Searching for Paradise On The Way to La Cruz – May 1 – 22

The direct route from Marina Ixtapa to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (which readers of this blog know as one of our favorite places) is about 331 miles.  Our bay-hopping itinerary made it a longer but a much more enjoyable voyage.  The entire trip was spent travelling through territory we had visited before, but as we have learned in every journey there is the possibility of new experiences.  This trip we learned that there is more than one way to experience paraíso (paradise).

Marina Ixtapa to Bahía Santiago – May 1 to 6

That said, our first leg, a three-day trip to Bahía Santiago, was not paradisiacal.  We managed to eke out only 20 hours of sailing during the 47-hour trip (40%) because low night winds (several hours at 2 to 4 knots) and the combined high swells and moderate winds during the day required us to use the motor to make headway. 

We set anchor at Bahía Santiago late morning on May 3^rd after two nights underway and found that the bay was no longer in the grip of the tourist frenzy that is Semana Santa.  But as the weekend dawned on Saturday, it was clear that the bay is also a popular short-break destination and that we were destined to be entertained once again by jet skis, banana rides and tour boats.  Bryce’s favorite tour boat encounter during this stay:  As the boat approached, blasting 80’s rock-n-roll, the guide announced over the loud speaker that the bay often hosted sailboats from all around the world, and that this boat (Abracadabra) was occupied by gringos. 

Aside:  Life can be interesting when you fly the US flag as publically as one does when sailing a US-registered vessel.  When Bryce was deciding whether to become a US citizen, Molly warned him that traveling on a US passport was different than traveling as a Canadian; that he would no longer benefit from the international assumption that, as a Canadian, he was polite, friendly and peace-loving.  But he took the oath anyway.  Now that is real patriotism – taking the bad with the good. 

The use of the occasional derogatory descriptive term aside, most Mexicans are very kind and polite to US citizens; sometimes because they actually like the US, and sometimes because Mexicans are generally polite to visitors.  During one of our trips to shore in Bahía Santiago two Mexican couples spending the day on the beach with their teenagers invited us to join them.  They wanted to hear about our trip to Mexico and to tell us how much they enjoyed their travels in the US.  They shared their beer with us and would have been happy to let us have one of their beach cocktails (a vile sounding mixture of cognac, mineral water and Coca Cola) had we not declined their offers.  We explained that we couldn’t drink much because we had to launch our dinghy into fairly substantial surf. 

We managed to restrict our intake to only two Coronitos (cute little 6 ounce sized Coronas) each, and to politely extract ourselves from the party.  We were ready to launch.  However, our two male hosts insisted on “helping us”.  Lesson learned:  It’s not enough that the dinghy crew remain sober; the launch crew must also be sober!  Our hosts were not annoyingly drunk by any means – but they weren’t in top dinghy launching form.  Fortunately, the only damage resulting from the Keystone Cops maneuver that got us off the beach was a thorough soaking of all parties.  Bryce managed to row through the surf before starting the engine (our new favorite departure technique – whatever happens in the surf happens without the engine prop spinning into someone), so we got back to Abracadabra with our groceries still in the boat and our hats and sunglasses on!

Bahía Santiago to Bahía Tenacatita – May 6 - 8

Not the perfect journey: an eight and a half hour trip with seven hours on the motor.  We turned in at Barra de Navidad to buy some fuel, worried that if these low winds kept up we might not make it to La Cruz with the fuel on board.

We anchored and enjoyed a quiet evening aboard.  Sadly, the next morning we awoke to find that  Abracadabra was surrounded by scary-looking red water.  We seemed to be experiencing what is often referred to as “red tide” but (according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website) is more accurately referred to as a “harmful algal bloom”.  NOAA’s website explains that not all algal blooms are harmful, but since we’re not equipped to tell the difference, and we just thought the red water looked a bit icky (our own highly scientific term) we decided to forego a trip to shore and depart the next day. 

Our only neighbor was an Armada Mexicana vessel,

Nice, Quiet Neighbors

so when we woke to see clear water the next morning, we were tempted to stay an enjoy Bahia Tenacatita in the low season.  But we decided to push on to a little bay to the north that we had always wanted to visit – Paraíso.  Who wouldn’t want to visit a place called “Paradise”? 

