After leaving Banderas Bay we first stopped in Bahia Chamela, a well protected bay surrounded by beautiful beaches and scattered with picturesque islands throughout. No longer in the protection of the Sea of Cortez we are now having to deal with the swells of the Pacific Ocean. Chamela gave us our first real opportunity at dinghy surf landings. Since I was a die hard surfer for 25+ years, I figured no problem, right.....wrong. Although my many years of surfing probably did give me some benefits...there is a BIG difference between surfing a wave on a short board at 13-40 years old and landing an inflatable dinghy in surf at 56 years old. One of the first things I found different was that of all of the hours I spent sitting on my board peering out at the horizon...praying for a nice set, I now sat in the dinghy peering out at the horizon praying for no surprise sets. A few things to help prepare for a dinghy surf landing are; 1. dress for the occasion, in other words, prepare to get wet and don't wear your Sunday best. 2. Be patient, don't try to beat a set in, wait for the lull that I use to hate so much as a kid, then go for it quickly. 3. Never...I REPEAT NEVER go sideways to the waves....or you are screwed and better hope you followed rule number 1. 4. It doesn't take much of a wave to discombobulate you(pic,not us BTW)...so don't be stupid.
All in all we did pretty well, we had several successful landings and takeoffs...and a few less successful, but no disasters, and we are still in a learning curve.
We are currently in Barra de Navidad, a VERY cool place that reminds me of some kind of movie scene I've seen. More on that later.