Today is our last day in Playa El Burro. David and Justen headed into Mulege to refill water and buy some last supplies. Additionally, they used the internet to upload blog posts.
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| Saying goodbye to Batwing our neighbor junk |
Meanwhile back in the cove, Patrick had a leisurely morning. He searched in vain for the blue dinghy pump hose that we lost when the dinghy flipped in the storm the day previously. He was encouraged by our friend Cliff finding his oars one cove down, but alas, no hose which means no way to re-inflate it.
After his search, Patrick joined Cliff for some spearfishing. They dove the sailboat wreck in the bay, about 20 ft deep, and supposedly full of big fish. They saw some decent ones, but nothing huge so they moved over to Punta Ballena, known spearing grounds. They each netted a few dog snapper and Patrick caught an unknown fish. All this fish was to be used in the farewell potluck tonight. All the young cruisers are getting together to have one final meal together and celebrate our new friendships. (while writing this blog post I was interrupted by the cry of “Fish on the meat hook!” and we pulled in another Black Skip Jack, our fourth, but unfortunately not good eating)
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| One of Justen's many friends |
David and Justen got back around 3 and all three had afternoon beers at Bertha’s the on the beach restaurant in the anchorage. Headed back to the boat around 5 for late naps and to prep the fish for the potluck. Eric and Pam hosted us on Emma Belle our first look at their 32 ft boat. They shared more of their story and cost of their outfitting and spent $4000 for the boat and $2000 on extra outfitting gear for cruising. So for the bargain of $6000 (and of course many hours of do it yourself maintenance) they had a boat ready for cruising, truly inspiring on the low cost of cruising. In addition, with fish so plentiful through spearing and groceries cheap in Mexico, it can be quite inexpensive to live the cruising lifestyle. Eric and Pam were great examples on the merits of budget cruising.
The potluck consisted of fried and bbq’d fish with chips and guacamole. Oh yeah, of course healthy servings of margaritas made by Eric. It was a very enjoyable evening spent chatting, looking up fish in Eric’s ID books, and of course eating and drinking. As the night progressed, someone got the idea to jump in the water, being as the moon was full and providing bright illumination. So everyone stripped quickly and dove in for a very pleasant skinny dip. What was most spectacular was the bioluminescence. Every paddle, kick and even wiggle stirred up the plankton and phosphoresced, creating the illusion of a ghost like motion or a covering of lights reminiscent of being “beamed aboard” in Star Trek. Magical. After exchanging fond farewells, we began to pack up and return to our boat.
As we headed back to our boat we stopped at Sound Discovery and scrounged an o-ring from their extra pump nozzle to go with the extra pump Eric gave us for the dinghy. As Eric told Justen, we were getting an introduction to cruising 101, improvising materials. At least now we had a way to inflate the dinghy to motor, but not plane.
We turned in late after a fun evening despite a planned 6AM departure the next morning.
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| The local Firefighting department |
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| Damage at Bertha's from the gale force winds |
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