Playa Los Gatos day! We rested yesterday and now I’m ready to go again. Playa Los Gatos is the beach you take a boat to. It’s completely different from the other beaches around the bay. The history of the beach is that an ancient Indian King had a reef made create a safe place for his wives and children to enjoy the ocean…another story was they left the women on the other side of the bay and the beach was for men only! Whatever the reason it was made it is the spot for snorkeling!
We started our day with breakfast at Casa Café. Inquiring about how to get the laundry done we got a recommendation to drop our laundry off at a place we pass on our way to and from Casa Café and they will tell us when to pick it up – later the same day or the next. Nothing could be easier!
It is so nice being centrally located! Five blocks back to the hotel! We changed into our bathing suits, packed our beach bag with underwater camera, sunscreen, suntan lotion, Jack’s prescription mask, books, and our new Zihuatanejo beach towels! Jack carried the bag!
We decided to tuck our passports away in the room since we were going to be snorkeling and away from our stuff at the beach. Our room gets cleaned and bedding changed every day and nothing is ever missing. It seems like the safe place to leave them. We put them out of harms way but weren’t really worried.
Stopping at the NAUI Dive shop on Calle(Street) Juan N. Alvarez Jack signed up for a two tank dive on Wednesday. I would be able to ride along for $10 if the boat didn’t’ fill up with divers. We had cancelled my certification classes due to a combination of my sinus problems and the increased lodging expenses. We’d planned on $20 per night at Casa Elvira and although we are very happy with Hotel Michel it does cost more. With my sinuses staying plugged it seems that I am not meant to dive here! It will be nice to see the dive sites anyway!
We purchased our water taxi tickets from the adobe office on the left side of the pier and were being guided into a panga two minutes later. The little motor boats they call pangas hold about 8 to 10 people and they make the 5 minute run back and forth from the municipal pier to the simple concrete dock on the opposite side of the bay all day long. We rode over with a group from Alaska that comes to Zihuatanejo together every year. They filled us in on the “boat situation”. There are two different ticket sellers and certain pangas carry people for each ticket seller. That is why we were told to just hold our tickets up and the boatmen would tell us which boat to get on! You miss so much when you can’t speak the language fluently!
At Los Gatos we walked along the beach – following the “seasoned” people and settled in at a set of cushioned beach chairs adjacent to the establishment they stopped at. The beach is “staked out” for lack of a better word, by businesses that are a combination restaurant and equipment rental. A big plus is your belongings are watched over by the proprietor so you can swim without concern that your things could be tampered with while you are in the water. The prices for there food is higher closer to the pier and the Alaskan’s said that the service is better at the farther end of the beach as they what you to pass the others and come to their place. They told us the key is to find one we like and always go to the same one and they’ll treat you very well. Good information for the future! We’d determined by then that they were heavy drinkers and we didn’t want to dampen their fun in the sun with our obvious sobriety.
The outfit we stopped at is called Brisa Del Mar and the young man that was our “waiter” was Chica. We let him know we were interested in snorkeling and he had fins, masks, and snorkels for us before we had finished unpacking our beach bag! The lounge chairs are great and you have a table with an umbrella and chairs when the sun gets to be too much also.
It is so nice being centrally located! Five blocks back to the hotel! We changed into our bathing suits, packed our beach bag with underwater camera, sunscreen, suntan lotion, Jack’s prescription mask, books, and our new Zihuatanejo beach towels! Jack carried the bag!
We decided to tuck our passports away in the room since we were going to be snorkeling and away from our stuff at the beach. Our room gets cleaned and bedding changed every day and nothing is ever missing. It seems like the safe place to leave them. We put them out of harms way but weren’t really worried.
Stopping at the NAUI Dive shop on Calle(Street) Juan N. Alvarez Jack signed up for a two tank dive on Wednesday. I would be able to ride along for $10 if the boat didn’t’ fill up with divers. We had cancelled my certification classes due to a combination of my sinus problems and the increased lodging expenses. We’d planned on $20 per night at Casa Elvira and although we are very happy with Hotel Michel it does cost more. With my sinuses staying plugged it seems that I am not meant to dive here! It will be nice to see the dive sites anyway!
We purchased our water taxi tickets from the adobe office on the left side of the pier and were being guided into a panga two minutes later. The little motor boats they call pangas hold about 8 to 10 people and they make the 5 minute run back and forth from the municipal pier to the simple concrete dock on the opposite side of the bay all day long. We rode over with a group from Alaska that comes to Zihuatanejo together every year. They filled us in on the “boat situation”. There are two different ticket sellers and certain pangas carry people for each ticket seller. That is why we were told to just hold our tickets up and the boatmen would tell us which boat to get on! You miss so much when you can’t speak the language fluently!
