Log 14 - Life in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico 
                               December 16^th 2002 to February 12^th 2003

Well, we didn’t “get back to you soon” as promised in Log 12. We kind of got sucked in to the scene in Zihuatanejo and this log is actually being written in Mazatlan, with some 480 miles behind us. We really want to get caught up on our travel logs, so here is what life was like for us during our time in Zihuatanejo.

For one thing, our stay in Zihua (as it is called by the locals) was the longest we have spent in any one place – 8 weeks, 2 days. We had planned it that way, with the option always being to just leave when it stopped being fun. We had heard from so many sources that Zihuatanejo is a great place for cruisers, if anything we were a bit worried that it may have been “oversold” to us, but it wasn’t. It is a great place for sailors and land-based tourists alike. The town is split into two sections, the old fishing town of Zihuatanejo and the glitzy gringo town of Ixtapa. Ixtapa was purpose built by the Mexican Tourist Board in an area that was a lagoon and swampland. They have made a really exotic spot - warm sea, great beaches and palm trees swaying in the breeze - but it’s aimed at airborne tourists. Zihuatanejo, on the other hand, is pretty much unchanged as far as we can see. It does benefit from the tourists in Ixtapa, and the occasional cruise ship that stops there, but apart from that it’s still pretty much a fishing town that has embraced tourism, both on and off the water. AND it has great beaches, decent services, friendly people and a fantastic public market.

We wanted to spend the Christmas holidays somewhere warm, and since we had not gotten as far south as Zihuatanejo in the previous year, we elected to arrive there in time for the festivities, and spend two to three months there.  The cruising fleet mostly arrives after the holidays, so we had a great opportunity to get to know the area prior to the hordes arriving.  We connected with many fellow cruisers here, friends from past anchorages and new ones.  We celebrated the holidays surrounded by good friends in great surroundings. Zihuatanejo is well supplied with great eateries and our choices for Christmas dinner were plentiful. Of course, the other option was to cook a turkey on Breila (at least we’d have leftovers), but when it’s 95 deg and the same humidity, there’s not much enthusiasm for cooking dinner on board. We did, however, spy a live turkey (tethered by a string) at a food vendor’s stand at the market, which gave us pause for thought. We had Christmas dinner with new friends from JaaLa, Starlight Express (both Canadian) and Austerity from the US. The meal was a memorable occasion sitting 100 feet above the bay under a huge palapa roof, with warm breezes blowing across the table at the Zihuatanejo Yacht Club.

New Year’s Eve was another epicurean delight - dinner overlooking the bay, with friends from Milagro and their visiting family from the frozen wasteland of the north. Good food and a great view of the 3 sets of fireworks around the bay. We walked back through town to a huge dance party going on at the town square. We got in our dinghies and went home, while the locals partied ‘till about 4am. We must be getting old!

Our lives got quite a bit more complicated after being in Zihuatanejo for just a week, when we volunteered to help organize the 2^nd Annual Zihua Sail Fest.  Cruisers created this fundraising event in an effort to give something back to the local community that warmly welcomes them for 4 to 5 months of each year. The cruisers chose the Netzahualcoyotl Indian School as the charity they would sponsor. In particular the monies generated go to fund capital projects there. The school has, in the past, been funded by donation, by labor supplied by the parents, and by the hard work of the school’s originator, herself an Amerindian. Why is there a separate school?  About 30% of Mexico’s population is Amerindian, or “indegena”. All children in Mexico can go to the public school system, at no charge, but only if they can speak Spanish. Most of the Indian tribes still speak their native languages, of which there are about 60 different tongues, each quite distinct. In the Zihua area there are 5 tribes, each with their own language based on Nahuatl – the ancient Aztec tongue. Marina, the founder, started teaching local indigenas Spanish so that they could use the federal school system. In Mexico, school is free for Spanish-speaking children aged 5-14. After that, parents must pay for tuition and uniforms through high school. If a child can make it that far academically and financially, post-secondary education is also free. Not such a bad system, but impossible for indigenas without Spanish.  The school now serves about 300 children, over 100 of whom live in primitive conditions on the school grounds, as their home villages are too far away for the daily walk.

With such a worthy cause, and with a successful first year’s event behind us, the organizing committee jumped in with both feet to shepherd Sail Fest. Many of the people out cruising are type “A” personalities and can’t do anything half-heartedly (not us, of course!). The Sail Fest was a resounding success as we’ll describe later, but it required a huge effort considering we are all supposed to be retired.  Lots of meetings, reports and discussions as well as organizing, coordinating and the inescapable paperwork!  Plus, Mike was signed up for the Ham tests – taking his General License and Morse code tests, which required a fair bit of studying daily.  No rest for the wicked, I guess!

January was a bit of a blur. We worked on Sail Fest and between times kept the bottom of the boat free of barnacles. The water was so warm (86 deg. F) and so nutrient rich that barnacles and tiny shrimp grew all over the hull, even with anti-fouling paint on the bottom. Modern ablative bottom paints are great if you are moving; anchored as we were for 8 weeks, we may as well have used “Color Your World” vinyl paint. The propeller has no paint on it, and that was the worst. Each week Mike scraped off ¼” of baby barnacles and crustaceans, covered with 2” of grass. But at least the water was warm. We got a call from Jo on Milagro one afternoon, asking if we could please bring our Otoscope over to their boat. Lance had been cleaning the bottom of his boat and a small shrimp found its way into his ear. Alcohol on a Q-Tip only made it mad and it bit his inner ear. It took a lot of flushing and irrigation to get that one out.  He’d had a similar problem some weeks, when a tiny crab went in his ear (wonder what he uses for bait?).  We learned to wear a dive hood when cleaning under the boat.

One of the nicest things we did in Zihua was to take a kayak trip on a tidal/freshwater lagoon, to see the bird life. Backed by the Sierra Madres at this point of the coast, the lagoon was one of many that are on the flight path for the myriad of birds that winter in Central America and summer in the northwest and Canada. There are many of these lagoons along the coast (Ixtapa was built on one) and each is slightly different depending on the time of the year and whether it is open to the sea. The one we visited was cut off from the ocean by a huge sand bank last year and the lake had been twice the size it was this year. Even so, it was probably 6-7 miles long and as wide as one mile in places, winding in and out of black mangrove channels. Our knowledgeable guide helped us to identified 35+ different bird species as we paddled silently through the lagoon; we also visited old Indian salt workings, ingenious evaporation pans with channels to move the feed water across the pans. In one area we spotted 7 workings in less than one square mile. We stopped for a late lunch afterwards and enjoyed some of the best food we’d had in Mexico, in a gorgeous small hotel set along the beach, and we cavorted like seals in the fresh water infinity pool. It was a full day out from the boat and we returned exhausted, but elated.

Our friends Ken and Linde from Portland came to visit for the last week of January.  Sailors themselves, and future cruisers, they are great boat guests as well as lots of fun to have around.  We tried to introduce them to the real cruising life, as well as take in the beachy, touristy stuff.  We even hauled the anchor and spent a night at a neighboring anchorage, Isla Grande.  This was a blast, as we got a bit of snorkeling in along with a change in scenery.  We also watched a “flying dinghy” – an inflatable with a delta-wing kite attached – fly about 700 feet above our heads; quite a sight!  And every day we spent splashing about in the water.  We all attended a market tour and cooking class held by J.J., a local restaurateur.  J.J. grew up on an avocado farm (he called it a ranch) and taught us a lot about local cooking techniques and food items.  We learned that the native Mexicans of this area were basically vegetarians before the Spanish arrived.  J.J. is quite a character, and he told us many intriguing tales of politics and local gossip as we wandered around the market area.  We were sorry to see our friends depart, as they provided a much needed respite for us!

Once Ken and Linde left, we switched back in to high gear to get Sail Fest running smoothly.  We visited every boat in the bay to ensure maximum participation in all the events – and to recruit volunteers, as Catharine was the volunteer coordinator.  We were also responsible for organizing all water-borne activities, as well as raffle ticket sales and, at the last minute, silent auction coordination.

The first week in February was Sail Fest, five days of fun and activities.  There was a tremendous kick-off party at Rick’s Bar, the local cruisers watering hole.  Here all registered participants could pick up their t-shirts, burgees, and info packets.  We worked outside, making up nametags and handing out information about the upcoming events.  We were swamped all night, and at times had a line up 10 people deep.  We did manage to have some fun, though, and didn’t lose our voices!  There were seminars for cruisers, which we attended but were not directly involved in organizing.  Then we attended the Giant Beach Party, which featured lots of beach games.  We were signed up to participate in five events, and are pleased to report that in all we placed first.  Mike led his team to a win in the kayak race; then there was the Land and Sea Hunt, and our team (Breila’s crew, plus Les and Marcia from Indigo) came from behind to take first place in a mad scramble.  Then Catharine was fastest to dress herself while blindfolded in the “Bag Lady” event.  The most humorous was Mike’s performance in the “Men in Tights” competition.  The guys had to don a pair of pantyhose while blindfolded, and Mike’s perfect technique earned him many snide comments, even though he did manage to come in first. 

The following day was especially hectic for us.  Catharine had quarterbacked the morning’s event, a Dinghy Poker Run.  Following clues, participants arrived at five checkpoints around the bay, and drew a playing card from the official’s pack.  Once they had found all five checkpoints, racers could turn in their cards and the winner was the team with the best poker hand from the cards they collected.  Everything went off without a hitch, and a good time was had by all. 

