Ta Daa! Trumpet blaring, Drum roll, Arrival at Zihuatanejo, 8 am Nov 4; 27 days voyage. Welcome to Mexico! A sailboat we went by in the bay said he might be able to find us a mooring so we took an empty one for a short time. He called Yogi and Alejandro, who came out, and dived up a chain for us to tie our snubber rope to. Supposedly it is connected to a 2 ton+ weight-hopefully we won't be here long enough to find out. We paid for a week, and a good thing since the check in procedure turned out to be difficult. The port capitan told us to stay aboard till the officials could come and before we could finish breakfast here were a boat full. So they inspected the boat, took papers, filled out forms, and in the end their MAF person took only 11 eggs they said couldn't be brought in. We thought all was well. Then we realized our passports hadn't been stamped and we didn't have our visas. So we took a taxi to immigration, and waited for three hours for them to tell us our visas were at the port capitans office and stamp our passports. We did meet a couple of US expats while waiting. Returning, the port capitan caught us getting into our dinghy; Gloria went and got our visas, and on her return, told me I had to go to his office at 9am to pay port fees. The dinghy was a separate story. We pull up to the dock, some boys told us they would watch our dinghy for 100 pesos. We agreed, then figured out that was probably about $8 US, which we thought a bit stiff. We got back and because it was more than 2 hours, they wanted 250 peso. (The price of a good bottle of Tequila here). So we had a scene with them, and only paid the original 100 pesos, which we thought was too much anyway. They had put the dinghy on a nearby mooring ball, which required their cooperation. Anyway, since then, I have been using a different dock and we make sure the motor is locked on. Returning to the port capitan next morning, I found out more papers were required, including the French exit clearance which Immigration had kept. Eventually he was able to get it sent to us by fax. But then, I was unable to fill out the necessary form as I did not know the Spanish abbreviations and terms. So he forced me to hire a ships agent, and 800 pesos and several hours later, we were clear. We hope. This has been the most difficult country to enter we have come to and we would advise all coming to Mexico to hire an agent first or on arrival. Tomorrow, we travel by bus to Ixtapa to inquire at the Marina about haulouts, etc as our bottom paint has been replace by thousands of goose neck barnacles and miscellanous other types of growths. We have met a Mexican who tells us his group can do all the labor involved, including polishing Pincoya, for $2800 US. We pay for the haulout, pressure wash, all materials and paints. We will ask at Ixtapa about costs for this work there. We had a delicious welcome here dinner at the Restarant Any, including two large Margaritas each-Yes!! This is the last frequent blog since we are here; we will do a weekly update. For a while, it will be all work and little play. Then we will get to start hopping our way up the coast to Puerto Vallarta and beyond. Gloria will be leaving there to fly back and be with her daughter Cara having twins in May and I will be looking for crew to help me get Pincoya from Puerto Vallerta to Guaymas-San Carlos for storage. I have a 6 month visa and have to be out of the country before May 4, 2014. So those are our plans; we'll see if we stick to it! Bye for now and thanks for patiently reading all our stuff. Gene and Gloria