The Acapulco Stopover

Zihuatanejo is the usual turning point for cruisers southbound along the western coast of mainland Mexico. I see why. From there south, the passages become longer and longer and the high crime rate in Acapulco, the next stop with any services, makes it a daunting and even pointless passage unless you are continuing south out of Mexico. I don’t know of any cruisers who bothered to sail south of Zihuat who weren’t leaving Mexico, as a matter of fact.

But, as fate would have it, we are leaving Mexico and we did stop in Acapulco. And it was a nice surprise!

Sunrise heading East

Southside of Papanoa

We opted for a stop in Papanoa, 37nm south of Zihuatanejo. It was a safe and decent stop, but otherwise not worth a trip. We arrived on Sunday and found the southern cove lined with houses on the hillsides and swimmers and fishermen on the beach. A large swell rolling in made us concerned for a rolly night if we lost the breeze, so we bashed back up to the northern cove and tucked in behind the breakwall.

This was effective at dampening the ocean swell but meant we were subject to raucous and constant bombardment from the shore-based festivities including music that was unbelievably loud and panga-towed bananas full of screaming kids circling our boats. We didn’t bother to go ashore and were just as happy to leave Papanoa in our wake.

Papanoa South side

We could have made the passage to Acapulco in a day but instead chose to try to maximize our wind and arrive with plenty of daylight ahead of us so we sailed overnight. Adam called Vicente Guerrero who runs the rental moorings the afternoon before to let him know we’d be arriving early. Vicente said he’d be available at 8am but was standing on the dock at 7:30 with a big smile, offering to help us pick up the mooring. He climbed aboard Volare and directed us to the ball he had in mind.

As we approached, he pulled off his shirt. I looked at him confused and said “Are you going swimming?” He answered “Yep!” and jumped into some of the clearest water we’ve seen since the Sea of Cortez. He passed our line through the loop and then swam over to our friends’ boat to assist them as well. The charge for the mooring, which sits in 60 feet of water, is about $13 US a night.

This also gained us access to a small float near the sea wall to which we secured our dinghy to keep it from scraping along the wall with the surge. Vicente was welcoming, cheerful, and more than helpful. He answered all our questions and even loaned us his car to search for the batteries our friends need. I’m sure he would have helped us with anything else, had we asked.

Downtown Acapulco

Bahia Marquez

Our search for batteries turned up empty and the weather wasn’t looking great for the next 212nm passage so we relocated to Bahia Marquez just around the corner from Acapulco Bay to venture to the other Sam’s Club in town. The anchorage at the head of the bay was subject to wind and swell rolling in off the ocean so after strange lunch ashore we moved to the anchorage in the northern lobe of the bay. It was positively serene, surrounded by upscale condos, in the dim evening. We were so taken with this calm spot after the busy and loud evenings we spent in Papanoa and the busy port of Acapulco that we decided to stay two nights.

The next day, however, was Friday and the peaceful beach turned into a mecca for jet skis, wakeboarders, and, it seemed, every local power boat in Acapulco. We had 45 foot boats on either side of us having to adjust scope and use thrusters to keep from hitting us for the majority of the afternoon. Luckily, with the sun, so went the crowds and we had our serene spot back just after sunset. We didn’t want to repeat this performance on Saturday so we returned to the security of Vicente’s moorings the next morning. It was immediately apparent that this was a good move as we passed waves of boats, big and small, on their way into the bay as we exited.

Beach at Marquez too busy

Bahia Marquez with SV Jean Anne

We took advantage of our wait for weather to see the famous cliff divers and watch the Superbowl. We spent Saturday walking to the site of the cliff divers from Vicente’s dinghy landing. It was about a 20 minute walk and we appreciated the exercise, although the heat was intense. There are two diver shows, one at 1pm and one at 7:30 pm, and two options for attending. The first option is to pay $40 pesos to stand along a lookout wall with throngs of others trying to get a look down into the ravine into which the divers plunge. The second is a $600 peso per person dinner at the restaurant which overlooks the ravine. Being frugal cruisers coupled with not knowing how to get a reservation for the restaurant, we took the first option. The show was impressive, though not much of a show.

Acapulco Cliff Divers

The divers would climb the cliff face, barefoot and without gear, and stand atop precarious perches while seeming to look to someone along the shore for signals. Finally one diver would wave his arms and the crowd would cheer. The boats off the ravine, jockeying for position, would sound horns. After a few minutes, the diver would leap from his perch, demonstrating better form than any Olympic medalist, and disappear into the swirling, surging, aqua blue water of the ravine. This repeated every few minutes for a half hour and then the show was over.

It was well worth the price of admission and the tip we left with the divers in dripping Speedos who stood at the exit, but in hindsight we should have gone to the night show.

The sun was brutal and shade was limited so we were certainly ready for a cold beverage once the show was over. With the remainder of the day we had another weird lunch and visited the well-stocked Mega grocery store near the Port Captain’s office.

We then walked our provisions back to our dinghies. We got enough exercise to have earned the absolutely amazing Italian dinner we at Mi Piaci later that night. ( Mi Piaci Italian )

We visited this restaurant twice during our stay and will be back! The food we ate at beach side restaurants was decent, but weird as I said.

For example, I ate my first quesadillas that didn’t contain cheese. I repeated this experiment at two restaurants to make sure it wasn’t a mistake and sure enough, in Acaupulco they don’t seem to put cheese in the quesadillas.

The next day, Superbowl Sunday, we made what Jess considers the greatest discovery in Acapulco. We departed the mooring and headed out to the anchorages on Isla Roqueta. The eastern anchorage is a sandy beach lined with restaurants and promised to be a busy place on a Sunday so we bypassed and went to the western anchorage. It is a rocky cove with water so clear we could see our anchor in 20+ feet of water. A couple of dive boats had already arrived and were getting ready to drop their payload under the surface when we arrived.

Hiking Isla Roqueta

Isla Roqueta 2

Jess and Foxy padded to the tiny spit of sand in the corner and took the most amazing hike all around and over and up and down the island. A cement path, complete with stairs at the steep spots, had been constructed across the wooded island, allowing an easy, shady, isolated meander to various lookouts and a lighthouse and small museum on the hilltop. We admired the view of the entire bay and the overlooks with cliffs that would make an Acapulco cliff diver think twice.

Foxy in her element

Isla Roqueta 3

After this refreshing escape from the crowds, we returned to the cove, which had become a popular swim spot, and prepared the bounty of football food. We watched the game aboard Volare with the crew of Jean Anne and ate until we were all quite uncomfortable. Sometime during the game, the sun had set and the other boats had departed and we once again had a serene and beautiful cove all to ourselves.

Acapulco

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