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Published: April 3rd 2006
Zihuatanejo
This is the beach at Playa las Gatas, which is a protected beach only reachable by boat.My decision to go back to the beach was brought about by a chance to see humpback whales in Puerto Vallarta. I had read that the whales would be in Bahia de Banderas this time of year and, since I was unlucky with my whale watching in New Zealand, I decided to try again to see one of the leviathans of the deep. I arrived in Puerto Vallarta late in the afternoon and, after checking in to the only hostel in town, I headed out to explore the town and to see the Pacific. I immediately liked Puerto Vallarta! The part of town that the hostel was in still had the feel of a small Mexican town with cobblestone streets and small adobe buildings. Puerto Vallarta definitely had a strong tourist feel with trinket shops as far as the eye could see and expensive restaurants packed with foreigners, but there were also taco stands galore. One of the things I liked the most though was the surrounding scenery - Puerto Vallarta is located on the shore of Bahia de Banderas (Bay of Flags) and the rugged countryside was filled with rolling hills covered in verdant jungle. I had grand visions of
Los Arcos
These are the fortress like islands that I dove at in Puerto Vallarta. I saw a whale on the way to the dive site. going SCUBA diving in clear blue water with giant manta rays and whale sharks with the occasional humpback whale passing by. My vision was, as usually happens, way off. I was told at the dive shop that the conditions were not that good and that the whales were no longer around. Armed with that information I decided to scrap my plans to dive at the Marieta Islands, which was supposed to be one of the better places to see the larger animals, and instead I decided to do a dive at Los Arcos - If conditions were going to be bad I didn't see any reason to do the more expensive trip. It was an adventure getting out to the dive boat because the surf was pushing the small launch all over the beach - The men that were in charge of holding the boat with the bow to the oncoming waves had their hands full, but we made it out without incident. Once on the boat, we went through all of the pre-dive formalities with the divemaster and then we headed off across the bay. The long boat ride was great! Early on I glanced towards shore and saw
Sand Art
One of the many artistic displays on the beach of Puerto Vallarta. several dolphins pop up out of the water, but by the time I got everyone else looking in their direction the dolphins were gone. A few minutes later, as we were discussing the plan for the upcoming dive, some one yelled, "Look at that!" We all looked in the direction she was indicating and there before our eyes, about 150 feet off of the starboard stern corner of the boat, the ocean began to boil and turned white. Suddenly the unmistakable back and dorsal fin of a medium sized humpback whale rose out of the cauldron. I say it was a medium sized whale because that is what the divemaster said it was - For me it was the largest animal I had ever seen and if its gargantuan proportions were not enough to call it a big humpback whale then I can't wait to see one of those! Regardless of its size, seeing a whale was the reason for my detour back to the beach and it was a successful one! After a few minutes of playing on the surface the whale turned on its side and waved good-bye with its car-sized flipper and then it slipped back below
The Pelican and the Sailboat
I stopped to watch the sunset with the pelicans after the dive. the waves from whence it came. The dive proved to be less interesting than the ride out there, but it was memorable for other reasons. Los Arcos are a group of Islands that are known as a haven for lots of life, both above and below the waves. Above the water line, the white-washed walls of the fortress-like islands serve as a sanctuary for multitudes of sea birds. Life below the waves proved to be more difficult to see! We descended the anchor line into a gloomy, greenish-brown darkness to a depth of about thirty feet. From the anchor line I could make out details of the sub-marine landscape surrounding me to a distance of about ten feet before the light tapered off into darkness. We swam along the bottom looking for the supposedly abundant life and, while it was undoubtedly there just out of sight, all we managed to see were a few well camouflaged (and poisonous) rock fish, a few small eels and a few schools of large fish - I suppose they were actually dark spots that moved like fish, since we could never actually see 'a fish' clearly! We headed down to the edge of an
The Sunset
