Puerto Escondido
06 April 2010 | N25 49.055 W111 18.796
It's a good thing we only had to go 20 miles today because the winds were hard on the nose today. There was no room in the "waiting room" to anchor so we pulled in and fueled up at the Singlar Marina fuel dock. What a ripoff! They charged us 31% on top of fuel. We don't get how they can charge that much on government-controlled fuel. 11% IVA tax and then dock fee for 20%. It certainly did not start us off on the right footing.
We checked at the fuel dock and found we can anchor in the enclosed area. Then we found out you have to pay for anchoring. ?????What do you mean pay for anchoring? Not slip, not mooring but anchoring. Well there goes strike 2. Unfortunately we have to stay because the winds are just howling in the enclosed area and didn't even want to know how bad it was outside! Oh well. Maybe town is nice!
Yep right. Strike 3. There really isn't a town here. Not a fishing village either. There's a Modelorama not far from the marina near the RV lot. And they charged us over 400 pesos for not even a bagful of stuff. Really not liking this place at all!
Walking back to the marina makes you think of the long road stretches in Mad Max movies. Then when you get to the developed area you feel like there was WW3 and nothing is left except a few half buildings and paved parking lots with lights. It's really a strange area.
Let me tell you about the grumpy people here. Hardly anybody waves or says hi and when you ask a question it's like we should be paying them for their time and effort. And they bitch about people having extended emergency discussions on VHF 16 when there's a boat aground and click the mic to annoy the people talking. We don't get it. Are their any CRUISERS here? So STRIKE 4.
Sorry no pics for Escondido, just a couple quick videos. I have to say that the mountains around here are really impressive (see I can think of one nice thing to say about this place :) )
When the winds let up, we are sooooo out of here! We're thinking of what we need to do and have on the boat so we can bypass this place next year!