Zihuatanejo Mexico and back

This post is a little late but we’ve been…. busy! 😃

Summary of a Season

For anyone unfortunate to have read my submission to Catalina Yachts Mainsheet magazine in which I detailed the difficulties I had adjusting to the cruising life, I’m happy to report that I coped much better during the past winter we spent cruising mainland Mexico.

(Cruising, one year in)

Cruising is what we set out to do and staying put in Puerto Vallarta, particularly during the sticky summer months, wasn’t fitting the bill for us. The end of hurricane season allowed us to depart the safety of Banderas Bay and once again discover the beauty of Mexico. We moved much more slowly during this cruise and were able to spend a lot of time at each destination as a result. We explored the areas around Barra de Navidad, Manzanillo, and Zihuatanejo, both southbound and northbound, before returning to the relative safety of Banderas Bay.

Leaving Barra de Navidad and spotting a turtle

Barra de Navidad

A dedicated post to this beautiful community where we spent quite a bit of time soaking up the luxury of the marina and resort, having family visit, and sampling the culinary diversity of a modern, yet still authentic, Mexican city. However, just when we thought it was time to move on, the cruising community handed us a reason to stay.

The calm lagoon at Barra de Navidad

Foxy riding the chicken bus to the Melaque market

Before leaving Barra, we wanted to experience the anchorage in the lagoon. We had spent 69 glorious, air conditioned days in the marina, but it was time to cut the cord. Adam settled our tab and we carefully picked our way trough the narrow and unmarked channel to the anchorage. Following the “Heather and Shawn book,” we succeeded and safely passed having only seen depths of less than two feet below the keel for a few moments. We maneuvered into a spot near our friends Marc and Laura on s/v Liquid and brushed the rust off our anchoring technique. Hook set, we embarked on a whirlwind time of old friends and new and even delayed our departure to reunite with some friends we’d met in the Sea of Cortez last season. This is one of the finer aspects of cruising life: you will always run into friends again and again. Miles and borders melt away as we all make our ways separately around our watery planet and are reunited at unexpected times. We are so glad we overstayed our departure date and rekindled old friendships and invested in new ones with cruisers hope to see again and again.

Volare taking a break

Foxy hanging out on s/v Liquid

Mixed Emotions in Manzanillo

The sail from Barra to Ensenada Carrizal was swift and uneventful. Upon our arrival, only one other boat occupied the anchorage. The water is clear and fairly calm and the uninhabited hillsides along the cove walls belie the metropolis and major shipping port of Manzanillo just a few miles south. We spent a week in this seemingly secluded spot and discovered secrets hidden from cursory view. The rocky beach at the head of the cove boasted booming surf and a climb so steep it seemed like treading water slipping up the stony slope. The beach was unapproachable by dinghy but our inflatable paddle boards made landing a possibility. Floating off the beach, watching the waves thunder onto well worn stones and viewing the impenetrable jungle that lined the shore landing seemed foolhardy and pointless. However, dogs as traveling companions make one explore what would otherwise be bypassed and Foxy and Jess overcame fear and were rewarded with a near perfect place.

Wonderful hiking areas ashore. Often paved!

Once on shore, an enclosed pathway into the jungle reveals itself. Water shoes were exchanged for hiking boots and, putting thoughts of spiders aside, we marched upslope in search of adventure. What we found was nothing short of amazing.

Secret beach near Carrizal

A trend we have noticed in Mexico is incomplete development. That is to say, jungle is cleared, roads are constructed, occasionally structures are started, but then progress stops. It’s anyone’s guess as to why and when, but incomplete development makes for fascinating exploration and navigable trails through an otherwise impassable jungle. Carrizal boasts one of the finest examples of this. A development, apparently called Rancho Majagua, leads from the steep single track off the rocky beach for miles inland. We set off to see what we could see and were rewarded with deserted but somewhat maintained dirt roads, structural ruins, a stunning private beach, and signage indicating what would have been. These trails provided hours and miles of exploration and exercise for the intrepid explorers over the next week. We were even lucky(?) enough to come across our first tarantula!

Jess in her happy place

Time in the anchorage was also well spent. A day or two after our arrival, Mike and Angie, friends we’d made in the Barra lagoon, arrived aboard s/v Madrone and we shared meals, swam, and exchanged stories with these well traveled adventurers who have sailed to Alaska, Hawaii, and now Mexico. Their sailing experience is unparalleled among cruisers we have met, yet they relay stories of these destinations with matter of fact humility that makes us think “Hey maybe we could do that.” Our Superbowl party was as good as it gets with a ridiculous spread of food and conversation that was entertaining even if the big game wasn’t. It was bittersweet to depart Carrizal, but future adventure beckoned.

Volare at anchor at Las Hadas… the “10” anchorage

Conditions were favorable for a sail south and both Madrone and Volare continued past the turn into Las Hadas for the sheer joy of a good sail. Once finally anchored up, we found a less-than-cruiser-friendly area with limited prospects for us. The marina at Las Hadas is designed for the fishing fleet and does nothing to attract sailors. Perhaps one lone mast could be spotted over the breakwall but that sailboat seemed uninhabited. The charge was $250 pesos to tie the dinghy up to the dock for 24 hours. That’s about $13 US dollars, an absurd amount. Even La Cruz marina only charges $40 pesos for the pleasure of a trip ashore.

