Huatulco and Oaxaca March/April 2008

We left Zihutenajo with mixed feelings. It was a great place to visit, and very cruiser friendly. And yet with huge swells coming in from the south making the anchorage uncomfortable and just about all our friends leaving for points north, it was time for us move south and follow our plan to see the much talked about but little visited Huatulco.



Our first stop was Acapulco and we anchored in about 12 meters on Isla Rocetta just across from the City. The tidal surge made us feel uneasy about leaving the boat, so after one night of worrying, we upped anchor and took of south again. We stopped and anchored in Puerto Escondido – a renowned surf spot. We don’t surf but it still has a great reputation as a really easygoing place to be and really laid back. Unfortunately, it also has a reputation (well earned we found out) for a terrible place to anchor. The water is really deep (over 50’) to within about 200’ of shore- and the wave break at about 50 from shore. So by the time you drop the anchor and let out rode, the back end of your boat is almost on top of breaking waves. We were within about 20 feet of 6-foot breakers. It was a creepy feeling. We had to swim into shore for dinner and then swim back of course because we could not launch our dinghy so close to breaking waves. Needless to say, we there after just one night. The next day was a one-day affair to Bahia Huatulco.

There is actually no Bahia Huatulco; its true name is Bahia Santa Cruz. Huatulco is a name given to a series of bays – none of which is even named Huatulco. So it can get pretty confusing. The official name is Bahias de Huatulco and officially there are nine of them but you can count 11 if you try hard. The next day we motored into Bahia Chahue where the marina is and moored up; went exploring and found we loved the place just like everyone said we would.

The temperature has not exceeded 90 and the humidity hasn’t either – mostly staying in the 80’s but on a couple of occasions dropping to the 30’s. It is almost like being in Arizona or Texas. The wind comes up every afternoon to keep things from getting too hot and the nights cool down enough, so that by 3am, you need to pull a sheet or blanket over you.

The town of Crucelita is a planned community that officially opened in 1986 and so it comes with underground utilities (mostly until you get into the residential neighborhoods), potable water and a sewer system that actually treats the wastewater and doesn’t just dump it into the bays. That way the bays stay looking great, attract tourists and generate revenue. The whole area has gotten a green globe award from somebody. Thus it appears that Fonatur did its homework after botching Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, etc. It is truly wonderful here. But it is not cheap like other, bigger cities like Mazatlan.

The town appears to be the favored vacation spot for the wealthy of Mexico. We met many pure Spanish descendants and were dumbfounded that they looked just like us but spoke Spanish and English. It was a first for us. We spent a few days on the boat visiting about half the bays, doing snorkeling, swimming and just kicking back. The week of Semana Santa (the week before Easter and a national holiday week) we stayed by the boat because of all the parties and people going out to all the bahias. The town population grew astronomically. Monday of that week was also St. Patrick’s Day and we found Café Dublin in the morning with a walk around town. Mary asked if they had any live music planned, they said “No”, and then she asked if they wanted some. They said “sure”, so she and Bill from Mita Kulu showed up at 7pm and played Irish music for about three hours. The bar has room for about 20 folks but at one point 50 were inside with wild “sort of Irish dancing” going on. They played again 3 nights later but this time the crowd was only about 8 people.

The minute Semana Santa was over, we boarded a bus for a trip to Oaxaca; one of the oldest colonial cities in Mexico and Central America. The Cathedral there is virtually lined with gold; an amazing site. The zocalo (town square) is almost magical as there are people there all the time, musicians stroll the area playing for whatever anyone wants to pay. We saw a stand alone opera singer, four different mariachi bands, two different pan pipe bands, one amplified marimba band, one marimba solo, a children’s band, a full John Souza band, and whole bunches of live entertainment provided by the various restaurants that line the square. We spent time there every night – watching people, listening to music and enjoying the weather – with an average temperature of about 74 until about midnight.

Letting no grass grow under our feet, the first day was devoted to “church touring” within the City. The second day we went to the great ruins of Zapotec culture called Monte Alblan. Here, on the very top of a mountain, 20,000 people lived while lots more lived down below and did all the work, etc. These folks were gone by about 900 AD. The Mixtecs, who lived there until the Spanish came and conquered them, then occupied the City. Some of the findings are 3000 years old. It is amazing to think of these advanced cultures and what they were accomplishing when virtually nothing was happening in Europe.

