Diving right in

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

We have had a couple of very full days, just being your basic tourists.

At the center of things, in the heart of Acapulco life and culture, is the old town zocalo, or plaza.  This is where we go to have breakfast or lunch and enjoy the tranquil setting.  Surrounding the plaza is the bustling downtown area, where traffic is a nightmare.  Sue says she often cannot tell the streets from the parking lots - it is very congested.  The incredible amount of construction that is going on does not help.

Not far from the zocalo is the Fuerte de San Diego, a beautifully restored pentagonal fort, built in 1616 atop a hill.  Therein is a very interesting museum and some great views of Acapulco Bay. One odd site for us were rows of what look like brand new Volkswagens lined up ready for shipment to somewhere, along the cruise ship dock.

Of course, no trip to Acapulco is complete without watching the cliff divers of La Quebrada.  We walked (uphill) to the top of the cliffs and paid to sit in the Restaurant La Perla, where we got a magnificent view of the matinee performance.  We both remember hearing about these cliff divers, and watching documentaries about them on TV, many years ago.  We had no idea that they still carried on their death defying feats these days, although I cannot imagine why they would not - it is really Acapulco's main tourist attraction.

Would you believe only15 feet of water down there?

Walking around the city, it is easy to imagine what it must have been like in its heyday, in the 50s and 60s, when it was the playground for the rich and famous, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, etc.  John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline honeymooned here.  That era was pretty much over by the 70s but was apparently making somewhat of a comeback with the American college students again around the year 2002, attracted by cheap rooms and wild nightlife.  Unfortunately the last few years have seen some serious crime problems in the area, and the resulting publicity is keeping most foreign tourists away.  Some places that used to be full of shops and bars and such (like around the cliff diving site) are pretty vacant now - kind of sad!  As far as we can tell, we are the only visiting yacht in either marina - certainly the only visiting sailboat.

All in all, we are certainly glad we stopped here, but two days is really enough to see everything that is of interest to us.  Tomorrow morning we will again be on our way southeast.  On our last passage, from Zihuatanejo to Acapulco, we travelled a total of 126 miles.  The route to Huatulco, as I have plotted it, is about 245 miles.  Again, the forecast winds and seas are supposed to be very light, but we saw how accurate that was on the way here, so we will just have to be ready to take whatever comes.  We have also been advised that we will pick up a very helpful current that should give us a boost of between 1/2 and 1-1/2 knots on this stretch.  If that is the case, we will again be struggling to go slow enough to avoid coming into Huatulco at night.  We do have the option to just leave here later in the day, but I hate to do that in case all of the predicted conditions prove to be incorrect.  It is much easier for us to slow down than it is to speed up.

Early this morning, we were entertained by a couple of rays trying to imitate birds.
It is difficult to get a picture of them as you never know where they will pop up and they spend very little time airborne.

On the mechanical front, I have taken a look at the watermaker.  It is entirely possible that this one may be beyond of my abilities.  Since we are over 3/4 full on our water capacity at the moment, it is not an immediate concern - it is more of a convenience issue than a matter of survival.  I will take another look at it when we are settled somewhere for a bit longer.  If this thing has to go back to the factory for service, I will not be a happy camper.