Oaxaca city, Christmas Day, 2009

We arrived in Oaxaca city on Tuesday following a six hour road trip on a very steep and windy road. Very much like a hundred mile stretch of Highway 74 but with potholes and no guard rail. The climate is perfect here with no humidity and high seventies in the day. The city is most interesting with a vibrant downtown area and lots of activity going on. There are two spectacular cathedrals and an excellent cultural museum.





Town square , Oaxaca
and Cathedral














Cultural museum









We saw the Festival of the Radishes which does sound rather strange but is a major event here and crowds of people showed up to see it. It consists of various radish sculptures which really were quite impressive. Who knew that radishes got to be that size.
The Admiral went back to San Diego yesterday with the camera but we will post some photos later.












Examples of radish sculptures



I went to the pre-columbian ruins at MonteAlban yesterday and also the Christmas Eve processions and other festivities in the town square last night. No travel today so I will be going back to the boat in Huatulco via a different route tomorrow or Sunday.
Huatulco itself is much quieter than here and has two small towns and numerous beaches situated in nine bays. Will be easy living until it´s time to depart for Costa Rica in early January.

Huatulco, Monday December 14, 2009

We have now arrived at our final destination in Mexico and Callisto is moored in the Marina Chahue in Huatulco. This is the first time in a marina for a month and it certainly is different having neighbors and urban noises. Puerto Angel was excellent and I would stongly recommend a visit if you want a tropical unspoiled environment.
Huatulco seems much busier. The exploring begins today.

The church in Puerto Angel. Much less elaborate than Puerto Vallarta

Cemetery in Puerto Angel built into a hillside

Can any of you bird fanciers out there identify this critter. He and his girlfriend spent four days on Callisto's pulpit and made an awful mess

pristine beach at Puerto Angel

Puerto Angel

Puerto Angel, Wednesaday December 9, 2009

Spent 3 or 4 days in Zihuateneho which was a truly idyllic and restful place. and decided to give Ixtapa (located one bay to the north) a miss. Ixtapa is full of resort hotels, whereas Z'town was much less developed. Arrived in Acapulco on Saturday afternoon and went to the fuel dock at the Acapulco Yacht Club and got some diesel. I was looking forward to patronizing the facilities which were quite excellent.

They obviously didn't agree as they refused to accept reciprocity with Coronado Cays Yacht Club and asked for an outrageous slip fee. We left and went on a mooring for a couple of days, which was not particularly pleasant (very rolly and noisy). Found Acapulco to be crowded, brash , hot, and a little bit shabby, very much past its prime a resort. It's an extremely beautiful bay surrounded by hills and like some of us who may be past their prime certainly looked better at night. At that time, the bay looked like an inverted bowl of diamonds but in daylight, certainly did not live up to expectations

acapulco urban sprawl

Two days were enough and then on to Puerto Escondido. Unfortunately, the anchorage was not safe to leave Callisto. Poor holding on an irregular, foul bottom so we went on to Puerto Angel which is 35 miles to the southeast.

Will probably stay in Puerto Angel for a week as we are ahead of our very lax schedule. Details to follow.

Mexican Airforce. Z-town squadron, Callisto got dive bombed on numerous occasions

Panga park, Z'town

Market in Z'town. Where was Tony Bourdain?

Sea turtle heading north

Art work at a restaurant in Z'town, La Sirena Gorda. One of the many renditions

Zihuateneho sunset

Acapulco December 6th, 2009

Zihuateneho was excellent and we are now in Acapulco, which is not quite so good. Will leave tomorrow for Puerto Escondido. Photos and full report to follow internet pemitting

Zihuatenejo December 2,2009

We arrived in Manazanillo Bay having spent three days in Bahia Tenacatita. I decided to forgo Bahia Navidad as there were no good anchorages there. We anchored up about 50 yards off the beach from the Las Hadas resort, which was made famous in the 1970’s when it was featured in the movie “10”.
We had some drinks in the hotel bar where Dudley Moore observed the athletic Ms. Bo Derek come bounding down the beach in that memorable yellow bathing suit. Alas, on this occasion she did not appear.
The hotel itself was empty, which is what we have found all the way south ,very few Americans and also locals. The recession must be hitting hard here too.


Las Hadas resort

Also, took the chicken bus into Manzanillo, to check out the downtown. Most of the activity has moved to the surrounding beach areas and it seemed very commercial with a huge dock and rail terminal.

Manzanillo power station. Lots of smoke!

Almost had a disaster with my laptop computer as I gave it an inadvertent shower while washing the boat down with a hatch open. An hour spent taking all the drives out and applying the hair dryer seems to have resuscitated it.
The 200 mile run to Zihuatenejo (aka Z-town) was uneventful as we had to motor and motor sail all the way as there was no useful breeze. Lots of sea life (turtles and dolphins) and a very bright full moon. No fish however.

Sea turtle with a seagull hitching a ride

We are now anchored up in the North end of Zihuatenejo Bay and will probably be here for three days and then head for Acapulco. This still beats working!