The mid-day event was the Pursuit Sail Race, which Michael had organized.  We were also participating as racers, so Mike had a crackerjack Race Committee in place to officiate.  The wind came up on cue, and all details were well taken care of. We had recruited a ringer – our friend Wayne from Vancouver BC joined us as helmsman for the race.  Wayne knows Breila well, having helmed with us in the Pacific Cup, and all the way down from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta.  Breila got a terrific start, and we were first in first place approaching the first mark.  The only contingency not accounted for occurred – someone stole the mark!  This was particularly distressing for us as attached to the buoy was our anchor, 50’ of chain and 120’ of octaplait line – a $400 value!  Well, as you might imagine, the missing mark caused all kinds of confusion, and several boats started sailing around the headland towards the next bay, assuming the mark must be there.  When race committee confirmed that the mark was gone, we all had to sail the course following the racers who sailed to the next bay, meaning Breila lost her lead, and seven or eight boats rounded the new virtual mark ahead of us.  Once we rounded the next mark and began the spinnaker run, we did manage to make up some time, and ended by finishing fifth overall.  The race was billed as a fun, no-stress event.  While it was fun, it certainly wasn’t “no-stress” for Breila’s crew!

That evening, we all got together for a raft-up potluck party on Profligate, the huge 82’ catamaran owned by the publisher of Latitude 38 sailing magazine.  We handed out the prizes for the day’s events, and enjoyed ourselves telling racing stories and making new friends.  It was quite a scene, with over 150 cruisers from 82 boats present!

On Saturday, there was a Charity Sail event, where ticket purchasers could enjoy a sail aboard Profligate, or New Focus or Wavy, two other large sailing catamarans that donated their facilities.  We opted not to participate in this event, preferring to catch our breath and prepare for the final day’s events, but heard great reports from all who attended. 

Sunday featured the Sail Parade, which we coordinated.  All boats in the bay were invited to dress ship, and follow in formation behind the Port Captain’s boat.  The route circled the bay twice, then wended around and in front of the hotels in Ixtapa.  Then each boat formally acknowledged the Port Captain as we sailed past him on our return to Zihuatanejo Bay.  Breila was the lead boat, and we were fully dressed in our signal flags and battle banners.  It was quite a sight seeing most of the boats in the bay forming a line that stretched a mile behind us. The big wrap up party was held at the Las Gatas Beach Club, and featured the silent auction and raffle draws.  There were so many prizes donated by local merchants that we really had to hustle the draws along to make sure we got everything in.  Local restaurants served up great meals, and there was a presentation by some of the students from the Netza School.  All funds raised by the Sail Fest were to be matched by the Belleck Foundation.  Last year’s event raised $4000 for the school, including the matching grant. This year’s goal was $10,000.  When all monies were counted, we had raised over $11,600 from Sail Fest.  The Gloria and Richard Belleck were on hand to write the matching grant, and the final amount of the cheque handed to the school was just over $23,000 US. Everyone involved was delighted with the results, and Marina, the school’s founder, was on hand to accept the cheque and thank all the cruisers for their work towards this achievement.  It was a most gratifying moment for us, as all the hard work had paid off handsomely.  We ended the night by dancing under the stars before heading home for some rest.

The next day, Mike tried his General Ham test, and Morse code test, and passed both handily.  Now he is a full-fledged hamster, and we can use additional frequencies on our HF radio.  We will also be able to take advantage of the WinLink email system, which has lots of additional features and benefits.

After the Sail Fest wound down, we spent time catching up with friends we’d had to ignore.  We actually had a social calendar posted, as we wanted to make sure we got a chance to see everyone and not get double booked.  Zihua is a real turning point.  Many cruisers continue on south to transit the Canal, while others are turning east to head to the South Pacific.  Others of us return north.  So it is the last opportunity to visit with people who had become good friends during our cruising years.  Cruisers are a terrific bunch of people, and one of the hardest parts is saying goodbye to friends you may never see again.  We also wanted to make sure we got a chance to properly express our appreciation to everyone who helped us work on Sail Fest.  But the time for us to sail north was approaching, and you can really tell when it is time to move on. So after three days of organizing, provisioning, laundry and paperwork, we finally left on February 12^th. Checkout took longer than expected, laundry didn’t get back in time and the final delay was caused by taking another look at the bottom and finding lots more barnacles that took most of an afternoon to remove. We departed the bay at 4:30 pm to the radio hails of our many friends in Zihua.

The memories are fading fast, but already we are making plans of things to do when in Zihuatanejo next year on our way further south. As we said when we started this missive, we are in Mazatlan now, where we will be taking in the wild gyrations of Carnaval starting this weekend. We owe it to the website to get another few logs in before we leave Mexico, so keep an eye out soon for the trip from Zihua to Mazatlan.