2013 February 21 Off to Our Desert Isle

So, we were all sitting around one day and Bob mentioned that a buddy of his said that you could rent a boat in Punta Perula and they'd take you out to some really good snorkling.  One thing led to another, and pretty soon Deb and Jacquie and Bob and I were in Bob's car headed for Punta Perula!

 

 

Another busy day on the beach at Punta Perula

Punta Perula is a big hour north of Melaque, and about 2 hours south of Puerto Vallarta.  We were there last month with Kelly and Cheryl to visit our friends Rich and Evelyn, who have their 5th-wheeler pulled up beside a huge palapa right beside the beach.  Of course we had to stop off for beers and an extended chat, and then it was off to find The Boat Guy.  You may imagine that this would be easy, but in small-town Mexico often not so much.  First, we went to where all the boats were, but of course there was nobody around as the typical Mexican fisherman, when he is not actually in his boat on the water, is eating, sleeping, playing with his kids, fixing his truck, or some combination of these.  Then we tried stopping someone on the street, and this actually showed some promise as we got an acknowledgement that the islands existed, boats went there, and they could be rented at 'a place' roughly described as 'over there'.  After stopping and chatting with two more groups of people we eventually zeroed in on what could loosely be described as a beach-side restaurant, which in this case was an adobe shack with a dirt-floored palapa and a couple chairs.  And there was a panga out front!  The two women sitting in it were sharing the roles of chef de cuisine and maitre de, and of course spoke not one word of English.  After much waving of arms and tap-dancing in place, accompanied by Steve's limited Spanish, we were able to sort out that yes this was the place, yes the boat owner would be happy to take us out, but it would be a few minutes as he was fixing his truck (!).  About 20 minutes later our skipper showed up, and he also of course spoke no English.  Nevertheless we negotiated a trip, a time, and a price, and then all that was left was getting the 1000 lb boat over 100 feet of dry sand and into the water.  This turned out to be remarkably easy with a jeep, a rope, and 1 litre pop bottles full of water (rollers!).

 

Jacqie, our skipper, Deb and Steve enroute

 

Steaming by one of the islands

 

Coming into our beach with Silent Bob in the foreground

 

There are a half-dozen islands out in the bay, perhaps 5-10 miles from the beach.  The run out was lovely, as it was a beautiful Mexican morning and sea conditions were gentle.  The trip out entailed zooming quite close by a couple other islands, which provided viewing opportunities for birds, rocks, and desert vegetation growing beside the ocean.  As we rounded the third island, a beautiful pocket beach of blinding white sand surrounded by headlands appeared; this was our destination!  There was a significant swell right onto the beach, so offloading was carried out fairly gingerly, but eventually we were all standing on the sand and the boat was pulling out.  This would have been great, except that I had a niggling feeling about the agreed arrangements; we thought the skipper was coming back in 3 hours (1 pm) but we had also been discussing 4 hours, and the skipper had been making Spanish noises that sounded suspiciously like 3 pm.....  so while there was much nodding of heads and general approval, I wasn't sure we were in agreement on Anything, least of all the pickup time.  This was starting to look a lot like Gilligan's Island, and if Bob looks a lot like the skipper....  on the other hand, there was a palapa on the beach so we could get out of the sun, we weren't going to starve to death anytime soon, and there was a whole island to explore!

 

First off, it was time to explore a bit.  Our beach is perhaps 400 yards in total, from rocks and bluffs on the left to what looks like a second passage out of the bay on the right.  The second passage turns out to be landlocked, but it a very interesting almost-passage with a very strong surge.  There's also an underwater passage that fills and empties with the swell.  And the rocks on the headland have thunder eggs filled with calcite and common opal.  Deb and I also got side-tracked on picking up seashells, which is always fun.  Overall an interesting spot!

 

The almost-passage.  While pretty, it's not a place to go wading!

 

Chair? Check!  Umbrella? Check!  Sun? Check!  Sand? Check!  Ginger Ale!?  WTF?

I suspect the swell coming into the bay is fairly rare, as it faces east.  However, today it's about 3-4 feet with a glassy surface, which is great for swimming (Bob likes to bob).  Sadly, it's also happening right over the snorkling-area, and over the years I've developed a severe allergy to being disembowelled by coral and rocks, so the fins and masks stay in the bags. The undergrowth behind the beach is quite thick, and after an extremely brief discussion we all agreed that we didn't know enough about the local fauna to explore much inland.  Soaking up the sun and the sights it is, then.  Eventually we got hungry and retired to the palapa for comida, and whilst breaking out the beers we hear an engine approaching.  Could we have been THAT mistaken, and our skipper is returning already?  Nope, it's another panga with 5 Mexican tourists and a guide.  Turns out that folks come here fairly often to check out the birds, turtles, plants, etc.  Off they go up a 'hidden' path at the back of the palapa, and 30 minutes later they are back, into the panga and off to the next sight.  All is good, and after an appropriate interval filled by swimming, snoozing, sunbathing, and fossicking our skipper shows up right on time!  Apparently the mind-meld worked.... Reloading was tricky, but we eventually managed to crawl over the gunnels between waves and we're off!  On the way back, we took a short detour to view a bufadora, which is an underwater sea-cave with a surface blow-hole that looks like a geyser when the swell is right.

 

La Bufadora.  20'-30' high, for perspective.

So we're back on the beach at Punta Perula, having cheated death one more time.  A leisurely drive home and we're in the pool cooling off at 4 pm.  Not a bad day-trip!