Zhuatanejo, Mexico

Our "floating city" lurks in the harbor; it is much too big to come into the main pier in town which services small craft -- usually 10 passengers or less. There's an island nearby that's supposed to have a great swimming beach, people pay about US$3 for a ride and queue up toward the end of the pier (see 3rd picture -- the folks behind Scott). The town has a "resort-y" quality to it, but it is much more informal and undeveloped than Acapulco -- and a hundred times smaller with just a couple of main streets. It seems to attract Mexicans on holiday as well, a welcome sight after ports teeming with viejo gordo gringos -- old, fat gringos.

It is a long weekend in Mexico, they called it a "puente" (bridge) -- where there's a holiday early or late in the week, and people tack on an extra day plus the weekend to escape from their regular lives.

Kathy and I took a "divide and conquer" strategy here; she did a land tour and I went SCUBA diving, again. The water was cold again -- but I was better prepared this time, wearing a full wetsuit. The weather was hot but not unpleasant; the cool-ish water was refreshing but I wouldn't have wanted to hang out much longer than the 40 minutes or so I was in the water. The diving was not spectacular; the water a bit murky as well as nippy. But I enjoyed talking with the other diver (an executive from Revlon, in Mexico City) and the boat crew of Carlos, Jaime, and Sally(?) - at least that's what her t-shirt informs.

Kathy's tour was "interesting but not fascinating", visiting a local market like dozens we've each seen before, plus local historical sites.

Zhuatanejo would be a nice quiet stop to visit for a few days when the diving's better. Nearby Ixtapa is more upscale, more attractive and more expensive, but with only a half day in port, it wasn't practical to visit.

Selected photos (click on any image for full-sized version)

Oops. Enjoying the puente (see text above) Scott looking ever more waist-ed and ever less clean-shaven Walkway along the seaside