A Week in Acapulco

An old hotel in Acapulco in the El Quebrada District. It is dated, not very modern, but they are currently renovating rooms and the renovations are great! It's reasonably priced. Get a room overlooking the world-famous cliff diving - four times a day and you'll have a back-row seat! Be prepared to climb stairs -this hotel has tons- elevators (outside/mountainside only) not working the whole week I was there - and there were only two anyway. From my room, was 426 steps to the closest pool and back, uphill! Not for the timid of heart! A wonderful hotel, though if you aren't requiring first class!

Rooms, as stated, were dated but plenty of space. We had a queen bed and an l-shaped couch "thing" - a person could sleep on each. Larger rooms are available. No coffeemaker, showers were "iffy" but hot water was not needed as we were there in July.

Restaurant was wonderful and staff very friendly and helpful at hotel and restaurant. No complaints at all with service; they tended to go above and beyond to assist.

I would recommend this hotel to a budget-minded traveller who is not looking for luxury but would be impressed with the history of this hotel.

If in Acapulco and you want to take a nice boat ride, get tickets for the Aca-Rey - it takes a leisurely tour of the Bay and just outside the rim. It was about a 4 hour trip and was very pleasurable. The drinks are included and it is narrated, in Spanish and English. For a view of the beautiful celebrity homes and hotels around the bay, this trip couldn't be beat!

We purchased tickets from a guy at the airport (deeply discounted attraction/tour tickets but you had to do a "time share" tour to get). We paid $20/apiece but I think full cost is around $35. To me, it was well worth it to get the waterside view of the area!

Another boat trip! We took a ride out to Palao, a restaurant at the tip of Acapulco Bay - another view of the harbor and a leisurely ride out. When you disembark at Palao, you have preselected your dinner and you wander around, can take your snorkel and fins or rent them there for $7. We took one of the earlier trips out during the day and came back on the last trip back in to enjoy snorkeling - not the best in the world but definitely fun! We had selected grilled baby lobster - oh, it was so fresh and wonderful! They were a little chintzy on the drinks in my opinion but we were there all afternoon! We weren't drinking alcohol and I felt that water or soft drinks (in small cups) should flow freely in the July heat! I finally just tipped our waiter $20 to just hold our table as we were back and forth snorkeling and enjoying the day - he then became very amenable. Palao is a cool little place and worth the visit.

You can pick up a trip out at the Public Pier - we got on one of the Glass-Bottomed boats, of which there are many. I was a little disappointed in it as the "glass bottom" was very small and very cloudy. This was an older boat, as many of them are, and the diesel fumes were a little disconcerting - might have just been unfortunate wind direction, though. If I did this again, which I would, I would definitely walk onto the boat and check out the bottom before purchasing a ticket, to get your full money's worth. You will visit the small outcropping in the bay that has statues of the Virgin Mary and gifts for her all over it (sorry, can't remember what it is called) - there is a sunken statue that the boat makes a determined effort to stop "over" with the glass bottom - with such a small view, it was more sand than anything, with all the backing and turning the boat did. If the "window/bottom" had been less cloudy and newer, I think we would have gotten a great view.

The trip out was entertaining, though - stopping along the way and young men diving in and catching sea urchins to show, diving for coins, etc. It was a joy to watch these boys take pleasure in the beautiful waters!

We visited the main Pier in Acapulco and rented the time of two young men, Humberto and Juan for a deep sea fishing trip. While I have been on many in and around Florida, this was my son's first. I selected to take it easy and document the trip by video. My son fished.

Suggestions: talk to the folks around the docks, check out the boat;  if you want a nice, accommodating boat, you're going to certainly pay more. We paid $200 US for four hours. The boat was of sufficient size but was not "luxury" by any stretch of the imagination. We didn't expect this, however, we were out there to fish and enjoy a beautiful summer day.

The guys took us out of Acapulco Bay and into deep water, about 3 miles out. My son then hooked his first black marlin. He brought it into the boat within 30 minutes (GOOD time!) - was not huge but was thrilling to him. All the guys were excited - I opened another beer!

We then wandered and wandered for the next three hours, searching and fishing. I, being content to wander, was fine. My son was happy, hoping for another fish; he now had the "fever". Humberto then noted that no one was catching fish (we had seen several boats doing the same - just wandering and looking for fish) and did we want to head back in and maybe catch tuna. I agreed that this was probably a good idea and we had already gotten our time in. As we were discussing and deciding this, my son hooked a HUGE sailfish! The chase was on! Now, keep in mind, not a luxury boat - fighting chair was NOT bolted down, was sliding all over the deck! Todd, my son, fought the fish for three hours, finally bringing him up to the boat. Juan, the deckhand/brother of Humberto, was helping him as much as possible. When the fish got to the boat, Juan grabbed a gaff that is typically used to gaff from a pier, slung it towards the fish twice; on the second throw, he sliced the line with the gaff! My son, not realizing what had just happened, said, "What?" I told him Juan had just cut his fish loose. Juan was more upset with himself than we were in losing the fish.

It was a long ride back, with the captain and his mate being so disappointed. They constantly apologized for the mistake. We felt it was no problem - he caught the fish, just lost it, a story to tell! I think the major disappointment to them is they sell the fish in port.

To end the story - if you want to fish, they are there. Check out the boat, negotiate what you want. These guys stayed hours and hours longer than originally intended to try to get that fish. I, of course, tipped them well for their effort.

Just a few shots around one of the larger market areas in Acapulco. Shopping there was unimpressive to me. There were a couple of very nice jewelry stores but otherwise, nothing that was out of the ordinary.

Be prepared, when in Acapulco, to take a lot of taxis - most are unairconditioned VW Beetles - rates vary widely - always ask! If you choose to walk, the "downtown" area is doable - if you go to the cliff diving/El Quebrada, be prepared to climb hills. We did quite a bit of both!

You can arrange with a driver to take you to a location and wait for you - please be courteous and return when you said and the driver will wait all day if necessary to hold his promise to you. Pay him for his time and courtesy. Several times, we would do this in order to determine if a "sight" was really somewhere we'd want to stay a while - holding a reliable driver was nice to be able to do. If we decided to stay, we'd simply go back to him and let him know. He would always offer to return later and, if you arranged this, never failed you.

Some communication (I only speak English) problems with some taxi drivers but in general, was easy to get around.

Shopping, again, is not impressive but you can haggle and find some bargains. What I mostly saw were the cut-rate souvenir stuff.

The plazas were pretty, though. It was a little disconcerting seeing law enforcement with machine guns. No problems seen except one fight in the plaza pictured - police arrived quickly and broke it up with no incidence to outsiders. Otherwise, was a peaceful and friendly city.