Zihua - last photos

I must say we LOVED Zihuatanejo - just adored it!

The archaeological museum was interesting. I am just very unhappy I didn't get pictures of the circumcised phallic symbols - circumcised! With what??  Jagged onyx blades??? But to think - circumcision in the olden days before stainless steel surgical cutting knife or scalpel - YIKES! But proof is found here in the artifacts that the deed was performed long ago - without sharp and sterile instruments.

The people of Zihua are beautiful. Deep coffee colored pigments. Indian derivation. Shy. I noticed the politeness of the culture when I entered a transportation van in the town and all the locals greeted one another with a "Buenes Tardes" (good afternoon)...; even the young children.

The colors, the scent, the flavors, the music...
definitely a favorite - Zihuatanejo.

Got to experience this fabulous time with really good friends, too.

PHOTOS OF ZIHUATANEJO

Beautiful sculptures are scattered throughout town

A view of Bahia Zihuatanejo from the beach

Watercolor artist, Ron Hunt, of Minnesota lives part time in Zihua

It has been cloudy and gray since we arrived in Zihuatanejo. Only a couple of mornings and then some late afternoons have we seen the sun shine. But the colors and the people and the activities glow nonetheless.

Our favorite meal has been in the local Mercado – Chile Rellenos made with Cotija cheese – a crumbly, salty, pungent cheese similar to Feta. For less than $3.50US we have bought a meal of the delicious chile accompanied by rice, beans and homemade tortillas.

Father and son ham it up for the camera

This is the first time we have seen the market chickens displayed quite like this.

Or, you can indulge in the sidewalk hamburger carts. A hamburger cooked before your very eyes and adorned with jalapenos, ham, avocado, tomato, grilled onion and mustard, ketchup or mayo costs only $3US.

Mamey fruit: taste to me like a creamy sweet potato pie

Mamey fruit vendor

If we had more time, we could spend months in Zihua.

Local musicians: the man on the left plays the guitar and blows into the bamboo panflute while
kicking a drum with his foot. Now that's multi-tasking!

El Pescador

CSI – Zihuatanejo: Hotspur's On the Case

Eliott Ness, Hercule Poirot, Jessica Fletcher, and Hotspur have one thing in common… they are crime solvers.

Zihua Sail Fest is the height of Zijuatanejo and one of the best events of the year – bringing in numerous volunteers and participants to help raise money for the education of some very disadvantaged children. Many of our friends participated in the parade and the Regatta this year that goes to help more than 400 kids. Here is a funny recap from one of our friends who participated in the Regatta: s/v Just A Minute

Who could have expected that some of those same generous participants of Sailfest would be the victims of a crime?  Who would have thought that the Hotspurvians would snap a photograph that would help prove one man’s innocence?

Hotspur arrived in Z-Town, as many call it, one day after the 2012 Sailfest Regatta. Awards ceremonies were scheduled and it was well known that many cruisers would not be aboard their vessels after the hour of 4pm. Hotspur was invited to attend, but our crew was tired and we opted to stay aboard and sit in the lovely breeze our cockpit offered us.

The view was spectacular. After sailing in gray rainy conditions to get to Z-town, the sunlight bouncing off the hillside homes was a welcome vision. Sailboats sat primly on their anchors, Hobie Cats weaved their colorful sails in and out of the fleet, and local families frolicked on the inviting beaches. It was a beautiful site.

I ran to get the camera to try and capture the moment. The photos were disappointing – that beautiful reflection just isn’t as magical on a computer screen as it is in real time. I put the images away in a folder on my desktop and told myself I’d cull through the photos and toss away the less than exciting pictures later… or so I thought.

The morning following the awards ceremony, s/v Stay Cat and s/v Beyond informed the fleet that they had been robbed. Someone had boarded the vessels (Beyond's hatch had been smashed to gain entrance) and stolen items, including a laptop. Luckily, the thief was interrupted before he absconded with a stack of other expensive equipment, which sat in a pile beside the companionway. More worrisome, a galley knife had been taken and was discovered in another part of the boat. It is probable that the perpetrator used that to arm himself against anyone that may have caught him in the midst of his caper.

