A New Year in Acapulco

We set out from Zihuatanejo with our buddy boats Ghillie and Stella Blue, after an overnight stop in Papanoa, we arrived in Acapulco on Dec 27. We anchored out in front of the hotels by the Navy Pier for the night and went into the marina the next day.

This being the holiday season, we knew the city would be busy with locals, many from Mexico City and various other parts of the country looking for some beach time. There were the usual jet skiers, banana boats, water skiers, parasailers and swimmers all enjoying the bay. It certainly did not look very inviting to us. Acapulco Bay is very polluted, and the beaches had large piles of garbage waiting to be picked up. We’re not sure if it is always like this or just because of the busy holiday season. The noise, smells, traffic and sheer volume of people were an assault on the senses when you are used to small quiet beach towns. Although Acapulco has a reputation as a rough and tumble city, we never felt unsafe where ever we were.

We took in the iconic Cliff Divers show one evening. We arrived for dinner and saw the divers at 7, 8 and 9 pm. There are several divers who jump from various heights. The age of some of the divers was surprising. Working your way up the corporate ladder takes on a whole new meaning here.

We spent a day checking in and out with the Port Captain. For non boaters this entails taking your boat documentation (registration, Temporary Import Permit, crew list, insurance certificate and passports for all on board) to the Port Captain to check into the Port and the same on the way out. It can go one of two ways, quick and easy or painstakingly slow. Today it was option 2 with two separate individuals examining all the paperwork from our three boats, with a fine-tooth comb. Finally, that task was completed so we decided to take a tour of the historic fort located not far away. It was closed for renovations, but they let us take a quick walk through the main courtyard and the outside areas.

For New Years Eve we decided to do a “boat crawl” with a bite to eat and “signature” drink on each boat and a fun game of Scattergories. Acapulco put on quite a fireworks display at midnight. The fireworks were launched from several points along the length of the beach all in unison. We had a great view from the marina. Very Cool!

New Years Day we took a taxi to the Central Mercado as we were told it would be fully open, but it was not. There was a handful of vendors there, we did a quick walk through and probably would have gotten lost in the maze if it was in full swing. We checked out Papagoya Park and had a nice walk through the very clean city central park with its beautiful trees and walking paths.

The six of us and Duke the dog booked a day trip to Taxco.  We were picked up at 7 am from the marina and we were off in Rudy and Poncho’s air-conditioned van for our private tour. The drive was about 3 ½ hrs each way. The time flew by quickly as our guides had lots of information to share with us about life in Mexico. Taxco is famous for its silver mining, beautiful Cathedral and home of the pointsettia. It felt like we were in a small European village with all the narrow cobblestone streets that wound through the city. Driving here is not for the faint of heart! A very enjoyable day was had by all.

After a 48-hour, 235 mile passage, with some excellent sailing, we have arrived in Huatulco. Time to catch up on our sleep so we can spend a couple of weeks exploring this area.