Next day found us on a “tour” (for $20 – not bad actually) that included stops at a weaving demonstration, anther ruin – called Mitla, a mescal factory, the world’s largest living biomass, and some pools that drain spring water over the edge of a mountain. We had an English speaking guide until he discovered that he could attach us to another tour guide and then he split without a word. It was an interesting day but one we’d do differently next time. Mitla was the official final resting place for all the great ones from Monte Alblan. The one unique thing about it is that the Spanish did not totally destroy it and so it is very well preserved with stone stories that no one has been able to decipher yet.



Thursday we did museums, art galleries (where a giant statue decided she liked Mike), coffee shops, etc. and of course a trip to the zocalo. Friday, we took the local bus to the town of Ocotlan; about 30 kilometers from town with all the locals. The town is famous for its market on Fridays. We’d been to probably 30 or so Mexican flee markets but we decided to try one more and we were glad we did. This was the first one we’d been to where we found livestock for sale with lots of Turkeys! Apparently, the people in this particular area just love raising turkeys while the whole rest of the country eats chicken. We were the only gringos there and had a great time.
We returned to Oaxaca and took in a free concert in the restored 1850 operahouse. Saturday we shopped for stuff and Sunday did the return trip back to “Huatulco”.

We’ve been working on the boat getting ready for the next adventure – wherever that is. The weather has been warming up – May here is the hottest month of the year – and we’re sure we’ll be gone by then.

Zihuatenajo and the Mexican coast

It has been a long time since our last big update. We’ve had a few smaller ones to a few folks but it is now time to bring everyone up to date. We last updated two days before leaving Nicaragua for Mazatlan and, to say the least, much has happened since then.

Starting at the beginning, the next day we were visiting the famous surfing beach in Bahia del Sur, Nicaragua and the rainy season had begun in full force. Every afternoon, the sky would cloud up and about 3pm there would be a heavy downpour of warm rain. Well, we were in a small beach side café along with a whole bunch of surfers. They had seen the storm coming and most were out of the water up with us. We saw that we could be trapped in the café for hours and might miss the bus back to the town. It was a two kilometer walk back to the pick-up point along a very beautiful and very remote beach. So we decided to hightail it back while we could. About half way back, Mary heard the words “dinero, dinero” and turned around to see a guy with a 10” knife, basically robbing us from behind. So, after a few moments of conversation, we came to realize that we were really being robbed, that he only wanted cash, and that he was new at this (cause he was trembling so bad). He got $60 worth of Nigcaraguan currency – a small fortune in this very poor country. He only got that much because we’d tried to pay in advance for a ride to the airport for the next day, only to be told that we’d have to pay for four people and then find two more to reimburse us. So, we didn’t buy the tickets and instead gave the money to our robber. If that wasn’t bad enough, the robbery took so long that two minutes after it, we got clobbered with a drenching downpour.

However, all was well, we were alive and made it not only back to our hotel but on to the airport and, via Los Angeles , back to Mazatlan where the boat was. We spent about two weeks putting the boat to bed and getting it ready for hurricane season. Then took one of the luxury buses from Mazatlan to Guaymas where our car was waiting for us – cloaked in about two inches of dust and dirt. As we got some lunch in Guaymas, Mike complained of a pulled muscle in his right calf – an odd occurrence since we had been doing nothing for 12 straight hours during the bus ride. Well six days later the ache turned out to be another Deep Vein Thrombosis and Mike was in the hospital in Lubbock , Texas for five days. He had great care but it was a shock nonetheless.

After the hospital stay, all our plans changed. Gone were visits to cruising friends and other relatives. Hello to getting back to San Luis Obispo where we could be with our daughter and grandson (Kristin and Aidan) and recuperate mentally and physically. This could have been the end of cruising and this was a lot to digest. But the pain was not to stop.

Two weeks after getting back to SLO, Mary complained of chest pains and trouble breathing. We thought it was a relapse of Dengue Fever and so treated with Tylenol and rest. When that did not work, it was another trip to a hospital where Mary was diagnosed with Pneumonia. In four weeks, she was back to strength while Mike played nurse and chief grandson sitter and entertainer. All the while, Mike was trying to find out the best source of treatment for the DVT and an answer to the cruising question. Ha! It still wasn’t over. In late August, we both went in for our annual skin exam and the doctor found an “in-site melanoma” in the middle of Mike’s back. Two weeks later he had a 3inch scar and mandatory two week recovery period. Then the bad news stopped – for a while.

