Wednesday the sun was back and we decided to hike to Playa Las Gatas.  The most common way, that we have always used before, to get to this "no roads" beach is to take a water taxi from the municipal pier (for about $3.50 round trip).  But our hotel was so far from downtown, we decided to try the "over the rocks" route between La Ropa and Las Gatas instead.  It actually worked just fine.  It's a little tricky in places - see the pictures at both left and right - but it wasn't difficult or dangerous and took us about 15-20 minutes which was much shorter than walking all the way to the pier then boating across the bay.   I admit it was rather humiliating to be carefully making my way across the rocks in my tennis shoes and have locals, including young kids or parents carrying their children, whiz past us in their bare feet.  


 The picture at left is taken on Playa Las Gatas looking back towards Playa La Ropa - where we walked from.  On the right is the view straight across the bay to the town of Zihuatanejo with the mountains in the background.  Below left is the rock break (covered with sea gulls) that makes this a popular snorkeling place.  This year I also discovered a sunken rowboat - it may have been there before and we just never noticed.  It's between  the rocks and shore at the east end of the beach and makes a great fish habitat so is a wonderful snorkeling area for kids or the less experienced since it's quite shallow.  

Snorkeling was pretty good when we got there at 10 AM but the water gets very cloudy later on.  We didn't expect to see as much here as on the Caribbean side of the country so we weren't disappointed.  I saw lots of Sergeant Majors, trunk fish, damsel fish and what I think were a type of grunt.  John went further around the rocks and saw more variety.  On the right he is ready to dig into lunch on the beach at La Mesa de Pescador.

The people density on Las Gatas was much higher than on La Ropa and there were many more local kids playing with inner tubes, kayaks, etc. because the rocks break the waves so the water is much calmer.  On the left below is on our way back over the rocks. And to the right was tonight's "towel turtle."  

Friday Jan 18 we started with our morning exercise walking the beach.  Today I captured various sorts of beach art.  We found it interesting that the two painters were capturing the same scene with such different results.  Below another picture of us in our beach garb; then we dressed and headed into town, a picture of Calle Adelita still decorated for the New Year and the one on the right some unidentified birds in the canal.  

     

       

We had lunch at Fonda Lupita in the Mercado, bought some fresh fruit and baked goods.  John got a belt buckle in the artisans' market at the far edge of town, across the street from the church (below left).   We sat on Playa Municipal to eat our gelato and I entertained myself watching the birds swooping all around the area hoping for fish.  We walked back along the beaches rather than the roads.  The center is a scene along Playa Madera and on the right a part of the Paseo Pescador, the walkway along Playa Madera - finally completed, including lights, all the way around the beach.

                
       
We swam some more in the afternoon then hung on the beach and read until sunset.   Afternoon views include the swan towel, just lazily staring up at a palm tree and one of the beach dogs who thought John really should be paying more attention to him.  (Also note the lady reading over the side of the pool - there were many creative ways to enjoy water and read at the same time!)   We ate supper at the hotel restaurant. Below is a sample of the sunset and at the right a night time view of town from the dining terrace.