Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Chemela - Day 4

Just as in previous visits, we love being here.  We have fond memories of meeting some cruisers here on our first trip down the "Mexican Riviera," people we socialized with for several years and with whom we still are in contact.  Today was the first day we went to shore.  We met another couple the other day (they stopped by in their dinghy) and planned to get together at one of the palapas on the beach for lunch and then walk into town.  We aimed for the one on the right end of palapas where we always had wonderful food  The people operating it are different, but the food was spectacular.  Roy had a tasty shrimp dish while I feasted on octopus.  Rice and a small salad plus beverages -- what a grand lunch!  We walked through most of the town, stopped at one store and bought ice cream (on a stick), the first we've had since we returned to Mexico.  A little further down the road was another store with wonderful produce -- just what we were hoping to find.  So now with enough veggies for several days we're thinking of staking out our claim -- which I guess we already did when we dropped anchor.  We lucked out -- fresh veggies are brought into town by truck on Tuesdays and Fridays!  Getting back to Damiana in the dinghy proved to be a challenge: the rollers hitting the beach were great for surfers, but not for dinghies.  We had waited until late in the afternoon, but not late enough to avoid a few big splashes.  All in all, though, weather has greatly improved, warm and sunny and beautiful sunsets every evening.  We just heard on the local VHF radio an announcement from a boat that arrived in the anchorage about an hour ago that they caught a huge tuna today and that anyone in the anchorage that wanted fresh tuna to come on by their boat -- they are from France.  Cruisers from all over the world are some of the friendliest we've ever met!

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~