We found a doctor in the USC Medical clinic who is nationwide known for his DVT knowledge. Got an appointment and got the go-ahead to keep cruising. He’s the doc to a couple of movie directors, big corporate hot-shots, etc. so we felt safe regarding his recommendations. It is a field that very few know about. And since there is so little promise of financial returns, there is little “big medicine” companies doing research into new products. In the USA , the standard treatment is simply to keep your blood from clotting in the future. There is no effort made to treat the clot in the leg and make it disappear, nor any effort to find out what caused the clot and try to remedy it. Thus, “treat the sympton, not the cause” standard medicine continues. So, Mike now takes Warfarin daily, for the rest of his life. It is an anti-coagulant and is often, and mistakingly, called a blood thinner. It is fairly dangerous but not dangerous enough to prohibit sailing.

Finally, with the go-ahead, we headed back to Mazatlan to get the boat ready to head to Equador. But the new solar panels and structure to hold them took 10 weeks to build and wire. By December 11th we were three days away from pulling away form the dock and a month behind schedule. Then on the 12th, Mary got a call from her sister, that their mom was dying and to fly home immediately. She did and Mike followed three days later. This was indeed the case, but Mom made a miraculous recovery and within another three days was sitting up, talking, more lucid than for the last 12 months. It was amazing. So, with things now going well, we spent Christmas with Kristin, Aidan, Jenny (our daughter from Dallas had flown out as well) and had a great time.

With Christmas over, it was time to head back to San Diego , see Mom again, and get ready for the January 3rd return flight to Mazatlan . Everything was great, but then on December 31st Mom took a turn for the worse, was rushed to the hospital from the nursing home. Three days later, on January 3rd she passed away at about 2 am. The funeral was on the 8th and we finally returned to the boat on the 11th. Mary’s back seized up on the 4th and would not relax until about a week ago! Funny what stress can do to you.

Within a week the boat was ready and on the 20th we shoved off, though now plans for Equador were on hold as we only had six weeks to meet the March 1st deadline we’d made for ourselves. We decided to just have fun in 2008 and that would mean cruising the coast of Mexico and going where we wanted, when we wanted and stay as long as we wanted. One of the great things about this lifestyle is the ability to change plans constantly and still enjoy life.

We made a straight shot sail from Mazatlan to Tentacatita – the isolated anchorage that is a cruisers favorite. There we found clean water, warmer weather (it had been really cold in Mazatlan – down into the forties at night) and easy living. After a week there, we sailed again straight to Manzanillo ( Santiago Bay – at the north end of Manzanillo). A short sail but fun never-the-less. Another 10 days went by. We went with Kathy and Hal from Airborne to visit a Turtle preserve that also serves as a refuge for iguanas, crocodiles, and various birds. They’ve put over 100,000 baby turtles into the ocean this year. We found great food buys in the town of Santiago, got our VHF fixed for $10, found a bar right out of Casablanca where for $2 you could get a beer and all your could eat of cevechi and guacamole.

We next sailed down to our current favorite – Zihuatenajo (Z wha tay nay ho). A very nice tourist town with lots of Mexican, American and Canadian tourist, it is still a great town. Like the rest of Mexico , it full of wonderfully friendly Mexican who are always willing to listen to your Spanish and talk to you until you can’t say anything more and then they start talking in English. The bay is not as pretty as it used to be as the town has grown and the sewage is still dumped into the bay. So, we sail out of the bay to make water and then come back and anchor in a new spot. We went to the movies last night and saw “Love in the time of Cholera” for a total of $4.

Thus life is good, we’re having fun, this is the Mexican Riviera where it is hitting 88 every day and cooling off to 70 each night. No clouds, light winds, warm water and good times.

Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua

Our biggest day in Belize was hiking for 45 minutes, wading across three rivers and swimming into a cave only to hike and swim some more in order to find skeltons, and 1500 year old pottery, etc. The next day, we floated down a river in innertubes going through three more caves. It started out ominously enough as big poisonous snake decided to swim the river right in front of us. So our guide simply took along a big stick and kept hitting the water to keep it away from our butts. It decided, after about half an hour, to go somewhere else. Just after the second cave, we got out and went exploring a fourth cave on foot. In this one we found more 1500 year pottery and got to handle it. So, if you get to Belize, be sure to go caving.