Bahía Tenacatita to Paraíso – May 8 – 10

Making up for our prior low wind adventures, the universe granted us a day of perfect sailing.  We turned the engine off as we left Bahía Tenacatita and we didn’t listen to the beast again until we arrived in Paraíso five hours later.  We had south-east winds of from 10 to 16 knots all day (warm, clear, beautiful, yada yada yada). 

And yes, we found Paraíso to be aptly named.  Every other time we had passed this tiny little bay it had been fully occupied.  This time it was occupied by Abracadabra – period.  Well, we shared the bay with some day kayakers from a nearby hotel and a few fishermen, but no other boat was anchored at Paraíso while we were there. 

Abracadabra in Paradise

We swam in the clear, coolish water (it’s all about getting in quickly) and explored the bay’s tiny inlets by dinghy. 

Dinghy Tour of the Bay



Wildlife

We peered into sea caves that were too scary to take our dinghy into.  We watched foam erupt from blow holes and understood how early sailors could believe that dragons live there. . .  We walked on the beach.  We watched beautiful sunsets.

Caption Not Required

We concluded that this was Paraíso. 

We didn’t want to leave, but after a week with only one meal on shore we were beginning to be tired of Molly’s cooking (or rather, Molly was getting really tired of Molly’s cooking . . . ).  Plus, our last sail had been so spectacular that we were encouraged to try it again.

Paraíso to Bahía Chamela – May 10 to 12

And again we won the sailing lottery.  After raising anchor we had a short (2 hours) but perfect down-wind sail to Bahía Chamela.  Dolphins playfully swam beside and under Abracadabra.  Ah yes – this too was paraíso.

We anchored off Pérula, the little town at the north end of Bahía Chamela.  We walked into town and purchased some produce and a couple of beers, visiting every little tienda in town to find the few items we wanted.  Pérula is a sleepy little place.

We had lunch at one of the beachside enramadas.  By April of last year we had become somewhat jaded about the menus at these little enramadas.  Much like dinners at a British pub, the frequent enramada visitor can close his or her eyes, guess what the menu will offer – and almost always avoid surprise.  There will be:

• whole huachinango (red snapper) fixed five ways (frito – fried; ajo – garlic; mantequilla – butter; ajillo – garlic and chilies; empanado – breaded);

• fillets of dorado (mahi mahi) fixed (usually, the same) five ways; and

• medium-sized camarones (shrimp) fixed (usually, the same) five ways. 

Sometimes the menu will include pulpo (octopus) fixed (yes) five ways or one of the five ways will include Veracruzana (in the style of Vera Cruz – garlic, onions, tomatoes, olives).  But after several months on the Mexican coast there will be few surprises for the enramada diner.  The only difference between enramadas is the care taken by the cook. 

But interestingly, after an even longer time traveling the coast this year, we found that we enjoyed our filete dorado ajillo very much.  Perhaps the trick is to eat Molly’s Chicken and Vegetables in Trader Joe’s Bottled Mystery Asian Sauce over Rice two nights in a row before trying something “à la five ways” . . .

Bahía Chamela to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle – May 12 to May 13

From Bahía Chamela we motored directly into low winds and two meter (6 foot) plus swells.  Our perfect sail run was clearly over.  For three hours, we held on and listened to the motor as Abracadabra bucked up and down in the swell.  We kept telling each other not to become disheartened – that it wasn’t necessarily the case that we would have to motor the entire 101 miles to La Cruz. 

And so it came to pass.  Three hours out of Chamela the wind picked up and we put up the spinnaker.  The wind was a little low for the spinnaker, but it was going to be okay. 

And then it wasn’t. 

The swells were making it difficult to keep Abracadabra’s stern from crossing the wind – and at the very moment we took our eyes off the sail to eat some lunch (All Available Vegetables Pasta Salad) the spinnaker wrapped in a most bizarre fashion.  And then it wrapped around the furled jib. 

O...M...G...

Because we couldn’t even figure out how the wrap had started, we decided the best approach was to finish lunch. 

After scooping up our pasta salad, and staring a long time at the mysterious wrap, we decided that the worst case scenario was that we would have to motor to La Cruz and hope that the spinnaker didn’t rip - again.  The best case scenario was that we would somehow manage to unwrap the wrap without ripping the sail.  So - we turned on the motor and slowly turned one way . . . but the wrap didn’t come undone.  We then slowly motored the other way . . . and again it didn’t come undone.  Then Bryce went forward to see if pulling on something would have any positive effect . . . and still it remained wrapped.  To assist Bryce in his undirected tugging attempt, Molly eased the spinnaker sheet and let the spinnaker fly a bit and . . . it started to unwrap!  Bryce just stood there and watched it unwind itself – sort of like watching a tangled rope untangle without assistance.  We’ll never be able to replicate our “fix”– but it worked.  We didn’t even take time to do the “happy spinnaker unwrapping dance” – but hastily furled the spinnaker and decided enough was enough – we’d use the jib in these fluky seas. 