Cruisers intend to be helpful to one another, but sometimes hunches and bad vibes just aren’t enough to charge a person with such a egregious crime as armed robbery. There were those who immediately radioed that they suspected a heavy set Mexican man who comes by boats in his white canoe to clean the hulls. It has been reported that he scams cruisers by cleaning hulls without being asked to do so, charging $60US and doing a crummy job to boot. But being a lousy bottom cleaner is far different than being a thief. Hotspur was there to save the day - well, at least to save the conviction of an innocent man.

Hotspur’s photo captured proof that a small blue boat, probably a kayak, was behind Stray Cat’s starboard hull. Though it isn’t a clear enough photograph to prove who did it, it is obviously clear enough to prove who didn’t do it. Luckily for the man in the white canoe, he was exonerated by my photo.

Do you see a crime taking place in this photo?

All kidding aside, boarding a boat is a serious offense. It is protocol even for good friends to ask one another permission before they come aboard. You just don't do it unless it's an emergency or a priority. And leaving your dinghy in the water at night and having it stolen is like baiting a baby with a piece of candy. It is far different than having someone come aboard your boat and rob you. For the poor couple on Stray Cat, this is their second robbery - the first being in San Blas.

A blown up version of the above photo. What do you see behind this catamaran?

Side note: thanks to Patrick on Just A Minute for the title of this blog post. He came up with it right before he and my husband jumped in their dinghy and cowboy-ed out to confront a kayaker who was getting just a little too close to the boat the other night. Some poor woman trying to get a better internet signal was scared half to death. Oh, and now if anyone who owns a blue kayak is spotted - well ... click-click!

Final Photos of Isabela

Looking up at male Frigate Bird who is enticing nearby female with his red inflated gular sac. Ohh la la!

I neglected to give proper kudos. Sweet Carolyne took about half of the photos in the last post and half of the photos in this post. I think she did a great job capturing the charming qualities of the birds being disturbed by us. 

Carolyne inspecting nesting Blue Footed Boobie hen and chick

Mr. Boobie stands guard

And though you can get very, very close to the nests, the parents really don’t like it. But since there is no natural predator to gobble the goslings, the adults are just practicing their instinctive need to protect their young. You can literally walk in between the Boobie nests on the ground and the birds complain about it only a little bit. At no time did we ever feel threatened by the adults. The Frigate bird nests are so low in the branches that you could reach inside them if you were a hideous bad person… or very, very hungry.

Silly girl!

Mr. Boob charges, but only makes noises

Hungry fallen Frigate chick cries for food. If this little one can get into an open area, the parent can land and will many times continue feeding the baby until it can forage for itself.

Oh – in case you’re wondering why there are no photos of Tim who was also along…

he was wearing his glasses and was having a bad hair day. When we did try to capture his bed head on camera, he disappeared behind the bushes and trees, cursing us loudly without swear words.

Isla Isabela - Finally!

We sailed 4 days and 4 nights – with one stop for a couple hours… Isla Isabela. We have tried 3 ½ years to stop at “Mexico’s Galapagos Island” -  and each time it has been rotten weather. This time, there was no stopping me. This place was on my bucketlist and I was going to cross it off!

Frigate Bird baby that has fallen out of its nest. You want to help so bad, but nature must take its course here.

Carolyne looking up at a nesting Frigate baby.

The anchorage is known to be an ‘anchor-eater’ – lots of rocks to snag. When we arrived, 2 boats were anchored where we wanted to be. Such is luck. Jim and I dropped the hook an were uncomfortably close to a reef. We only had a few hours of daylight left, so Jim urged the kids and me to venture forth and get back before the sun went down. He offered to stay aboard and keep an eye on things.

I have never hiked so fast in my life! It was a power hike!

We stopped only to take photos of fuzzy fledglings. The Frigate Bird babies and Blue Footed Boobie babies were everywhere. Because the island is a protected refuge, you can get really close to the nests. The parents only complain a little. The Frigate Bird nests were literally just over our heads (Carolyne and I wore hats!) and the Boobies are ground nesters – so we tread very carefully.

These researchers come from Mexico City and surrounding areas. Two are volunteers.

