January 15, 2008

A wild surf and a very tame sunset (no green flash)

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - We walked on the beach in front of town last night - part of that routine thing to get exercise and appreciate this place - and were greeted with some of largest surf I've seen on this shore. Had it not been sundown, I would have run back up to the house and grabbed my boogie board.

It's the kind of surf that keeps many of the cruisers anchored across the bay from coming to town in their dinghies - the landings can be dangerous. I helped many amigos out of the surf here (and in other anchorages) when the waves flipped their boats.

The years that we were cruising Sabbatical here in Tenacatita Bay, we would pull anchor, sail over to town and drop the hook right in front of the swimming beach, then brave the surf, usually making several trips in with the people who caught a ride to town with us from the anchorage.

We never had a serious mishap in those landings, though plenty of salt water found its way into the dinghy. Getting out through the surf was also challenging, but never quite as dangerous.

Now there is a small tienda over closer to the cruisers and it is rare that they make their way across the bay.

The sunset last night was spectacular, too, as noted in the video below, along with a look at the waves.

1 comment:

Sea Biscuit said...

Great Blog and fun to read. I will be down in La Manz for the month of Feb. with my partner. We rented a casa from Santanna. Maybe we will run into each other on our walks.

Kelly