18 April 2012; Hualtalco de Santa Cruz, Mexico.

 It was a perfect arrival at Hualtalco with perfect weather forecast, as long as you could deal with a hot and sunny day. Forecast was for 30oC/86oF but it went in the end a few degrees higher and the mercury rose to well over 90oF (32oC) Beach life, under the bow of the ship was in full swing all day long. Apart from being a cruise port, Hualtalco is also a major resort for the Mexicans themselves and that made the beach and adjacent bars and restaurants booming. We were the only ship in today and thus we had the port to ourselves. It would be nice for local economy if there would be more ships calling than just Holland America Line but for us it is of course perfect as least we always have a berth. As soon as a port becomes more popular, the small ships (and believe it or not, the Statendam with 1200 guests is a small ship nowadays) are assigned to the anchorage. That means a rather long tender ride as the authorities (read shopkeepers) require us to tender into the port itself instead of into the nearby Marina. So let’s keep this hidden gem of a port away from the lime light so we can continue to happily dock here.

 While going in, the pilot pointed something out of real interest, which you had to know about as it was hard to see. When they are shoals of small fish around, the dolphins tend to hunt them by forcing the whole shoal towards the surface and then catch from underneath as the fish cannot go anywhere. That is sort of group effort with several dolphins working together to push the shoal upwards and keep them boxed in. This is also to the great delight of seagulls and other surface birds that can now simply pick their share from the water surface. That we had seen before. Now we saw the shoal moving under water but not coming all the way up. According to the pilot this was caused by sharks, having an eye on the dolphins. Normally they seem to be too fast for any shark to attempt to catch them but when occupied with fish hunting the sharks tend to move in. So you see the shoal of fish nearing the surface and then falling away again as the sharks are distracting the dolphins. I had never heard about it (the shark bit) but it seems to be quite common in this area. A lot of high drama going on; just outside the port and without anybody noticing it.

Around the port they have been building a lot of condo’s, small apartment complexes and also villa’s. Now with the housing boom having been changed in a slump, there are a lot of unfinished properties. It is not as bad as in Cabo San Lucas, which is very much dependent on the American economy but still a large number of unfinished buildings are overlooking the bay. Prices are very good, with discounts of about 50% available, the only problem is that the port is so far away from everything. It is an hour by car to the local airport and apart from the little village near the pier area, there is not much excitement available, at least not in walking distance. As per pilots advise: you-buy-house, you-first-buy-helicopter. So if anybody has a spare helicopter in the garage, this might be your chance to snap up a good house bargain in Huatalco.

The local Mexican navy was also happy today; they have now received all their new toys and were out to play in force. We now have a navy escort circling around us near every port of call. By improving their security infrastructure the Mexican authorities are trying to protect the cruise ship business as much as they can, as it forms such a vital part of their coastal economy. I am hoping that they will get their inland issues under control as well, so all the ports will be open to us again for visiting in the future.

Navy patrol (?) boat  each port now has one of these in operation. I do not know the exact name of them, but I believe they are built in Mexico.

Tonight we are going to cross the Golfo de Tehantepec and the forecast is indeed calling for windy weather. Under the influence of the remnants of a Caribbean weather system a lot of wind is funneled to the Pacific side, so I expect that we will get about 45 to 50 knots between 2100 and 0100 in the morning. The guests will be warned, the decks blocked off and everybody kept inside until we are past this area. We will pump all the ships ballast to the portside to keep the ship from listing as best as possible and then we will ride through. It is not dangerous, just very inconvenient. Then by tomorrow the arrival at Puerto Chiapas it should be wind still again and we should have another glorious day.