2 Cents: S/V Piko on Mexico

• Boat: S/V Piko
• Crew: Lauren Buchholz and Lauren Smith
• Homeport: Seattle, WA
• Cruising Country: Mexico
• Website:

What is your favorite anchorage in Mexico and why: So far our favorite anchorage is Barra de Navidad. The anchorage is tucked into a lagoon, so it is protected from swell.

Least favorite:

Are there anything you've had a particularly hard time finding down here that you wish you brought more of? There are food items that we wish we had brought more of: Brown rice, stir-fry sauce, canned oranges, Better-Than-Buillon, and inexpensive wine. Most of the rice in Mexico is plain white grain and finding brown is next to impossible. We like to stir-fry a lot and the only Asian sauces available in most stores are plain soy sauce, sweet & sour, and hoison. We have yet to see regular stir-fry sauce. Most of the Buillon/instant broth in Mexico is similar to the buillon cubes in the United States and contains MSG.

What are some of your favorite experiences while you were here? There are many Mexican treats that I have fallen in love with! Some things I highly recommend to try are Horchata (sweet cold drink made from rice) and Mexican hot chocolate (has spices in addition to the chocolate). I also love getting $1 street tacos.

Were there any hurdles when you were in the country, or anything you wouldn't do again? We didn't think that we would need a TIP, so we never got one when we entered the country. However we learned that we couldn't have anything shipped to us until we got one, so we had to go through a day-long process of beaurocracy and having the boat boarded and searched to get one last minute. Also, there are some products that have international warranties EXCEPT for Mexico - go figure! We had to deal with warranty for our computer hard-drive and computer motherboard and we paid way to much to ship it since they wouldn't cover Mexico.

Do you have any advice to future cruisers coming to Mexico?

Manzanillo (Las Hadas): Where do I find...

Dinghy Dock

You can land your dinghy at the Las Hadas marina. They are supposed to charge a $100 peso fee, but sometimes there is no one there to collect and thus no fee. The owner of the marina is trying to get the fee increased to $200 pesos (crazy!!) so it is unknown what it will be moving forward.

Laundry

From the Las Hadas Marina, you will want to follow the main road out to the entrance of the resorts where the bus-stop is. Take a very short bus-ride to the main highway (entrance to the golf course). There is laundry service right across the street which charges by the kilo.

Port Captain

Showers

WIFI

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