Tourists In the Bahias de Huatulco - March 30 - April 6, 2014

While we awaited the arrival of our second guest star crew member of the season, Bob Romano, and then waited a lot more for a weather window which made crossing the Golfo de Tehuantepec seem like an okay idea (see our prior post on that happily uneventful trip) we engaged in some Bahias de Huatulco-area tourist activities.  

Puerto Angel

On our way from Acapulco to Marina Chahue (in Bahia Chahue, one of the nine Bahias de Huatulco) we considered anchoring at Puerto Angel, some 24 miles north of Bahia Chahue. But we arrived outside of Puerto Angel in the middle of the night and decided to continue on to the marina.  

Curious about our decision, we took a second class bus to Puerto Angel for the day, and found that it has much to recommend it as a sailboat anchorage.  It is a just fine, sleepy little beach town, with a smattering of just fine enramadas on the beach that will feed you just fine fish in one of five ways (all with rice) accompanied by a cold beer. The bay is pretty and didn't appear to be shockingly rolly. But holy panga did it look crowded with fishing pangas and tourist pangas! 

Puerto Angel - aka Bahias de las Pangas

We had a nice day, a just fine lunch and came away just fine with not having tried to anchor there.  

La Crucecita

The town within walking distance of Marina Chahue is called La Crucecita (little cross).  It's only been in existence since the Bahias de Huatulco were developed for tourism about 25 years ago. Despite being so young the town manages to have a certain amount of charm.  It also has some pretty good restaurants - including several Italian restaurants in a part of town referred to as "Little Italy" (take that, New York).

Mama Mia's Ristorante in (of course!) La Crucecita's Little Italy

There's also a pretty church: La Parrochia de Nuestra Senora Guadalupe. The tourist literature talks only about the ceiling portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe (largest in the world, some say). And the ceiling is lovely.

Virgin of Guadalupe

But what is more interesting to us is the Capilla de Nuestra Senora del Perpetuo Socorro (Chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help), in which the virgin is displayed in a strikingly Eastern Orthodox style. 

La Capilla

The Helpful Virgin

We saw no information about how this chapel came to be in La Crucecita, Mexico.  An Eastern European family immigrated to the area? A sister city in Eastern Europe? A priest raised in Eastern Europe that pined for the art of his homeland?  Your turn to guess - or, if anyone actually has some information about this chapel, please let us know, will you?

Once Bob joined us, we extended the range of our tourist activities:

Santa Cruz

The commercial port for the Bahias de Huatulco is in the town of Santa Cruz, which is often just called "Huatulco". That's where the cruise ships come in. 

Near the cruise ship dock is a chapel just waiting for that destination wedding.

A Way To Get Married At The Beach Without Blowing Sand

The chapel comes equipped with a legend (which seems to have also been borrowed by the town of La Crucecita). At the heart of the legend is the following:  Before the Spanish conquest the indigenous people in the area that is now the State of Oaxaca incorporated a cross, representing the four cardinal points, into their religious practices. In 1587 the English pirate Thomas Cavendish showed up in what is now called Bahia de Santa Cruz and was offended by this non-Christian use of the cross symbol. Even a pirate can have a misdirected conscience, apparently. He ordered his men to destroy the offending cross. Now the legend begins: Cavendish's men were unable to either burn or tear down the cross. The Catholic Church concluded that this was because the cross had really been brought to the area by St. Thomas (the doubting guy) shortly after the death of Jesus of Nazareth. Like all good 16th Century religious, the Pope of the day decided the best use of this miraculous cross would be to part it out - and apparently bits of it can be found throughout The Christian World. All that's left in Santa Cruz is the story.  

The commercial port at Santa Cruz also includes a fuel dock, where in the past sailboats in need bought fuel -- hopefully using lots of extra fenders:

If The Hose Can Reach A Panga . . . 

Having heard about this fuel dock, we filled both tank and jerry jugs (thanks again, Frank!) before leaving Acapulco. Recently we heard that the Marina Chahue fuel dock has finally opened for business so the Santa Cruz fueling option can be avoided.

The main square of Santa Cruz is a hopping place on Saturday mornings, with a farmer's market and (because it's Mexico) music and dance.

Plenty of "Aye Yei Yei" Going On!

