Valentine's Day in Bahia de Chamela

Breakwater at La Cruz

Passing the anchorage just outside of the Marina

Saturday we woke up at 6:00 am and left the Marina around 8:00 a.m. after stopping for diesel at the fuel dock. Our fuel bill was pretty high! It came to almost $4 US per gallon. This is the highest we have paid yet!

The weather was warm and there were light winds blowing. We headed south towards Cabo Corrientes, the Cape of Banderas Bay, which was about 30 NM from where we were. This Cape is supposed to be similar to Point Conception in California as far as wind, built up seas and currents go. It’s apparently quite dangerous and a concern to most sailors. It is recommended to go around this Cape in the early morning when the winds are the most mild. So, I was basically dreading going around this Cape because we were going to be passing by it around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I was thinking to myself, why are we not going around this in the morning, again? I guess we were not worried about the Cape because according to WindyTy, and Passage Weather (both weather apps) the winds were supposed to be basically non-existent. Otherwise, we might have gone earlier as suggested. Fortunately we had nothing to worry about. When passing the point, the winds only got up to 15kts and the waves were very small.

The Lighthouse at Cabo Corrientes

As I exhaled a sigh of relief during the passage around Cabo Corrientes, I enjoyed the scenery a little more, which was breathtaking! There were beautiful mountains that ran down to long white pristine beaches that were uninhabited.  You could see the crystal blue waves crashing down on the sand leaving traces of white foamy bubbles as the water got swept back into the ocean.

Harley watching Dad as he reels in a broken fishing line. Something big grabbed hold of the hook and the line broke immediately.

Rick and Harley taking a little siesta 

Another beautiful sunset

Our entire sail was quite pleasant. The seas were so calm and the water was smooth as silk at times. The moon was a crescent shape and there were many stars twinkling above us. We enjoyed the bioluminescence, as the night got darker. On Rick’s watch, he said that he saw huge patches of the bioluminescence out in the water, not just along the sides of the boat. He said it was almost like something straight out of the movie, Life of Pi. 

It was a pretty non-eventful night as far as issues go and we arrived and anchored at Bahia de Chamela around 8:30 Sunday morning. Valentine’s Day!

Approaching Bahia de Chamela

Sunrise as we get even closer to our anchorage

There were two other boats anchored when we arrived. One Catamaran and one sailboat belonging to our friends Lonita and Doug, whom we first met in San Blas.  Lonita and Doug were actually leaving the anchorage just after we got settled in. They told us on their way out that the anchorage was rocky and rolly and they were going to go anchor behind one of the islands in the bay. We hope to go anchor there maybe tomorrow ourselves.

Beachfront at Chamela

We settled in and Rick went right to sleep. He didn’t sleep well the night before and he’s sort of feeling sick like he was when we were in La Cruz. I wasn’t feeling the best myself and tired from our journey but not as bad off as Rick. I took a brief nap and was up putting things away. Poor Harley was dying to get to the beach to do her thing but we were basically stranded on the boat until Rick was awake to get the dinghy untied and into the water. When Rick woke up, he was feeling really lousy and did not have the energy to do all that’s entailed to get the dinghy into the water. So I ended up taking Harley on the SUP board to shore. It was pretty windy and there was a strong current by this time and I was worried I would have a hard time getting back to the boat. And…there were waves pounding the beach. I was a little nervous about a crash landing!

Getting to the beach turned out fine. It was a safe landing for Harley and me. As soon as Harley got off of the board she ran to dryer sand and relieved herself immediately! After that she ran all over the beach and in and out of the water as if her tail were on fire! I let her run around for a while before getting back into the water to get back onto the boat.  We couldn’t do any exploring really because I did not want to leave the board or carry it around. So, back in the water we went and I let Harley swim for a while before allowing her back on the board so that most of the sand would rinse off of her. I also wanted to get through the waves first as well. No point getting her on if we were only going to fall off.

We got back to the boat, swam for a bit and then got back onboard. Rick was still taking it easy but able to help us back on the boat. It’s not easy getting the dog up into the boat from the water by myself. So I’m glad he was there to lift her up from the board for me!

The rest of the night we just laid around trying to figure out what to eat that was not going to give us rumbly tummies.  I ended up having oatmeal and Rick had some chicken noodle soup.  We watched a movie and then went to sleep early.

In the middle of the night the anchorage became very rolly and things were falling down and it was difficult to sleep soundly. This morning it calmed down a little.

Rick still is feeling lousy and went back to bed after he had some oatmeal. I worked on the blog for a while. Again…Harley is dying to get off of the boat and to shore. So as soon as Rick woke up I asked him to assist me in getting the SUP board and Harley into the water. I was a little more relaxed on the SUP board today since I had such a safe landing yesterday. Well, right before we got to shore, I was trying to time the waves just right so we wouldn’t get tumbled. I thought I had and started paddling for shore.  Unfortunately my timing was off and a big wave broke right over the top of us and my board and paddle went flying in two different directions while Harley and I were tossed around like laundry inside of a washing machine! I don’t remember much of that only that I had to hold my breath for what seemed a very long time. When I came up for air and got my feet onto the ground I hurried to get the board and the paddle. Harley leaped through the rest of the white water and onto the beach and started rolling in the sand. I was able to grab a hold of the board and the paddle but ended up losing my favorite Nike hat that I’ve had for like 20 years.

I thought since I was there on the beach I might as well make the best of my troubles getting there and walk the beach with Harley for a bit. I tied the board up to a post higher up on shore.  We walked to one end of the beach and back to the board. I happened to glance out at our boat and I saw Rick lowering the dinghy into the water. He came rowing almost to shore and anchored just beyond the breakers. I didn’t know if he thought I needed help or what but there he was coming out of the surf with a snorkel in hand.  We all ended up taking a little walk. I thought it might make him feel a little better. We didn’t walk for long because it looked like the tide was coming in and that would be making our journey back to the boat that much longer.

I paddled the SUP board and he took Harley in the dinghy. A huge wave came just before they hopped in the dinghy almost flipping the dinghy. But Rick and Harley were able to dive down below the crashing wave and come out unharmed.

This Dolphin is between our boat and the beach…very close to the beach!!

As we both made our way back to the boat separately there were HUGE dolphins swimming near the bow of our boat and some swimming near the shore. When we got back to the boat we saw some dolphins back closer to shore jumping up out of the water and back so gracefully. It was so cool to see.  I managed to catch a picture of one of them jumping.

We both are wiped out and not feeling very spiffy. Rick seems to have it worse than I do because food doesn’t sound good to him. And to me, I cannot get enough food in my body. We are out of all fruits and veggies and I am forced to eat things like rice and crackers (things I don’t usually eat). But we think we might have some sort of intestinal flu bug or something. Who knows. We just hope it’s gone soon!

We should be here for the rest of today and then will leave tomorrow for the Islands. On the 17^th we want to be in Barra de Navidad because our friend Ray from the Richmond Yacht Club (who used to be at Brickyard Cove with us) is going to be visiting friends there on their sailboat for a few days. After we meet up with him we will go back to Tenacatita and to the other small bays as originally planned.

Valentine's Day in Chamela