Sayulita redux...

Sunset from where I'm staying in Sayulita

I've made the journey back up the Pacific coast of Mexico from way-south Barra de la Cruz up to Sayulita. Sayulita, faithful readers will remember, was my first Pacific coast stop upon entering Mexico back in early May.  Time has flown by and I've seen a lot and surfed a ton of waves.  Now I'm back here in order to fly back to the US for a couple of weeks out of nearby Puerto Vallarta.  I'm leaving Nookie in the trusty hands of the fine folks at the Sayulita Trailer Park--a great little place right on the beach just a couple blocks down from the main part of town--the town square, Chocobanana, etc.  Don't anybody get any ideas about breaking into Nookie and starting an expedition of their own while I'm gone.  I've got  her locked up pretty tight.

While I really have enjoyed life on the road, the country, the people, and most definitely the surf, I am looking forward to a few more creature comforts, like Air Conditioning, a real bed, cable TV, watching some baseball on TV, southern food, etc.  NO surf here in Sayulita, but there are more people around than in May.  A few Americans but lot's of Mexicans on vacation, many from Guadalajara, as they are in a period of vacationing during this part of the summer.  We also had a major storm last night.  I was sitting in Nookie when the wind came up fierce--rocked her back and forth.  I stepped out to see what was going on and saw the palms thrashing violently and the bougainvilla behind my rig slashing its thorny arms with abandon.  I looked up just in time to see my two longboards lift off the roof and tumble down the other side of the campsite.  Luckily their fall was cushioned a bit by a bordering hedge, and they were in their protective board bags, but I still have to check for damage sometime today.  Lesson--tie your boards down or otherwise secure them even when not in use.

Probably no posts for a bit, unless hurricane Irene (and/or other storms) pans out and I get some epic hurricane surf while I'm back in North Carolina. A few pics from around town below.  As always, more to come!!!

View down the street towards the water from the coffee shop where I"m writing

Chocobanana--great coffee and frozen chocolatey bananas. 

The town square here in Sayulita.  

Northbound for a short time...

Movie theater in Huatulco/Santa Cruz--note interesting spelling...

 

As per usual, internet where I tend to travel is spotty at best, so no update for the past few days (ed.--almost 2 weeks now).  I spent roughly a month in beautiful Barra de la Cruz with its outstanding right point wave.  But, alas, all things must change.  So I’ve commenced my return trip (regresar en espanol) up the coast towards Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita, where I’ll disembark from Nookie and head back to the states for a couple of weeks.  I’m meeting up with some college friends in Austin for a loose “bachelor” weekend for a friend finally tying the knot later this fall, thence to the Outer Banks of NC for what I’m hoping is a week or so of hurricane swell, a comfortable bed, and air conditioning with my friends Jeff and Brooke.

After spending two nights in Santa Cruz/La Crucieta, and seeing the last installment of Harry Potter bothered only by some misbehaving Mexican teens in the back row, I high-tailed it up the coast and am now ensconced once again at La Saladita--the super-fun left point break I spent nearly a month surfing in June.  The trip was relatively uneventful, with the possible exception of two searches at the regularly placed military checkpoints headed back north.  The officers were courteous and curious, and generally had me on the way within 10 minutes or so.  The one exception was just south of Puerto Escondido where one officer pulled out some sort of electronic hand-held device with a retractable antenna and proceeded to count off steps down the length of Nookie while seriously examining some sort of readout on the contraption—about the size of an old-school walkie-talkie.  I ventured to ask him what he was doing, and he rattled off some of the quickest Spanish I think I’ve heard yet, but I seemed to comprehend little of what he said.  I thought I heard the word “magnet”, so my only hypothesis is some sort of detection device to make sure the structure of Nookie was as it appeared, but that’s pretty thin reasoning.  Anybody who knows what that might be please let me know—as I didn’t get the impression he wanted to repeat his explanation more than once to me.

Things are great here returning to La Saladita.  My “campsite” is just as I left it other than the apparently new couple of palm tress planted just in front of my view to the beach.  They’re small, and no impediment to my view, and things here are a bit less crowded than in June.  The lineup is certainly less full, though the waves have been on the smaller side the last few days, but with some fun sets in the head-high range yesterday.  Lourdes and Blanca and the rest of the Valencia family are great hosts, as always.

Today I went with Lourdes—the proprietor of this place, her godson Omar, and a couple from New Mexico, to a “secret” spot north of here about 30 minutes.  Lourdes asked me to drive and I happily obliged.  We took her Ford Expedition, which is a big vehicle, but felt remarkably small after nearly 4 months of driving nothing but the behemoth that is Nookie.

In any event, we left here just after 7 am and caught some head high-plus waves that were really fun, but got a bit mushy as the tide filled in—nobody out but us.  I’m going to try and post a few pics I took from the bluff just above the break.  It was a beautiful blue sky day and the spot is incredible.  I can only imagine what it would look like with a “real” swell in the water.  Anybody with a spare 80 grand shoot me an email for info about getting a sweet lot in this place—it’s off most people’s radar, for sure.  I’ll leave it at that.

click to enlarge and see better the size...

I’m here for another week or so, then up through Michoacan to meet up with Colarado Mike at San Juan de Alima, the scene of my only real misfortune so far, the theft of my beloved 6’6” Revolution shortboard.  After that, I’m bound for Sayulita where I’ll leave Nookie in the capable hands of the fine folks at Sayulita Trailer Park while I fly back to the US.  I’ll try to update again soon, but, have I said this, the internet kinda sucks in Mexico.  As always, more to come!!!