Fishing

Been trying to wrap up the blog posts for our Mexico trip. I have the fishing video to post today and then all I have is the vollyball and sunsets videos and it will all be wraped up for this year. Enjoy!

Sailing with Rebecca, Sam and Dave

Some Final Catch Up - Videos and Such

Sailing with Rebbeca, Dave and Sam

We went sailing on Liberta’ today, which turned out to be a magnificent adventure for a couple if Idaho landlubbers. We left the house and walked to the bus. This was the second day in a row that we were within a block of the stop when the bus arrived and proceeded to leave. We have had this happen so often that we know that it is fruitless to chase after it. Every block or two it stops just long enough to pick someone up, but not long enough for us to catch up. So you end up playing cat and mouse all the way to the highway. It is best to sit in the shade and wait till the next one chugs by.

In Barra our first order of business was to find Linda a bano so we proceeded to the malecon where we knew, for five pesos, she would find a semi clean depository. I stayed on the street and Linda proceeded to the little buildings. They were locked of course! This was the first time we had seen them locked in all the many times we had walked past them. She looked around and spotted a polica in a hut at the entry to the malecon area. Using her best Spanish she asked if there was another bano somewhere because this one was closed. He stood up, shifts around a bit, walked out from around his desk, stood on the street, placed his hands on his hips, hitched up his pollica belt, looked up the street, looked down the street, took off his sun glasses, and said in Spanish “I don’t know where another bano is, this one is closed!” Linda smiled and thought “no duh Horatio!” she smiled, thanked him and proceeded to a nearby restaurant and used their bano.

We grabbed a water taxi and motored our to the Liberta’s anchorage. Dave and Rebecca were waiting and we were welcomed on board. We sat and talked while Dave readied the boat. As we sat there the local French Baker radioed that he was in the moorage area and was letting everyone know that he had fresh pastries and that we should wave if we wanted him to stop. We signaled him over and he brought his boat astern. What a cut little French man; those were Linda’s words, not mine. He explained what each little delight was, in his cute little Monty Python French accent. Then he chatted with Dave about business, accepted our pesos for a few very good items and motored off.

After finishing our breakfast delicacies, we hauled our anchor and using the diesel engine motored out of the lagoon, through the channel to the bay where we set our sails and caught some very light breezes.

We sailed north out of the bay and cruised the coast to the bay that hosts the small town of Cuastecomate. When we entered the harbor area, we were immediately greeted by two small boats. The cruiser network is very friendly and they really help each other along their travels. The welcome party had come out to greet us and make sure that Captain Dave knew about the hidden reef that resides on one side of the bay. We chatted a bit and then headed back out to catch some of the winds that were building off shore.

We sailed a while and then headed back to Barra. Dave wanted to buy some diesel and fill Liberta’s water tanks with fresh water so we docked at the marina near the Grand Bay.

The Maximus II was docked and taking on fuel when we pulled up to the dock. The luxury motor yacht MAXUMUS II is a 105' 2005 Horizon charter yacht and is probably as big as our house and way more expensive. The captain was fueling the behemoth using both fuel hoses but graciously allowed Dave to cut in and grab his two jugs full. Dave struck up a conversation and the two chatted in charter captain jargon while the process continued. I have notice that Dave and Rebecca are at ease carrying on conversations with people they meet, in fact Dave said several times that the local knowledge you gather is priceless.

While Dave fueled and conversed, Rebecca started the process of getting fresh water for the boat. She handed me the hose and I took it to the dock and connected it to the fresh water spigot. Sam jumped on to the dock and proceeded to help me with my assigned duty. The rest of the account gets a bit hazy, but I will try to retell it the best I can.

I had secured a comfortable position sitting on the dock locker where the fresh water stemmed from. In the hot sun, Sam and I waited for the signal to stop the water flow when the tanks were topped off. Suddenly, from the forward flybridge of the Maximus II, I heard the voice of a woman say “Ohhhh, a puppy”. On the spiral staircase leading down from the flybridge I spotted a beautiful young woman gliding down to the aft deck. Her hair was long and dark black, her skin golden brown. The white bikini she wore adorned her well proportioned body.

She paused on the aft platform a few feet away from me and said, “Do you think I can jump to the dock from here?” Using my best Travis McGee savwafair and dry humor I replied, “Well, it’s not the jump you have to worry about, it’s the landing.” She smiled, worked up her nerve and leaped over the three foot gap. As she made her mover, Sam also made a move. Samantha walked about seven feet away from me and positioned herself so that our new friend could squat down and scratch her ears. I do not know if Sam’s relocating to her new position was on purpose, but it sure turned out to be a surprisingly lucky gift for me. When our little beauty, turned and lowered herself to pet Sam, she exposed the most amazing thong bikini bottom directly towards my location! Less than five feet from my very position was a soft full moon, drawing my complete attention.

