We have been here in Zihuatanejo for over a week and have enjoyed Christmas with Hilary and Ryan, who just returned home yesterday. The town is lots of fun and very active this time of year. There are Mexican tourists visiting the beaches in droves, cruise ships every day almost and the cruisers on power boats and sailboats. We are connecting up with all the folks who will soon be heading south after the New Years' celebrations. We've enjoyed bocce on the beach, kayaking, visiting a fun hangout on the beach run by Owen Lee, a underwater photographer who worked with Jacques Cousteau. He has abit of tropical heaven on the Las Gatas Beach in Zihua. All the cruisers came together there for a potluck on Christmas Day. We have been waiting for some parts and finally found out that a 77ft sailboat is heading this way hand carrying our little regulator from Puerto Vallarta that arrived there after we left. Cruisers band together to help with broken parts, where to find things and getting mail and packages to each other and home. It's quite a community of folks, mostly from Canada and the US, although we should meet more Europeans when we get down into Central America.

Next step is to head to the Hualtulco area and do an inland trip to Oaxaca. It should be a wonderful place to see the crafts of indiginous people who live in little towns all around there. The city is beautiful and cool, up in the mountains.

We'll continue to explore Ixtapa and Z town for the next week or so. Check out the photos.