Researchers occupy the island and were exceptionally friendly and knowledgeable. They tag the birds with numbered ankle bracelets. Mating habits and nesting habits are just some of the behaviors that are monitored. One female Boobie they were watching carefully was still nurturing her dead chick, out of character for this species. Usually, the female will move the living chicks out of the nest if one dies.

Blue Footed Boobie Feet

The male Boobie guards the nest while the female sits on eggs...

and sits on chicks, too!

The Boobie chicks grow fast - these are 25 days old.

I wish we could have spent more time here – many trials to hike and a crater lake to enjoy. But we are on a mission south. So, two hours later we pulled anchor… and snagged a rock. Jim was overjoyed – let me tell ya. Thankfully, we motored it out of the crevice successfully and our angelic children were spared a spousal argument.

Many babies don't make it because they fall out of the nests.

Onward we went – until… we agreed to stop in La Cruz for minor repairs: 

• change zinc on engine hoping to stop the salt water leak we noticed below the engine
• moved the flux gate compass because we were yawing ridiculously
• re-wired fridge because it was running non-stop
• changed injector pump oil

A cruiser’s work is never done.

Good News – Very Bad News – and Excellent News

Right before we left Guaymas, we finally found a 15HP 2 stroke short shaft outboard through Star Marine Center in San Carlos. Star Marine Center had their mechanic bring it to us in the Guaymas boat yard so we could attach it to our dinghy and test its tenacity and super fast planing powers with all four of us on board. Tim, our family dinghy expert, gave the thumbs up so we purchased it for 10,000 pesos – roughly $700 US. We were thrilled to find a used one… more thrilled that we didn’t have to pay $3,000US for a new one.

We had spent all our cash on-hand for the outboard and because we were preparing to leave Guaymas to sail south I needed to make a quick bank run. The HSBC bank (my favorite in Mexico) was downtown and I was too lazy to deal with finding a parking spot, or parallel parking, or walking ten blocks after parking the car. So, I drove to the nearest grocery store, Del Norte, and used the Santander ATM machine.

We have heard rumors about identity theft, stolen bank cards and lost funds when using non-bank establishment ATMs. However, this has been only hearsay. I have never actually met a cruiser in person who has had a problem. Jim and I, however, have a ‘guideline’; we go to a bank location v.s. any other ATM. But, sometimes we are lazy – like I was feeling this time.

I stuck my card in the machine, punched in my secret code while pressing my body close to the screen so that no one could decipher entry into our bank account, and waited. The ATM made lots of money giving sounds. Then, it asked me something unintelligible in Spanish. I couldn’t make out a single word of it. I tried opening the little slot that I assumed dispensed the cash. No.  I looked all over the machine, thinking that maybe there was a hidden door to dispense cash. No. The machine gave another message that I translated to mean that it “couldn’t give me money at this time” OR “you have not taken your cash we gave you”. And, I had distinctly heard the machine making cash counting sounds. I was very distressed. I had asked for almost $500US and hadn’t gotten it. Nor, had I gotten a receipt. And I wasn’t exactly sure what the machine was telling me. No bank manager at the grocery store - no one to ask.

I drove to HSBC and the bank machine there told me that I had exceeded my limit. I was sweating bullets. Maybe I had been tricked by some ATM bandito who had rigged the grocery store machine and stolen my money!

When I was able to get internet I checked our balance. All the blood drained from my face. Over $480 had definitely been deducted from our checking account. I panicked. That was two Kindle Fires I could have had! It just cost us $1,200 for our outboard instead of $700! And worse, how was I going to tell my husband?

I made a frantic Skype call to our bank after I calmed down enough to speak and explained my situation. The lady on the other end said they would look into it.

We sailed 4 days and 4 nights until we arrived in La Cruz. I had bad dreams along the way – not ever recovering that cash.

I just checked my bank info and guess what? REFUND!! A deposit was made to correct a mistake. There was no thief, no bandito, no identity theft. There was just an ATM that probably became jammed when it tried to do its job. 

Thank goodness for technical difficulties!

We're Wet!

Finally - we are back in the water and at anchor in Guaymas. There won't be anymore photos for a while, but I will test out our email capabilities via the Pactor Modem while underway in the next day or so. We're not sure yet where we'll stop first - it's all in the weather.