Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa

Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa
March 2- March 13, 2019

Stephen and I left Manzanillo and had a fabulous sail down to Z’town. We sailed 70% of the time initially on a close haul/close reach and then on a beam reach. There was a lot of tanker traffic due to the ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas as I mentioned in the last blog. We constantly had to be heads up and even call some of these captains to confirm their navigation plan. One tanker was actually moving backward and was surprised we noticed. Another tanker asked us to pass him on his bow and he was going 12 knots and us 6 knots. We informed him we were not fast enough to cross his bow and we preferred his stern and he agreed to our plan but we were surprised he even suggested that traffic pattern. Other obstacles were fishing lines. We encountered several fishing lines not well marked that stretched several miles. We crossed 3 out of 4 lines with no problem but then we did snag one. I mentioned that in the last blog as well. Luckily we were able to pull it up with our hook and cut the line itself and not try out our prop cutter we bought for an occasion such as this. It was day time and I kept thinking we definitely would not see these lines at night - scary stuff. 

Along the way, we saw many jelly transparent like snakes/centipede looking things. They each had bright colors on their dorsum that looked fluorescent. I looked them up and they are called salp or salpa and are a planktonic tunicate. They move by jet propulsion. They are described as gelatinous and cylindrically shaped. We saw tons of the them and then none in Zihuatanejo in the bay. The sea does offer you many encounters with different life forms you have not seen before. We continued to fish with our hand lines still waiting for our dorado but no luck. We do feel justified when we talk to the local fisherman and no one is catching dorado right now. We did see the Zihuatanejo fishermen catching several big black tuna weighing about 40kg. They are catching these 50 to 60 nm offshore.  We usually stay no more than 10nm offshore.

When we arrived to Zihuatanejo it was the first night of the guitar fest. We pulled in at sunset and we were pretty tired so we decided to just chill on the boat. We could hear music from the boat which was great. The stage was right along the beach. SV Jeanne Anne, Chelsea, Steve, and Monkey the cat were in Zihuatanejo and had been since SailFest in mid-February.  We had not seen them since Banderas Bay. We met up with them the next day and got the lay of the land. There is a Port Captain here so we did have to check in as well. Zihuatanejo is a large town with all the amenities you need. The bay has 4 beaches, Playa Principal ( the main strip with the pangas and downtown activities including the guitar festival stage), Playa Madera, Playa La Ropa, and Playa Las Gatos. We visited each one with Playa La Ropa being the nicest for water clarity, swimming and one-hour massages for $200 pesos a person! We also took a dinghy ride over to Playa Las Gatos for some snorkeling. The water visibility was just ok as it has been our entire trip except for Paraiso. There is a green buoy in Las Gatos that marks a statue of Jesus under the water. We dove on this statue as it is not very deep. Steve got some underwater photos of him and Stephen ( see below). Also, I did see my first Eagle Ray which was beautiful! They are the black and white dotted ones with a long tail. 

Guitar fest was from March 2-9. Every evening there were performances on the beach stage intermixed with afternoon events and dinners. We never made it to dinner as most were booked full but the evening beach performances were awesome! We really enjoyed everyone but had some favorites. I posted on FB some of my favorites with videos attached. 

Oscar Mendez is a fingerstyle guitarist from Bogota Colombia and we are enamored with his playing. Fingerstyle is more percussive and dynamic as they tap and beat the guitar and I love it. We also had the pleasure of meeting him on Steve and Chelsea’s sailboat as well as Susana and Zuleida, both from Cuba and play classical style under the name Duo Con-traste. The female duo played lovely together. We helped crew one day on SV Jeanne Anne and took out Oscar, Susana, Zuleida and her husband Edgar. They are all so personable and it was fun to watch them enjoy seeing Zihuatanejo from the water instead of from land. None of them had been on a sailboat before. 

