Chacala-lunch at a palapa on the beach with Steve and Linda from s/v Warren Peace and Christof and Marianne from s/v Shamu

After getting fuel at the fuel dock in La Cruz we went out in the bay to anchor so we could get an early start the next morning to Chacala. We looked around at the boats anchored and saw our friends on s/v Shamu, Christof and Marianne from Switzerland. We had met them in Huatulco in December. We hailed them and they were surprised and said they were also heading up to Chacala so we arranged to leave at about the same time and more or less buddy boat up there, it is only about 10 hours. We started to weigh anchor at 6:00 but it seemed to be stuck on something down on the bottom, we kept at if and it finally freed up and we were on our way. We motor sailed most of the way, very little wind. We anchored and saw our friends on s/v Warren Peace, (not be confused with Tolstoys War and Peace novel, it is their last name) Steve and Linda from Canada. We had met them in Las Hadas. There were 8 boats at anchor and about 2 1/2 years ago there were about 20. Pat made beef stuffed with pepperoni and rice mixed with vegetables, very good. It was a rolly night but not too bad.

We decided to go ashore so we dropped our dinghy and picked up Marianne and Christof from Shamu and Linda and Steve from Warren Peace and we intended to check in at the Port Captain but he wasn't there. We walked around the small village and had a nice lunch at one of the palapas on the beach. It was a nice afternoon and on our way out of the little inlet, where we tied our dinghy, we got our prop wrapped around an anchor line from one the many pangas . Fortunately we hadn't started our outboard motor yet so we just untangled it and moved on. We then took our cruiser buddies back to their boats and spent a quiet evening. We all had decided to leave the next morning. We all had decided to leave the next morning at about 9:00 am for the 5 hour sail to Mantanchen Bay (outside of the village of San Blas). Warren Peace left an hour earlier then Shamu and us. We then realized that Warren Peace hadn't turn their clock back an hour because of Mexico's daylight saving. We hailed them and they changed their watches. We all had a big laugh at this and kidded Warren Peace for a couple more days about it.

Our original plans were to go to San Blas (the one in Mexico not the islands in Panama), but you need a pilot boat to take you up the river about 2 miles and the entrance is real tricky and is dangerous. Pat fished on the way here with her hand line, she had a nibble but lost her (as they say) hook, line and sinker, plus lure. So far that is the closest we came to catching anything. Pat's determined to catch a fish. We anchored in Mantanchen Bay, couple of miles from the entrance. It was a really nice anchorage, wide and in about 20 ft. of water right off the beach. We sailed for a couple of hours then motor sailed the last 3. Pat made pork chops, rice and carrots (no fish of course) and we relaxed with a nice glass of wine (or two). The next day we picked up Warren Peace and Shamu in our dinghy so they wouldn't have to drop theirs and went ashore. We planned on taking the bus to San Blas. Linda and Steve had been here before so they knew the way to the bus stop. Well after about a mile walk along a dirt road parallel to beach, it dead ended, guess what we went the wrong way. Of course we kidded Warren Peace and thanked them for the morning exercise, but now we would like to go to the bus stop for San Blas. It is a nice small town and has an old church that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had written a poem about called The Bells of San Blas, it was the last poem he wrote. We went to the Port Captain's office but he wasn't there. Gee, what a surprise. We spent the rest of the day wandering around and had a nice lunch in town and took the bus back to our anchorage. We stopped at a few roadside stands and bought some banana bread. They had pineapple bread, yucca bread and lots more.

We were planning on leaving the next day to go to Isla Isabela but the weather was not so good so we decided to wait for a couple of more days. We were invited over to s/v Warren Peace for cocktails to thank us for chauffeuring them around in our dinghy at Chacala and Mantanchen Bay. Marianne and Christof from Shamu and Barbara and John from s/v Nadia were there and we had nice evening.

We left Monday morning heading for Isla Isabela.