Arrived at Chacala, after good passage
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sun 28 Feb 2010 04:02
mainland), beach just outside the surf line, there are 2 other boats here.
We had a good passage in a clear sunny day with a 2 to 3 feet swell
following us, and a wind that helped in the morning off the coast and then
died midday and then picked up in the early afternoon to off the ocean, and
pushed us along combined with the motor. Like so many passages it appears to
get places we need to do a motor sail combination often. We saw whales to
start with in large numbers the boys really enjoyed spotting them and seeing
the tails, and we saw odd ones as we went through the day. Caught 6 fish one
which was significant size but was a different kind, and the book said not a
great eating fish so sent it back, but catching them often in pairs broke up
the day well, and had me moving, Sean was getting into it. Especially when
one took 20 minutes to pull in, and I had to stop the boat as much as you
can when under sail.
The Tsunami had channel 16 talking away as we passed many boats leaving San
Blas and heading north, and people trying to catch news, and times were all
over the place when the waves would pass. But the SSB weather and the email
weather had it all detailed and we knew when Mazatlan was expecting it and
were told to watch for 2 hours after this, and all was clear.
It was nice to meet the two other boats here in Chacala as they (Rumb Line
(40 cat from San Diego), and Trumpeter(46 foot Irvin from Seattle)) are also
heading to central America and are booked on the same rally we have signed
up for to go to El Salvador. They are also going onto the next port as well,
so I have no doubt we will travel with them over the next 2 months.
So Chacala how is it? Firstly the vegetation has changed to tropical palms
and the mountains are all green and there are plantations heading over the
hills, very similar to Lamu in northern Kenya coast, with the houses
brightly painted in different colors. There is a golden beach and to the
north end a small cover full of fishing Pangas, where we landed with the
boys. The beach has a set of beach restaurants, and being Saturday there
were many Mexican families on the beach with music and drums. This was
interesting as we entered the bay there were drums coming from the beach,
something new for me in Mexico. The boys loved running around and playing in
the surf, tomorrow it will be a full beach day and we explore what town
there is. But we like it, it has a nice character and feel, the anchorage is
a little rolly even with the "flopper stopper" out, we may re anchor further
tucking into the north in the morning.
Since we have left Mazatlan I have noticed the satellite phone coverage has
dropped off, not sure if the coverage is less, but certainly we not keeping
the same connection, will investigate.