4/9 - 13
13 April 2008 | Playa Herba Buena, Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico
by Cheryl

(COLD) Beers on the Beach
The 2 other boats left the next morning for the nearby marina we just found out about.
We bit the bullet and put the dinghy together and dinghied into shore to check in with the port captain and shuttle fuel out. The dinghy dock is mostly taken up with other huge boats but the water in the darsena is turquoise blue - starting to feel tropical!
Everyone and is very friendly: Bruno wants to take us fishing, Paco invites us to his beachfront restaurant - all at our own expense of course.
The check in is a non-event - we've never even seen an actual port captain only his uniformed office staff...one of the usually female office staff (back in Ixtapa) listed me as 'co-captain' (!) as opposed to just a crew member - I think these women are up to speed here!
There are a couple of small stores with dry goods nearby - one has huge sized stuff like 5 lbs of bread crumbs or gallons of mayo - must be for the Navy or cruise ships.
We have to pay to get back to our dinghy (!) something about a port tax but it's only $.50 each so we can't complain.
We dinghied to shore for dinner in the evening: the only landing spot avoiding the roped off sections for the swimmers was near one of the many beach restaurants. 'Eduardo' waved us in like we were a jet plane landing and he helped us get the dinghy up on the beach - I didn't even get my Princess feet wet! 'Yes we are here for dinner' - boom! out comes a plastic Corona table and 2 chairs, a pink tablecloth and napkins and hot sauce. Scott ordered what turned out to be a way over priced dish but it was good. Eduardo helped us back into the water! - nice service. 4 more boats show up that evening 1 of which Scott met in Mazatlan - sv Pipe Dream!, Ave Maria & Papillon from San Carlos and a new one for us, Spirit that motored in with Pipe Dream.
Next day Scott chats with Timo on Pipe Dream and we take a $1.60 taxi ride into the nearest town of La Crucetia for internet and shopping. Nice little town with a nice shady lush square and everything one needs including a local market for veggies (huge, as in way too big - heads of cabbage) and a larger grocery store where we found water chestnuts, canned soups, Dijon mustard, canned cheese- all hard to find stuff.
One day we go to the beach to swim in turquoise blue water: Eduardo helps us in and we go for a short walk to stretch our legs - as we pass 3 Mexican boys they run into the water and do flips into 1 or 2 feet of surf very apparently for our attention! Lots of fun going on. Eduardo and boss set up a beach umbrella and 2 lounge chairs for us even spend 20 minutes fixing the outdoor shower for us! We ordered lemonades and tried to order lunch but no one was around!