Travalog Four

Acapulco to
Puerto Angel

Needless to say, we have gotten behind on our travelogs. This one was started while still in Mexico (old news), and we are now in Costa Rica. Where has all the time gone?!

After a very calm overnight trip from Zihuatenejo, we arrived in Acapulco at the crack of dawn; so early that we had to throttle back to await daybreak. Acapulco, a city of 3 million people is built on the side of steep hills surrounding a beautiful natural harbor and after not seeing another light all night, it was truly spectacular having all the lights come into view. We pulled into Acapulco Yacht Club and were assigned a med tie. Since we belong to a yacht club with reciprocal privileges, we were only charged $8.00 a day to include the use of restaurant, pool, towels, etc. The normal guest rate is over $25.00 per day. The club is quite old, but very well maintained with a very helpful, friendly staff. Acapulco YC has quite an active racing calendar to include numerous junior events. Their dry storage yard is like a whose who of 1970 - 1980 ocean racing yachts.

Acapulco, as you may remember, used to be the playground of the rich and famous during the 40's, 50's and 60's long before Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Luca, etc, but has obviously seen its better days. The entire city looks like it was built between 1945-1960. However, it is a great place to provision, a short taxi ride to SAM's Club, Walmart, Price Club and a large chain of Mexican markets.

We tried some of the local restaurants, "sampled" the Margaritas, put in our pool time, and spent an afternoon watching the world famous cliff divers. Truly spectacular. After 5 days, we were ready to move on.

Next stop was 140 miles south to Puerto Escondido, a major world surfing spot. In the summer months, surf up to 30 ft. (glad we missed that!) The little town had numerous small hotels and some very good restaurants. A real mix of people included American "surfer dudes", Europeans (topless sunbathing) an artsy crowd from New York and us! The anchorage is quite small with room for only 5 or six boats, but we lucked out being the only boats there.

A short hop south was the lovely small bay of Puerto Angel, which we had scheduled for a short overnight stop. We anchored off a beautiful beach lined with palm trees and guess what…….palapa bars! You could hear the whir of blenders as we set the hook! Since it was after 3:00 PM, we decided to clear in with the Port Captain in the morning. So, it was into the dinghies, off to the beach on our endless quest for the perfect margarita! However, no sooner had the salted glasses arrived than we spotted a large panga loaded with seven uniformed, heavily armed Mexican Navy sailors and one drug-sniffing dog. First they circled VIVA and then CHARIS, and after realizing nobody was aboard, they headed for our beach. Since we blended in with the other fair skinned gringos ashore, we thought they would give up and go home. Wrong! They spotted our dinghies ashore and prepared to make a surf landing. By this time it was obvious we had better make an appearance. We were ordered to return to the boats for a "routine" inspection. I was certain that we had to be on their "most wanted" list, since we had not cleared in or out of Puerto Escondido. Bob was told to stay in our dinghy during the boarding, which acted as a fender between VIVA and the panga. The entire navy crew came aboard, including the dog; and after inspecting our papers and the boat, things began to lighten up. We served them all sodas and the dog a bowl of water. The black lab "drug-sniffer" refused to go into the cockpit or below, and really only wanted a drink and some shade. After about 30 minutes on VIVA, it is time to head for an inspection of CHARIS. While boarding the panga, the dog falls in. Since it has to be the coolest he has been all day, he takes off for a nice swim with the Mexican Navy in full pursuit. When they finally caught up and hauled him aboard, he of course shook all over their guns, uniforms and paperwork. At least when they boarded CHARIS, they left the wet dog in the panga!
Meanwhile, Pam and Connie have finished their margaritas, and not wanting to let the ice melt, finished ours also. Needless to say, they were pretty happy by the time we arrived back on the beach. To the contrary, we were hot, thirsty, had made two surf landings and were not happy! We have also been ordered to check in with the Port Captain first thing in the morning. At 9:00 AM, in our best clearing-in apparel and with papers in hand, we report to the Capitan de Puerto. With over six employees, this had to be the major employer of the little village. They greeted us with carbon paper and rubber stamps in hand, and after much typing stamping, etc., etc., we were told that our port fees would be 16 pesos (about $1.70 US). Bob's fees would be 18 pesos ($2.00US). We had learned previously that port fees must be paid at the bank, and since Puerto Angel didn't have a bank, we were now faced with a 15 mile taxi ride inland to the next town where there was a bank. 50 pesos later, after a hair raising taxi ride through a narrow winding road through the foothills we finally arrive hot and dusty at the only bank within 25 miles. After paying our $1.70 port fee and getting all three copies of our very official paperwork stamped, we headed back to the Port Captain, only to be told that we need one more copy of the bank form! Since he has to leave in 15 minutes, we rush up the street to the papeleria, only to find out that their copy machine is broken. Next, we sprint down the street to an Internet Café with the only remaining, working copy machine. With five minutes to spare, we arrived sweat-drenched back at the Port Captain with all papers in hand, happy to have completed this ordeal in only one day! After swamping the dingy while exiting the beach, we have now removed Puerto Angel from our must-see list!! Stay tuned for the Huatulco, the "dreaded" Gulf of Tehuantepec and the "Forgotten Middle"

All the best,

Steve & Pam

 

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