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| Famous movie beach scenes would run a theme through our visits to Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo. |
A pod of dolphins escorted Brightnest into
the harbor at Manzanillo, our first new stop this season. We anchored in front
of Las Hadas resort, a true fading beauty. There were only two other boats in
the anchorage, and it was a short, easy dinghy ride to the small marina to
tie up and go exploring. This Moorish-influenced resort is completely painted
white so that it reminded us of the Mediterranean coast. Las Hadas was the filming
location of the movie “Ten” with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore. It had been quite the
ritzy spot back in the day. Now, the jetsetters
of the 70’s and 80’s appeared to be long gone, but a good number of families
playing at the pools gave it a pleasant vibe.
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| View of Las Hadas resort from the bow of Brightnest, plus a swallow perched on the jib sheet. |
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| Las Hadas ("fairies"). |
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| Las Hadas. |
Jen
and I enjoyed doing one of our favorite sets of activities while on shore in
Mexico - we found a great market, loaded up on fresh produce, and ate a delicious lunch at one of the comedores on the second floor. We love poking around the different fruits,
vegetables, and food items (like tamales) at the markets, and chatting in
Spanish with the vendors. Then we
stretched our sailor legs exploring the town and waterfront before returning to
Brightnest with our backpacks full of good eats. After a couple of days, we set
sail again. Next stop, the famous Zihuatanejo!
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| Market in Manzanillo, with second-story eateries. |
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| Yes, that orange sign reads platanos for 8/kg. That's less than 50 cents for over 2 pounds. The food quality and price in Mexico are unbeatable compared to anything else we've seen. |
Zihuatanejo
is legendary on the cruiser route. It’s
most famous for its music festival, the International Guitar Festival, in
March. Zihuat was mellow when we visited in December – I’m sure it’s much different during the music festival. Our experience
was watching local kids play basketball at the waterfront park, strolling the malecon
and buying fresh fish and conch from local fishermen, and eating maybe the best
pozole I’ve ever eaten.
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| That pozole was sooo good! With all the fixin's! |
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| You can swing on the beach and watch Brightnest in the bay. |
Press the play button to see kids playing BB in the park.
Continuing
with the movie theme, Zihuatanejo is also the “Warm Place with No Memory” that Andy
Dufresne goes to after his prison escape in the movie The Shawshank Redemption, and where
Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, later meets him. When I was 15 or 16 years old I read Stephen King's novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", which the movie is based on. As a kid in Nebraska, the descriptions of beaches seemed distant and fantastical. Nostalgic thoughts played around in my head as I sailed to this place in my own boat. The Germans have a word, "Fernweh", which means "farsickness". It's the opposite of homesickness. It is the longing for somewhere you've never been. Curiously, the beach scene where the
two meet up was not filmed in Zihuatanejo, but on Sandy Point beach on St.
Croix, where we had been just a few months before, and where our three year journey would land us.
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| This scene, while taking place in Zihuatanejo in The Shawshank Redemption, was actually filmed at Sandy Point, St. Croix. |
Back onboard in the cockpit, we discussed our next move. Did we want to stop at Acapulco?....It turned out that what we were most excited about was getting to Chiapas, and having more time to stay and explore based out of there. Could we make it in one shot? Stay tuned!
P.S.
"An in-the-moment moment" - from Mike's Log 11/26/2022, 09:15 am.
En route from Zihuatanejo to Huatulco, Oaxaca. Sunny day - going to be hot. We decided to bypass Acapulco and keep going to Oaxaca, to better stage for a window to cross the Tehuantepec winds. Dead calm now, motoring. Wind should pick up in the afternoon. Going to put a line in the water now.
"An in-the-moment moment" - from Mike's Log 11/29/2022, 11:25 am.
Pushing on to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec while there's still the tail-end of a window before the next T-pec(kers) come in for a week, which would have held us in Huatulco. A fog has set in. Fog is one of my most feared weather conditions. It's not nearly as thick today as what we experienced in Half Moon Bay, CA, where you couldn't see two boat lengths away. Visibility of about a mile now, I'd say. But gives me flashbacks. Should arrive in Puerto Chiapas tomorrow morning. Only one overnight left. Spirits are good.
"An in-the-moment moment" - from Mike's Log 12/12/2022
Puerto Chiapas Marina has cleared out. The last set of boats left over the weekend to cross to Huatulco during a window of lighter Tehuantepec winds. Almost everyone is headed north now, while we'll be headed south. Only four cruising boats remain, and a handful of local fishing boats. The sun in late afternoon hits the palms and makes the bottom yellow dying leaves even more yellow. Swallows dart around. Egrets and doves cross here and there. Reggaeton is the soundtrack coming from our neighboring fishing boat. It switches to Ranchero. One of his favorites, apparently, as he has begun to sing.
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