Feb. 18

 We left Ipala at 7:15 AM for Chemala and were able to sail for 3 of our 9 ½ hour trip.  The winds in the afternoon are usually stronger than in the morning and that was truly the case this day.  More importantly they were coming from a direction that was not straight on the nose.  We anchored in the northern part of the bay in about 25 feet of water.  There were already about 10 boats in this anchorage, but it is large and can accommodate many boats.  We had a wonderful night’s sleep in this anchorage for it was very calm with very little rocking motion.

 The next morning Nancy, Mike, Hank, and I went walking into the small beach town of Perula.  This little town was about two blocks off the beach toward the northeast.  The beach has several beach palapas that have great food.  Town contained several stores, an auto mechanic, and two hotels.  We walked around looking for internet service and found it at one of the hotels.  There was also a great store for fruits and vegetables, everything looked so fresh that we knew that we would need to come back to do some shopping.  Down the beach about 2 ½ or 3 miles is another resort that Nancy and I walked to one morning.  This resort consists of about 11 rentals that are right on the beach. It was really a beautiful setting and as we looked out at the bay we realized that a whale had come in close to us.  We thought that we might be able to eat breakfast there but there were no tourists and only the owner who was doing some painting on the buildings.  I didn’t eat before we started this run/walk and by the time we started back, my body was really crating some energy.  I hadn’t been drinking water so I stopped and starting sipping the bottle that I had brought.  Finally I decided that it might be best if I radioed Hank and had him come pick me up in the dinghy. I got back to the boat, ate and drank some Gatorade and was back to normal.  Lesson learned – never go anywhere with out something to eat and drink along with you!  We all went to shore that night and ate at one of the many palapas.  It was fun to sit there and watch the activity on the beach.  There were fishermen carrying their nets down to their boats, kids playing soccer on the hard sand, and children swimming.  Hank helped one of the pangas move their boat up from the water’s edge.  They have several methods to do this but the most common is to put empty soda bottles under the boat and push the large, heavy boat on them.  This takes quite a bit of man power and Hank was able to help out.    The boys from La Solana had paddled their surf boards to the beach and were able to have some fun riding the breaking surf.  Later their dad even swam out and tried his hand at the waves.  Unfortunately by then the surf was quite calm!

 We left Bahia Chamela on the 22^nd of February heading for a small anchorage named Careyes.  This is a beautiful little bay that has pastel colored houses and two hotels either on the beach or overlooking the beach.  I was told that this was used for celebrity weddings but I am not sure of that.  What I do know is that it was about 3 hour’s sail from Chamela to Careyes and that only two boats were able to anchor in the northern lagoon.  This is right in front of where a Club Med  used to be and the beach and palm trees are beautiful, though most of the other building have been destroyed.  The beach of Club Med looks like the pictures I have seen in magazines for get away weddings.  After anchoring we went ashore to see about using some of the facilities of the Careyes Hotel.  Many times, if they are not busy, they will allow cruisers to use the pool if they buy food.  This time when we checked, they were expecting a large group of people from LA and were not sure what time the following day they would be leaving.  Since they wanted to make sure that the guests had enough pool lounge chairs, they could not say if we could come the next afternoon.  We would just have to come over and check it out the following day.  The place was beautiful, but we didn’t want to wait around just to see what happened.  Going back to the boat we had pretty much decided we would pull the anchor early in the morning, especially since Hank didn’t feel comfortable with the anchorage. The charts said the bottom was shale, corral and sand, so even though we had tested the anchor by putting the boat in reverse and applying pressure, Hank didn’t like it.  We woke the next morning at 7:30 AM to see La Solana pulling up their anchor.  We quickly were underway, going south toward Tenacatita.  The winds were mostly on the nose, so even though there was about 8 knots of wind, it wasn’t a good angle. We arrived at the bay of Tenacatita and were anchored by 12:00.  We heard over the net that this was the Mayor’s night out and there would be a raft up party at 5PM.  Each boat was to bring an appetizer to share, a plate, your own drink, boat cards, and books to share.  We got together our things and headed over right on time.  By the time it was over, which was 7:30 PM, about 20 boats had participated.  That is a great way to get to know the cruisers that you are sharing the anchorage with.  Tenacatita is a large bay and many cruisers feel it is one of the nicest anchorage.  There are many activities like volleyball, bocce ball, and Mexican train dominoes on the beach every afternoon and in the morning water is glassy.  A pair of dolphins is usually playing around the boats and they are something to see as they swim and leap out of the water. Now when you want to buy supplies at this anchorage, there are several options.  The most fun one is to take your dinghy and do “the jungle ride” through the mangroves.  This is about a 3 ½ mile trip that starts out going east and then makes a sharp left turn to parallel the coast line.  You end up at a little landing, beach your dinghy, pay the man to watch it, and climb over a small hill to the beach town.  There you will find a trailer park, hotel, a grocery store (small), and many palapas.  The vendors also sell along the beach when you sit there for a beer, so it is also entertaining to see what is being sold in this area.  This jungle ride is well worth the time, even though it is rather tricky to enter the river from the sea at low tide, which is exactly what we did.  The mangrove trees have been kept under control or I am sure that they would completely grow over the river.  About half way along the trip, the river narrows and you find yourself going through a tunnel of mangroves.  Egrets both gray and white are all along the way.  I did see one mangrove crab but that is about all.  When we got to the store, we were able to buy bread, beer, vegetables and fruit.  If you want diesel or water you must go into to Bara Navidad which is about two hours south.  We did that on Friday in the early morning and were able to sail right back to Tenacatita by 3 in the afternoon.  I must say that it would be fun to spend some time at Bara for the hotel and surrounding town looked beautiful, but that will have to wait until we come back down this way next year.  For with the sale of the house, we must head back to La Paz so we will be able to fly to the states and leave the boat in a secure place.