The Bells of San Blas...

... the famous last poem by Longfellow and South Trail's next stop on the Jack and Elvia's Sailing Tour! 

This pic is of the sunrise coming up on the mainland as South Trail approaches San Blas from a midnight run off of Isla Isabella.

Originally, we were not going into San Blas which lies on the shores of the Rio Santiago and requires crossing a sometimes boat eating sandbar and navigating up an ever changing river...  These were Craig's thoughts prior to having his old cruising buddy Jack aboard.  It took one comment about how Jack had never gone up a river in his boat to which Craig replyed, "neither have I".  Yup, then a new course was set, and Elvia was flagging down a local panga with el pescadores to see if they would lead us over the bar and up the river...

And that they did!  Have I mentioned how totally cool it was to have Elvia onboard?  She has motivated my lazy ol' self to really start studying my Espanol.  The ablity to communicate freely and easily, with Elvia's help, brought a whole new, fabulous dynamic to this trip, and brought home the importance of accurate, sensitive communication among all of us peeps on the planet.  These fisherman wanted no compensation for the huge favor, and slowed way down to accomodate our wee engine power compared to their ample one.  We ended up using the GPS track these guys provided us in reverse to leave San Blas and the river bar safely.  Thank you San Blas Pangeros! 

 

 Okay, this is a suck pic of a really important moment...  We are crossing the bar at San Blas, and these are (out of focus) waves, being surfed by about a dozen surfers as we are going by.  Sailing and surfing are done in very different ocean environments as a general rule, and seeing breakers off our port side was definately a bit disconcerting.  In contrast, the blurry little surfers in this picture were totally stoked and had huge, ear to ear smiles.  The very ridable waves just kept coming for them to enjoy.

Dover checking out the lay of the land as we head up river to our anchorage.  Notice the cloud cover.  This was a real blessing for us during our stay as it kept the heat tolerable...  The no-see-ums and mosquitoes were prevalent in the mangrove rich environs, we managed to keep them at bay during Jack and Elvia's time aboard with the help of massive amounts of citronella tea candles throughout the boat, and gallons of deet.  When they left we suffered an attack of biblical proportions...  At least Eva did.  Craig apparently is not prefered bug food...  Lucky guy!

Eva onboard Alvino's Panga for the Jungle River Trip.  Alvino was another Elvia flag down, and he was a fantastic guide up the river.  He knew all the bird and fauna species along the river.  We saw about a billion species of herons, boobies, hawks, and various other long billed sea birds and jungle birds.  Lots of noise along the river.  This area also has a population of wild boar and big cats including Puma and Jaguar.  We never saw anything, but one night anchored Dover did a straight Jack London, Call of the Wild growling, howling thing that we have never experienced before or since...  He smelled SOMETHING. 

This was the palapa restaurant that Alvino took us to up river.  The folks that run the place came a bit later to this remote location after getting provisions for our meal.  Remote save the three sacked-out dogs and caged crocodile (thank goodness we didn't see any on the river so I could continue to sleep at night!)  The man who runs this place with his wife was super nice and very proud of all the varieties of plants that he grows on his property including a pistacio tree and agave plants...  Our personal favorites for what they produce!  His wife was an great cook, and served us up a sumptuous platter of shrimp, fresh salad, frijoles, rice and homemade tortillas and salsa.  Mmmmmm Good.

The dogs at the restaurant had their own dedicated palapa.  We are pretty sure it is on stilts because of the crocs.  These dogs need all the advanced warning they can get.  They were not in any hurry to move at all.  They vaguely recognized us while we were there.  During the hot days the Mexican domestic animals pretty much have only one concern, conserve energy.  Dover  is, finally, starting to understand this warm weather survival technique, and has been easing-up on asking for anything remotely strenuous during the daylight hours.  Come buenos noches though, he is ready to rock!

Craig and Alvino charging down the river back to our boat at anchor.  I love to sail and think that sailing on the world's oceans is the most affordable adventure you can have with the skills and mindset to accomplish it, BUT...  I love me a fast boat every now and then, and when Alvino opened his baby up, wow she flew!!!  Forget Magic Mountain or Disneyland...  This was THE BEST water ride ever and all for the grand total of 500 pesos for about five hours of tour and 100 pesos per person for lunch with 2-3 cervesas per person.  Jungle River Trip in San Blas, Mexico... PRICELESS.

Jack and Elvia leaving South Trail on a local panga headed for the Bus Station in San Blas to catch a bus back to Mazatlan.  A note to all cruiser's anchoring here is that we had a steady stream of local panga traffic, and found that waiving them over to catch a ride into town was a very easy proposition.  We tipped anywhere from 30-50 pesos for this ride, but it sure was nice not to have to put the dink in the drink!  We had a great time with Jack and Elvia n this trip and look forward to seeing them again on our return trip to Mazatlan in a month.

Elvia, Dover and Jack hangin' on the guest berth.  Dover slept with them the whole trip and loved having his new tia and tio aboard.  When they left...

Dover was a little blue!