Ixtapa to Manzanillo (Las Hadas)

[GPS (Maruata): N 18° 16' 05" W 103° 20' 41"]
[GPS (Cabeza Negra): N 18° 36' 15" W 103° 42' 07"]
[GPS (Las Hadas): N 19° 06' 04" W 104° 20' 42"]

We had a quiet New Year’s Eve at Marina Ixtapa – including dinner at the pizza place. Magda and her friend Ricardo had come back to Ixtapa as well, so they came by the boat on New Years Day. Ricardo had brought a case of avocados for us from his avocado ranch. After showing him the boat, we had lunch at Fisher’s – the fish restaurant on the walk by the marina. After a relaxing Friday evening, we spent Saturday morning getting the boat ready to depart. After two weeks in Marina Ixtapa, we cast off at 1pm on Saturday for our last overnight trip before Puerto Vallarta.

There are not many good anchorages along the coast from Ixtapa to Manzanillo (180 NM), but then quite a few good ones on from Manzanillo to Chamela (60 NM). So we planned to get on up to Manzanillo fairly quickly, and then spend our time along the “Gold Coast” from Manzanillo to Chamela.

We targeted Maruata for our first stop – 105 NM away, so we planned to run overnight. After mostly motoring (we’re heading back uphill now – wind was either too light and/or right on the nose), we pulled into Maruata at 8am. It’s a very pretty beach – and it looked like the large restaurants along the beach had closed – and there were camper tents set up under that shade of the former restaurant seating areas. But it was quite rolly! And a panga was anchored with a long line in the one spot that looked ideal. So we dropped the hook for a few hours – had a nice breakfast and a couple hour nap – and then headed on.

We pulled around Cabeza Negra into the anchorage on the north side of the point late Sunday afternoon. It too was a little rolly, but we set the anchor just outside a power boat that was there (which left just after dark). We got up early and got underway for Manzanillo – it was a short trip but we wanted to avoid beating into the afternoon chop.

We passed the huge smokestacks of the power plant just south of Manzanillo (pollution!), rounded Roca Vela (Sail Rock) into Manzanillo Bay, dodged a container ship as we cut across to the NW corner of the bay where we anchored just off the Las Hadas hotel.