Sunday, 16 February 2014 – We had a nice cool and calm night but awoke to a boat covered in heavy dew. It is surprising how wet everything sometimes becomes overnight, and we have learned to close the hatches before sunset otherwise moisture gets into the boat where everything gets damp.

We prepared the Dingy for going ashore as we planned to go for lunch at one of the Palapas. However, by 10:30 a.m. it was clear the wind was increasing from the South and a heavy thermal settled over the area with steady winds in the 16-20 knot range until almost 3:30 p.m. after which things got quiet once again. In this part of Mexico, you perform a “Surf Landing” on the beaches with your dinghy. As the wind had increased the surf considerably, we decided to relax and wait out the weather on board.

At 5:30 p.m. we headed ashore for dinner at one of the Palapas. While there was still some surf, it was not strong and we had no trouble surfing ashore on one of the waves and then pulling the dingy above the high water mark on the beach. Dingy wheels are a real must-have for this type of landing; they make easy work of moving the dingy about on the soft sand. The wheels attach to the transom of the dingy and can be flipped up or down as required. They are worth their weight in gold when you must haul a dingy up a steep beach.

We picked out a suitable Palapa restaurant and settled for some fine Garlic Shrimp that were sweet and much tastier than the jumbo shrimp we had bought at the fisherman’s market in La Cruz.  Our waitress was a nine-year-old who spoke excellent English, the only person in the Palapa that did. A seller came by with wonderful coconut balls made of real shredded coconut soaked in honey and sweet milk and then lightly baked to provide a crisp exterior.  As the sun set, we headed back to Hilbre to prepare her for a morning departure.  We kicked back and enjoyed the coconut balls with some Coffee. We are on Central time and our position west of the time zone means sunrise is after 7:00 a.m. each morning. Because of this, things seem to happen later, and the mornings just fly by.