And Plenty of Flirtation, Too

One dancer on the sidelines that Saturday was quite an attraction. When his parents finally hauled him away a group of young girls gave him a big round of applause!

That Boy Is Rockin It!

Snorkeling Adventures

Another day we sailed off to visit Playa Jicaral which we had been told was a wonderful place to snorkel. And we are sure it is. But it also proved to be too far for sailing, lunch, snorkeling and return sailing before dark. We diverted instead to nearby Bahia Maguey. 

This bay has a nice snorkeling area with lots of colorful fish and coral. But it also has heavy tourist boat traffic. Note To Selves: Don't plan on snorkeling without having the dinghy available to ferry swimmers to and from the snorkel site. Or go to one of the undeveloped bays that will hopefully have less traffic. Maybe even Playa Jicaral -  ?

Beyond Huatulco

And finally, the weather reports about the Golfo de Tehuantepec looked so bad for so long that we decided to take a trip into the interior to the city of Oaxaca.  Next post!

Puerto Chiapas -- Beyond The Safe Line -- April 13 - 15, 2014

Checking and Double Checking

We stayed in Marina Chahue (pronounced "Cha-HWEY") in one of the nine Bahias de Huatulco for over two weeks. On March 31, our friend and fellow sailor Bob Romano joined us directly from a week vacationing with his wife at the splooshy time-share they own in Puerto Vallarta. We can only imagine Bob's culture/weather shock on exchanging an air-conditioned two bedroom suite with pool and nearby restaurants for life aboard Abracadabra. He may have missed the chocolate on his pillow at night -- but only until he realized that on Abracadabra it would have melted into a little chocolate puddle . . .

During our stay at Marina Chahue we caught up on some blog posts and committed some acts of tourism (more on that in a separate post).  But mostly we checked the weather. We checked Buoy Weather. We checked Predict Wind. We looked at Gribfiles. We even found new sites to check. [For a totally cool view of the wind blowing through your neighborhood see: http://earth.nullschool.net.]  

The reason for all this checking is that our next passage included crossing the Golfo de Tehuantepec -- a passage that worries all thoughtful cruisers who venture to and from Central America. The Golfo is on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrow (125 mile) band of land between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific. On the isthmus the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca stop and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas don't rise for about 75 miles. In this gap the isthmus is flat and, to quote the author of several cruising and weather guides, Cpt. Patricia Rains: 

"That's where the wind funnels through." 



Where The Wind Funnels Through



When there's activity in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean it can really funnel through. So much so that the wind has been given it's own name: a Tehuano or to many cruisers, a "T-pecker".  A Tehuano in full force will fan out from the town of Salina Cruz on the north shore of the Golfo (about 60 miles east of Marina Chahue) for several hundred miles into the Pacific. A Tehuano can have sustained force of 60 knots and create a sea state of 25 feet or higher. A Tehuano is not to be taken lightly.

So - before taking off on the 240 mile long journey around the Golfo we wanted to make sure we would be able to do so between Tehuano events. 

As you may have gathered from prior posts, calculating how fast Abracadabra can travel over an extended distance is not an exact science. She can motor at about five knots, if there's no heading current or swells. In some winds she sails six knots; in others, two; in others, not at all. Add to this calculation the fact that over the last three months her engine has begun to consume oil at an unfortunate rate, exhibit low oil pressure and smoke. All signs of advanced age. We rolled all this information around - and decided to gamble on being to make an average of four knots, either under sail or by motor. 

Eventually all of the weather predictions showed a window of at least 50 hours between Tehuano events (most more, none less). An average speed of four knots would see us at the far side of the gulf and out of the heavy wind area before this window closed.  So - it was time to go.

The Crossing

The safest approach to crossing the Gulfo is to creep around the shore rather than go directly across. In fact, many recommend staying at the 30-foot depth line, which is quite close to shore - the "one foot on the beach" approach. The thinking behind this recommendation is that if a Tehuano starts to howl one can anchor on the (then) windward shore and ride it out. 

