Acapulco

Wednesday: We took the dinghy to shore to put some time on the phone. Then we met Nacho who gave us a run down on the marinas and the city itself. He helped us arrange a slip at the Marina Performance across the bay from the Yacht Club and around the corner from the Cruise Ship Terminal. Nothing fancy but Alejandro, the Port Captain, was very hospitable and spoke perfect English. The moorage was half that of the Alcapulco Marina and a quarter of the Yacht Club. Alejandro arranged for a marine electrician to come down to the boat in the afternoon.

Nacho took us for a walking tour to locate the grocery store and the Port Captain's Office to get our papers stamped. We were able to make arrangements so that we just have to phone them when we leave and do not have to come back into the office.

Nacho came on board and helped us get our lines ready as the marina has Mediterranean Moorage. Our boat does not go into reverse very well so we appreciated the assistance. The guys from the marina were also on shore to grab lines. Basically Med-mooring involves having the boat tied to a mooring ball and then the aft of the boat is cleated off on shore. Check out the pictures. So your boat is not actually tied up beside a dock. I guess it is a really inexpensive way to design a marina - no floating docks and pillings to worry about. And you can put a lot more boats in a smaller space. And rats and cockroaches and other critters ( though this has not been a problem yet) have a harder time getting on your boat.

The fun starts when We have to get on land! They give you a float which you pull over to your boat, get on and then pull yourself over to the dock and then climb up a ladder. Good way to check if you have any sense of balance. I was getting pretty good at it by the time we left.

The marina is pretty basic with only washrooms, power, unpotable water (but remember we have those filters) and Wifi. But we were not into spending $100/day just so I could swim in a pool. Especially until we found out how much our electrical system was going to cost us.

Cesar - the marine electrician came down to the boat that afternoon. He removed the inventor/charger and took it back to his shop to see if he could repair it. He also tested the batteries, put a load on them and determined that they were good. He figured that the problem was one of the actual battery cables. So he fixed that. Batteries are charging at a better rate then before so we think that problem has been solved.

Thursday: walked to the marine store at the Yacht Club. They were pretty well equipped but very expensive. Nothing that we really needed. Then we took the bus back, air conditioned thank goodness, and instead of getting off at the boat we took it all the way down the beach, past the big hotels and the high end shops. Yes, we could be in Vancouver! 

And lots of activities at night because the next 12 days are the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe so families have walking processions every night, with music and fireworks.

We talked to Cesar and he was still working on the Inverter which could be a good thing as it means he might be able to fix it.

No luck with the roller furling system on the staysail but we can sail without it. We will see if someone can look at it at our next stop.

Friday: laundry in for washing. Cleaning the boat. The electrician called today and he said that he could repair the inverter charger for about $650' parts and labour. We are not sure if that also includes the work that he had already done. But we said to go for it as a new one would be a lot more. He will come on Monday.

David spent part of the day reorganizing and listing all the spare parts that he has on the boat to reduce his frustration level when tying to find something!

We went to see the cliff divers and that was fantastic! These guys actually belong to a union. It was just as impressive watching them climb up the face of the cliff as it was watching them dive off.

Look closely and you can see one of them climbing the rocks.

David got some of the dives on video on his phone which turned out really well but I need a lesson on how to get them on U-Tube. But here is a picture of a picture which I bought from one of the vendors. 

There were six divers and after the show you can meet them and tip them. The show only cost $4 and we were so impressed we gave them  a $10 tip. Well I thought the guy was never going to let go of my hand. All of the visitors that night were Mexican and they do not tip so generously. But it was worth it.

Then we took a taxi and went for a nice dinner on the beach. It was a great evening.

The electrician came down to the boat on Tuesday and reinstalled the inverter/charger but when he tested it only the charger part would work. So he took it back to the shop and hopefully he will return tomorrow. So David did some more working cleaning the lower compartment in the cockpit and I polished stainless! Then we took a walk to the Fuerte (Fort) San Diego.

And then we walked towards downtown and found Christmas! The kids were putting on their Christmas show and there was a competition for Christmas scenes made out of natural things - coconut leaves, banana leaves, vegetables, shells. Some of them were quite beautiful.

So the bottom is clean, the boat is clean and the inverter/ charger is back on the boat but it could NOT be repaired. But we did not pay the full amount - only Cesar's labour. The pantry and fridge are stocked. We filled a couple of jerry cans with fuel. We decided against filling the tanks ( we have enough) because that would involve another med-mooring tie up.

We put the dinghy back on board, paid the Moorage and headed out. I have to say that I was more impressed with Acapulco than I was expecting. It is a large city and does resemble Vancouver in layout and business. And it is clean and felt relatively safe. But we just are not big city people anymore and will be happy to be back in our quiet anchorages and smaller fishing towns! Most importantly I will be happy to be in a place where I can go swimming again.