Puerto Angel & Bahia de Jicaral (Our favorite)

January 9th 2011 - Puerto Angel – We were heading into Puerto Escondido Bay when a sailboat was just leaving called us on the VHF… They had a very rough night with very uncomfortable rolly seas and they were leaving… we didn’t like the sounds of that, so we plotted a new course 37 miles south to Puerto Angel.

We arrived here at 3pm, it’s a very small bay and there were already 4 sailboats in it, so getting a spot was a little difficult to find an anchorage with all the pangas taking the prime spots. After we got the anchor dropped and a few cold drinks down, we were boarded by the Harbor Master and four machine gun toting solders to do the “check in inspection”. First thing I did…I asked if they would like some ice cold Pepsi drinks….”Si”! (Always best to get off on a good note with these guys). All is great, didn’t even go below, stayed in the cockpit and enjoyed the drinks and conversations. Tomorrow “Manaña” come to my office and I’ll have your papers stamped and ready for you. Nice!

We jumped into the 80° water…Ohhhhh it felt nice! Later, Nancy made a great noodle dinner, and now we are sitting in the cockpit enjoying the cool evening breeze… of course it’s still 81° at 8pm, but that breeze sure feels nice.

Tomorrow we will dinghy into “town” and explore. This is a pretty cool place with two small beaches and palapas (beachside cafés) to enjoy fresh food and cold beverages.

We have now logged over 4300 miles since leaving Portland Oregon! WoW! We have used our watermaker so much we can’t imagine not having it. We made about 90 gallons while we were sailing here, so fresh water showers are not something we have to “plan” ahead for (many cruisers take saltwater showers then rinse with a spray bottle of freshwater). “No thanks,” says Admiral Nancy!

We needed to go to an ATM or bank and an internet café. Our stop at the ATM told us our card would not work and to call our bank. Hmmmm… so we went across the street to the “Banco” …”No, we have no ATM and cannot give you money”. Ok, so off to the internet café to call our bank….”Nope, your card is good, there must have been a problem with the ATM machine”. Ok, so now we’re finding a taxi to take us to a nearby Banco Santander (since we have a Bank of America this bank doesn’t charge extra fees to use their ATM). Turns out all is good, and now with money in hand it’s time for a cold one!

Today we took a taxi to Playa Zipolite…come to find out it’s a very long, beautiful, and NUDE beach! After (slowly) walking the beach, we stopped at a beachside palapa and had a pitcher of Lim’onada (lemonade but made with limes…delicious!). Yes, lots of topless beauties on the beach…it takes a long time to drink a pitcher of Lim’onada with such great views….our eyes still hurt! Ha Ha

January 13th Jicaral (37 miles south of Puerto Angel)
This is part of the Bahias de Huatulco Natural Park, (pronounced wah-tool-co) that includes 36 beaches and several bays. With so many beaches and bays, you can imagine how difficult it was to decide which to choose. We chose Jicaral and have this beautiful little bay all to ourselves - complete with a private beach and great coral snorkeling. The “bay” is about 300 yards in diameter with rocks on two sides, beach behind us, and open water in front. Last night we watched a cruise ship pass by!

Oh, and talk about great snorkeling! WOW! We voted this as our second best snorkeling area (snorkeling at Los Islotes with sea lions is defiantly our #1 choice). We have a huge area of coral in 3’ to 20’ depths… it’s like swimming in a saltwater aquarium filled with fish, lobster, and a sea turtle too!

That 80° water feels even better than it looks! I got a little sunburned as we swam so many hours and walked the sandy beach, but “Florida Nancy” is beginning to look like a blond native who should be walking the beaches selling t-shirts to tourists! Hmmm…..If I got her a few cheap t shirts and….Uhh, hmmm, on second thought, best not to mention this idea to her…. just yet.

We anchored in 50 feet of clear warm water (no coral was harmed in this anchoring), later we put a short stern anchor but during the night the wind changed direction and the boat drug it around and into our anchor chain, so this morning we put on 250’ of line and reset the stern anchor….without the stern anchor the winds turn the boat sideways to some swells remnant of a storm from the Gulf of a Tehuantepec . The swells gave an uncomfortable night trying to sleep. So, this morning we’re both a little tired…but the bay is so beautiful we’ll stay here a couple more days...no rush to leave
January 14th We decided to stay a few more days here because we like it so much. The swells calmed down last night providing us with a smooth bay, a good night sleep, and our reset stern anchor did a wonderful job keeping us pointed to the reducing swells.

I had an idea to alert the tourist panga boats that we have a stern line out (so they don’t drive over it). I tied a big Orange float with a six foot sliding line that slides up and down our stern line. This works great! They can see the stern line from the boat leading to the Orange buoy, then continuing down to the stern anchor. Any distance beyond the 6 foot level (at the buoy), their outboard propeller will pass will easily pass over. The pangas like to pass close by so all the tourist can wave and see the “Americana’s Velero” (American’s Sailboat)- We do look pretty good as many have been taking pictures of Windfall at anchor.

Yesterday we met, Linden and Jeanette, a couple that were snorkeling nearby with a tourist panga, and we invited them to come aboard. We learned they were from Australia, purchased two motorcycles in Seattle, and plan to ride all the way to the end of South America! They left Seattle about the same time we left Portland and we may meet with them again in Panama. They‘re tent camping along the way, and only have what they can carry on the two motorcycles. Wow! What an adventure they will have to tell.

Next stop... Marina Chahue (pronounced Cha-way - 20 miles further south in Santa Cruz), where we will do a few repair projects and get the boat ready for the BIG crossing of the Gulf of Tehuantepec (more on this later). From here we will take a bus trip to Oaxaca (pronounced wah-ha-ca) and spend a few days as it's supposed to be a "Can't miss" destination - Stay tuned, more adventures to come!