At Los Gatos we walked along the beach – following the “seasoned” people and settled in at a set of cushioned beach chairs adjacent to the establishment they stopped at. The beach is “staked out” for lack of a better word, by businesses that are a combination restaurant and equipment rental. A big plus is your belongings are watched over by the proprietor so you can swim without concern that your things could be tampered with while you are in the water. The prices for there food is higher closer to the pier and the Alaskan’s said that the service is better at the farther end of the beach as they what you to pass the others and come to their place. They told us the key is to find one we like and always go to the same one and they’ll treat you very well. Good information for the future! We’d determined by then that they were heavy drinkers and we didn’t want to dampen their fun in the sun with our obvious sobriety.
The outfit we stopped at is called Brisa Del Mar and the young man that was our “waiter” was Chica. We let him know we were interested in snorkeling and he had fins, masks, and snorkels for us before we had finished unpacking our beach bag! The lounge chairs are great and you have a table with an umbrella and chairs when the sun gets to be too much also.
Jack and I lost no time lathering up with sun screen and hitting the water in our snorkeling equipment! The water is clearer than Playa Madera but the sand is grainier. On our first trip out Jack discovered his prescription mask leaks – A LOT. He had to surface and empty it out often! During that outing we saw lots of large blue angel fish, smaller blue fish with iridescent spots on their backs, urchins and many other things I don’t know the names of.
When we returned to the beach we snacked on large plate of freshly made guacamole and homemade tortilla chips (for $3.50) and sodas. After reading a little and getting warm in the sun we went out snorkeling again. This time we took the camera! Jack had worked on his mask and was hoping it would be better. It wasn’t. We snorkeled to the left of the coral reef this time & took lots of photos.
Lunch was garlic camerones (shrimp) and quesidellas with bottled water. The shrimp were sliced lengthwise and grilled with lots of garlic, legs and head included! 
After lunch Jack requested one of their masks and he had a better time of it when we went out for our last snorkel of for the day.
After lunch Jack requested one of their masks and he had a better time of it when we went out for our last snorkel of for the day. The last panga back to the municipal pier runs at 5 pm. We packed up our stuff and settled our bill with Chica. Everything came to $300 pesos (Less than $30) and we gave him a $10 tip. Tired but very relaxed we made our way to the little pier at 4:30 pm.
Dinner was at Tamales Y Atoles, one block from our room, the food is good and it’s close to home! I tried the Chile Reono and Jack decided to go with their Tamale especial.
Sometime during the night I woke to the bed vibrating – we were having an earthquake! It was over in a few minutes and after confirming with Jack that he felt it to I settled back in to sleep. Jack chuckled and his response to my question of what he was laughing about was, “It’s amazing how well you take an earthquake.” Hmmmm. Since it was so small that there was no damage what else is there to do but go back to sleep?
We both received pretty good sunburns on our backs and on the backs of our legs! Obviously they were exposed while we were face down in the water! We had not covered them well enough with the sun screen!
After dinner we returned to our room via the little jewelry store next to Cafeteria Nuevo Zelanda called Pepe’s. After sleeping on it I decided I really wanted to get the Diver’s flag pendant Jack had seen and liked last night. It’s the only thing he’d shown interest in for himself. We found an appropriate sterling silver chain to go with it too! Well under the $100 spent at the gold market but I can tell Jack really likes it!
We rubbed each other down with aloe gel and called it another good day done!
Dinner was at Tamales Y Atoles, one block from our room, the food is good and it’s close to home! I tried the Chile Reono and Jack decided to go with their Tamale especial.
Sometime during the night I woke to the bed vibrating – we were having an earthquake! It was over in a few minutes and after confirming with Jack that he felt it to I settled back in to sleep. Jack chuckled and his response to my question of what he was laughing about was, “It’s amazing how well you take an earthquake.” Hmmmm. Since it was so small that there was no damage what else is there to do but go back to sleep?
We both received pretty good sunburns on our backs and on the backs of our legs! Obviously they were exposed while we were face down in the water! We had not covered them well enough with the sun screen!
After dinner we returned to our room via the little jewelry store next to Cafeteria Nuevo Zelanda called Pepe’s. After sleeping on it I decided I really wanted to get the Diver’s flag pendant Jack had seen and liked last night. It’s the only thing he’d shown interest in for himself. We found an appropriate sterling silver chain to go with it too! Well under the $100 spent at the gold market but I can tell Jack really likes it!
We rubbed each other down with aloe gel and called it another good day done!
1 comment:
It was beautiful like that when we (I) snorkled at Cancun. Keith made it into the water and then had a dire emergency that prevented him from returning before Janet and I were done!!
Look at the pics of the glass bottom boat!! It isn't as fun as snorkleing - but the underwater is still georgeous. They are in the middle of the Flikr set called Port Lucaya.
Ready to read the next entry!!
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