In light of our clear, if short, weather window, we decided to take the "modified one foot on the beach" approach in order to avoid a couple of shoals and to sail more of the trip to spare the ancient engine. We traveled between six and 20 miles off shore: 

The Modified One Foot Method

We left at 11:00 on Sunday, motoring, Captain and Chief Mechanic Bryce adding oil to the engine after four motor hours, a practice he maintained throughout the passage. We were aided by a strong current in our favor. Around 17:00 the winds built enough to let us sail at or faster than our four knot number. We sailed for five hours with the main and spinnaker. We usually take the spinnaker down for night sails because it is hard to gybe and furl in the dark, but there was a full moon and it was like sailing at dusk, so we were able to leave the finickity sail up until the wind was too strong for it. Around 23:00 we furled the spinnaker and sailed with the jib instead. 

At around 01:00 we passed Salina Cruz (see the third waypoint on the chart above) -- historically the heart of Tehuano activity. 

Around 02:00 the wind began to drop and we began to experience a counter current of one and a half knots, causing us to slow below our four knot average. We continued to sail as we were making around three knots and had hopes for higher wind near dawn. Around 05:00 the wind did rise to a respectable 16 or 17 knots, but the counter current was joined by a swell pattern against us, and we were still making less than our 4 knot average. 

At 10:45, despite our concerns about the health of the engine and our desire to sail we realized that, unless we motored we weren't going to make it to the "safe line" (a point after which Tehuano activity has historically been relatively slight) within the predicted weather window. So, despite the fact that Abracadabra was moving smoothly through the water, and the sea was so calm that it was hard to believe any bad weather could be on the horizon . . .  we switched on the beast and started meeting our four knot production number. 

The gulf was eerily empty during most of our trip but at about 13:00 on Monday afternoon we were approached by a panga occupied by three fishermen and a pile of recently dead sharks.  Bryce was off watch and resting below. Bob and Molly struggled to understand what the fishermen were saying. It didn't help that their motors were louder than Abracadabra's little 33-hp diesel. Whatever they were saying had to do with food, but didn't appear to be the usual offer to sell fish. Just as Molly began to understand that they were asking for food for themselves the panga-generated surf splashing into Abracadabra's port-side ports woke Bryce from his nap. He was able to confirm that these poor guys had been out fishing for two days, had run out of food and were really, really hungry! Molly went below and began digging through the food lockers trying to find food that didn't require any preparation before consuming.  We tossed them a plastic bag containing a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter. The poor guys were so hungry that, after thanking us profusely and offering a weather report, they motored only a few feet away and began chowing down. Their weather prediction was that the next Tehuano event wasn't going to happen until Tuesday night.

We were initially happy to get an updated prediction that gave us a few more hours of calm weather - until one of us suggested it might not be a good idea to rely on three guys who hadn't planned ahead to bring sufficient food to work. So we motored on.

Around midnight we reached the "safe line" - the part of the gulf that conventional wisdom considers outside the arc of most Tehuanos. We hadn't realized quite how tense we had become until we reached something that we (rightly or wrongly) had decided to consider a "safer" zone.  We were then able to enjoy something that Bob's wife Kathy had told us about - a "red moon".

Red Moon Party

We were all up at 02:30 Tuesday morning to watch a total eclipse of the moon that we had heard would cause the moon to look red. And it did. Because our cameras were too wimpy to capture the event, here's a picture from Wikipedia:

We had a great time watching the movement of the shadow the earth cast across the moon through the binoculars. Though more than one of us had a pretty sore neck the next day! 


Marina Chiapas

Happily the heading current dissipated during Monday night and the wind came up around 07:45 on Tuesday. We were able to sail the last seven hours of the trip - making well above our four knot average even though we no longer needed to. 

And we picked up a radio weather broadcast from the Capitan de Puerto of Chiapas.  The prediction was for sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour (60+ knots) and six meter (20+ feet) seas. Soooo glad to be beyond the "safe line" and, really, it was just a prediction. 

We arrived at Marina Chiapas at 15:45 and after tying up and checking in we headed directly to the marina restaurant for a beer and some nachos. Bryce got called back to the boat to meet with the Capitan de Puerto so his dedicated crew saved him from cold nachos and ate them all. They did send his beer back to be held in the refrigerator. .  . . .  

While checking Abracadabra into Chiapas, the Capitan de Puerto told Bryce how lucky we had been. The port at Salina Cruz had been closed the day before as a result of -- sustained winds of over 60 knots and seas over 6 meters.     

Whew.  Like life, sailing really IS all about timing . . . 

