Isla Mujeres - Isla Blanca - Isla Contoy, 17.3.2011 (eng)
Andromeda
Michael
Thu 17 Mar 2011 17:00
Isla Contoy, Mexico
17./18.3.2011
We spent the last two weeks in Isla Mujeres in the bay, together with another 15 anchoring boats and many more in the 5 marinas.
This was good to get some work done on the boat and also some stuff in Cancun (as seeing ear doc + dentist amongst others).
Also, we met some very nice people on boats and ashore and had some fun and entertaining evenings. Michael's kiteboarding sessions were also entertaining for many people on the popular sunbathing beach. Especially the girls from the, Max Models Bikini foto shoot, found it to be an exciting scene and got some pictures taken with him in the middle - bet he enjoyed that! :-)
Frenchman Arno from S/V Kawolia loves kiting, but unfortunately left his stuff in Paris. So he became a good swimming and snorkeling mate for me, whilst Michael is still trying hard to adhere his ear doctor's advice being careful with the water. The hole in his drum is healing slowly. It might take another 4-6 weeks (!) - if he's extremely careful. If you know him well, you know how much suffering this means for him.
Together with Arno and another cruisers couple, we spent a wonderful and extremely fun evening on S/V Amarula. The boat's name is not shear coincidence - the owners when very young made they're own version famous South African liquor. It was fun for Michael to find out that they have some common friends over there. And I enjoyed myself with the hostess and some wonderful bottles of Champagne.
Though we're having quite some fun despite the ongoing "d" distress, we decided to take Andromeda for a little trip. We've heard that there's good kiting conditions on Isla Blanca, especially for beginners - which I am. So we left on the 17th heading the 10nm North. Unfortunately, the reef is so far off the coast that it does not really give enough protection and anchoring there would have been very bumpy. Even inside the reef we had 1m high waves! Navigation inside the reef was a bit tricky due to very shallow sand bars (at times I'm sure we did not have much more than the German saying's one hand width water under the keel), not optimum light conditions and the waves. So by the time we got to the Northern part of the peninsula, we decided to continue to Isla Contoy, an island just 4nm North of the peninsula.
Our delight about a calm anchorage in front of a beautiful island was shadowed shortly after arrival by the park rangers which approached our boat. They informed us friendly that the entire island is a national park and access only allowed after having required a day permit in Isla Mujeres. This explains the absence of loud party catamarans, snorkeling tours and 2 for 1 Margarita offers as well as the abundance in birds, untouched beaches and peaceful quietness. We were lucky enough that we were allowed to spent the night at an mooring buoy - promising that neither us nor anything else (as in shampoo, banana peel etc.) will leave the ship.
So we enjoyed a solitary beautiful peaceful bright moonlit night - a great way to celebrate our 1 year knowing each other.
So the following day, we'll try Isla Blanca again!
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