1) Puerto Marques, Acapulco, MX

Here’s what we discovered in Bahia Puerto Marquez, the southern bay of Acapulco as of Feb 6, 2019.

Anchor Waypoints 16 deg 47.930 N, 99 deg 50.384 W (depth 35 ft.) in front of moored pangas just off beach (possibly called Playa Hermosa) and small public pier. Marina is located slightly further southeast and another small public beach area with restaurants, etc. is inside the breakwater found by following the marked channel going into the marina. There are also some moored pangas in front of this inside beach, and possibly could be used for anchoring but space is limited and we did not have a way to check depths.

Marina Cabo Marques is by private membership for the owners in the many housing projects started and planned around the southern peninsula Marques Diamante. As of now, they do not offer a daily rate but were open to a four day or longer stay. They do not have live-aboards. There is lots of security and most docks offer electricity and non-potable water for an extra charge. No other services were noted in rate plans discussed.



The “all inclusive” plan was $34,577.28 pesos or $1,794.34 US. It covered bringing the boat (under 38 feet) to the marina four different times for a day each time, and being able to get off and on the boat four times. They would expect you to come to visit the area for a day, then leave to go somewhere else and come back another day possibly a few days or weeks later, etc for a total of four different days at the dock. Another plan to come to the dock for up to four days was $28,814.40 pesos ($1,555.97 US) and you pay roughly $60.68 US every time you get on or off the boat. They expect that you come here for a short visit, staying in a hotel, etc. There are a few high end restaurants available near one of the housing complexes at the outside point of the peninsula.



Just a note that every time we ventured into the marina area in our dinghy, security guards motioned to exit immediately. It took a lot of talking to get to someone to give us prices. That person was Nadya De la Torre with Banyon Tree Residences (cell 55 8040 0842) ofc 01 744 434 0133, 55 8503 7154 Sra. De la Torre said the man that was in charge of the marina was not on the grounds that day. She spoke some english and was very nice but was a salesperson for the residences currently for sale. We did ask if we could leave the dinghy at a dock just to go shop in town, and offered to pay, but they refused.



Thus, we ignored the marina and landed our dinghy on the beach to the left of the public pier. From the water you see a prominent sign for Restarante Pelicanos. In front are tables with umbrellas, and a space in the water without a swimming buoy border. The public dock is high and concrete. Many launches and sport boats come and go but it didn’t look to us like a good place to tie up an inflatable dinghy.



We landed with very little surf in an area with a number of jet skis (under repair) on the sand away from the tables. Immediately we were greeted and assisted by the owner of a restaurant to the left hand side bordering the jet skis. He turned out to be the most helpful and sincere, plus the food was not bad. Restaurant XOCHITL (pron “So Chill” the name of an Aztec Princess) Owners Javier and Adriana 74 4454 7725. Besides jumping up to assist our landing and helping to launch, he found us a boat launch to ferry diesel jerry jugs from and back to our sailboat ($300 pesos) and helped haul our shopping from street taxis to the beach. He also offered to take us to get diesel in his truck, but we needed to make other stops and he didn’t want to be away from the restaurant that long. He never asked for money, other than our restaurant bill, but we tipped him. He was open to other cruisers contacting him for services they might need, but he did not speak english, although very patient trying to understand our poor spanish.



We found a taxi, also a friend of Javier, who spoke good english after living in North Carolina US for many years. Enrique – 74 4258 7042  He gave us an hourly rate of  $200 pesos and took us to Home Depot, Pemex for diesel, the beer store, and local veggie market, each time going into the store with us for any needed translation and carrying packages. He has many contacts in the area for other services including boat taxi to/from your boat.



There are many small stores (incl Oxxo, Modelarama beer) and restaurants on the street behind the beach restaurants and many taxis available. The beach restaurants close at dusk but there are lighted areas if you care to venture in at night as other venues are open. We did not go in at night but when questioned, everyone responded that it was safe especially as the area is a tourist area. For your return trip, tell your taxi driver you are going to the “muelle publico al la Puerto Marques”. 



A short trip to the mall, we paid $70 pesos going ($80 pesos return) which included a $10 peso charge to get in or out of the parking lot. Stores included WalMart, Sam’s Club, Office Depot, Cinemex, and restaurants. A large Mega/Soriana and Home Depot were off-site on opposite ends. (We also noted DHL and FedEx at the main bus station.) The Pemex station that had diesel was on the way. (note-the fill nozzle was too big for our jerry cans but they cut a water bottle to use as a funnel)  Some small van type bus service was noted. For crew and visitors, there is airport access via taxi. Not sure about hotels, only saw smaller local types.



Other than the beach area, the buildings around the bay all appeared to be condos or private. There are a lot of large power boats on moorings in two other areas below condo type complexes. As noted on your website in comments from another cruiser, there is a zip-line across the entrance of the bay, but it was extremely high so don’t imagine most cruising boats would have any issue. The land is quite steep on all sides except behind the beach, so afternoon winds did funnel in from the west. Other than some floating debris outside the bay entrance, the water was fairly clear and our watermaker gave us good readings. We also never ventured in to central Acapulco.


Let us know if you need clarification on anything.


Laura & Jim

NILAYA




2) El Salvador Bar Crossings – Pictures of the Week

Sonorma surfing in

Footloose Surfing in
3) No more burgees !!! We have run out of the 2018-2019 Panama Posse Burgees – here is Simplify getting theirs !

