Las Hades

Our furthest destination south this season, we anchored off several Greek-styled resorts. Cruisers were again welcome at the pools with the appropriate coloured towels. Little did we know we would need so many towels! Stunning pools here, we were tempted with blackberry margaritas that were surprizingly good. You can not taste the tequila! (Is this a good thing?) A short bus ride into Manzinillo, we tried a butcher in an open market and bought thick ribs and pork loin. No worms, runs or parasites, they were delicious excellent meat. We now head north to retrace our track to leave the boat at Mazatlan. We reluctantly fly home in May. See you then!

Santiago Bay

But yet another popular place, this large bay is also special. Several palapas line one end of the beach and the Santiago Bay Club of exquisite homes are scattered around the beach. The Mexicans own them, holiday here from Mexico City or Guadalajara and rent them out. Large homes of several thousand square feet, they reminded us of the opulent homes of El Cid in Mazatlan. More surf landings, we wore our bathing suits and still continued to get wet. However, we were now doing dinghy trips in the dark with other boaters so felt we had improved. Again, lovely beach walks and swims. The market, held once a week, had everything from fish, vegetables, clothes, electronics and bras!

Barra de Navidad

Another popular anchorage, we came to a bay that led to a shallow lagoon. We followed our friends on Airborne, a catarmaran, who led us into the lagoon through twisting sandbars and shallows. Our GPS points showed they lead us on an excellent course. At one point, we realized we were following a nice shallow draft boat. However, these seasoned cruizers have been this way often and lead us to a safe anchorage of 8 ft (We draw 6ft)! About 30 boats were all anchored in this shallow dish surrounded by sandbars. Out of the swell and wind, it was smooth and quiet. However, every afternoon, the wind blew to 15 kts and every boat had 120 of chain out in 8 ft of water. We could not believe we felt very safe and comfortable here for we would never dream of anchoring like this at home. We were advised to switch to our Bruce anchor from the CQR in this soft, slippery mud. Our boat neighbour asked how we liked anchoring in grease! The town was more Mexican tourist than gringo although gringos have discovered it. Very narrow cobble stone streets led you to excellent restaurents, shops, launderies and bakers. The French Baker is a novelty for he comes to your boat every morning selling bagettes, croissants and pasteries, Two hotels have swimming pools that also cater to the cruizers providing you buy food and/or drinks. You carry the appropriate coloured towel for each place so you are not thrown out. A pretty town, it was very different from any of the others so far.

Tenecatitia

A very popular anchorage along the area called the Mexican Riveria, we were curious to see what the excitement was about as previous anchorages have been wonderful. This one was superb for it was a large, protected bay with empty beaches, breaking surf and long walks. The surf, at times, was challenging for us to land the dinghy. We almost tipped the dinghy many times and usually timed it so breaking surf would drench us upon leaving shore. But we kept trying for we so wanted to spend time ashore. We have much to learn and so far, have learned to travel in bathing suits! A "jungle tour" in your dinghy down the mangrove-lined river at one end of the bay is also something we had to try. Mangroves have grown over to form arches over the river that has birds, snakes and crocodiles (little ones). A very different trip for BC boaters, we edged our way through a narrow channel for several miles to arrive at the river's end to find restaurants! These restaurants line the ocean beaches and you swim wondering about the crocodiles in the river awaiting you as you must go back by dinghy. The Mexicans reminded us they are only little ones. We saw a small one lazily sleeping at the water's edge. However, we heard of one cruiser's daughter jogging on the beach and being chased by a 14 foot crocodile! The area was so beautiful that in spite of drowning and being eaten alive, we stayed for several weeks. Our solar panels (and constant sun) were easily handling the freezer so our power needs were never an issue.

Chamala

Chamala
Perhaps the best part about this anchorage was not the sun, surf or sand but meeting friends from home (Don and Laura) in their RV. We had connected in La Cruz and many days later saw how comfortable each lived and travelled in our different ways. Of course, our sea charts showed us on land and their land maps had them on the sea! Don and Laura helped us with our dinghy surf landings as we were new to this. We arrived sodden clutching our dry bag (that held dry clothes and cameras). Each dinghy trip was an experience with none of us knowing how it would end. A nice visit, we each had to leave hoping we might connect in the future.