Summary. Easter 4 days vacation is over. Just came back from San Blas, coordinates N21.545 W105.27, down the mountain form Tepic, south of Mazatlan and North of Puerto Vallarta, in the Pacific Coast of Mexico. What a place. We camped in the southernmost tip of land in between the estuary and the Pacific Ocean. There is a rustic restaurant that has the delta beach on the left and the sea beach on the right. Just before it there is a large coconut plantation, where our 3 families that made the trip settled. Picking up dry rests of leaves and coconut branches allowed for great night fires with stories, songs, games and broiled marshmallows. This report covers the beach description, surfing my single kayak, one of the prettiest marshes with 12 miles of jungle channels and testing our double sea kayak “Tabasco” in open waters. Conclusion.- Had a lot of fun, great surfing, amusing experiences, lots of mosquitoes (but left some for other visitors), reasonable food, (never as good as in Veracruz but cheaper), excellent “pescado sarandeado”. Pictures in about 5 days in our web page www.mayanseas.com. I´ll go back whenever I don´t go to Veracruz. Made good friends who can help in accommodations, in what seems to be a very safe place. Extended Report. The place is ideal for kayak surfing and open sea practice. Waves were for three days in a row on the order of 2 to 3 feet. Smooth and nice the first day, windy and choppy on the third. Sand is very soft and nice to walk over, with gentle slow slope for nice breaking waves. Solitude is encased in these big palm trees and few steps from tranquil estuary waters on the West, full with all kinds of bird species and fish jumping all over the place. Few motor boats and only one jet ski. The families had to be established properly on the beach before I intended to get my boat in the water. Sand chairs, beach roof, water, soft drinks, ice chest, children surfing with Styrofoam boards, kites well up held with a stone buried in the sand, proper skin coating with thickness checked to assure generous amount of mosquito repellent and a second layer of sun protection agent, or any type of sandwich arrangement. These had two purposes. If the coatings were not sufficient to repel mosquitoes or sun, they were thick enough that none of the two would penetrate them. After all that, one gets second thoughts about calling it a day and start preventing beer from warming up. Finally I opted for a paddle and placed my new VHF and submersible lamp on my PHD, took my special paddle float (some description later), my bilge pump and my very sturdy feathered vacuum bagged fiberglass paddle with aluminum shaft. After a successful launch I made a short trip of about two miles to the San Blas Port entrance. Swell was about 2 - 2.5 feet. Wind was fair with few white caps. Wind waves sometimes added 1 foot to the rocking. I got close to the “Alvarado” Coast Guard ship to exchange info about what channels are used for VHF in Mexico, and weather channels and so on. It happens that you call the Port Officers on channel 16 and they read the weathercast for you, sometimes asking you to move to another channel for the reading. Different country different ways. Is good to know, anyway, that they are there listening to you in case of emergency. Paddled back to the beach with back and side waves and enjoyed the ride a lot, feeling the nimbleness and maneuverability if my PERFORMA , and there I was ready for the surf. I picked many rides. To my amazement never got trashed (THAT DAY). Neither going out nor coming back. When trying to surf, the boat was picking up every single wave, it didn’t matter if I got it at its highest or just building up. I would get catapulted to the beach. Sometimes straight like an arrow, some others I needed to paddle rudder, but when I rudder with those waves I really had to push the blade hard to stay on course. Other paddles might brake. Once going sideways I needed an energetic decided brace either “low brace” or “high brace”, depending on wave size, in order to stay with the wave as it turned into foam. Sometimes, after some side surfing, the kayak would turn back into the beach and speed started again until a new brace was called for. Water pushed hard and I got sore fingers on both hands from hanging to the blade on the side rides. I was feeling great. I was feeling invincible. BUT the sea has always a way to humble you. On the third day, waves were not as clean. After starting a ride two water troughs would get together making it easier for the boat to broach. Waves seemed smaller and messier and I was getting ready to rest by the ice box (and its treasure) when a bigger wave came to me as I was sideways, and started growing on my face. Too late lo line my self with it. I braced and started feeling upright pressure on my arm. I was leaning nicely but water covered me sliding sideways very fast. Water was still blue. Suddenly the boat decided to do a good surf. The bow turned to the beach and there I was like a torpedo under the water rushing to the beach with my paddle behind, my body totally resting on the back of the kayak, trying to bring the paddle back to me. The paddle resistance was tremendous and I thought I would loose it. I had it from one blade already. Under those circumstances I could not think about rolling. I have not jet been able to master a tongue roll, having both hands behind me trying to recover the paddle. After a wet exit I tried a reentry and roll in the surf but I missed it. So I tried my bomb proof paddle float reentry and roll. I walked into the sea a little bit behind the surf and inflated my paddle float. I didn’t want to eat sand while practicing. I took a deep breath, reentered the upside down kayak and rolled. Then I surfed to the beach with the boat full of water and the nice paddle float on the blade. (This paddle float, which I got from Joan and Doug in Irvine USA, inflates only on one side, and has a net on the other allowing you to use the other paddle side for forward strokes, sweep strokes and sculling.) It is a good thing to know that with a dampened boat and a paddle float you can stay upright in bad waters. That gives you time to bilge pump or to raft up with somebody to empty the boat and replace your sprayskirt. Wiped everything and went back to the surf and in one nice ride the nose started sinking. I pearled and the nose touched the sand. It lifted me totally vertical and I fell in the foam, made a nice roll and continued to the beach. That rodeo trick turned out pretty good. Our “Tabasco” double testing was great. I went out and back with it carrying only non (previous) paddlers, one at a time. Two boys 15 and 12 years old and two ladies of about 120 pounds each, went out with me through the surf and back. The boat has no rudder, and leaning together and synchronizing my paddling to theirs we paddled out, made turns, moved about a mile away from the beach and came back. None of them felt uncomfortable or uneasy, even when surfing to the beach. The boat is fast and maneuverable but very stable at the same time. It is really a safe boat for long trips with loved ones. We didn´t notice any weather or lee cocking or any difficulty in back or side waves. One highlight of the trip was paddling through the estuary. One must remember that in Easter week there is always full moon and tides reach their highest. Water flows strongly into the marshes at certain hours and exits fast, so there is always a certain current The marshes have their own water source as well, so you may find sweet water, even though it has a brownish colour. After 2 miles on the main channel, ¼ mile wide, with salty greenish water, lots of fish jumping all over, all kinds of birds, a big fishing eagle standing few yards away on a tree ready to be pictured, plenty of pelicans in trees, and day herons (Night Herons can only be found in San Diego Bay, Calif.) we entered a channel that started narrowing and having many curves of almost 180 degrees. The marshes had tropical trees and vegetation and roots coming out of the water in a fresh darker area, with almost no birds, silent when no motor boats came, and very likely with crocodiles, (we didn’t see any, but they seem to be all over the place). The marshes have about 12 miles of channels and tourists are offered trips in motor boats. They can be dangerous to kayaks. I almost got hit by one big boat who was racing in the channels and moved to my side when trying to avoid my friends. Fortunately in the quietness you can hear them coming and you can move to the inside of the curve. In my case, as I was storing my video camera, the current pushed me to the other side. I took precautions for the two or three other encounters. San Blas is a great place to go kayaking. Primitive as many of touristic places in Mexico, may become uncomfortable to some used to very clean bathrooms, hot shower and mosquito free meals. To me, it is difficult to foresee 5 star places that still have the beauty of the natural original sites. As long as it has the basics, like bathrooms, water to wash yourself and clean food, and this place had them, it is sufficient to me. Best Regards and see you in San Blas some time. Rafael el cayuco chief www.mayanseas.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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