A Taste of Cruising Mexico

Chacala was one of our favorite spots on the trip down, so we've been looking forward to spending some time there as we made our way north. The place was just as nice as we remembered it.

Comfort pretty much requires both a stern anchor and a flopper-stopper, but that was no problem. Having water temperatures above 80 again was the real treat. When you jump in the ocean every day to clean up, it really helps if you can do it without having your teeth chattering.

We spent two days here, not counting the days we arrived and left. There is a great beach and Jeff and I went in to run every morning. My other activities included kayaking and snorkeling. The kayaking was perfect--calm and sunny all morning. Unfortunately, the snorkeling was a bust. The morning I tried that, the water was very murky and I couldn't see much of anything. Of course, this morning just before we left out, everything was crystal clear. Oh, well!

Jeff had his own projects going. The first day he pulled out his guitar. It hadn't been touched on this trip except to move it from the aft bunk when we had company. Jeff put all new strings on first, and the same string broke about three times. He managed to play an assortment of tunes until his fingers just plain wore out. It's probably been ten years since he even pulled his guitar out of the case, so getting back into it involved some frustration. But Friday's project is when the stress level really ramped up. Jeff worked on our income taxes from about 9 AM until 4 PM. Doing all this long distance with a very inadequate computer presented a lot of road blocks, but he persevered. There's still a good deal of work to do, but at least he's beyond the panic point.

One other memorable activity was our evening out on Thursday night. A local lady named Isabelle is a cook at a nearby bed-and- breakfast. One evening a week, she offers dinner at her home. There is a sign-up sheet our on her gate that gives you a choice of two different meals and you put your name down for the one you want. The cost is 60 pesos for the whole meal (that's about $4 US). If you want something to drink other than the fruit flavored kool-aid she provides, you are welcome to bring it. We joined with six other cruisers and put our names on her list. We showed up at the requested time of 5:30 and were greeted by Isabelle and Gabby, her gringo neighbor who helps her out for these events. Once we were seated, dinner was served almost immediately. This is quite unusual for Mexico, where everything seems to start about 1-2 hours after it's supposed to. The food was delicious--chicken mole or chile rellenos. After supper we strolled through the village and bought a few basic necessities (like an ice cream bar for dessert) at one of the little tiendas.

This morning we are having an absolutely perfect sail to Matachen Bay. The ocean couldn't be more welcoming. We are making six knots (in the right direction) with flat seas and clear blue skies. After a few days in Matachen Bay, we will need to make a 24 hour passage to reach Mazatlan. Once there, we will be waiting for a weather window to cross back over to the Baja side (La Paz) of the Sea of Cortez.

Dori