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Friday, January 2, 2015

Bahias de Huatulco and Acapulco

After we returned from our trip to Oaxaca City we provisioned and prepared to leave the marina. We had heard a lot of positive things about the national park system of bays which line the north and south coast of this region. Ramona and Jan agreed with Linda and Jim that La India was a must visit. 

We headed out to La India planning to spend a night or two. We spent three nights of complete bliss. The water was warm; snorkeling was great with coral beds and some of the best fish sightings we have seen in Mexico. The bay was well protected from swell and the beach was pristine. We swam daily from the boat to shore, walked the beach and swam back to the boat via the reefs and coral. Paul spotted some tracks in the sand. He followed them into the dunes and came upon a turtle nest. The bay is visited daily by tour boats with tourist interested in the beach and snorkel opportunities. This can sometimes be problematic with lots of music and motorized water toys disrupting the solitude. At La India the crowds were minimal, and the crowds were only there between 11am until 2pm. We generally camped out on the boat until all the pangas departed.

We pulled anchor the next day and headed to Bahia Jicaral for some diversity. We anchored, jumped into the water and swam about 50 yards off the boat into the reef area. Suddenly we were surrounded by jelly fish which proceeded to sting all exposed skin. We hurried to shore where we saw lots of jellies on the beach. There was no option but to return to the boat. The winds came up while we were nursing our welt covered bodies. The swell was so bad we could not get comfortable even with a stern anchor holding our position. We overheard our friends on the VHF that sv Liebling and sv Miss Gale were now anchored in La India. They reported that waters were flat and no significant jellies seen. We pulled anchor and returned to La India for a fourth night. Miss Gale hosted a gathering for the “fleet”. The six of us played cards in the spacious cockpit. It was a great evening before we departed for Acapulco the following afternoon.

The passage to Acapulco was calculated at 40 hours.  It took close to 48 as the seas were up and we hit a nasty counter current around Punta Maldonado. We arrived in Acapulco mid day and refueled before heading to the La Marina. The marina was full of large cruisers and their Mexican crew doing cleaning and maintenance. It felt like a “working dock” with hoses, cleaning supplies and boat stuff scattered around the walkways. Everyone was friendly and in general there were no complaints. We had a fun time exploring Acapulco. We went to the Caleta district for dinner the first night and checked out the super market across from the marina. The following day we explored the downtown by bus and later taxied to the coast to see the Cliff Divers. What an awesome experience. These guys are nuts! The third day we checked out the marine supply stores and provisioned for our departure the following day.

It was interesting to note that after our arrival a boat on fire was towed to our dock for assistance in extinguishing the fire. The morning of our departure we awoke to find a sporty runabout vessel which was tied in front of us on the dock sank during the night.

Bahia La India.  We had the bay and the beach all to ourselves
except for a few hours mid-day when the pangas brought
the tourists over.
Talos IV at the dock in La Marina Acapulco.
The Las Quebradas cliff divers.  They had to climb down the cliffs
to the water, swim across and then climb up the other side.
Once on top they did individual dives from the cliff.  Some did
straight swan dives, others did somersaults, and the grand finale
was a trio of divers all at the same time.  Fabulous!
We awoke our last morning to this boat tied up to the docks
in front of us completely submerged.  The only thing that
kept him from sinking to the bottom were the lines that
secured him to the docks.
Within about an hour a salvage team came, re-floated the boat
and towed it off.