SAILING CAMELOT

We raise anchor at 10:00 and start our short trip to our next destination, Paraiso. Hugh & Annie from Serendipity join us and we slowly head out of Bahia Chamela. Needless to say, it’s another gorgeous day –although I never take it for granted!-. Not a lick of wind so we lazily motor, eyes on the big, blue wet thing that surrounds us. I never get tired of staring at the ocean, there’s always something going on. I spot my first Sea Turtle! I spent a good couple of minutes guessing what this floating, shiny black hump could be before realizing what it was. A new experience!

That tiny thing is actually a Sea Turtle

A few whales are visible in the far distance, far enough for me to feel safe and actually, for once, enjoy the show. Seeing all this marine life makes me want to read and learn all about it, I know so little! The sea is indeed a living organism and I’m developing some sort of feeling of belonging, learning to recognize signs, and an ever-expanding respect and appreciation for what surrounds me. I can -and do!- spend hours with my eyes scanning the water, always seeing something new. Not even two hours later we arrive in this magical, postcard-perfect spot. Paraiso! I’m thinking “I don’t need to die to go to Paradise, after all. Here I am!”. Silly, I know, but that’s what crosses my mind at this moment… Paraiso is a tiny bay with room for maybe 4 or 5 boats. We’re lucky, there’s only one other boat anchored there. We quickly pick our spot and claim temporary residency, Serendipity follows within minutes. Now there’s three of us!

Tom doing his job, testing the waters

 The beautiful, golden beach is totally deserted. There’s a very nice looking hotel just above the beach, complete with infinity pool, barbeque plaza, bungalows enjoying privacy behind palm trees. But… it’s completely quiet! The hotel, we guess, is closed. Good for us, less commotion in this sacred place! What a waste, though. Such a wonderful facility and nobody there to enjoy it…

We had the place all to ourselves

We drop the dinghy in the water and pick up our friends for a leisurely excursion around this bay and the neighboring one. What a shockingly beautiful place! There’s this small bay adjacent to Paraiso, I have no idea what it’s called. They too have a beach, white pristine sand, another small hotel can be seen, a couple of tourist-toting pangas on the hook.

Spectacular Rock Formations

Amazing View of Paraiso

 We want to be in Zihuatanejo (about 200 miles further South) by the end of January, in time for the annual SailFest that starts on February 1st and lasts for a week. Tom comes up with a tentative “schedule” (oh, that sounds like blasphemy!). We agree that we need to keep moving, stopping only briefly at some of other beautiful places along the way in order to make our deadline (another blasphemous word!). I agree only because Tom PROMISED we’ll take our sweet time on our way back up later on. We’ll have time to visit more thoroughly whatever places we miss and spend however many days we want in the places we like most. Sounds reasonable, and yet I feel deprived… It’s a good thing that Annie & Hugh come over for some company, we spend a couple of fun hours together debating itineraries, sharing “how did you guys meet” funny stories and generally having a good time. We’re all going to leave in the morning, this time to get to Bahia Tenacatita, just a mere 26 miles down the coast. The prospect of a new place to see pacifies me a little, but I really want to come back here and STAY for a while.