We are in Manzanilla, what a gorgeous spot to anchor. We are right in front of the huge hotel complex, actually the whole side of the bay we are on is stuffed with resort buildings. We have access to the hotel and we did not have to pay anything to leave our dinghy at the dock and use the laundry, we also took a cab to a very nice grocery store, somewhat like a Walmart in fact. There was other stuff besides groceries in the store, electronics, clothing, a pharmacy and a toy section.
We had quite the ride here yesterday. There was no wind so we motored for 7 hours, charging up our batteries and making water the whole way. We were about an hour out of Bahia Tenacatita, when we ran into our first fish net. I managed to get the motor shut off before the line got tangled in the prop but the line was hooked around the keel, Barry jumped in with goggles on and dove under the boat and managed to free the line without any damage to the line but the bait that was on a hook that had attached itself to the prop got away. The lines or nets are just a long series of line strung out with hooks on them every so often, with a pop bottle holding them up about every 50 feet. They are really hard to see, some of the bottles of course being clear!!!!! The nets or single long lines if you will are really long, over 2 miles. We know because the next one we saw we thought we would just motor around it and after 15 minutes of motoring in the wrong direction we devised a new strategy for getting over the lines. We would line up the boat halfway between two floating pop bottles and then gun the motor so we were going quite fast, once we got close we would shut the motor off roll out the genoa and sail over the line, usually halfway between the bottles the line had sunk enough we could get over it. This strategy worked until there was a panga or Mexican fishing boat, at one of the lines and he waved us off and toward what we thought was the end of his net. We then headed towards where he indicated and damn if we didn't catch another line. In went Barry again, he got it free without a problem and then raced downstairs to get some cold beer and Coke for the fishermen. He put the stuff in a plastic bag and threw it into the water and it floated there until they were able to pick it up. I think we must have passed at least 6 nets making the trip here that much longer as we diverted, slowed down, and generally mucked about. It was nice to see Mungo safely at anchor when we arrived. They were very kind and had us over for dinner, so after several dips off the boat we swam over to Mungo and had a lovely dinner.
We will leave here in the morning for an anchorage a day's sail down the coast and then from there it is only another overnighter to get to Ziahuatanejo. When the girls come surfing the spot they have picked is between here and the next anchorage so we will be able to scout out where the best spot is to plunk ourselves down while they are here.
We had quite the ride here yesterday. There was no wind so we motored for 7 hours, charging up our batteries and making water the whole way. We were about an hour out of Bahia Tenacatita, when we ran into our first fish net. I managed to get the motor shut off before the line got tangled in the prop but the line was hooked around the keel, Barry jumped in with goggles on and dove under the boat and managed to free the line without any damage to the line but the bait that was on a hook that had attached itself to the prop got away. The lines or nets are just a long series of line strung out with hooks on them every so often, with a pop bottle holding them up about every 50 feet. They are really hard to see, some of the bottles of course being clear!!!!! The nets or single long lines if you will are really long, over 2 miles. We know because the next one we saw we thought we would just motor around it and after 15 minutes of motoring in the wrong direction we devised a new strategy for getting over the lines. We would line up the boat halfway between two floating pop bottles and then gun the motor so we were going quite fast, once we got close we would shut the motor off roll out the genoa and sail over the line, usually halfway between the bottles the line had sunk enough we could get over it. This strategy worked until there was a panga or Mexican fishing boat, at one of the lines and he waved us off and toward what we thought was the end of his net. We then headed towards where he indicated and damn if we didn't catch another line. In went Barry again, he got it free without a problem and then raced downstairs to get some cold beer and Coke for the fishermen. He put the stuff in a plastic bag and threw it into the water and it floated there until they were able to pick it up. I think we must have passed at least 6 nets making the trip here that much longer as we diverted, slowed down, and generally mucked about. It was nice to see Mungo safely at anchor when we arrived. They were very kind and had us over for dinner, so after several dips off the boat we swam over to Mungo and had a lovely dinner.
We will leave here in the morning for an anchorage a day's sail down the coast and then from there it is only another overnighter to get to Ziahuatanejo. When the girls come surfing the spot they have picked is between here and the next anchorage so we will be able to scout out where the best spot is to plunk ourselves down while they are here.
