After leaving Zihuatanejo, we made a stop at Acapulco for fuel and a day of rest. We managed to avoid the Acapulco crowds by anchoring in a small cove just outside the city. We left our cove anchorage on 12/13 for a two day run to Puerto Angel, where we arrived on 12/15 at first light.
Considering several options, we decided to make Puerto Angel our staging stop as we await a safe weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec.
Puerto Angel is perhaps the most unique anchorage we've had the opportunity to enjoy so far, as we have now been the single non-panga boat anchored in the bay for two days. And we are clearly outnumbered! At an earlier count today, there were over 175 pangas either moored in the bay or landed on the beaches, and that does not include those which were out fishing.
Needless to say, Puerto Angel is a fishing town. Pangas are open, outboard-powered fishing boats, about 20-feet long, that are very common throughout Mexico, Central America and many other parts of the world. It would be misleading to suggest that Puerto Angel boasts a large commercial fishing industry. Rather, it seems that there are hundreds of fishermen who work daily to supply seafood to local restaurants, residents and their own families.
A sense of pride is obvious, as the fishermen are eager to display and share their daily catches upon each day's return from the Pacific.
As it turns out, it looks like our opportunity to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec has come earlier than expected; we are planning to weigh anchor at 2AM tonight and begin our run.
We are pleased to have a hopeful weather window, but it would have been nice to have at least another day in Puerto Angel. We will miss this town and the locals who make it so special. Hopefully, the following images will capture the charm of Puerto Angel. And we hope you enjoy the video. It appears that the panga fishermen have developed a method to avoid the stress of docking!
Now that’s a docking I could master!