4) UPDATE – Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

To pay the  8 USD anchorage fee you need to pay the fee at a local Quepos bank –
last years hack of paying for a child entrance no longer works – but you can also pay online
and bring the printed receipt

Banco Nacional
09° 25.86833′ N 84°09.85′ W
https://goo.gl/maps/C25tPkMzga82

Account / Cuenta 15100010026050098
Name / Nombre SINAC – Fondo de Parques
ID         3-007-3717912
IBAN     CR56015100010026050098
Amount / Monto $ 8  – CRC 6139.50 Colones

Park entrance fee ~ 16 USD x person or 9,500 Colones

The sunset view from this extraordinary anchorage is SOO worth it !

Monkey

Humingbirds at ease

Anchorage

5) Marina Ixtapa, Mexico

Marina Ixtapa info:  Entrance was the lowest at 7.3ft (calculated to zero tide) over three different passages.  Sometimes there may be swells hitting the bar, so you’ll want to enter at full cruising speed to prevent losing steerage from a following wave.  One place you don’t want to end up sideways in.  The marina is to the right at the channel Y.
Ixtapa is a very large marina and has many slips that appeared to be open.  It appears that transients are assigned slips on ‘F’ dock, which is the farthest dock to the right, two docks past the fuel docks.  Slips 1-27 are between F & G, 28=end tie, 29-52 nearest the shore.
Fees:  10-59’ LOA = $0.70us > 30, $0.80us 7-29days, $0.90us 1-6days. +tax
60-65’ LOA = $1.00/$1.25/$1.50
Water (potable?- we drink it with a sink filter) min $7+tax per 264gals.
Power 30/50 $0.45us+tax, min $5us+tax.
Pump-out $25us+tax
No bottom work in the marina due to crocodiles.  For hired bottom cleaning, contact the team of Memo and Sonya.  They can be contacted directly at +52-555-127-7446 or +52-755-128-5302 or the marina office can contact them.  You can take the boat and them out to the anchorage at La Isla Grande to clean and then return to the marina afterward.  If you’re already at anchor, either in Zihuatanejo or La Isla, so much the better.  They’ll arrive at your boat.  Cost was a VERY reasonable $25mx per foot.
Wi-Fi – Marina office has power and wi-fi, but fairly slow.  Marina restaurants also have wi-fi available, but also slow.  The General Bar in Ixtapa (to the right of Señor Frog store, one block back) had excellent free wi-fi, but no power.  Cuattro Cycle coffe shop in Zihuatanejo had excellent wi-fi and power available.  One of the restaurants on the beach in Zihua had wi-fi with good speeds at times, but of course no power.
Laundry: Take to the office for pickup and next-day return.  Very reasonable price.
Buses:  Very frequent and reliable.  $14mx pp each way to either Ixtapa or Zihuatanejo.
Diesel was a bit spendy at $25.25mx per liter after taxes, etc.
Groceries:  tiny tienda in Marina.  Small grocery (Merza) in Ixtapa.  Two large groceries in Zihuatanejo – the first, Bodega Aurrera is a green building on the right as the bus arrives downtown.  The other is a Mega-Soriana some blocks away, located behind the large bus station where the 14peso bus/vans do a U-turn after leaving the downtown to go back to Ixtapa.
AutoZone is in Zihuatanejo, across the highway and 4 blocks up from the main bus station (behind the Mega Soriana).  We bought diesel oil and 12v cabin fans there.
Bob & Carol

SINGULARITY



6) Club de Yates – Acapulco, MX Ay Caramba! Fueled up in Club de Yates. It was a narrow entrance next to the travel lift, soon the boat, and reasonably protected cement pier. I had to check in with the harbormaster before they would fuel me up. All good, good pumps, nice people. We’re out’a here!! Cost was 20.72MX/liter.

Juan & Michelle

AY CARAMABA !7) 500 acre Eco Tour Area – “Dolphin Quest”  @ Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

Inside the unspoiled Piedras Blancas National Park Introducing Reymar – fluent English organic Eco tours and meals in the Southern Costa Rican Golfo Dulce Jungle

Anchorage Location – 09° 39.272 N,  083° 15.721 W

FOOD & HARVESTING TOURSYOGA CLASSES
GUIDED HIKING TOUR
HORSEBACK RIDING
BOTANICAL GARDEN TOUR
ANIMAL SANCTUARY
NIGHT LIFE TOUR
BIRD WALK
( from $ 15 – 65 )

Contact +506 8669-4688
dolphinquest@email.com
www.dolphinquestcr.com

Highly recommended- enjoy ! Dietmar & Suzanne

CARINTHIA8)  SAVE THESE DATES &  SPONSORS
Wednesday, May 1st – Panama Posse Labor Day Party @ Golfito Marina Village an IGY Destination, Costa Rica
Saturday, May 25th – Season Finale – Panama Posse 18-19 Yacht Fest @ Vista Mar Marina – Panama
For the list of all Sponsors please go to
https://www.panamaposse.com/sponsors

9) WEEKLY 2018-2019 PANAMA POSSE FLEET CHECK IN and MORNING NET on MONDAY’S at 16:00 UTC via LINE
We have over 73 + vessels in LINE and the calls are great and very efficient and the Chatroom is open 24/7
It’s a new way of doing things – please download and install LINE  https://line.me/en-US/ 
Works on Android / ios / Windows / MAC OS

How to use it ….

– Register using your vessel name as the USERNAME ie    SV SEAGLUB
– Search for panamaposse or SV Carinthia or Seaglub and befriend us –
– wait and accept your PANAMAPOSSE GROUP INVITE
– join the group chat – it’s awesome !10) Octopus Garden got their burgee !!!

Jim and Suzy got their burgee hand delivered

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– your updates
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and we’ll include it in the next FLEET UPDATE – Keep em ‘coming

Dietmar & Suzanne

CARINTHIA

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