Pangaea World Tour: Chacala

1-4-15

San Blas-Chacala

Miles traveled- 39

Palapas line the shore of Chacala

We got up a little late this am as we forgot to set our alarm. However, we were able to check in with the Sonrisa net. It was a bad propagation day for the hams; we all had difficulty hearing each other.

We read in our grib files that today was going to be a good wind day for sailing. So far, no wind.

We had a couple of dolphins come for a quick visit and saw 3 humpbacks putting on a show for a few whale tour boats in the distance.

We made it to Chacala, and it's a really pretty anchorage. The shores are lined with gorgeous homes and the beach is peppered with colorful umbrellas and thatch-roof palapas. Time for our anchor down cerveza!

It is going to be a rolly night. On the bright side, we may get some surfing in!

We anchored and got organized. I made some chocolate chip cookies for the port captain and banana chocolate chip bread (I was inspired by the muffins we had in Mantanchen) for us, and we got on our boards and paddled over to his office. Closed. So, we paddled to shore...and surfed. Accidentally. Well, not exactly, but we were fully clothed and had our iPads in the backpack with all of our boat documents. I surfed all the way in but fell on my knees at the very end which dug the front of my board into the sand and resulted in me butt down in the surf. Mike fell on his arse but managed not to soak the backpack. Phew. Always good for entertainment value, I say!

As we walked our boards to the palapa I fell in one of two holes someone had dug that I didn't see because the board was in the way. Again, good entertainment value. After checking all 707 emails I had since Monday and deleting at least half of them, we enjoyed a cold beverage, some guac and fish tacos.

Mike decided we needed to give surfing another shot, this time in swimming suits and no boat documents or electronics. So, we did! We took the beginners approach, on our knees. I did pretty well on the first wave; I made it all the way into shore. Mike had fun getting flipped and almost lost his sunglasses. I came to his rescue. Five rides later and we had each been pummeled a time or two. I also inhaled a good share of seawater when a wave broke in my face. On one ride I dipped my board a little sideways and landed so hard on my left sit-bone that I think I realigned some of what I threw out when I fell running last March. My back is cracking a lot less! By the way, at my last visit before heading down to Mexico I asked my physical therapist what I should/shouldn't do. He said I could do anything. I figured surfing was better than some things. Especially running.

Pangaea and the sunset

We paddled around the anchorage as the sun went down and met Richard on Sarita and Dan and Ashley on Coyote. We may be seeing more of both boats on our trip south.

It was the most beautiful sunset of all the nights on this trip.