The wind seemed to agree that it was time to put the spinnaker to bed because at about 16.00 the seas flattened and the wind increased and shifted to Abracadabra’s bow.  So we tacked, and tacked again and again – every couple of hours throughout the afternoon, evening and night as we rounded Cabo Corrientes (Cape Currents).  We managed to sail all but 8 hours of the entire 28 hour trip! 

Other than Bryce having to wake up twice during Molly’s night watch to help her tack the big jib the trip was very calm and enjoyable.  All of our encounters with cruise ships and container ships were distant sightings.  The seas were relatively flat and the winds, though from an inconvenient direction, were consistent.  When put into the context of rounding one of Mexico’s most problematic capes – and our past hair-raising encounters with mystery ships in the night -- it was a type of paraíso.

Time-Share Paradise – May 15 - 18

We tied up at the La Cruz marina and called our friends Bob and Kathy Romano who were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta.  We were looking forward to joining them for dinner in the big city, and having them visit us in La Cruz.  However, they reported that they had just completed negotiating an upgrade to their time-share arrangement and had been given three days in a two-bedroom suite with an all-inclusive food and drink plan for four.  Now that’s friendship!

We decided this was a sign that the sea gods had sent us the Romanos and their negotiating skills as a reward for all our good sailing.  So we sent our clothes to the laundry, cleaned up Abracadabra, arranged for a diver to clean off the gunk that had accumulated on her hull in Bahía Zihuatanejo, and took a cab to PV to join our (really, really, really good) friends for three days of all-inclusive air-conditioned relaxation.  And because we’re just that kind of friends, we made sure that they got good value for their negotiations: we ate and drank and napped by the pool for three days.  Ah, yes – yet another way to experience paraíso. 

Bob and Kathy, Hard At Work

We also had two wonderful meals in old-town PV.  If you are visiting the area make sure you spend an afternoon enjoying the view, the tapas and the wine at Tapas Barcelona, and an evening enjoying the nuevo Mexicana cocina at No Way Jose! (don’t be put off by the name – the waiters don’t require you to drink tequila shooters and wear a sombrero – it’s a very good restaurant). 

To Date

Because we couldn’t figure out a way to stay at the time-share without Bob and Kathy’s sponsorship, when they left to go home to Spokane we returned to Abracadabra.  We’re doing boat jobs and planning and preparing for the last leg of our trip north – a 400-mile trip into and across the Gulfo de California (Sea of Cortez). 

But even a working-at-the-dock stay can be fun.  Last weekend a national kite-surfing race was held in Banderas Bay, filling the air with brightly colored kites that looked like a swarm of butterflies. 

Kite Surfers - Banderas Bay

But like sailors everywhere we were most entertained by studying one racer’s attempt to recover his downed kite – rooting for him to overcome the obstacles of current and waves, and cheering on another racer that gave up his race position to assist his compadre.  Neither kite-surfing nor sailing is a solitary activity.

We have looked at weather reports and prepared four days’ worth of underway meals.  We have told the Capitan de Puerto that we are leaving.  One more trip to a tienda to purchase bananas and tomatoes and we’re on our way tomorrow morning.  We’ll report in on that trip once we arrive!  Who knows – maybe we’ll find another bit of paraíso along the way?

It’s The Tourist Life For Us! – April 5 – May 1

As previously reported, we moved into our time-share suite at the Pacifica Resort in Ixtapa (a tourist area six miles – or a nine peso bus ride -- northwest of Zihuatanejo) on April 6 and officially became tourists for three weeks.  We enjoyed all the perks of time-share life – reaching for a beer in an upright refrigerator, for example, and sleeping through the whole night; but we didn’t just watch the parasails outside our hillside window.  We did some work on Abracadabra, practiced yoga in Spanish and performed a couple of genuine Acts of Tourism before returning to life aboard:

Work:

Bryce took advantage of the resort’s Wi-Fi and electricity to bring our oldest laptop back from the dead and to synchronize and back up both of the laptops.  When one’s entire filing system is on a couple of laptops, synchronization and backing up are key components to happiness. 

