de las Casas in the meantime. It will be a nice break to be on land for a while. Goodbye boat for now!