"Fun in Acapulco" and Heading South (well, East-ish, really) -- March 17 - 26, 2014

Greetings from Marina Chahue (pronounced cha-HWEY") outside of La Crucecita (Little Cross) in the State of Oaxaca enjoying marina luxuries. The marina is small (90 slips) and is only half occupied; there are six live-aboard vessels here at the moment.  Because the boats can be spaced at least two slips apart the marina is relatively quiet and breezy. There's a bit of a surge, but after seven nights at anchor and four nights underway since Ixtapa, we're not bothered by a bit of ocean motion.  

We have already visited with the crews of Liebling and Flyin Sideways, compadres from "up north".  Recently we've been joined by Palarran, a boat we "met" over the radio on our way to Acapulco.  Those that have been here for awhile tell us wonderful things about nearby La Crucecita and we are looking forward to snorkeling in the famous Bahias de Huatulco.  

The shower arrangement here is somewhat primitive.  We aren't put off by the outdoor shower stall per se, but there are no hooks or bars inside the shower enclosure.  Reaching outside to access clothing seems fraught with the possibility of, uhm - unintended exposure.  So - we have been using Abracadabra's awkward but private hand-held shower.

But given all the pluses for this location, including the opportunity to use available Internet access and shore power to bring Travels on Abracadabra up to date, we are happy to be here.

Acapulco -- March 17 to 22

We didn't anticipate enjoying Acapulco:

• On our last visit (1995-ish) Bryce got food poisoning from the over-priced buffet at the restaurant that offers views of the famous La Quebrada cliff divers (subsequent rule: avoid buffets).  
• In the intervening two decades Acapulco has suffered a variety of economic set-backs - drug business violence, hurricanes, etc. and the tourist business has fallen on hard times. 
• The city's storm and water sewer infrastructure needs improvement.  
• Sailor lore is full of unflattering stories about Acapulco as a destination: few, crowded marinas with funky docks; fueling difficulties; big city dangers; etc. 

We planned to stay for only a couple days to rest up between the overnight passage from Ixtapa and the two or three night passage to Huatulco. But stuff intervened - some fun stuff and some life's-like-that-sometimes stuff - and as it came to pass, we spent a full week at anchor there.  And, unexpectedly, enjoyed a lot of things about Acapulco!

Fun Stuff: Fort San Diego 

We toured the Spanish fort built to guard the port of Acapulco, from which Nueva Espania (New Spain) controlled the world-altering trade route between Spain and the Philippines.  The English language signs in the museum are awkward translations - even comical by times - but the story of the fort and the trade route it supported is fascinating. We highly recommend a visit.  

No Fort Should Be Without A Moat . . . 

Or A Nice Color Scheme

Treasures of the Orient For Nueva Espana

Welcome to Acapulco, Cruceros (Cruise Ship Passengers)!

More Fun Stuff: La Quebrada Cliff Divers

The La Quebrada divers are the most famous tourist attraction in Acapulco and we decided their show warranted a second visit. There are four performances a day, but only one during daylight. The night shows are more spectacular (torches and lights and all that show-stuff) but we didn't want to be away from Abracadabra at night (more on that), so we saw the mid-day show. 

We watched the divers from the shady balcony of the La Perla restaurant at the El Mirador Hotel.  La Perla was the source of Bryce's long-ago near death (or so we say) experience and is much reviled on Tripadvisor. It's a great place to watch the divers and neither of us got sick this time -- no buffet for lunch -- but we still don't recommend that you go for the food.  

The El Mirador's heyday has long passed - but evidence of its former glory is displayed in pictures and copies of signatures on the restaurant walls:

Bryce's Favorite La Perla Celebrity Photo
For Reasons He Can't Explain

We Think We Took This Same Picture On Our Last Visit ---
Who Can Resist A Picture of Trigger's Signature?

The divers' show, which over the decades since it began in 1934 has become almost laminated, is still impressive. 

The divers first swim across the inlet, and climb up the side of the cliff:

And You Think Your Commute Is A Pain

Then there's a lot of looking at the inlet and contemplating of risk. At least that's what the audience is doing.

And Really, Who Wouldn't Be Praying At This Point . . . 

Interestingly (to us anyway) the divers didn't engage in the public expression of religious belief (making the sign of the crucifix, leaving offerings to statutes of La Virgin, etc.) that we recall seeing at this point in the show we saw years ago.  Divers less religious? Audience less religious? Flawed memory?