Luckily for us, we met Kris and Bob on Luna who took the time to show us the ropes due to their unfortunate delay there. Their generator was currently disassembled and its fate unknown. They had been beaching the dinghy without complaint from anyone and making their way into town. We opted for this ourselves and ended up with a party of four crews partaking in all-you-can-eat wing night in Manzanillo. The town boasts grocery shopping, restaurants and other services but one has to dig to tease out the best way to go about things. The walk to town is uphill and becomes noisy upon reaching the road. The bus is inexpensive and accessible, if only moderately convenient in its route. All of the old standbys from the US are available and we had Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen during our time there. The time came for Madrone to return north for a trip to the States and the other three of us headed south, having had enough of Las Hadas for one the time.

The Parasailor at work

The Passage

The southbound trip from Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo is a trek of about 36 hours motoring and sailing. Volare, Luna, and Jean Anne with Steve and Chelsea and boat cat Monkey aboard chose the same weather window for this jump. We met Steve and Chelsea in Barra as well and were happy to be traveling further with them. Luna stayed inshore and had a decent passage although it was all under power. Volare and Jean Anne stepped off the coast and got bit more wind. We had the big Parasailor (Monster Blue, the Parasailor sail) up for a while and were tempted to continue that way into the night. Luckily, we took the conservative approach and took it down with sunset. An unforecast south wind came up at night and left us pounding into chop and glad the sails were furled. Both boats reached the bay at Zihuatanejo safely and anchored up in the crowd of boats lining the main anchorage to get some rest.

s/v Avalon at anchor in Zihuatanejo

The Cruising Mecca of Zihuatanejo

Our southernmost destination for the season was the city of Zihuatanejo, or Zihua as it called by the cruisers and expats who frequent it. It offers miles of beaches lined with restaurants, great snorkeling, modern conveniences and hiking for those daring enough to find the trails. The neighboring city of Ixtapa boasts a modern, if not poorly amenitied, marina and high rise condos perfect for friends’ visits. Our dear Australian friends Al and Elisha come to Ixtapa for a week visit and we enjoyed a beautiful condo with a private pool. It was a great way to kick off our time there.

The Aussies are in town again! Yay!

Lunch with the Aussies in Ixtapa

The anchorage at Zihuatanejo was crowded when we arrived, with the Sailfest event just winding down. The cruising community gives back to the local community each year by providing sunset sails and musical cruises with local musicians to paying guests. The proceeds are used to improve local schools. The next big event was Guitarfest, during which musicians from around the world perform in various venues of restaurants and beach stages. The music can be heard from the anchorage as well and the sounds of guitars lulled us to sleep each evening.

Infinity pool overlooking Zihuatanejo bay

“Parthenon” ruins in Zihuat

Foxy on an overlook in Zihuatanejo

We spent a good deal of time in Zihua with Jean Anne and finally were able to meet Jason aboard ketch Volare. When introduced to Brit and Matt on Malolo, we all engaged in adventures and misadventures around the city. We discovered a pool to swim in for the price of lunch, hour long beach massages for ten bucks, and bartenders so friendly we wanted to take them with us when we left. Hiking by this point had become an addiction and Foxy took us on countless miles of exploring where we once again took advantage of the undeveloped and hiked to amazing views and stunning beaches. We snorkeled with Jesus, a 12-foot tall statue intentionally submerged in the bay and got Al up on a SUP board surfing behind the dinghy. We had girls’ day at a pedicure spa and visited the anchorage at Isla Ixtapa, just offshore. There was much to do and see and great people to do it with. We were glad we had a lot of time here.

Jess ready to go ashore and hike

Return and Decommissioning

Our return journey was a reverse of our journey down, with some sailing, some pounding, and beautiful places. Hurricane season was approaching though, and we had to return to Banderas Bay where we planned to leave Volare to spend the summer camping in the US.

Jess sewing the new boat cover

Our return to La Cruz was amazing, with more reunions with friends and hiking adventures. We were glad to be reunited with Heather and Cat and see the world from atop Monkey Mountain once again. We were able to attend a music festival right in the La Cruz marina and sail aboard “the other Volare” with Jason and a hodge podge crew of sailors and just plain fun people.

The new boat cover

Much work had to be done and we eventually settled into the humdrum to get Volare prepared to spend the summer. Sails, rail items, and canvas were removed and stowed inside for protection from the elements. Our davits were redesigned and strengthened to handle the demand, and we built a sunshade using our beast of a sewing machine from Sailrite. We don’t recommend concurrently undertaking such projects, but in order to get some time in the mountains we jammed it all in and got it all done!

The reinforced Davits and dinghy lifting “mechanismo”

The church at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

We hit the road in our trusty Explorer and began our trek to San Diego to visit friends before picking up our camper in Colorado. We pick up Steve and Chelsea in Puerto Penasco on the way, the results of a good plan and great timing. Marc and Laura from s/v Liquid happened to be in the boatyard and we had a great evening of dinner and cocktails before our border crossing with four people, a dog and a cat in our well-packed SUV. We lucked out with the shortest border wait in history (highly recommend Calexico East) and have arrived in the US, ready for the next chapter of adventure.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the rest of our website and follow along with our travels at CruisingVolare.