We did some boat-part shopping in the ferreterias (hardware stores) in downtown Zihuatanejo:



Bryce -- In Plastic Hose Heaven

Zihuatanejo Ferreteria

Bryce used those parts to improve our water-making system, which we use to create Eau de Chateau Abracadabra from sea water.

Molly put a new leather cover on the wheel, which involved sewing -- not one of her core competencies.  So, she’s very proud of the fact that it actually works.  We didn’t get a picture of her effort, so like other big-time publications we’re substituting a “stock photo” of our friend Irene deBruijn sewing the wheel cover on Solar Wind (though Molly was wearing a t-shirt and shorts . . . ): 

Stock Photo:  Irene at Work on Solar Wind's Wheel Cover

Yoga in Spanish:

The resort offered yoga practice with a local instructor (Yogi Carlos) three times a week.  Yogi Carlos is a very pleasant leader, and he did a very good job at pitching his classes to the type of practitioners found at most resorts – the new drop-in student.  We enjoyed the chance to stretch and meet other visitors (this time of year, primarily Mexican nationals) and found an unexpected benefit to the classes, because they were taught in Spanish:  Molly now knows how to say left, right, return to center, inhale, exhale and slowly!

Acts of Tourism:

We rented a car for a day and visited Soledad de Maciel (also known as La Chole) and Barra de Potosi to the south of Zihuatanejo.  La Chole is the site of the largest archeological ruin in the state of Guerrero – named Xihuacan by archeologists.  Significant excavation began there in 2007 and archeologists have uncovered a ball court and a pyramid.  They believe there are six other pyramids, two plazas and a palace still to be unearthed.     

Pyramid - Left: As Unearthed; Right: As Reconstructed

There is a nicely organized little museum that tells the story of the pre-Hispanic cultures that crossed paths at this trading site originally established by the Cuitlatecos – including Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayans, Zapotecans and Tarascans. 

Among The La Chole Artifacts

The site was initially brought to the attention of the Mexican government’s National Institute of Anthropology and History by a local landowner who had begun collecting artifacts he found in the area.  The local “museum” was originally in the front room of this man’s house until his lobbying efforts paid off and the new museum was built two years ago.  We toured the museum and the area with Adan Velez Romero, one of the grandsons of the initial proponent of the site.  Adan has been gathering artifacts in the areas since he was a child, and has attended an eight-month long course given to guides of archeological sites.  Unfortunately, Adan only speaks Spanish, so Molly’s tour was less enlightening than Bryce’s (there were only so many times we could stop Adan while Bryce translated).  Adan was quite charming, and after the tour took us back to his family’s home and played for us some music on a pre-Hispanic whistle he had found.  [The video we got can't seem to be rotated so it can be viewed without holding one's computer sideways and it wouldn't download anyway because we don't have enough bandwidth . . . we'll just have to whistle for you when we see you next!]

This is a “must see” for your next trip to Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa.  Take a look at the website that Adan and his family have set up:  http://lachole.com .   [Note: it takes a very long time to download, so don’t get discouraged by the fuzziness of the type!]  Tour companies in Zihuatanejo also offer tours of the site, so we are sure that an English-speaking guide (or at least a translator) can be found through a hotel concierge. 

From La Chole we drove back toward Zihua and stopped for lunch at Barra de Potosi, a small village with a few vacation houses and enramadas along a miles-long palm-fringed sandy-white beach.  We ate lunch at an enramada that had been recommended to us, and Molly napped in one of the hammocks provided for over-full diners, and Bryce just drifted off sitting at the table! 



Bryce - Post Snooze

Blissful moment: swaying in the warm breeze, listening to the background noise of a Saturday afternoon in Mexico – friends greeting each other, families laughing, and wandering musicians playing. 




Molly - Full Snooze Mode

As we left, a couple was dancing in the sand to the music of the musicians hired by their family, as their family took photos of them with their cell phones.  

