HUATULCO Posted on March 1, 2012

HUATULCO

Posted on March 1, 2012 

We are now settled back at the dock at Marina Chahue in Huatulco. We’ve just returned from a 10 day inland trip and have finally found the time and a decent internet connection to update our trip diary.

Since leaving Barre de Navid on January 3, after celebrating New Year’s Eve with Fran and Jean-Guy on  Gosling and Steve an Linda from Warren Peace we’ve been on the move.

We spent a few nights at anchor in Santiago Bay, one of our favourite spots then moved on to the Las Hadas anchorage for a few days before moving south to visit Zihuatenejo. While in Santiago and Las Hadas we fit in several visits with Manny and T at Schooners Restaurant and John on his boat in the anchorage. We had been in Zihuatenejo for sail fest our first season in Mexico 3 years before.  Darcy and Isabel on Ideal 1, a 43 foot Christina, left with us.  We followed Warren Peace, who with guest Al Oliver had set sail 1 1/2 days before us. They had never sailed to Zihuatenejo before and wanted to spend more time there than we did and we needed one more day at our Las Hadas spot. It is a tough place to leave and we had spent up to a month in this area in previous years!

Soon after leaving we got our spinnaker flying and sailed with it pulling us along at a nice 6 knots.Without the motor we kept up with Ideal 1 until we decided to drop it just before dark. During the night we had a few shrimp boats and small fishermen to dodge and one very large cruise ship that did not heed our call on the VHF.  When it was quite close and we had already taken evasive action they finally did answer.  “This is the Queen Victoria and we are aware of your presence” a very snotty voice finally announced when we called once more to make sure they had us on their radar.

The next morning we set our anchor at Coleta de Campos, a small community where the older 1960 surfers still hang out.  Apparently according to one of them, in one area there is a “left-hand” surf wave that goes for a full mile giving them a very long ride.  Our anchorage was not the best since we were in a surfer area but we managed to drop the hook just outside the surf area and had an OK night. We did swim a bit and toured “town” with Darcy and Isabel, then had our lunch at a palapa on the beach. It was a delightful spot to break up our trip.

Darcy and Isabel were very envious of our great spinnaker ride and the next day after a few recommendations they got their spinaker up and were almost giddy with excitement when it went up properly. We sailed side by side for quite a long while.  They gained on us later since they dropped the sail earlier as the wind died down.  Later, out of the blue they appeared back at our side to check on us since we had not been replying to their call on the VHF.  Warren Peace had heard us calling them but we did  not answer their call. Ideal 1 to the rescue, but one was not needed. We did discover then that our VHF antenna was not functioning properly and the Queen Victoria the night before had probably tried to answer us earlier but we were out of range. We were very thankful for Darcy and Isabel getting back to us because a boater does want to know that all the safety equipment is functioning properly.

We got into Isla Ixtapa or Isla Grande as it is sometimes called, just before dark and found it a bit lumpy and in trying to get in out of the wind we had anchored too close to a reef. We wouldn’t have been comfortable being that close for the night so  we re-anchored and were happy with that set.

We left fairly early the next morning leaving Ideal 1 to spend a few more days there. We dropped the anchor near Warren Peace and spent a few days in Zihuatenejo taking in the sights and enjoying the calm anchorage. Al, their guest, was flying home to Richmond on the 13th so we decided to head out again on the 14th with Steve and Linda.

The boats were starting to arrive for the Sailfest in early February and we were hoping they would have a good turn out since it is a very good fund raising event for the local schools. The organizers build new schools for the underprivileged and maintain the ones they build. We had done a one day eye clinic there 3 years earlier at one of the project schools and had found it to be very rewarding.

While in Z-town we caught up on internet, browsed through the little shops, topped up with provisions, visited Ixtapa and walked the wonderful beach there.  Linda, Janet and Al all had a massage at a little tent on the beach and we were then ready to depart; Al to Vancouver and Optical Illlusion and Warren Peace to new territory!

We had discussed it earlier and decided to break up the trip to Acapulco with a stop over at a little village called Papanoa. We motored and sailed through the day and managed to pull in a 5 foot striped marlin.  Apparently they are good eating but we did not want to kill such a beautiful fish just to give away most of the meat. After discussing the matter on the VHF with Steve on Warren Peace we wanted to release it but wanted to keep our tackle. Fortunately we left the big boy with just enough slack while we were deciding how to best to attempt a release and it shook itself free with all the gear in tack.

We arrived near sunset along with 2 other boats, Groovy and Mazu. They left earlier than us for Acapulco and we left about 2 a.m. in order to arrive in Acapulco before dark. A few hours into the trip while it was still very dark outside and Janet having her short sleep, Bill hollered for back up.  Amber, who never leaves the cockpit in the night during passages had gone for a walk-about. She started at the mast and moved slowly to the starboard side of the boat where we keep our spare fuel tanks. Using his trusty flashlight Bill spotted a 5 foot boa constrictor wrapped around the life lines and the fuel tanks. Apparently it had swum out, climbed the anchor chain and come aboard in Papanoa.  With the boat hook extended, Bill unwrapped the free loader from the port side and deposited it overboard.  Since we were 5 plus miles offshore it most likely didn’t survive but we didn’t feel very hospitable and did not want to keep it aboard till we were closer to shore. The next morning we reported the incident on the net and had everyone very concerned. 

