We arrived in Acapulco in the late afternoon On March 19th. Due to the warnings from the State Department we approached the city of over 2 million people with a little trepidation.
As we arrived off the coast of Acapulco were were greeted by a city spread across the hillsides with towers jutting up into the sky. We could see walkways leading down the steep cliffs on the North side of town and we wondered if that was where the famous cliff divers do their diving (it was).
Just before night fell, we anchored off a little beach where pangas bring tourists during the day to spend the day on the beach. Riley got a trip to the beach, and then it was dark. The next morning sitting on the boat, we heard slapping on the water like belly-flops. Stingrays were traveling around the boat jumping several feet out of the water with their wings flapping and landing with a loud FLOP.
That morning we called Marina Aculpoco on our VHF radio and inquired if they had dock space for our boat. They had a piece of long linear dock available so we moved the boat. There wasn’t much left of this dock. The marina was completely destroyed by Hurricane Otis in 2023. The marina consists of only a long dock and a few floating smaller pieces. We decided it was a good spot for Kevin to spend two days modifying our solar panel set up to add power.
There were a few things we wanted to do in Acapulco other than a boat project. We wanted to see the cliff divers, and we wanted to see the old Spanish fort that guarded the fortified trade route through Mexico established by the Spaniards in the mid 1500s.
The Fort of San Diego sits right next to the modern cruise ship dock and could fire cannons across the bay. There are moats and trenches and gun ports and parapets to repel invaders and like other Mexican historical places, complete freedom to fall off the wall if you are so inclined. It was interesting to see the history of Acapulco back through many centuries before the Spaniards arrived. We walked around the oldest area of Acapulco and also saw the central cathedral.
On the way back to the marina we decided to flag a cab and go see the cliff divers. The taxi took us to the north west side of town to a hotel built on at least 10 stories of cliff wall, Hotel Mirador. From the top of the hotel we took a series of stairs all the way down to the ocean where the Pacific surf boiled against the cliff walls. The cliff divers work on just the other side of this cliff and swim through that water to first climb the cliff before diving back off of it! We walked back up the 10 stories of stairs and found a little cliffside bar overlooking the boiling water and cliff diving area. Here we sipped on margaritas and pina coladas while watching the sunset until the cliff diving show started. The divers – actually the whole diver family I think, walked down the walkway climbed over the railing into the boiling sea by the cliffs, then climbed the cliff. Each one dove from different spots on the cliff of varying heights until the top diver did a back layout from 35 meters up at the top of the area. It was pretty spectacular to see a 100+ foot dive into a narrow crevice between the cliffs.
There’s a pretty huge crowd for the cliff diving. When the show was over, we flagged down a taxi. When we inquired how much the fare would be the driver asked how much we paid to get there and asked for 20 Pesos more. No problem! The taxi driver was the nicest man driving the absolutely crappiest taxi we’ve been in. He kept revving the engine to keep it from dying and revving the engine and slipping the clutch to keep it going. We drove down at least one one-way street the wrong way with cars honking (Bev had her face buried in her hands) and we got dropped off a the marina security gate after an adventure filled day! The guard at the marina gate with his high powered rifle unlocked the gate for us to enter.
When we arrived in Acapulco, we were a little unnerved by the different reports we had heard about Acapulco and we were cautious going out and about, but ultimately we both decided that Acapulco was much like the other big Mexican cities we’ve visited and more or less as safe as other big cities anywhere.
Lastly, we’ve discovered conga juice. Wow, is it good! Fresh squeezed orange juice, pineapple juice, splash of lime juice and pomegranate juice poured over ice and if you choose you can add a shot of tequila or rum.
We are preparing to leave on a 46 hour non-stop passage to Huatulco, a beach town know for its 9 protected bays, 36 beaches, and 330+ days of annual sunshine.
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