A Saturday Afternoon Dance

Our other Act of Tourism was not quite as idyllic.  We signed up for the bicycle tour offered by the resort.  There is a very nice 15-kilometer cyclopista (bicycle trail) from Ixtapa to Playa Linda that for those that actually know how to ride bicycles (unlike, say – Molly) can be a nice morning ride.  For Molly, it was a death-defying activity.  Fortunately, she defied death, and returned to take ibuprophen for a couple of days - and she now has renewed respect for her bicycle-riding friends!  Bryce fared better:

Biker Bryce

Return to Marina Life:

We returned to Marina Ixtapa on the 27^th, spending a few days getting ready for our sail north.  This time of year there are very few people living aboard in the marina, but we had the fortune of meeting an Australian couple with a boat registered in the Cook Islands.  Their plans put our preparations to bay-hop to the Banderas Bay area (a whopping 400-ish miles north) into perspective: they were preparing to sail across the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands – some 3,000 miles west!  A homey detail to put the logistics of our two trips into perspective: we purchased 18 eggs; they purchased 7 dozen! 

The one thing we didn’t get to accomplish before sailing north was having someone clean the bottom of Abracadabra’s hull, which was extremely dirty as a result of our few days in Bahia Zihuatanejo and the less-than-pristine conditions at Marina Ixtapa (there was some oil leaking issue with a local boat that the workers kept trying to find).  It turns out that one cannot get the bottom of one’s boat cleaned in Marina Ixtapa because there are crocodiles in the water!  And we’ve got some (not very clear) pictures to prove it:

Marina Croc -- And We Don't Mean Shoes

Northward Ho!

On May 1, with a grubby underside, we departed Marina Ixtapa minutes ahead of our Australian compadres, watching them head due west as we turned to the northwest.  Next post:  our trip north to Banderas Bay. 

Escape to Zihuatanejo – March 30 to April 5

For most North Americans, Bahia Zihuatanejo is where Tim Robbins went after escaping from prison in the Shawshank Redemption.  In the movie’s final scene Robbins’ character is on the beach at Zihuatanejo repairing an old sailboat.  The movie is set in the mid-1960s.  Today one would be hard pressed to find any space on the beach at Zihuatanejo to do boat repairs – but looking between the restaurants and tourist shops that line the bay, one can still see that it is a beautiful place. 

Playa Municipal - Zihuatanejo

Here’s how we got there, and what we found there:      

Bahia Santiago to Zihuatanejo – March 30 to April 1:  We travelled from Bahia Santiago to Zihuatanejo in one long, 189 mile passage because the anchorages along this stretch of coast don’t provide enough protection to make them pleasant places to visit; they are used by cruisers only as safe havens.  We knew there would be a lot of commercial traffic along our route so we spent a lot of time calculating when it would be best to leave Bahia Santiago in order to pass the busy commercial port of Lázaro Cárdenas during the day.  And of course Abracadabra averaged four knots rather than our assumed three and a half, and we ended up passing Lázaro Cárdenas in the middle of the night.  There’s something about best laid plans and mice in there somewhere . . .

To spare you having to bring up your computer’s calculator function, 189 nautical miles at an average speed of four knots per hour means we were underway for about 46.5 hours.  We were able to sail about two-thirds of the way, though because of light winds we had to motor off and on the first night (the log book has entries such as:  “02.00 – motor off!”  “03.10 – motor on!”) and for a couple of hours on the second day. 

On our second morning we found ourselves cruising through a herd of sea turtles.  We were reminded of those cartoons of birds riding on the backs of turtles – because in nature .  . .  they really doI 

"Ride, ride, ride, hitchin' a ride."

Less fun were the four container ships and one cruise ship that passed us at night.  The container ships were lit properly – showing a red light on the port side and a green light on the starboard side in order to communicate their course (e.g., seeing both red and green lights on a container ship that is getting larger would be very bad – that would mean it was headed directly toward you).  But the cruise ship had a red and white moving light display on its side.  It looked like a nightclub marquee and from the perspective of a little sailboat a few miles away it was difficult to tell anything but the fact that it was getting closer.  Fortunately, it eventually became clear that it was getting closer because it was passing us . . . but, frankly, we are beginning to dislike cruise ships. 

An Aside re: Standing Night Watch:  Now that the weather is warmer, we stand watch in four hour shifts: Bryce starts at 19.00, Molly at 23.00, and Bryce again at 03.00.  Molly gets the most sleep at night, but Bryce gets his best rest by making sure that all is well with Abracadabra and is better at napping during the day.  Night watch can be tiring and frightening when the weather is rough, the wind is too high or there are large ships approaching – or just plain annoying when the wind is too low and the sails flog noisily.  Night watch in heavy seas is like an involuntary trip on a carnival ride, blindfolded.  But when the sea state is gentle, the breeze steady and the sky bright with stars, night watch can be a most wonderful communion with the planet and the universe. On a good night watch the helmsperson finds him- or herself thinking “Yes.  This is sailing.  This is why I came.”

