Chamela Bay

Clear water!  So awesome! Swimming with your spear gun is so cool.  Looking for the giant yellow fin fish. -  by Kyle 

Chamela Bay 

We made it! The overnight crossing was a success. We rounded the cape, Cabo Corrientes, in the middle of the night and made our way to Chamela Bay on Sunday, December 2nd. We raised the sails but left the motor running the whole time. There was very little wind and only small waves, so the sailing was comfortable but slow. We averaged around 4 knots and covered our 100 miles in about 24 hours.  

Before we write a post about Chamela Bay, we want to say how much we enjoyed La Cruz and Banderas Bay. Since we left, over dinners we have been talking about our friends we miss in La Cruz and Kyle talks about how much he misses his friends and teachers from Colegio Salzmann (a blog post with pictures from his last day last at school is coming soon). We miss our family and friends in the US too, especially now during the holiday season.  

A few pictures of the bay below - that of course don't do it justice. There is a flat,golden sand beach that goes completely around the bay. A small river flows into the bay at the North end and is a favorite spot for Kyle to play and swim. Parts of this area are part of a biopreserve and it's not hard to understand why -   http://www.ecocuixmala.org/
-by Christina 

From Ken-
Arriving in Chamela Bay is a major milestone for me. I began coming to Chamela in the early 90s. We would stay in beach front palapas and cook on our camping stove. I always thought this was the most beautiful place I had ever been. I used to look up the coast to see the sailboats bobbing in the anchorage and thought how wonderful it would be to be here on my own boat. I finally made it.

The water is clear and blue. It is so clear we can see fish swimming around our boat. There is a nice yellow fin tuna that likes to hang out under the boat. I keep trying to figure out how to spear it but it is pretty smart and leaves and the first hint of danger. 

A couple days ago I got out for a long walk down the beach. The beach is beautiful, wide and flat with lovely soft sand. The air and water temperatures were perfect. The warm, golden sand squished up between my toes. I could look back and see Sea Biscuit quietly lying at anchor. What a moment!

The anchorage has been comfortable and we are mastering beach landings in our dingy. The trick is not to get your dingy flipped over in the breaking waves with your nice outboard going for a swim and filling with salt water. So far so good.

I have really enjoyed the town of Punta Perula. It is a peaceful little town with a few small abbarotes (grocery stores). Yesterday I thought I should get some chicken to supplement our diet. I asked around and was directed to a small taco stand. Out back the woman was cutting up chickens that had clearly been alive a few hours ago. The remnants of cleaning them were in a bucket alongside the table she was cutting them up on. This is one of the things I love about Mexico. It can be so different from our lives in our cars, houses, and malls in the States. Sometimes life in the States seems so sterile to me. In Mexico there are always people out doing things. In the US it seemed like you did not see many people. People drive from their office to the store and then home where the sequester themselves inside their house or at least out of sight of their neighbors.

Enough. As you can tell I am enjoying our travels. Best to all of you.

The town of Punta Perula

Stationary bike?  

Kyle has been asking when we are going to take his bicycle in on the dinghy so he can ride on shore. Since it already knows salt water, we'll probably take the bike in one of these days. But for now it's safely tied onto the lifelines.