Yesterday afternoon was the beach party at Bahia Santa Maria. The locals set up a restaurant and were selling white fish, shrimp, rice and beans along with cold beers to the Ha ha Fleet. A rock-n-roll band was also providing entertainment and were quite good at playing all the hits from the 70's and 80's. This event is a huge deal to the locals who probably make more at this even than they do in months of fishing. Ponga rides over the sand bar are $3 per person, beer $2 and the dinner plate was $12. When we get to a real internet connection we will post some photos but to call it a town would be a vast exaggeration. Five buildings make up the camp, and an outfit called "Baja Outfitters" runs a tour base from the camp. Just to get ice, for example, requires a 40 mile truck ride (one way) down the beach, onto a barge to cross Bahia Magdalena. So to see a rock-n-roll band and food to 600 people out in the middle of "no where" is quite a site.

After some hiking on the bluff that over looks the camp and bay for Lori to take some great photos, we decided to beat the rush and take a ponga back out to THIRD DAY, it turned out to be a very good decision. The rock-n-roll band played as the sun was setting and the ice cold Pacifico's went down. It was then that the realization started to hit people, how would they get over the sand bar (with nice size dingy flipping breakers) and back to their boat on a moonless dark night? The ponga drivers stopped driving and 72 people ended up stranded on the beach. Of course, two of THIRD DAY's crew were among the stranded, Sean and Senior Rick. Lori and I listened to the VHF chatter and emotions ranged from panicked to pissed off. But trust me, if a Mexican Ponga driver thinks it too dangerous to cross a sand bar and is willing to turn down $3/person, you had better take notice! With no what to help out, Lori and I fired up the DVD player and opened a bottle of port and had a nice quite evening aboard while our crew slept on rocky ground. We toasted them and we laughed every so often during the movie.