Mazatlan South to El Salvador

Departed Mazatlan on Wednesday 12th of Jan 2011. Covered 190 miles sailing 170 of it in 48 hours, arriving Friday morning about o8oo. Anchored off La Cruz, in Banderas bay, same bay Puerto Vallarta is located and checked into the Marina the next day. Looks like we are going to spend about 9 days in the marina and then head south again. Well the Nine days turned into 3 weeks but mail finally caught up with us two months after we ordered it.
Sunday Market in La Cruz
Colorful wooden bowls
Comfort Zone at dock in La Cruz
Entrance to Art Gallery and Tea room we Like in La Cruz
Interesting use of Glass

Finally departed La Cruz on 2/06/11 at 09:00. Flew our Spinnaker for the first time after a another boater offered me $500.00 for it and I turned it down. I decided I should start using it with 10 kts of following wind it pulls the boat at 5 kts. We then started flying it every day coming down the coast.
First Spinnaker flight
Arrived at Navidad on Super bowl Sunday about 5 PM. Decided to stay on boat instead of launching the Dinghy and going to watch game. Didn’t find out who won until 3 or 4 days later in Zihuatanejo. Departed Navidad Monday morning 09:00.
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Video Leaving Navidad
Arrived Zihuatanejo at 09:00 on the 9th of Feb.
The Anchorage is a little rolly but much better than most on west coast of Mexico. They take your laundry and deliver fuel and beer right to your boat at anchor. How about that for service? Went ashore a couple of times and got on internet and of course some beers and ate plus shopping.
Dinghy beach where you land through the surf
Beach area where you stroll shop and eat
Comfort Zone at anchor
Departed Zihuatanejo 08:15 on 2/14/11. Arrived in Acapulco 09:00 Monday. Tied to a mooring ball for $20.00 a night for two nights. Little expensive but anchoring is very tight and muddy. Went ashore once and had Shrimp cocktail we had been thinking about since the last time we were here in 2006. They had changed the recipe and it wasn’t quite as good as before but still good.
Have a Balloon where’s the handler
Have a Hat (Jayne thought he was neat)
Departed Acapulco on Thursday 09:00, headed for Huatulco; last stop before the dreaded Tehuantepec. The Tehuantepec. is the nearer part between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific ocean. The winds blow hard from the Gulf into the Pacific, some times approaching 100 kts. Arrived in Huatulco Sat. 2/19/11 at10:00.. Tied to a dock for first time since leaving La Cruz; always a surge but livable. Took an inland tour with a local cab driver for one day. Went up in the mountains to two different towns, 600 and 800 years old. The oldest town was a coffee producing town. The cab driver was also an artist. He gave Jayne a water color and I bought a carving then later made him some cards on the computer and Jayne gave him a couple of her prints. Went to the beach in Huatulco and found the best shrimp salad and cocktail so far. The best of the trip.
Central Plaza Huatulco
Jayne and Gordon in town Square of 600 year old town of Santa Clara
Church in 600 year old town of Santa Clara
Art work of our tour Guide
Town Square of 800 year old coffee town
Earning his keep
Our Guide his wife and Jayne
Jayne in Coffee factory
Wood cooked lunch
Taking home fire wood
Those are radishes not beets
Watched the weather carefully on passageweather.com found a good window and departed Huatulco at 10:00 on Sunday 2/26/11. By watching the weather the Tehuantepec was no problem. Arrived Puerto Chiapas, Madero, Mexico 10:00 3/1/11. Last port in Mexico. We are ready to leave Mexico and get to Bahia Del Sol in El Salvador. There we will join up with our rally group we signed up for in Mazatlan back in Dec. We had met a few of them along the way, but the first time we would be altogether would be in El Salvador.
The port of Chiapas has a very hard check in and out procedure but by hiring a taxi for a half day we managed to get it done. We departed Chiapas Sat. 3/05/11 at 12:00. We were trying to time our arrival at Del Sol entrance to be at High tide because they have to come out on a jet ski and lead you in over a very exciting bar with surf breaking over it. It was better than an E ride at Disney Land. We arrived right on schedule 4:30 PM on the 7th of Mar.

Who needs a Surf board

Crossing Bar Video
Rally Opening Party
Our hosts gave an opening party for 50-70 people involved in the rally. Every day since has been pool parties, and various dinners by dinghy to different parts of the river, and one time a ride on a huge catamaran around the estuary.
Cat Ride
Dock at Bahia Del Sol

We’ve been up the river to the local town for supplies by dinghy, and once by van to a larger town for grocery shopping. We have access to the pool daily and take advantage of it. The resort has 2 macaws that live in a tree who are fun to watch. We have made good friends with boaters, many of them Canadians.
We paid for tying to the dock for ten days then moved out to a mooring because it is cheaper, has more wind and more privacy. Many cruisers are going on tours to Guatemala by land and some to El Salvador. We plan to tour sometime in the next week or so.
When I finally get this posted we will be back up to date.