SAILING CAMELOT

We have the whole Bay to ourselves, apparently… Everyone left and no one has come in! We decide to explore Playa Paraiso beach and soon our dinghy is securely “parked” in a secluded corner.

The Spectacular Playa Paraiso

We feel a little uneasy; this is clearly private property and we’re intruding, so we go in search of someone to ask for permission to walk their beach and take pictures. 

The Home on The Beach

We startle the caretaker and then amuse him with our Spanish, to which he replies in good English. “Let me ask the master”, he says… A few minutes later we’re granted permission to roam around to our heart’s content. I’m a possessed soul, my camera is working overtime. This is truly one magically beautiful and appropriately named place!

Very Elegant Accommodations!

There's even a Hammock Palapa!

Soon a young and attractive gentleman approaches us and introduces himself as Juan, the owner of the premises. What! We thought this was a small and very exclusive hotel!!!  “No, it’s a privately owned house”, explains Juan. We suddenly feel like intruders and apologize profusely. Juan, however, is very gracious and invites us to sit in his palapa overlooking the bay for a cold beer and conversation. 

Juan and Tom enjoying a Beer in Paradise

The Boys at The Palapa

Juan is a realtor from Mexico City, the house in Paraiso was built by his Grandfather and he spends quite a bit of time here. When he’s not here, caretakers are present for the upkeep. Juan occasionally rents out his property to carefully selected guests. You can find more details about Playas Paraiso here

Within minutes I am smitten. Juan is polite, unpretentious, soft-spoken, worldly and a thoroughly nice fellow. His English is perfect, having spent time in England during his schooling years. A few friends of his arrive to spend the day and Juan welcomes us to stay with them, but we feel like we’ve already imposed enough.

View of Paraiso from The Pool

If this is not Paradise, I don't know what is!

We are introduced to a very eclectic group of people, children and dogs. The funny part is that there are Italians among the group! Soon I’m chatting in Italian with Luisa –Italian/Brazilian-, Marco –Italian/Peruvian- and Massimiliano, Italian from Bologna. Massimiliano, as it turns out, went to a private school not far from where I grew up. Talk about a small world! In any case, we want to leave them alone to enjoy their day so we start making our way back to the boat, after extending an open invitation to whomever feels like venturing out to come and visit Camelot later on. Double-cheek kisses go around, funny how I forgot about that! Those are not our American-style air kisses, but very heartfelt smooches distributed freely along with hugs. I remember how it feels to be Italian again!

Looking for colorful shells, Tom?

I'm No Saint, and yet I'm in Paradise!

After a few hours four of the older children, ages from 8 to 12, come visit us paddling on two kayaks. We invite them to check out our boat and they are totally enthusiastic about it. Nice, really nice kids! Too soon they leave, after obtaining all the answers to their thousand questions about vessel equipment and operation. The most often asked question is always, invariably “why do you have two steering wheels?”. The on-board washing machine is also a big hit.

Take Only Memories, and Leave Only Footprints. That's what we did.

The rest of the day is spent pretty lazily, with preparations for departure tomorrow morning.

There was only Another Happy Couple enjoying The Beach that day...