Papanoa, Guerrero, Mexico

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

017-16.540 N
101-3.477 W

Ahoy from the tourist mecca of Papanoa!

Yesterday we departed Zihuatanejo and headed to Papanoa, which is about 37 nm away. Papanoa is a small fishing village with a very nice harborl and is positioned such that you can break up the trip to/from Acapulco into two day-hops instead of having to do an overnight trip.

The passage to Papanoa was not particularly exciting. We had very light winds from E instead of the forecast NW, so that meant that we couldn't sail. We did put up the jib, but it was more for show than providing much in the way of propulsion. It certainly didn't help that we had about a kt of current against us for the entire distance.

We encountered dense swarms of jelly fish, with many of them per square meter. We needed to make water, but I didn't dare run the water maker with so many in the water. Thankfully they eventually disappeared and we were able to fill the water tanks. We also saw *lots* of turtles, which isn't too surprising as they like to snack on jelly fish Spotting them was easy as it seemed that almost everyone had a bird perched on it's back!

We departed Zihuatanejo at around 10 AM and pulled into Papanoa at around 4 PM. Shortly after arriving a Marine swam out to the boat from the local base. He was welcoming us and asking where we were going. Based upon our limited Spanish, we figured out that they were working with the port captain in Acapulco to let people know about the anchorage as many boats don't stop there. He was extremely friendly and we had a nice chat. It was very clear that we were the new kid on the block and everyone wanted to check us out, as the local fishing boats all swung by to take a look and wave.

Unlike many of our other prior destinations, it doesn't appear that there's much to do in Papanoa. About 300 people live there and it would appear that most of them fish for a living. Surprisingly there's also 4 or 5 palapa restaurants there, although only two appeared to be open. How they can support that number is beyond me.

Probably the most interesting aspect to Papanoa occurred when it got dark. This anchorage had incredible bioluminescence and the surface of the water was constantly flashing with streaks light as fish jumped to avoid getting eaten or chased other fish. Believe me, there were lots of fish in the anchorage! When you looked at flashes of light which were nearby, it reminded me of a sorcer's wand spitting out sparks as they waved it across the water. If you looked straight down into the water, it appeared like a milky witch's brew with lots of swirling bands of green light and sparkles moving under the surface. It was truly amazing to watch.

One of the things that I really dislike about Mexico is the air quality. It seems that they are constantly burning fields and/or trash and the power plants spew out toxic clouds of smoke which can choke you. All of this smoke causes a haze which can make it very hard to see the beautiful landscape. On days when you have a strong on-shore breeze, you get great views. If you have light winds, much of the landscape is lost in the haze. For anyone who complains about the cost of enforcing our clean air act, come to Mexico and see what it would look like without it!

Today we're underway to Acapulco and have about 4 kts of wind on the nose and current against us. We'll arrive sometime early this evening.

-- Geoff & Sue

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For the cruiser:

We anchored in 20' over rock at 17-16.54N 101-03.477W in the southern corner. The holding was *not* good, but we had very light winds. There appear to be some very funky currents in there as we would regularly swing 220 degrees! The bad thing was that we listened to the chain drag across the rocks all night long, which doesn't lend much to getting a good night's sleep. We deployed a flopper-stopper which kept us nice and steady.

Note that there is an inner harbor with 2 concrete docks that the panagas pull up to, but there's also a rock in the middle of that harbor which is submerged at high tide.

Log ID: 2214