She scratched Sam, and Sam gave a little growl. She then turned to me and asked if Sam would bite. I explained the Sam will sometimes growl, but always wants more attention. She stooped again. This time as she petted Sam, my eyes broke away to see Linda and Rebecca laughing as they caught me in mid drool.

Once the maiden had tired of both Sam and me, she leapt back onto the Maximus II and despaired. Sam needed to go ashore and pee, I need a cigarette, and Linda knew that this had made my entire day.

Once the fueling was complete, the water tanks were topped, and I had regained my composure, we motored back to the lagoon and the Kilmers set anchor. We loaded into the dingy and wound our way back to the taxi dock where we disembarked. Dave motored to the Sands motel where they locked up the dingy and then we met and went for a nice dinner in Barra.

Relaxed and fed with cool drinks in our hands we recapped the day and laughed about the many happenings. I found out that Dave was so engrossed in his charter captain chit chat that he failed to see the whole maiden of the Maximus II incident. I retold it several times, each time she became more beautiful and voluptuous. We finished our meal and walked to the bus stop.

We had a very good time on the Liberta’ and expressed our thanks over and over. It was Linda’s first sailing experience and turned out to be a very positive one. We waved good bye and our bus lumbered on back to Melaque.

Biking, Boats and Barra

Today everyone gathered next door with their bikes and we went for a bike ride that wandered through the farms and flat lands, hill and marshlands around Melaque and Barra. We started by following the road that Linda and I had previously taken on our country bike ride. It winds through the area across the highway. We followed one of the folks who led us in a large circle around the farms, but eventually we crossed the highway and traveled northeast of the lagoon into the hills and farmlands to the southeast of Barra.

The roads were very primitive and we had to climb over a gated fence at one point, eventually we coasted down a hill and into a cantaloupe farm. The riding was very pleasant and about every half mile we let ourselves through fence gates to the next field.

When we hit the main road into the villages along the coast near the Isla Navidad Golf Course, we peddled along until we entered the guarded area of the lush green fairways. The cobble stone roads were all almost four lanes. The course was immaculately groomed, with wide fairways and smooth greens. As we rode I spotted only one golf cart on the course, Larry pointed out that this was the norm and that they had never seen many golfers on the property.

We reached the club house and entered the outside restaurant where we ordered a wonderful breakfast. Two waitresses took our orders and served us, attending to our every need. It made us feel very important, even though we were in our sweat soaked ridding gear. We ate and talked; each meal a delight.

After breakfast we road about a half mile to the village by the lagoon where we caught a water taxi back over to Barra. At the dock we unloaded our bikes and followed the city streets through Barra and out to the highway back to Melaque. It was one of the highlights of our vacation and will look forward to other bike adventures in the future.

Visiting the Liberte’

After walking into town and having a final meal we said good by to Teri and Bill Burch and watched as they were whisk away in their taxi to the airport. Another sad time and we hate to see any of our friends depart. We know it will be a few more days until we do the same, it’s a quiet time.

At 4:00 pm we caught a bus to Barra and proceeded down town where Linda bought a small stuffed frog. She named it Bailey and then packed it away into the backpack. We were in Barra to meet David Kilmer at the Sands Hotel. Dave and his small dog, Sam, arrived in his small dingy right on time and we motored out to their beautiful boat, Liberte’. As we arrived Rebecca Kilmer greeted us and gave us a grand tour of their sailing vessel a beautifully constructed Beneteau 361. Dave took some pictures of us on board and we settled in for a wonderful dinner. Linda and I brought shrimp and fish so the meal consisted of fresh Chula caught just off shore, seasoned lightly and quick cooked on the boats grill. Marinated camarones on a bed of wild rice complemented by curried carrots with bananas. It was an unbelievable meal!

We talked, drank and ate while evening breezes cooled the lagoon. After dinner I presented Dave will a paper plate that he and Jacob Rothrock had used to document a bet back in the states. Jacob had asked me to collect on the bet and so I presented it to Dave, we heard his side of the story and we exchanged a monitory sum paying off the bet. We laughed and talked until it was time to take the dingy back to Barra, hop a taxi and return home.

If you have an interest in reading my interpretation of the events connected to “The Bet”, just follow the link at the bottom of this page.

"The Bet"
The true story by the agent assigned to collect, Dean Bennett.

Welcome 2010

Last night we had a blue moon and ended a decade all at the same time. A blue moon is simply the second full moon in month. This months full moons occurred on December 2 and December 31.

Melaque is the center of the universe when it comes to fire crackers. The loud booms last all night and sleep usually requires ear plugs. I tried to get photos of the fire works over the Grand Bay resort in Barra, my night photography success rate is not the greatest.

Yesterday Dave, Rebbecca and Samantha Kilmer visited us. They arrived the previous afternoon and found a mooring location in the lagoon in Barra. We plan to meet them and have dinner tonight (Jan. 1) on their boat. They must have had quite a view of the spectacular fireworks over the Grand Bay when the New Year arrived.

Oh, by the way, the Bennett's would like to wish you all a Feliz Año Nuevo!