And then - they dive:

Alone

Synchronized Diving

When the show is over the viewers that arrived by boat head back to their hotels.

We Hope They Left A Tip

Again at odds with our memory, the divers did not come to the restaurant and solicit tips.  They were waiting at the door as we left.  

The whole La Perla experience cost about $50, including a tip for the divers. The food was unexceptional, but we had a great view and shade.  Alternatively, there's a public viewing area that's a lot less expensive (about $4, one soft drink included). However you choose to see the divers: Go if you are in Acapulco.  At least once. 

Anchoring In Bahia Acapulco

Anchoring in Acapulco Bay is not a tranquil experience - even tucked into the cove overseen by the Base Naval Icacos, as we were. This anchorage has good protection from wind and swell, and is also calmER than other anchorages around the bay in terms of tourist activity.  For the most part we were happy with our choice of holding ground.

During the day we were entertained by tourist boats, fishermen, jet-ski riders (los diablos, we call them) and banana ride riders. We watched the navy's swim drills, rescue boat drills and helicopter beach landing drills. 

Abracadabra even acted as a rounding point in a race among some teenage sailors using the Navy's recreational boats.

The Two Girls Won

For day-time shore visits there are beach entrepreneurs that will assist with dinghy landings on Playa Icacos.  For the princely sum of $100 pesos ($7.75-ish) a day we received assistance in landing, launching and hauling the dinghy up on the beach; the dinghy was kept secure from random acts of tourist stupidity (the dinghy as trash receptacle is more common than dinghy theft); and our trash was taken to a nearby restaurant's trash bin.  

The anchorage had less traffic at night and Senior Frog's was high enough up the hill that music that must have been deafening inside the restaurant was background music for us. 

We had a great view of the Mexican Navy's tall ship, the Cuauhtemoc.

Cuautemoc By Night

But our stay wasn't without some weirdness: Our second night at anchor we were approached by a panga full of fishermen, wafting marijuana smoke. We had anchored in a good fishing spot and would we move?  We declined - it was about nine at night and power boats were still coming and going from the area.  In fact, later that night the fishermen's net got caught in the prop of a big power boat entering the area -- we were not their primary problem. The next morning we decided that we would be good neighbors and move when we returned that afternoon -- not wanting to re-anchor just before leaving Abracadabra for the day.  

As it turned out, we didn't have to re-anchor.  When we returned from our trip to shore Abracadabra was anchored about 100 feet east of where we had left her.  Hmmm. No evidence that she had dragged (a drag would have gone in a different direction). No footprints on the deck (not boarded). Same group of fishermen busily laying a net where Abracadabra had been (ah, hah!).  We concluded that they must have raised the anchor, put it in their panga and dropped it closer to shore. 

Not a little creaped out, Bryce sat in the cockpit watching to see if the anchor had actually set. Molly made dinner. We ate at the cockpit table watching for drift and glaring at the fishermen. It was dark, but we don't think they even looked our way. No movement. Captain Bryce slept fitfully. The next morning we were in the same place.  Sigh - one's own incompetence isn't the only anchoring risk, it seems.   

This odd experience aside, we enjoyed much about Acapulco.  It's not really a "destination" anchorage for us - but we wouldn't hesitate to go back for a rest between passages. 

Office Depot -- That Well Known Tourist Destination  

Under the heading of "life's-like-that-sometimes" our primary reason for spending so much time in Acapulco was to visit the (fortunately) near-by Office Depot to scan and e-mail documents in a frustrating, but ultimately successful, attempt to extend our insured cruising ground to include Central America.
  
Last season we changed the parameters of our navigation coverage a couple of times with little difficulty.  This lulled us into believing that extending to Central America wouldn't be an unusually complicated task. Fools.

The brokers that arranged our previous changes had left the insurance brokerage, and we found ourselves dealing with a woman that evidenced little knowledge about insuring sailboats outside of the United States. And, to make matters worse, she was apparently working with an underwriter that was similarly under-educated.    

