ZIHUATENEJO, IXTAPA AND A LONG BUS RIDE ACROSS MEXICO

The leg from Acapulco to Zihuatanejo turned out to be another long motoring job, we ran the motor for twenty-one hours strait; this motoring is killing me but the motor, I have to say, seems to thrive on it! We steamed into the anchorage early on the 10th of December, it was dark but there were few dangers and we managed to get into a nice position right off the town. When daylight came we were having breakfast in the cockpit and checking out the view and I have to say it wasn’t quite what we expected. We had heard stories of Supermarkets and a large town where most things were available, what we could see looked more like a sleepy little village and it was quiet enough to hear the cockerels crowing ashore. We had also expected to find a good few Cruising Boats at anchor in the bay but there was only one other boat and that didn’t seem to be going anywhere; normally, if a place is any good there is a congregation of cruisers, so their absence had us a little concerned.
Our concerns were put to rest however when we went ashore, somehow they have managed to hide this bustling little city behind the few palm trees that line the beach, there are no high rise buildings in the down town area and this also tends to hide the fact that Zihuatenejo is quite sizable. It didn’t take us long to get into the swing of things, the town is not a great tourist attraction but retains it’s distinctly Mexican rustic charm despite the regular visits by cruise ships which anchor out in the bay and ferry their passengers ashore. The area around the town pier has thus become the usual tourist trap of bars, boutiques and trinket stalls but as you move further away Zihuat becomes more of a Mexican town for Mexicans and looks set to remain that way.


A few miles up the coast they have built the resort town of Ixtapa which has all the modern hotels and facilities necessary to attract the thousands of holiday-makers that swarm here to escape the northern winters every year. There are also some fine hotels to the south where the coast boasts some fine sandy beaches with good swimming and an International Airport close to hand. None of this is visible from the anchorage off the town so the feeling of being in a sleepy little bay persists.
From our perspective there is just about everything required for the cruiser, for two dollars one can get a taxi from where we land the dinghy to a choice of two large supermarkets (Commercial Mexicana and an equivalent of Walmart in Mexico). However there are many shops and a good municipal market available within a short walk of the beach; if you hunt around, you can find just about everything. Potable water is available off the pier and diesel requires only a very short walk with a jerry-can; the anchorage is quite protected and by using two anchors the effects of the gentle swell was almost eliminated
We didn’t remain at anchor for long as we had a prior engagement; our friends Ed and Ellen who we had last seen in Costa Rica had returned to their home in Arizona and we had been sending them a good amount of Boat Spares and Equipment which we’d been ordering on the internet. It had been our intention to be much further north and nearer to Arizona by this time but like most things to do with boats, time had passed quicker than expected. “Entr’acte” had been ashore in Puntarenas for the Hurricane Season and Ed and Ellen were set to return there in just a couple of weeks and we really wanted to see them.
Unfortunately for us Zihuatanejo is a long way from Arizona and we had to consider all our equipment when choosing our transportation. We had ordered a new mainsail from Hong Kong and this amongst many other heavy items was waiting for us to collect. There was no possibility of having it sent down, at least not without major expense and huge problems with importing the stuff into Mexico. Our only real option was to get a coach (Bus), this would keep the expenses down and allow us to carry a lot of gear; we also knew that there was a good chance of bypassing the normal customs checks at the boarder, a major bonus!!!
We checked out the busses and secured return tickets, at the time we were under the impression that the trip would be about thirty-six hours which we thought was rather long but possible. Then we shifted the boat into Ixtapa Marina which we had checked out beforehand and considered both safe and secure; a Marina worthy of the custody of “Mr John” during our absence. It wasn’t cheap but it was good insurance and we didn’t like leaving the boat unattended unless we’re confident in its security.

