Chamela

When we arrived in Chamela I basically crashed till the next day. I was only able to get 3 hrs sleep the prior night and was just beat. Guess what? This is also a very rolly anchorage. I think all west coast anchorages are rolly. We are tucked behind a large finger of land but some how the northwest swell finds it's way around the corner only to make my nights miserable and restless. No wonder so many boats stay in Marinas. The next day we put up the sun shade and set out the flopper stopper. The first helped a lot, but the second just dampened the effects of the constant swell and waves. There is very large swell running out side so I think that is a big factor. Speaking of swell and crashing waves, we have a close encounter with these turbulent waters just to get to shore. There is only one small corner of the bay where there is small enough surf that you can make a beach landing. Coming to shore usually means surfing your dingy ( yeh dingy surfing, my New Years Eve desire)through 2 to 3 ft breakers. The hard part is you have to go back through those waters when you want to get back to the boat. Timing is everything. On our first attempt everyone thought we were going to flip over backwards as we climbed the largest wave in the set and came crashing down the back side. Bad Timing!!! With all our weight forward we were able fly over the top and slide down the back of a big breaking wave. This departure was after us helping 3 other boats make it successfully through the waves The next time we only got soaked waiting in shallow water for some calm to go through the surf. Good thing it is 85' and warm water.
There are about 6 beach front palapas that all have their specialities. We eat at the Corona tent for 50($5.00) peso chicken fajitas for two and 10 ($1.00) peso beers. I still get bad headaches form beer some mine are $1.50 Cokes. Go figure this is beer country. Water cost more than beer! As I sit hear tonight with visions of dingy surfing still in my head. I hear the non stop crashing waves just 150 yds from the boat and the constant rolling back and forth and think it is time to move on. Tomorrow we will head to Bahia Tenacatita. From what we understand it should be more protected and less rolly. This has been a fun beach front town, but I need some rest. Happy February and we are looking forward to seeing our friends from Canada Gary and Sandy who have rented a house down here for the whole month.

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