Boat Plans Nz | Acapulco

Boat Plans Nz

We arrived at Bahia de Puerto Marquez just after sunrise

Finisterra departed from Marina Ixtapa at 0815 on Sunday, January 25th, bound for Acapulco. The wind was very light and we motored all morning, helped along by a half knot current. By early afternoon a light breeze came up out of the northwest and we were able to sail on starboard jibe until late afternoon. This put us about 20 miles offshore so we jibed to port and began angling in toward the land in hopes of picking up a land breeze after sunset. By midnight we were a couple of miles off the beach in the vicinity of Punta Apusabalcos. There the sea breeze died and the land breeze failed to show up, so we motored the last few miles to Acapulco. Rather than heading straight for the city, we anchored in beautiful Bahia de Puerto Marquez, which is a good sized bay near the entrance to Bahia de Acapulco.

Bahias de Acapulco and Puerto Marquez

Puerto Marquez is undergoing something of a transformation. The area was hit by torrential rains and floods in 2013, suffering a direct hit from tropical storm Manuel in September and a near miss from Hurricane Raymond a month later. The waterfront was devastated, with many buildings damaged or destroyed. When we arrived, some of waterfront restaurants were open, but the place was clearly still suffering.

On another note, there is a new marina under construction here. You can see it in the lower right corner of the bay in the photo above. We explored it in the dinghy and it looks like it will accommodate around 100 boats. That should be great news for the locals as well as the cruising community. The marinas in Acapulco proper are not very cruiser-friendly.

We were sitting in a little waterfront cafe when we met this charter captain preparing his boat to take some customers out for a sail on the bay. He wanted to know if we had any blocks we could give him. Unfortunately Finisterras blocks are a little too big for his yacht.

With no West Marine store nearby he had to use the materials on hand to rig his yacht.

I had to admire his workmanship

With his customers outfitted in regulation safety gear, the skipper set off on a three hour tour of the bay. Fortunately the weather stayed calm and the tiny ship made back to port safe and sound.

After a couple of days in Puerto Marquez we headed into Acapulco and took a berth at Marina Acapulco. Its not much of a marina and most boats are med-tied there, but we were able to secure a side tie for a couple of days. It was the most expensive marina weve been in this year, with the least amount of amenities. It did have a beautiful rooftop pool but we were told it was for members only so we always waited until afternoon to use it.

This is from the US State Department:

Travel to Acapulco and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo only by air or cruise ship, exercise caution, and remain in tourist areas.  Travel in and out of Acapulco by air and cruise ship is permitted for U.S. government personnel.  U.S. government personnel are prohibited from traveling within Guerrero state by land, including via the 95D toll road (“cuota”) to/from Mexico City and Acapulco, as well as highway 200 between Acapulco and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. In Acapulco, defer non-essential travel to areas further than two blocks inland...

We have been hearing and reading these warnings for the last five years. While in La Cruz a couple of months ago we talked about visiting Acapulco with some of our Mexican acquaintances who said we were "loco" to be visiting the city. But when we arrived, the place appeared to be peaceful.  We walked a couple of miles to the Port Captains office and later shopped at the local supermercado and saw no signs of violence. One evening we walked a mile or two to the famous La Quebrada cliffs to see the divers. We watched from the Las Perlas restaurant which gave us a perfect view of them. It was quite a spectacle to see them diving from a height of 115. It was late when we finally left the restaurant so we grabbed a cab back to the marina. I knocked on the massive steel gate and a man opened a small opening in the gate and checked to make sure we werent bandidos before letting us in. Everywhere we went the town looked under-used. There were a few people on the miles of beautiful beaches along hotel row, but they all appeared to be Mexicans. In fact, there was an eerie absence of gringos everywhere we went in town. We even stopped at a McDonalds, certain that wed see a few gringos enjoying a Big Mac & fries, but nope, not a one to be seen.

La Quebrada

The divers. 115 feet above the water. They offer a prayer at the illuminated shrine before each dive.

He did a beautiful forward flip in a pike position.

The next day I was chatting with a local who was working on a large yacht in the marina. The conversation eventually turned to the lack of tourists in this beautiful city. He said that the hotel occupancy rate is only about 20% these days because people are scared of narco-violence. "So, is it dangerous here or not?", I asked. "No, its good here." , he replied. "See those hills over there, behind the city? Thats where the killing is going on, not down here in town." He went on to say that the narcos are busy killing each other and dont have any interest in boaters.

