Author: Scott and Pam
After spending time in Ixtapa we were ready to head around the corner to the infamous Z-town. We took full advantage of our time at the marina to get some projects done and clean the boat. The dinghy had sustained two minor tears in the bottom on our first river trip, easy repair and a bit less water in the bottom will be nice. Scott also spent a half a day pouring a two part epoxy mixture into the stanchion bedding to hopefully abate the sneakey leaks we and all sailboats seem to have, at least eventually. The expoxy is very thin and creeps into cracks, presumably filling them and not allowing water to invade. We have tested it with the hose, we’ll see what happens in during the many squalls we will encounter on the way and in the South Pacific. Marina Ixtapa is very nice and well maintained. However, it is not the place to do any work on the bottom of your boat. There are actually signs around the marina that say no swimming and why would that be (see website photo)? Well you don’t want to be lunch for the crocodiles that prowl the waters. Abe and Amy saw a ten foot croc off of the stern of their boat the other night just meandering by, yikes! When we headed out of the marina in broad daylight I was a bit surprised to see just how narrow the entrance was and how many islands we had gone around. It is one thing to see them on the radar, it is quite another to look at them in the face. I was even more grateful for Abe and Amy’s assistance a few nights ago. Just for the record, if we had not had a guide we would have heaved to outside and come in in the morning. The five mile drive over to Zihuatanejo was uneventful, however it did require maneuvering through a .75 mile gap between a reef and the point. This morning the local net controller was our friend Sparky on Independence, we met him on our dock in La Paz. It was nice to hear a familiar voice and to know we had someone we could call as we came into the anchorage. I called him on channel 22 and got the scoop on where there was room to drop the hook. Once it was all said and done we were anchored off of the cliff with the big pink hotel in the municipal anchorage. After getting the boat settled we headed over to say hello to Sparky and met his friend and crewmember Jim. We had been hearing all about Rick’s Bar since PV, the local cruisers hangout, so we all decided to head into town for dinner. Road tested our newly patched dighny, the bottom stayed dry as a bone. We hung out with Sparky, Jim, Abe, Amy, Candi and her son Ben. Candi and Ben were in town on vacation and had found their way to Rick’s. We ate dinner at Rick’s steakhouse where you can cook your own steaks. We are not sure if it is our heightened appreciation for any time we have a meal off of the boat or if they really were just about the best steaks we have ever had, but they were off the map delicious. It could have been Scott’s expert BBQ skills too. It was a very fun evening with live music and a chance to meet a few new cruisers. We definitely got the flavor of how and why Rick’s is the hub in Z-town for cruisers. We are looking forward to exploring the rest of town.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment