Zihuatanejo-Area Cruising Guide?

[bcguy]

I am in Zihua (flight) and was wondering where I could buy a cruising guide to this area and which one... Perhaps have to go to Ixtapa?

....thanks

[John A]

If Rick's Place has re-opened that would be my first choice, otherwise ask any cruisier that's anchored in the bay and copy theirs.

good luck

[Pete the Cat]

There was a CD that folks passed around every year at Rick's called Southbound 200X that was just information about the ports South. Charlies Charts are OK if you do not rely too heavily on the actual charts in them. One of the things I would caution you about is that cruisers' opinions about ports is colored by the weather, the people and the luck they have in particular ports as much as the facts about the port. it is good to listen to them, but I would discount some of what you hear as strong opinion and make your own decision. As you get South of Zihua you are much more on your own than you might have been North. Most folks turn around there.

[John A]

South of Ziha it gets kind of hit and miss. Waltuco (that's the pronunciation, the spanish word begins with a H) is the last good harbor in Mexico so I checked out in Z-town. Monitor the weather in the Gulf of Mexico via a SSB cruisier net! When you get 3 or 4 days of light off-shore wind, crank up the engine and motor sail less than a mile off the beach acrossed the Gulf of T-pecker. Don't stop at Salina Cruz or Port of Madera.( the two armpits of Mexico's west coast) El Salvador was my next stop, and I was met at the month of a river by a guide from Berilis Marina. I followed him back and forth thru the three sets of ground swells and 7 miles up a river. Get the info from fellow cruisiers.

The Gulf of T-pec can be a true bitch as off shore winds from the Gulf of Mexico at Salina Cruz reach gale force an average of 135 days a year and the large long period Pacific swells going in the NE direction make for dangerous conditions when more that five miles off shore.
Sail safe! John
please excuse the poor spanish spelling.