Leo Parra Castillo played the blues and there is no doubt he is heartfelt and soulful when he sings and plays. He would give a little introduction to each song about its origination and writer which made each song he played more intimate.  Also, Eric McFadden and Omar Torrez can rock the house. They have a great Youtube video called Mosquito. Jossy Gallegos, representing Mexico, was one more favorite of mine. Her voice is angelic and she plays magnificently. The guitar festival was a mix of instrumental only and some with vocals. I loved the variety of guitar styles and it was so fun to hear musicians you’ve never heard and be “Wow-ed “ by them. They all admitted to playing guitar at very young ages and truly love what they do. Playing guitar professionally is their passion and it was evident in their playing. We hesitated about making the 200nm sail down the coast, really 400 nm RT, but it was well worth it. I would go again next year!

Other highlights from our trip were spending the day at the La Escollera resort pool. It is an infinity pool with a great view of Bahia Zihuatanejo. There is a spacious, windy road to the hotel pool that I found as a good running road as well and met a nice big tarantula one day too - ha! I actually hate spiders but we were able to share the road no problem. Stephen and I also had many hikes just around town. We met a lot of grandmas of all sizes taking on some big hikes and big stairways like champs. It makes you humble when you are sweating and tired and see these ladies taking it all in stride. 

Stephen, Chelsea, Steve and I did bus over to Ixtapa for a beach day, only 14 pesos. It is mainly all-inclusive resorts and you are limited to the public beach access areas primarily. The beach is gorgeous and Chelsea got in some beach volleyball with some locals. We had a ton of bat rays in the water there swimming with us and doing their usual belly flops in and out of the water. They kept their distance but also stayed close enough to feel as if they were checking us out. 

Stephen and I did leave the Zihuatanejo bay on March 10 and headed over to Isla Grande or Ixtapa Island as it is also known. We did some snorkeling there, paddle boarding and just relaxing. There are 3 beaches there as well with palapas. We just stayed one night and used the little anchorage as a place to put the dinghy up on board to get her ready for the passage north. We had plans to go into the Ixtapa marina the next day. 

The Ixtapa marina is an ok marina. It had a few transient boats in there. It was challenging as it was very hot and humid and even though they are affiliated with a resort, you do not get any pool privileges. The marina has gators known to be in there as well and you are warned about pets on board. We did not see any gators but we heard one. The staff was great and they offer to check you in and out so you don’t have to go to the Port Captain which is a treat. There is a 9.7km ciclopista aka biking trail that was nice to take a run on one day and Stephen and I hiked it another day. It offers side trails and we took one that climbs up to a fantastic overlook of the beach and you can see Ixtapa island. When we finally got back close the marina we stopped at Zorro’s Bar that has a sign out saying “ Cold Frig’n Beer!”, we thought that was great marketing and we enjoyed a post-hike beer! 

We will now head back up north with a plan to get to the Sea of Cortez and enjoy Jack Cousteau’s playground. 

Total nautical mileage achieved since leaving Seattle is guesstimated to be ( we feel bad we not did keep an exact count) : 3,115 nm!!!  In terms of latitude chasing, we left at 48 degrees north and got as far south as 17 degrees. 

Hasta Luego

The stage is right on the beach

Our lowest latitude

Zihuatanejo Bay - pretty crowded

Jossy Gallegos and Tim Williams

View from La Escollera pool

Walked by this bar in La Ropa area- it is a bar catering to fire fighters 

Another view of Zihuatanejo from above

Met up with guy on a run one day

Statue of Jesus underwater in Los Gatos - Stephen and Steve from SV Jeanne Anne

Our version of a car

Stephen pets EVERY dog he sees - it is hard to get around town sometimes 

Sunday night in Z'town - Every Sunday there is a big party in the square 

Oscar Mendez from Bogota Colombia - a true talent on the guitar

More pics of the typical Sunday evening in town

Local basketball game in town square

My carne tacos - carne sautéed with caramelized onion and pepper with cheese, pico with mango and pineapple I added and my favorite - a large dollop of crema on top.  Love crema! 

Susanna and Zuleida from Duo Con-trastes - both from Cuba 

Hike in Ixtapa with great over look

Ixtapa island or Isla Grande - we anchored in the bay on the right for a night. 

Ixtapa beach

Amazing Oscar playing! 

SV Jeanne Anne cockpit - monkey lying low.

Next to me is Zuleida, then Oscar, Stephen, Chelsea, Steve and in front Susana. Edgar (Zuleida's husband is taking the pic)