After just such a beautiful night we arrived in Bahia Zihuatanejo, and dropped anchor at about 10.00.  We celebrated this season’s furthest point south by taking showers and naps.

Zihuatanejo – April 1 to 4:  We have been visiting Zihuatanejo together for over twenty years (Bryce has been visiting since the early 1970’s!) and at one point or another during each visit, we looked out at the sailboats anchored in the bay and dreamed about arriving in the bay under sail.  And it was just as good as we had thought it would be.  Like arriving at a destination after a long hike, or by kayak or bicycle, arriving after a passage on a sailboat makes the destination seem more earned somehow. 

 We visited places we had enjoyed during other trips, and were also happy to see some changes.  In the last couple of years statues have been added to the waterfront:

Statue of Noble Guerrero Fisherman

As an aside:  While taking a picture of this noble Guerrero fisherman, we spotted (and smelled) two modern-day noble Guerrero fishermen taking a marijuana break down by the shore . . .

Uniform awnings/overhangs and signage has transformed the center of the town.   The shade makes wandering much more pleasant and the uniformity of the downtown is quite attractive – even if it comes dangerously close to making Zihuatanjeo look like a Towne and Country shopping center in an upscale coastal California suburb.

Downtown Zihua

What hasn’t been improved is the quality of the air and water in Bahia Zihuatanejo.  Periodically the air will carry an unpleasant reminder that though the city has proper sewer treatment facilities, not all of the little villages in the mountains outside of town do.  And either no one is in charge of preventing the discharge of oil into the water or the entity in charge is not doing an effective job – Abracadabra took on a very unpleasant grungy ring around her hull in only a few short days.  To those looking down from the hotels and restaurants rimming the bay, everything still looks lovely.  We can only hope that the Mexican government realizes that for the protection of its citizens – particularly the less affluent who swim and fish there – the bay needs to be cleaned up.

Fishing In Zihua Bay

And perhaps there would be a slight boost to the local tourist economy if conditions were improved for yatistas and sport fisherperson. 

For those considering a visit to Zihuatanejo: don’t hesitate to go – it’s a lovely place -- just swim at your hotel’s pool, or at beach further along the coast! 

So, while we enjoyed visiting town from our home on Abracadabra, and we hope to visit again next year – possibly during Guitarfest next March (http://www.zihuafest.info) -- we didn’t really enjoy anchoring in the bay, and moved on to another destination.    

Isla Grande / Isla Ixtapa – April 4:   After three nights in Zihua we decided to try the anchorage at Isla Grande (aka Isla Ixtapa) about ten miles to the north.  The island is a popular tourist day trip destination – no one lives on the island, but it is home to several enramadas and jetski venders.  We sailed to the island, and squeezed Abracadabra into one of the two small bays, just to the side of the route taken by the water taxis that shuttle tourists to and from the island. 

Our location gave us a front and center view of the water taxi traffic as well as the beach antics of the tourists.  After a while Molly began to consider the possibility of a stern mounted water cannon for zapping jetskis . . . but finally the day drew to a close and we watched the last tourists leave, the restaurants close down, and the cooks, kitchen staff and waitstaff depart.  Last to leave were the water taxi drivers, and the garbage boat.  Finally, dark came and we shared the bay with only empty water taxis. 

The next morning we were awakened by the water taxis bringing the workers back to the island, and by the time we left at around 09.30, tables and chairs were out at several of the enramadas.  The business day had begun.   

Marina Ixtapa — April 5

We sailed the five miles into Bahia de San Juan de Dios to our next destination - Marina Ixtapa. 

Molly on Foredeck

As we approached the marina entrance, we furled our sails and started the engine -- and when we saw the swell at the entry to the harbor, we were glad we had the engine nicely warmed up.  The surf into the narrow entry wasn’t the most exciting we’ve seen – but there was one very big break, which meant arrival time would have been a very bad time to lose the engine! 



Surf's Up At Marina Ixtapa

We spent one night at the marina before leaving Abracadabra there to move to The Land of Towel Art on the 6th.  We will post about our time in the tourist zone soon!