The Past...Chacala

As we made our way north to Chacala, the passage of time did its magic and both the hung over and the seasick recovered their equilibrium.  Ok, maybe a bit of Gravol helped, too.  Chacala was not a destination as much as a conveniently located anchorage on our way to San Blas, which is another 22 miles, and was a bit far for us to reach before sunset, especially with our late start.   

Neil saves the day

In the middle of the afternoon we felt the distinct shudder that we’ve come to associate with kelp wrapped around the sail drive and/or propeller.  Since we were at least a couple of hundred miles south of the last of the kelp we suspected that perhaps we had run into a fishing net although we hadn’t seen any sign of one.  Neil donned the snorkel mask and swam down to check things out.  He reported that we had some ¾” yellow polypropylene rope wrapped around the prop.  He was able to cut it loose fairly quickly and we arrived in Chacala at sunset.

Chacala Beach at Christmas

 In the morning we were surprised to find this usually sleepy little beach town completely transformed from when we were there a week and a half previously.  As it turns out, Chacala is a favourite destination for Mexican families living inland who want to enjoy the beach between Christmas and New Years.  They arrived in the morning by motor coach armed with beach umbrellas, coolers, food and inflatable beach toys to spend the day.  Parents and grandparents generally stayed under the umbrellas but the kids played on the beach and in the water all day until they left, again by bus, in the late afternoon.    

The huge influx of people has clearly caused some problems as addressed by this sign. 

We left Chacala around 11:30 am on Thursday, December 29^th and had an uneventful trip to Matanchén Bay at 

 San Blas.

Chacala Sunset