We were greeted by a whale surfacing between Warren Peace and us as we approached Acapulco harbour. After checking out the potential anchorages we decided on the one that was very quiet, away from the yacht club and packed anchorages.  We were near the navy base and anchored in view of a beautiful tall ship tied up there with the navy boats. At night it was lit up beautifully and we felt very fortunate to have been given good advice from Louis and Laura aboard Cirque who were a few weeks ahead of us. During the day we all went across the end of the bay to the residential area and paid Jesus, a fisherman with a boat rental kiosk.  For 50 pesos and a few beer he was delighted to watch the dinghy for us all day while we took in the sights and did some necessary marine shopping.  This was going to be our last stop for a long time with chandleries and Home Depots type stores.

We shopped, caught up on internet again, toured the old town, watched the cliff divers while dining at the restaurant on the cliffs, took a taxi to Costco and totally enjoyed our experience in Acapulco. Linda and Janet also managed to fit in a massage while we were waiting for our lunch to arrive at a beach front  palapa.We were going to skip this stop altogether because of bad PR but were convinced by many cruisers that it could be a great spot to spend a few days. We are so glad we stopped!

We decided to leave Acapulco in the wee small hours agian in order to facilitate a daytime arrival in Puerto Escondido and give us options if we did not like it.  Fairly early on we got the sails up and managed to sail into the night.  We weren’t moving too fast but 4-4.5 knots seemed fast enough. We were a bit off course but didn’t mind.  A cruise ship came fairly close to us but we knew we weren’t on a collision course. When the morning net came on we signed on as a ‘Vessel Underway” and gave our position.  Immediately after, Warren Peace signed in and reported their position, “about 10 miles behind Optical Illusion” Linda reported.  When we both checked each other’s position they were 10 miles ahead of us and almost in to Puerto Escondido at 8 a.m. in the morning. They had motored much earlier on us through the night and made a big gain. They had plenty of time to carry on to Puerto Angel, a calmer anchorage we had been told so we altered course.  As it turned out, with us motoring full speed ahead and them under sail we both arrived about an hour before dark and got settled.

It was a very tiny anchorage because there must have been a hundred pangas anchored out and ashore leaving very little space for visitors.  However, we did get anchored and spent 2 nights there, exploring the little village in the day between.  The water temperature had dropped considerably and we weren’t terribly tempted to swim, although an American man did swim out to say hello.  He has been spending 6 months a year here for many years and lives easily on a small income.  His rent is $110/mo. and since he is an “artist” he doesn’t have many material needs.  There are many worse places to spend one’s life! He said he had been interviewed earlier by the captain of a boat who was a CSI New York producer and he had found him to be an interesting character.

We had a short trip the next day and headed out before the Port Captain arrived.  We had arrived on a week-end when he was not available and did not want to make another trip ashore.  Puerto Angel is at the entrance to the Bays of Huatulco so we spent the day exploring the bays and checking out potential anchorages.  Our intended anchorage for the night was Bahia India and it was a wonderful choice. Our friends, Tom and Alicia aboard Alegria told us about it and it really was beautiful.  It is a day stop for the tour boats out of the other bays closer to town.  Bahia India is part of the National Park and it is also a turtle nesting area. We saw many tracks up a very steep incline and could identify where Mom had laboured for many hours digging a big hole, depositing the eggs then covering them up before she lumbered back to the water.

We anchored near a mooring ball, but not too close.  However it was too close when we saw the tour boat arrive packed with 75+ people and we could talk to those aboard.  We upped the anchor and moved closer to shore to give us as bit of privacy.  They only stay a few hours but during those hours it is a very busy time with the big catamarans and many smaller pangas all bringing guests to experience the lovely bay.  In the evening all was quiet.

Early the next morning we saw people ashore gathering up all those turtle eggs in bags and we were told they were volunteers who moved the eggs to a safe place where they can be watched. When the date to hatch arrives there are many helpers to make sure they make it safely into the water. The Mexicans take great pride in their turtles and after nearly cleaning them out years ago it is a jail term for anyone killing them now.

We decided to leave Warren Peace at anchor for a few days while we headed into Marina Chahue.  We had a very long to-do list and were also anxious to visit with Margarita and Ventura aboard Paesano. They had headed south from Las Hadas our first year in Mexico. We had met them shortly after arriving and fell in love with them. Since then they have spent 3 years in Huatulco and have done some cat sitting for us at home. As we hailed them on the VHF they answered us immediately and led us into our moorage space right beside them.

A month later, we are still here and have had some wonderful times together. They’ve toured us all around La Crucicita, the small town here, have taken us for propane and groceries many times,  introduced us to a great dentista and her  husband, a general surgeon.  We’ve taken in the highlights , they’ve cat-sat Amber again and reluctantly returned her and have been the best neighbours.

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