Barra Navidad - Acapulco - Huatulco

Well the last day in Barra Navidad was spent cleaning all the crud off the boat. We got fuel and water and washed everything as much as we could at the fuel dock. The anchor was amazing. It was covered completely with the kind of mud I’ve only seen in Blue Gap on the res in Arizona. It’s the kind that turns to concrete when it dries and makes you get taller and taller if you walk in it. So we only made it to Manzanillo (actually Santiago Bay) that day. Then we did a couple of overnighters to Zihuatenejo. That was when we first started seeing those huge cargo ships. At first I thought it was a strange island they’re so big. We saw tons of dolphins and turtles.

Our stay in Zihuatenejo was quite an experience. The rollers were bigger than normal so you can imagine how much the boat moved all the time – usually sideways. Taking a shower on top at night was a balancing act especially when you wash your hair and close your eyes to keep the soap out of them. The area is beautiful. The second day we were there, Burt ran errands and I worked on the internet. Burt had just prayed about finding the brothers and I happened to look outside and there was a couple walking by. She had a dress on and they both had bags. I chased after them for two blocks hoping not to make and idiot of myself. I asked them if they were from around here and they said no they were just visiting for a few months. I asked them if they knew where a Kingdom Hall is and of course they were a brother and sister! They are pretty easy to spot. Anyways, we were set for meetings. But…

Let me tell you about the dinghy landings. The surf was so big that people were surfing right there in the bay. Thanks to Warren and Tracy, we have wheels for the dinghy which makes things a bit easier. Burt and I figure we are going to have to master this skill. We will probably use it a lot working in the ministry on the islands. You have to time it so that you can pull the dinghy out before the next wave swamps it – that’s why the wheels are so important. I would say maybe a quarter of the times we did it, we almost stayed dry. We decided to put our clothes for the meetings in a dry bag and change at the Hall. I put my computer in the pelican case to keep it safe. There was a couple of Mexican guys that stay and watch the dinghies for tips. They help, but it’s still hard to stay dry. On a rather calm day, Burt was going back out to the boat and one of the guys, Daniel, accidentally spun him around into a wave. The casualties were our camera and a few groceries. Just that morning we talked with a couple of the military guys who were collecting baby turtles that had just hatched in a corral there on the beach. They said we could watch them as they released them later on the same day. Of course, that’s the day the camera got swamped. So, even though it was expensive, we felt that it would be too hard to share all our experiences without it. So we bought a new one that afternoon. That night they let us release some of the turtles. Cool experience!!! The photos and videos don’t do it justice. Zihuatenejo would be a nice place to live. In service you would get in great shape. A lot of the houses are up on the hills. The walkways have signs like in Guanejuato. There are quite a few brothers without cars. They use the buses and taxis for service and everything else. I was talking to one of the sisters who has a family of 4. They are from Wisconsin. She said the only time she doesn’t like it is when you get a lot of groceries. That’s when taxis are better.

Well, our last couple of days in Ziwatt we both picked up a cold and sore throat so we tried to lay low. We left about mid morning on March 9 headed for Acapulco. We had absolutely no wind. We motorsailed the entire way. Ugh! Somewhere on the way, we finally crossed that line into real tropical weather. We don’t need too many clothes any more. We arrived in Acapulco 28 hours later. Acapulco has a beautiful natural port. We had a hard time finding a place to anchor because it is so deep and full of moorings so we just hooked up to a mooring for a couple of days. I liked the bay because there is so much going on there. There are all kinds of tour boats going through with Mexican music blaring. The Mexicans have reclaimed Acapulco. They consider it a vacation place for Mexicans - not necessarily foreigners. We were comfortable there but everything was kinda spread out and you had to get on a bus for everything. We bought a big jerry can for fuel so we could carry it from the Pemex to the boat in our dinghy The last night we were there, I was awakened several times in the night by a sound like maybe someone was throwing something at the boat. I looked out but didn’t see anything. It happened three times! Next morning the mystery was solved - there was guano (bird poop) all over the boat. Yuk!!!! A bit of clean up. Next time I hear it, I’m gonna stand guard with our handy dandy slingshot we bought when we were in Barra Navidad. Those birds aren’t going to like pooping on my boat!!! . We made arrangements to get water at the marina, but it didn’t work out so we figured we would just shower with ocean water and get on with the trip.

We sailed right out of Acapulco Bay until sunset. It was beautiful sailing. We both loved it. Saw a gazillion turtles and dolphins and jelly fish. After sundown we lost the wind and had to motor most of the night until the next morning. We were hoping to take a break in Escondido but couldn’t find a good place to anchor there. So we just put the sails up and went really slow. It was really relaxing not to hear the motor. So we got rested and kept going. We tried fishing on the way and caught a great big huge turtle. We had to turn the boat into the wind to slow it down. We were afraid of breaking the line. We finally got him in and let him loose. The look he gave us was like "Hey man what's goin' on?" After two days and three nights we arrived in Huatulco. We are in Marina Chahue right now. We really like it here. This is the best place so far. We contacted Elena’s sister right away and got the schedule for the meetings. There are 5 congregations here in Spanish none in English. They just built a new hall and are going to combine into 3 congregations because the new hall is bigger. We have spent a bit of time with a pioneer couple who moved here to help in the congregation. Abisai is a graduate on Ministerial Training School and an elder. He speaks some English and wanted Burt to help him with it. He sees the need for English preaching here and is trying to make himself available. I went out in service with Elena’s sister, Reina. We had a really nice time. She’s easy for me to understand and somehow she gets what I’m trying to say in my horrible Spanish. We used the taxis to get around in service. Everyone walks a lot and uses the taxis for long distances. We are learning more Spanish all the time. We have even been commenting. Burt wrote to the branch in Panama and we are considering hanging out there until after hurricane season if we need to. We’ll see.

We have decided to stick around here for the Memorial and to finish our taxes. (Those shouldn’t be in the same sentence. One is a pleasure and the other is a nightmare).
I’ll put this up and write more later about Huatulco. Feel free to comment. I know I’m rambling but I just wanted to catch up with this journal before everything is a blur in my head.