Then it was on to Placencia, Belize. A lovely beach town with the narrowest street in the world. Bascially it is a sidewalk that is over a mile long but it is the street that connects the town together. It was real hot and even the wind that came up in the afternoon didn´t help much. Four days of hot and muggy was enough and so we headed for the Island of Utila in Honduras. We ended up taking scuba lessons for beginning and advanced as it had been 35 years since we last dove and the technology had really changed. It was the best week ever as we got in 13 dives and saw some great sealife. A couple of the instructors were real sick so the others were chipping in to help. Our instructor was great and really helped us ´´old folks´´ get the hang of it. It is very interesting to always be so much older than the other tourists. This form of travel is almost exclusively for the 30 and less crowd.

The downside to Utila was Dengue fever. Turns out Mike got infected the first day there and Mary about two days later. Because seven days later, just after we left and were in the town of Trujillo, Honduras, Mike got a horrendous fever and ended up in the hospital in the capital city of Tecucigalpa. They tested for Malaria but it was Dengue. There is no way to prevent and no cure other than Tylenol. So for the next four days, we were both taking 750mg of Tylenol, three times a day to keep the fever down. Then it is over but swelling and itching and headaches linger a bit longer. It really knocks your system down and we are still not totally back to speed.

So, rather than spend time in the captial, a rather ugly non-descript city, we took the bus to Granada, Nicaragua for the time to recuperate. Got a room with AC and a TV and took refuge and waited for the fever to break so we could continue the trip. Granada is about 20 years behind Antigua, Guatemala but will look the same when it is fully restored. Nicaragua is an adventure compared to the other countries. We have not had one day without either water or power being out at one time or another. But, we feel very safe here as opposed to Honduras where there were armed guards in front of ice cream stores, hardware stores, etc.

They say the people here are reserved but passionate. We found that to be true. Once they open up and start to meet you, it is hard to get them to stop talking about how much they love their country. We found that in Belize also. We met a retired university professor who invited us to his island home for a month but we said no, we had to move on. We stayed on Ometepe Island, which it turns out is the sister island to Bainbridge Island, Wa. We met the folks there from Bainbridge and found out we knew some of the same people. Small world. Now we are in San Juan del Sur, the southern most beach city in Nicaragua and home to some of the best surfing on the west coast. It is now the rainy season and it rains every night with a great lighting show last night. So, we´ve gone from hot and humid to wet, hot and humid. Some change huh?

On our last day in Nicaragua we went to the much fabled surfing beach Playa Maderas. We are not surfers but it is supposed to one of the best on the west coast. We rode a truck/trolley sort of think way out to nowhere and were dropped off at Playa Matilda. From there is was a 20 minute walk to the surfer beach and a beachside palapa for lunch. There were about 30 surfers in the water but within 30 minutes or so, the curse of the rainy season was upon everyone with thunder and lightning. We ate and waited for a good moment to walk back to the spot for the return ride. We were about half way back to Matilda when from behind we heard the word "dinero". We were being robbed. The fellow had about a 10" knife and was nervous and only wanted todo su dinero - all our money. Well we gave it to him, rode back to town and reported it to the local police who were very nice. Kind of a bummer way to end a trip. The next day was less eventful - got the bus to Granada for a total cost of $4. Spent the night at a place with a pool ( a first!) then the next morning to the airport for the trip back to Mazatlan, Mexico via Miami and then Los Angeles.

Nearing the end of our haulout in Guaymas

Well here it is the 6th of January and we are back in Guaymas starting a blog. Nothing got done while we were gone but today a new coat of epoxy was applied to the hulls and hopefully things are finally getting done. It has been a long time since October 16th. Hopefully, within a another week, we will soon be out of here and on our way to Mazatlan.

We had a great visit with Pam and Dick on Lady Pamela in Mazatlan the 31st, Jan. 1 and 2. Had a nice New Year's Eve at the cuban spin on mexican food in Mazatlan and enjoyed reading a novel in the sun and warmth on Lady Pamela.

Off to the boatyard to see what has happened today and keep things moving along. Wish everyone a happy new year.

Here is a slideshow of our adventures in 2005-06 up to the time of our haulout. For bigger pictures click the bottom right hand corner and you'll go the picassa web album where you can see the pics one at a time or simply a bigger slideshow.