The vibe we got from wandering around the city was not the relaxed and open feeling we always get around Puerto Vallarta. However, I do think its probably pretty safe in Acapulco as long as you take the usual precautions...and stay out of the hills behind the city.

It was in Acapulco that we had to make a decision whether to continue on to El Salvador or spend another season in Mexico. After weighing to pros and cons, we decided in favor of Mexico. So a couple of days later Finisterra departed from Acapulco and headed northwest toward Zihuatanejo.

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Boat Plans Canada | Cruising the Costa Alegre

Boat Plans Canada

Finisterra departed from La Cruz on Thursday, January 8th, bound for beautiful Barra de Navidad. Our course took us in a southwesterly direction from La Cruz toward Cabo Corrientes, or Cape of Currents. After rounding the cape, we turned southeast along what is known as the Costa Alegre, or Happy Coast, so named because of the many beautiful coves and beaches along this coast all the way to Manzanillo.

After we left La Cruz the wind filled in nicely, about 12 knots out of the northwest. I hoisted the mainsail with a single reef and unrolled the jib. I put the reef in the main with the expectation that wed find plenty of wind around the Cape, as it often blows pretty hard there. We rounded the Cape around sunset with about 18 knots of wind on the beam, a bit lighter than expected, so it was a very pleasant sail. As night fell we bore off on a southeasterly course and the wind dropped to about 5 knots, still out of the northwest, so we started the engine and motored with the jib furled and main sheeted in tight. Its about 130 miles from La Cruz to Barra and we averaged about 6.5 knots over that distance and arrived early the next morning. We took a berth in the marina at the Grand Bay hotel and spent the next few days relaxing and exploring.

Grand Bay Hotel in Barra de Navidad

The marina is across a shallow channel from the town of Barra. To get there we took the dinghy and landed at a concrete sea wall adjacent to the old Sands Hotel.  To keep the wall from damaging the dinghy we put out a stern anchor.

Its not yet the tourist season in Barra so the town was pretty quiet, and this policeman was relaxing on a very pleasant morning. Notice his hat at lower right. 

Even in La Cruz, the marina was guarded by sub-machine gun toting policia. They are always friendly once they get to know you.

We had lunch at a waterfront restaurant. While their parents enjoyed lunch, local kids had a blast jumping off the railing.

We left Barra on January 13th and motored in no wind a few miles to Bahia Santiago and anchored in the northwest corner of the bay. The water temperature hovered around 83 degrees so it could have been very pleasant swimming, but it was too murky to see much. We spent a day walking along the beach and then took Finisterra around Punta Santiago and anchored off the Las Hadas resort for the next five days. Its a nice anchorage and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends from S/V Unleashed. Unfortunately the cost to land a dinghy in the marina is now 200 Pesos per day (about $14 USD). There were half a dozen other boats in the anchorage and everyone grumbled about the cost of landing here. We have noticed a lot of price increases in everything, including food, fuel, slip rents, etc. everywhere weve been in Mexico compared to last year. While it is still possible to live more cheaply here than the US, things are changing quickly.

The beach in Bahia Santiago

Finisterra departed Las Hadas the morning of January 19th. This part of the Mexican coast, from Bahia Banderas all the way to Huatulco is known for its light air and for the next 185 miles we motored over a flat sea and no more than three or four knots of wind, with the exception of a few occasional puffs out of the northeast. The water temperature rose to 84 degrees and humidity hovered in the 80% range. With these conditions the air is always a bit hazy. We spent a good part of the day dodging long lines but eventually got far enough out to sea to avoid them. Of course that put is out in the shipping lane, where there is a lot of traffic. Fortunately we are able to spot ships with our AIS system and we had no trouble avoiding them.

Finding Internet access is always an interesting, or frustrating, experience in Mexico. At the Paradise restaurant overlooking the anchorage we found a well stocked bar, free wifi, and a big screen TV where we watched Seattles improbable win over the Packers.

Finisterra anchored off Las Hadas

We anchored on the northeast side of Isla Grande, Ixtapa around 1700 on January 20th and immediately jumped overboard for a refreshing swim. While at anchor there we scrubbed Finisterras bottom, which had developed a fair amount of growth since it was last cleaned in La Cruz. The next day we came into Marina Ixtapa, where well stay a few days before heading south to Acapulco.

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