Marina Puerto Chiapas is an excellent place to visit, get necessary boat work done, or to store one's boat for the season. Earthquakes and tsunamis notwithstanding. (More on that, in a later post.) On the right, you see a view of their innermost dock, looking toward a portion of their asphalt-paved dry dock and boat yard. —>
The approach through the port's entrance jetty is deep and straightforward, and the angles entrance up the estuary past the fishing fleet and into the marina area is well-buoyed. The government officials who check you in and out of Mexico here are as efficient and professional as in any other Mexican port, but be aware that because Puerto Chiapas is so close to the border with Guatemala, the port's policy is to have a Marine and his drug-sniffin' dog inspect your vessel both after it enters, and before it leaves, port. No exceptions. We saw some folks try to leave north or south as soon as they had a weather window, and didn't want to wait for the pesky formality of a drug inspection. 100% of the time they were escorted back to the dock by unsmiling military in a panga. So, be hip, kids.
The gentlemen in charge of Marina Puerto Chiapas, Enrique Laclette and Guillermo ("Memo") Garcia are both very well experienced and seem to really enjoy making cruisers comfortable. The same can be said for the workers in the boat yard, and at Baos, the marina's restaurant. The fact that Memo reminded me of Richard Boone in Have Gun, Will Travel made our time there even more special. (GB still says he doesn't see the resemblance. Hmph.)
Notes for cruisers: Taxis and small local buses regularly travel the 30-minute highway route from the marina into Tapachula, the nearest city. Tapachula's regional-size airport is located near a Holiday Inn Express and other lodging, making it easy and comfortable to get yourselves and any visitors to and from your boat at all hours of the day or night. Tapachula has interstate/international bus stations for tourist-style transport to places like Palenque and San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico, or to Guatemala City, Guatemala and beyond. ATMs aplenty, in the usually-expected spots. For provisioning, the most convenient option may be Tapachula's Walmart, Home Depot, and auto parts stores which are all conveniently located within a couple block radius of one another. The mall that houses Walmart includes Long Gua, a Chinese restaurant that I'd highly recommend for both a nice meal and for a look at how generations of Chinese immigrating to work in agricultural Chiapas have interpreted classic Chinese recipes. Americans may know a certain appetizer dish as "pot stickers," but they're easy to miss on the menu because in these parts they're called "Chinese ravioli." Get you some – you might see they contain common ingredients you haven't eaten before in pot stickers Chinese ravioli, but they're yummy. And if you're southbound, they'll be the last pot stickers Chinese ravioli you'll be seeing for a LONG time. Specifically, until you find that dim sum joint in downtown Panama City, Panama.
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