For two weeks we struggled through the following:

• We were asked for a "Plan B" hurricane plan - maybe moving the boat when we learned of the likelihood of a direct hurricane hit?  Score negative on knowledge about how fast a 33-hp diesel can move a 36-foot sailboat. Five knots an hour is not how to outrun a hurricane. When asked if this was what the underwriter really meant, we got no response. Score negative in client communications.  
• We were told that the insurance company always requires that a boat located outside of the United States that is not occupied by its owner for a period of longer than two weeks be hauled out of the water and dry stored.  Hmmm.  For two summers we have left Abracadabra in the care of professional boat maintenance companies, in the water, in Mexico.  After scouring the policy, we asked our new "broker" where that limitation was. She never responded to that question. Score negative in client representation.     
• Frustrated and stonewalled, we began looking for dry storage in Central America (which would have a negative impact on Abracadabra's five month old paint job). After several frantic days of trying and failing we even proposed truncating this season's plans and leaving Abracadabra "on the hard" in Chiapas, Mexico where dry storage is available.  It took us several attempts to get a response to this. Score negative in client communications. 
• Our "broker's" response was the tipping point. "Gee, I don't know - things are really dangerous there right now".  Score negative in knowledge of the new, security rich marina facilities in Chiapas.
• Molly, the crew member assigned to insurance, became . . . apoplectic. And then she became extremely unpleasant. The "broker" said that she was sorry that we had had such a hard time, but that she usually worked in "outside sales" and was "just trying to help". Score negative in oh so many categories . . .. 

No one died - not Molly, not the broker, not the underwriter. We contacted our prior broker at his new firm.  Ironically we had not switched firms when he first changed because we thought that to do so would unduly complicate our insurance situation. Bad call. Within two days we had a quote for insurance from our existing insurer that will allow us to cruise in Central America.  No dry storage requirement.  

We recommend Novamar Insurance Group, Inc. to anyone stuck in the never-never-land of working with an insurance company and/or broker that does not understand how the security and weather risks in Central American can be mitigated by the use of competent boat maintenance staff in well run marinas.  

Finally - Off To Huatulco -- March 23 - 26

Insurance issues settled and tourist check-list items taken care of we left Acapulco on March 23.  

On our way out of town we fueled up at Performance Marine. FYI, they have a rather funky floating fuel dock without any cleats.  Dock lines must extend over the floating dock and tie to the supporting hard dock.  Without any warning of this "glitch" we scrambled to add extra long lines at the last minute.  The fuel dock staff initially acted as though we were the first boat not to have super long dock lines . . . but finally secured Abracadabra and filled the tank and jerry cans.  Oh - and they don't take credit cards on Sunday.  Just FYI.  

Fueled and watered we left, motoring past the multi-purpose "cruise ship" dock:

German Cruise Ship?

Our trip south (actually east-ish due to Mexico's geography) was very pleasant.  We motored out of Acapulco bay, turned east and put up the spinnaker - and sailed almost the entire 240 nautical miles (our longest passage to date) to Huatulco. We were apparently on some great turtle migration route, as we saw many of them drifting by.

Sunset

The nights were beautiful, and we enjoyed using our AIS to identify traffic by name.  We heard dolphins snorting and rays slapping in the dark.  

We did have to motor for three hours on our third day out to fill the batteries in order to avoid imminent electrical disaster.  Because we had been running the auto pilot (lazy lazy!) the batteries had been drained so that we couldn't power the coffee grinder. Hand steering is one thing - but drinking instant coffee was just not on.  We are considering the purchase of a wind generator to augment our solar farm next season. To grind our organic coffee beans.   

Not that we didn't sacrifice for our "we are sailors, so we are going to sail!" principles.  Each morning the wind would drop to below the 7 knots that Abracadabra needs to keep moving in ocean swells and current, and we would drift for a couple of hours waiting for the breeze to fill in. Sadly on our last morning the wind disappeared for an even longer period of time than usual.  We drifted, we moved a little, the current that had helped us now hindered our progress . . . the sun began to get hot. Ugh.

This is what trying to get into Bahia Chahue in not-enough-and-even-that-is-shifting wind looks like:

Gybe, No Wait, Maybe We Can . . .  

  

In desperation we fired up the engine again, and motored the last two hours to the marina.  We arrived in the late afternoon on day four, in time to check in with the marina, shower, and eat dinner at a local restaurant with a (given the circumstances) really great bottle of Spanish wine. We fell profoundly asleep - nothing like being tied to a dock to make one feel (rightly or wrongly) safe.  


Soon we will post pictures of La Crucecita and surroundings!  Oh yea - and fill in the trip from La Cruz to Acapulco.