In case you missed it, I picked up crew in Puerto Vallarta (La Cruz). A younger man from Spain who is staying with me for an undetermined time.
Two years ago on March 30th, 2008 I threw off the dock lines at my Marina and started my voyage. I didn't make it very far that first day because the seas outside the Golden Gate where too nasty so I pulled into a marina in San Francisco. Yes, technically I did leave if only travelling three miles. I have not added up the total miles that have passed under my keel but my guess would be a distance that if I were in a car I could have traveled from San Francisco to New York or at least close to the East Coast. Many adventures along the way. Some were not enjoyable but 99% of the adventures were wonderful and memorable. You can look back at my older blogs to read about the good, bad and ugly adventures I had.
So now let me bring everyone up to date so I need not feel guilty any longer.
Ixtapa was not one of those memorable locations. The marina we stayed in was expensive and there were very few sailboats. There was only one other sailboat there with people aboard. They are now beside me in the marina at Santa Cruz. Other than the crocodiles and the Tsunami that went through it was somewhat boring. You ask yourself; How can he say, with Crocodiles swimming around his boat and a Tsunami that went through and tore off two dock be boring? My response can only be that this is what happens when you have new and sometime exciting adventures day after day. It is like drugs. You must take more each time to get high.
After leaving Ixtapa, we were off to Acapulco. Acapulco was a place to be seen where you could possibly meet movie stars and other wealthy people. That was back in the 50s and the 60s. Now it is just another large city with a lot of traffic and noise. There are still many gringos there but few if any are rich and famous. There are so many gringos that one must stop to ask where you can find a Mexican to practice your Spanish.
I took a couple of photos one of which is of a business that was thought to have gone broke many years ago and were out of business. Woolworth. My mother spent many a day in that store when she lived in San Francisco during the war. I guess they moved out of the States and went down to Mexico. Just a reminder. You can expand a photo by placing your mouse over it and double clicking. To return to the original photo, press the Esc button. For those of you that are computer challenged, and I know who you are, this is the button on the top left on the keyboard.
There are beautiful beaches in Acapulco which is its attraction. Spring break for the college kids here is a big hit. One thing that I may not have noted before is that Mexico must be the one country in the world that enjoys the most miles of unspoiled beaches on its coasts. As I have sailed south here on the mainland I have seen coastline covering a distance of 40 or more miles with uninterrupted and unspoiled beaches without a single golf course or resort.
Puerto Escondido was our next stop. This is a very popular location for surfers. I promised my son Steve I would stop there to check it out for him however we only stayed there for 30 minutes. It is good reason why this is a popular surf location. I was at anchor about 80 feet from the beach at a water depth of 45 feet. I couldn't get the anchor to hold so we pulled anchor and headed for plan 'B'. Plan 'B' turned out to be Bahia Angel. This is yet another small fishing village however the developers are moving in so there are a number of big expensive homes and resorts. The anchorage was small with swell coming around the point so we along with the other two boat there dropped a stern anchor to hold us into the waves. We stayed there three days and enjoyed the quiet location. On the way to Bahia Angel we had a number of giant turtles pass us by on their way west. I had stopped the boat at one point to go swimming and while Oriol was in the water a turtle came by. Oriol swam up to it and went for a short ride. We also saw a whale close by as we approached the bay. I wasn't able to get a good photo with his head out of the water. The size was about the same size as my fist if not larger. There must have been at least 100 turtles that we saw floating by the boat.
This is part of the village where we were anchored. A good place to swim to shore for a cold beer or two, or three....
One of the friends I met that came by to say hello. He wanted to know if I had any fish to spare. Sorry, all I have is coke and beer. WHAT! you promised me some fish yesterday!!!
This is a seen that you often see around small villages where women are carrying produce or bread to sell to individuals or small restaurants.
Here she is. Still looking good as she sits at anchor a short distance off of shore.
Next stop was Santa Cruz. As I mentioned earlier, this is the last place we anchor and go ashore in Mexico. It looks like we will be here for two weeks as we wait for the weather to clear south of us. Once we throw off the dock lines, we will be sailing 4 days non stop until we pull into Bahia de Sol in El Salvador. This is a great area where tourists are welcome and you see many but you don't see the big hotels and resorts you see in many other locations around Mexico. Zoning regulations here do not allow buildings taller than 4 stories high. This keeps out the big U.S. developers since the return on their investment is not good enough. You won't see any photos since it is just another city without any special buildings and areas of interest.
I decided to go inland for a change and visit an old city of Oaxaca. This is a colonial city that has the streets and architecture that reminds one of Spain if you have every been there. Very European. Parks, sidewalk cafe's, narrow cobble stone streets and colorful people and buildings. I was there on a Friday which was a holiday of sorts. Each Friday during lent women around town give you a cup of flavored water from rice, pumpkin, are tea from the front of their homes or booths that are set up. This signifies the time that Christ was on the Cross and asked for water. Also there is a tradition where young men and boys gather flowers to give to girls and women that they know or meet along the street. At the end of the day, the girls and women meet on stage where there is a band and many people looking on. The person with the largest amount of flowers is crowned queen for the week. You can probably guess correctly if you assume she is the hottest of the group.
Enough of that for now. Here I am waiting for my bus to Oaxaca. This turned out to be a 9 hour bus ride through the mountains. Switch back turns every mile. I swore I could see the license plate at the back of the bus on some of the turns. The bus was comfortable, air conditioned and they played movies throughout the trip. Unfortunately, the movies were dubbed in Spanish with no sub-titles.
I took this photo as I began my walk around town. Building painted these colors are rarely found in coastal towns that I have visited.
This is part of a large square in the middle of town where most of the days and evenings activities are seen and heard. Many people are just sitting around enjoying the shade from the trees and the company of friends and family.
This is one of many sidewalk cafe's in and around the city.
I have taken many photos of churches as I have visited many villages and towns around Mexico. They are all beautiful, artistic and rich in colors and screens. This is an entrance to one of the offices off of the main church.
I always enjoyed photos of the beautiful churches in Mexico. It doesn't seem to make a difference if they are in a small fishing village or a large city. This church is just off of the main square in Oaxaca.
This was in a small alcove off of the main floor. This is one of many, each with a different scene.
The alter
These panels of etched glass are near the front entrance of the church.
This is a closeup of one of the panels
A short distance outside of the city are ruins that go back to 600 BC. The photos do not do justice to the area so one must visit it to get a real sense of the architecture and the people that lived and built this place. It was built of top of a small mountain and before they could begin to build, they had to cut the top of the mountain off so they could have a large flat area to build on. This took them 200 years. There was no Home depot around to buy jack hammers. I won't comment on the photos below. Hopefully it will give you some idea what it is like if you were to visit it in person.
Several streets were being repaired in town. They were laying underground utilities, first pulling the cobblestones up one by one, next lay the underground utilities, and finally laying back each stone again one by one. Full employment.
There is always someone that wants their photo taken.
Finally! That is it. I am caught up and as the result, you are also caught up with me and where I have been and seen. I hope you enjoy this because it took me about 8 hours over 4 days to complete. Very slow network connections here in Mexico. Everything down here is slow and easy so why should the networks be fast.
Today is Friday. I hope the winds calm down from 50 KTS by Tuesday. If they do, I will set sail for El Salvador. Those of you including myself that thought I would never get out of Mexico are about to be proven wrong.
This fall, in all probability, I will be going through the Panama Canal. I will need four line handlers so invitations are open to come down and join me on an adventure that very few people experience. You could be one of those chosen few.
In the mean time, be safe out there.
Denny
