Bahia de Chamela

We left La Cruz Marina around 2 in the afternoon after filling up with some diesel. We sailed out of banderas bay and rounded Cabo Corrientes around midnight and anchored in the northern anchorage of Chamela. We must explain a bit about Cabo Corrientes, it is a point notorious for unpredictable winds and current. Thus a good weather forecast is necessary and passing the point after midnight or early morning is the best time. We did the passage by doing 4 hour watch shifts. Justin made some Mac&Cheese for dinner and took the first watch as we rounded the point. Dalia slept in the cockpit and woke up for her midnight to 4 in the morning shift. As we rounded the point we encountered another sailing vessel (the name we forget) heading north to La Cruz. They told us there were some heavy winds south of the point for 20 miles, we did not see this. During Dalia's watch the wind died and we started the engine as we headed south east down the coast.

When the sun came up we were both on deck ready to do some sailing but alas there was no wind. We saw an incredible amount of sea life on our way down, which included turtles, dolphins and of course whales! Dolphins love to come up the bow of the boat and surf on our bow wave. Some times you will be sitting in the cockpit on your own and you hear a "swoooosh" sound like someone breathing through a large snorkel and you look behind and 100 hundred feet of your stern is this glorious whale. That has to be Dalia's favorite part of cruising down here, is the fact that we can get soo close to the wildlife.

Bahia de Chamela is a beautiful large bay with a sand beach, palapa restaurants and a couple of islands. The first night we anchored in 30 feet of water and went straight to bed. The next was a vacation day which we spent watching movies and recovering. On our 3d day we planned to leave and anchor off one of the island, Isla Colorado, which is rumoured to have some good snorkeling. We got the boat ready, hauled up the Ghetto Duck (our dinghy) when we heard a vessel calling Ahea Kali on the vhf. We put our plans on hold and radioed them. Another sailing vessel relayed for us and we found out that they were headed up the coast to Chamela. Ahea Kali was a boat that had been on Dock 6 with Steady Beat and Justin was anxious to catch up with Micheal and Rene. They were headed up the coast to Mazatlan to get back to their car and head up the west coast to Alaska where they got jobs for the summer as guides. They told us how they spent Christmas anchored off Isla Colorado with Lady Hawk, the water was clear, they saw a sea horse while snorkeling, and the day they left there was a 20 foot whale swimming around their boat in 15 feet of water. We had to go! This was valentines day and we went into the beach for a nice lunch. The beach landing was difficult and Dalia got knocked over and got completely wet! we managed to have a nice lunch and a less wet departure.

The next day we headed over to Isla Colorado. We were so excited on our way because the visibility in the water was 25 feet! We anchored in 8 feet of water (Steady Beat draws about 5 feet) and 60 feet off the beach, we tossed over the stern anchor to keep us into the swell and turned off the engine. We were on our own little private beach with crystal clear water......paradise. Just then we saw 3 dinghies motoring towards the beach, as they passed they invited us over to the beach for a BBQ. So we packed up some hot-dogs and tuna steaks and headed in. Just then 3 more dinghies came from the north anchorage and we had a full out party on the beach. We met Tristan and Mindy off of Aita Pe'a Pe'a a 30', high performance catamaran from L.A. and Tristan's parents Inis and Kirk on Pilot a 48' schooner that they built in the 80s. We also met Serg and Katie on Kolea a green Pilot boat registered in Montreal. Later that afternoon while on the beach munching on chocolate chip cookies a large mega yacht anchored 100' off our stern and before they were done throwing out their stern anchor there were children on jet skies and power boats everywhere. sigh...the serenity.Just to add to the interruption the power yacht (which will remain nameless) turned on every light on deck and underwater once the sun went down.

Our second day at Isla Colorado was disappointing with the water visibility being less than 1 foot. This trend continued as we waited for the water to clear up for 2 days and on the third day with no bottom in sight decided to head south to Careyes.