We left Zihuatanejo and motored 10 miles north to Ixtapa.  Ixtapa was developed in the 1970’s as a mega resort town, similar to Cancun, with big hotels, cruise ships, and Senior Frog’s on every corner.  Our short stop had 3 purposes:  top off the diesel tanks, wash the boat, and find a place to watch the Seahawk-Packer football game.

We took on 31 gallons of diesel at the fuel dock, filled the water tanks, then pulled into a slip at Marina Ixtapa.  Diesel is more expensive in Mexico compared to the US.  We paid $3.80/gal in SF back in September and I’m pretty sure it has gone down since then, and we paid $4.60/gal in Ixtapa (if not for a favorable exchange rate, it would have be even more).

Next we found a marina restaurant with big screen TVs to watch the NFC Championship game.  It was a disappointing 3-1/2 quarters but then turned into the most exciting come-from-behind Seahawk victory I’ve ever seen.  Of course we flew our 12th Man flag and wore our Seahawk jerseys.  The game was broadcast in Spanish and we were the only ones watching it.  I think everyone thought I was crazy during the final 3 minutes of play with all the cheering and jumping up and down I was doing!  We celebrated the super bowl bound victory with blended lime margaritas.

Back at the boat we prepared for an early morning departure.  A 12 foot crocodile came out after dark and swam around the empty slip next to our boat.  I was on the dock giving the dinghy a fresh water rinse so was extra cautious not to fall in.  We had to get out of the marina before 7am due to the channel dredging they had scheduled, so we got up at 5:45am and left the dock at 6am for the 190 mile trip back to Manzanillo.