Here is the sunset a few minutes later. underwater canyon at sixty feet and we peered into the pitch black depths of the abyss. At that depth the water was freezing and I found myself wishing that I had my full wetsuit on instead of the shorty that the dive shop provided me with - I had to keep telling myself that if I could survive a swim in the frigid waters of the southern ocean during the Antarctic winter then I could survive that dive! We swam over a small rise in the ocean floor and then descended again. The black abyss was even closer and more pronounced as we swam along its gloomy edge. Suddenly something large hit my legs! I looked behind me to see who or what the culprit was - Nothing was there! I looked to either side of me - Still nothing! I looked up to my dive partner, who had been swimming above me due to an ear clearing problem - He was gone! When I looked down I saw a giant creature with glowing red eyes and large, gleaming white, razor sharp teeth materialize out of the blackness below... OK, I didn't see that, but I did see my dive
Strange Sculptures
These sculptures were along the beach sidewalk. I saw similar ones in Guadalajara. buddy's weight belt sitting on the edge of the canyon. Without the weight belt, my partner had rocketed to the surface in an uncontrolled ascent. That is the most dangerous type of ascent, so a diver will only drop his weight belt in a life or death situation (or by accident). I rushed over to the divemaster and explained the situation in a seriese of hand signals. We made a slow, controlled ascent and found everything OK on the surface. Somehow the latch from the weight belt got caught on something and came off. Luckily he had been swimming several feet above us and had the calmness of mind to exhale continuously as he rose (some people have a tendency to hold their breath, which can lead to a burst lung). The conditions were so bad that we decided to call it quits after our first dive and we headed back to town. On the way back two of the guys on the boat bribed the boat captain to drop them off at their hotel, so the captain got within 100 feet of the crashing surf and they jumped off and made a humorous swim to the beach. Shortly after
The Blue Pacific
Zihuatanejo's water was not as blue as Andy and Red were dreaming of, but it was still very nice. they left us the dolphins returned and rode the bow waves for several minutes before leaving us and then, after another bought with the surf in the little launch, we were back on shore. I spent the rest of my time in Puerto Vallarta just walking around shaking my head, along with the locals, at the behavior of the spring breakers, and just enjoying myself. After my two nights in town, I left Puerto Vallarta for quieter locals further south.
Andy Dufrane sold me on the idea of visiting Zihuatanejo about the same time he sold Red on the idea during his stay at Shawshank Prison. It had been a planned stop of mine since the conception of my journey through Mexico. At the last minute, listening to the overwhelming number of people who strongly disliked Zihuatanejo, I almost skipped the town that had fueled Andy's hopes and dreams for so long. Thankfully, the only convenient bus connection was to Zihua (locals call it by its shorter name). I am glad I went! While Andy and Red may have been initially disappointed with the color of the Pacific in Zihuatanejo (it was not blue like in their dreams, but
Zihua's Beaches
I was told that Zihua was too touristy, but I loved it. a more greenish color), they could not have been disappointed with the town or the surrounding coastline! I spent four wonderful days in Zihua. The town did have a large tourist infrastructure, but it was not done in a bad way - There were no high rise mega-resorts (they were a few miles away in Ixtapa), the beaches were quiet and clean and the food was great. I spent most of my time just relaxing on the beach and at the hostel, or walking around searching for the perfect (affordable) meal. One day, two of us from the hostel decided to rent kayaks and paddle across the bay to an isolated little beach called Playa Las Gatas. There was great snorkeling there around a reef that legend says was built by a Tarascan chief so he could have a protected swimming area. We stayed until after the last water taxi left with the last boatload of tourists, which let us see the beach in peace with some of the locals (who also had their own boats.) The paddle back was enjoyable until the end when it got a little exciting (but still enjoyable). For the second time in my life
The Reef
This reef was supposedly built by a Tarascan chief to give him a protected pool to swim in. It had great snorkeling. I had the opportunity to land an ocean kayak on a beach in rough surf and for the second time in my life I crashed doing so! I got caught by a big wave, which carried me to shore more rapidly than I had intended, and, when I tried to steer away from a few people who had gathered on the beach for the sunset, I turned sideways and rolled it a few times. I didn't get hurt and everyone got a good laugh out of my performance - At least this time I didn't loose my swimsuit!
My time in Zihuatanejo was so good that I decided to skip Acapulco and head straight to Mexico City - I didn't need anymore time on the beach anyway! I put the final touches on this blog as I lounged amid a large crowd of inquisitive school kids on the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, the third largest pyramid in the world, but that's a story for next time!
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