We zipped into the Marina on 15th December and caught our bus the next day in the evening; it turned out to be a seventy-two hour trip, a marathon event if ever there was one. We crawled across Mexico visiting town after town and city after city, I’d like to be able to report that it was invigorating or exciting, even interesting……. well, maybe it was interesting! In general however it was flat and generally uninteresting agricultural land which went on mile after mile and the towns along the way were also flat and dowdy with little to grab the attention. Our main preoccupation seemed to be fixed on the availability of toilets and places where we could alight and stretch for a while. Paula later calculated that we spent more money on toilets during the trip than we did on food or drink; most places it was just three pesos each but on many occasions the machines would only take our money and not dispense change, so on more than one occasion the three pesos became ten causing much consternation and muttering! We were lucky to have taken sandwiches, muesli bars and water as breaks were short when available and the drivers seemed to have a reluctance to inform anyone of the actual duration of any intended stop. There were a couple of stops which were over ten minutes, these were intended for eating but took place at such run down restaurants we were afraid to participate for fear of catching something, stuck on a Bus without a working toilet is no place to get caught with some rampaging Montezuma’s Revenge! It wasn’t just the toilet that stopped working during our trip, the air-conditioning passed away on the first night and the Video threw its hand in after an altercation with a set of Speed Bumps which the driver failed to notice, there were moments when I thought we were going to have to walk!
After about sixty-six hours we rolled into Santa Anna or ‘Santanna’ depending on who is writing it; a quick change and we were on our way to Nogales and the boarder with the U.S.A. where we expected all sorts of problems having read that the Mexican boarder towns were full of Pimps, Prostitutes and Pick-pockets. We were actually quite pleasantly surprised to find our arrival in a modern bus station where there was quick and easy transportation to the boarder; the Taxi fare was regulated and posted (above all it was very reasonable) and the taxi was a large new, air-conditioned American import. Within a short time we were in the queue with a couple of hundred others all trying to get into the United States; I was actually surprised at how quickly the queue was moving and even more surprised by the Immigration Officials (which I believe are now called the Department of Homeland Security); these guys were so nice it was unreal! We just had a minor glitch as we had to go ‘up-stairs’ for a special visa form (I-94) which cost us $10 each but this was also handled most efficiently and we were soon on our way again. We had a three hour wait in Nogales and boarded an evening bus that took us up to Phoenix arriving at midnight: fortunately Ed was there to pick us up and transport us to a long awaited comfortable bed.  

So began our visit to Arizona, it was really great to be with friends and we were truly sorry that we had picked up all sorts of germs on the bus guaranteeing them (and us) some nasty colds which I’m sure they really didn’t need at that time as they were into the final preparations for moving themselves down to their boat in Costa Rica. Despite the Colds we had a great time and enjoyed their company whilst ogling at all the wonderful facilities they had available to them in this ‘tailor made’ retirement community.

Time passed all too quickly as it does when having fun and before we knew it we were rolling back down the long dusty road to Zihuatanejo again. Fortunately the return trip went a little quicker and we were back at the boat in only forty-two hours, the coach had been a little better and the driver seemed more determined to get where he was going. Never the less we elected to remain an extra day in the Marina to recover and to clean up the boat and this worked out well as we finally got our Crocodile pictures……. The Marina is built in what was formally swamp land and the crocs never vacated, thus there are warning notices posted around about ‘no swimming’ and to take care of pets as they have been regularly taken of the pontoons in the past. Late in the afternoon of the day we arrived back, a quite large (fifteen feet) Crocodile lazily swam into our section of the Marina to eye us up as potential supper. Paula managed to get to use her new camera with superb results and our friendly croc posed for pictures; it was almost worth all the money that we’d spent being in the Marina just to get so close to a wild and unfenced, full size croc. Paula was close enough to stick her camera down the things throat but fortunately all we got was a nice grin and that “I’ll see you guys later” look.  We eventually got away on Thursday the 29th of November and returned to our anchorage off the town in the Bay of Zihuatanejo.
Recovering from our trip took more than a couple of days, my cold seemed to drag on for a couple of weeks and Paula went down with the same bug which hung on even longer; however we slowly got ourselves together and started working on the boat which was in sore need of attention. The Wet Season in the south had not been good for maintenance and we had a lot of catching up to do; every day we tackled some new job and slowly we began to get the boat back into some sort of shape. Once we had tackled all the cleaning, storing, washing and the likes, Paula started to replace all the covers on the saloon cushions whilst I worked on the exterior varnish; it was however two weeks into December before we felt the boat was ready to move again. Not that all the work was done; far from it but the remaining jobs could be done at a more leisurely pace.
Ten days from Christmas we had a debate on whether to move on or stay a while longer, it seemed to us that we were already in the place that most of the folks up north were trying to get to and seeing as they seemed to be having a more lively time with the weather up there we got to thinking that maybe we should hang on here a while. We were after all still enjoying it and still had much to see and do! So we elected to stay for Christmas and move off soon after that, it would give me more time to work on some of my projects; I’m always complaining that we are never in one place long enough to get caught up.

The bay is full of fish and hundreds of seabirds sore above us for most of the day becoming particularly active both early morning and evening when we have Pelicans and Boobies plummeting into the water close alongside and Frigate Birds swooping down, deftly plucking the fish from a few inches below the surface; the sky is crowded with birds, all working for one goal, to catch enough food to survive another day.
The water is a little murky (about four/five feet visibility) however we could still see the shoals of fish massing under our hull seeking both shade and shelter from attack. The fishermen are also active, casting nets from their small canoes or trolling around the anchorage in pursuit of the bigger ‘Game Fish’ that have come into the bay to hunt the sardines (well, maybe not sardines but small fish of that type anyway!). Unfortunately our blue covers and awnings seem to be an attraction for aerial bombardment and this caused much concern; not to mention much bad language on my part!

Christmas turned out to be a non event; it’s not a ‘big thing’ in Mexico. I guess it would have been a little better had we decided to participate in the Christmas Lunch at Ricks Bar, quite a few of the yachts did but it seemed a little expensive for what was on offer. We also had some reservations regarding most of the other boats we’d come across, they seemed very reserved and kept much to themselves. Maybe it’s a California thing but we noted that when someone floated the idea if a ‘Pot Luck’ on the net (as a way to get to meet other cruisers), there were no takers, no one was at all interested in meeting with anyone else……… a bit odd to say the least!!!

On the Sunday before Christmas there was a nice little show arranged by one of the local municipalities and this had some entertaining dancing and terminated in an exciting Fireworks display. We failed to detect much activity ashore either on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, there was ‘canned music’ without Christmas flavour and a lot of locals visiting the Plaza but apart from a local drum group doing some heavy busking, there was nothing.

On the 26th December we decided to get moving again and in the early afternoon departed under sail from the anchorage. Conditions were very light but we managed a couple of hours sailing before having to start the motor to complete our journey in daylight; arriving at Isla Grande a little before sundown. Here we found a nice anchorage but were rather overwhelmed with the amount of large (crewed) yachts that were sitting here, completely filling the bay! We rolled heavily when we arrived due to the jet skies, water skies, yellow bananas full of screaming kids and the steady procession of Pangas ferrying tourists back to the mainland after their day on the island. This all died away as the sun sank into the sea and then the wind evaporated allowing the swell to hook around into the bay setting us off once more so we could roll steadily for the rest of the night.
There was nothing about Isla Grande that attracted us to stay so the next morning we departed and aimed north. For the first time in Mexico, or so it seemed, we had a wonderful sail, beam reaching with the Cruising chute up in a nice light breeze, almost to the breakwaters at Lazaro Cardenas. Here we found a lovely little anchorage just inside the breakwaters where they had dredged out a basin but never put it to use. The local bird population had commandeered it and there was no shortage of wildlife, the only thing that detracted from it was the nearness of a bulk loading terminal for ships which caused continuous noise however it wasn’t too invasive and with the boat rock steady for once, we slept soundly throughout the night.

Our next stop sailing up the Mexican Rivera

John & Paula
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December 10th 2007