After a night in Punta Perula on Chamela Bay, we continued southward. We stopped for the day in Tenacatita, or actually just down the road around the bay from Tenacatita. We had Ouest’s second birthday in this bay.
It’s a nice campground, right on the water, with hundreds and hundreds of palms for shade. We hung out, had mud pie picnics, rode the bikes, and went for a hike. The hike occurred while Ali was making dinner. The kids and I walked over to one end of the campground where there is a small river.
It’s just a stream really. Just something to skip across on the way to the beautiful stretch of beach on the other side. There was a log in the middle that we joked was a crocodile and the kids gleefully jumped on it. The crocodile joke came about because of a Berenstain Bear book they read. Papa Bear steps on the submerged log/crocodile, and hilarity ensues.
Anyway, we finished with that and then walked another thirty yards or so upstream. Still playing the joker I ran into the water and grabbed a stick that was pointing up from the surface. That was the croc’s tail, of course, and I was going to throw him into outer space. When that failed the kids brought me coconuts to throw at it. I threw about half a dozen, making big splashes, then turned to grab a large stick to throw at it. When I turned around this time there was a big-old for-real crocodile ten feet away from my crocodile tail stick—staring at us—sizing us up for dinner.
We skedaddled back a bit, stopped to laugh (so as not to forever scar the young ones), and snap a couple of photos while that big dinosaur just looked at me like, “Do you have any idea how lucky you are? Try explaining that one to your wife.”
The kids couldn’t wait to run home and tell Mama about our little adventure. There can be no secrets with kids. I mean, this would have made a great inside joke that only the three of us could have laughed about for the rest of our lives.
All right, all right, I promise that from now on when I see a sign that says, WARNING: CROCODILES, I will take it seriously. Geez.
There’s still a few boats down here. They’ll be heading north soon as well. Only a few more weeks until hurricane season hits.
A few pictures around Punta Perula. It’s a small town, one main road that dead-ends, and not a whole lot going on (that’s actually overstating it a bit).
The owner of the RV park was a piece of work. Eighty years old, gringo with a Mexican wife—he’d been here since at least the 70s. Says he owned a ’64 Travco back in the day. Explained to me that this was basically the best spot in Mexico. Mazatlan is a dump. Puerto Vallarta is a cesspool. Mexicans and sewers don’t mix, he informed me. He also explained to me that Mexicans have no business sense. It was a really enlightening conversation, if not rather one sided. By the end of it I guess we were such good friends that he said we could come back any time and he’d only charge me 150 pesos—ten bucks.
Boca Beach Campground—spaces for 200 or more, but just us and three or four tenters were there.
25 Comments on “Cocodrilo!”
Yep, that’s a big dinosaur to sneak up on you!
Love the Travco/palm fronds reflection photos.
Deborah (SVwrightaway)
Well, to be fair that picture of the crocodile on the sign kind of looks like a bird — until you notice all those teeth at the bottom.
Yeah, I could try that excuse, but since I could read and understand the sign, that might be a bit of a stretch. 🙂
Ayyiyi! I am brave to the point of foolishness, but crocodiles give me pause. I think it was the early childhood “Crocodile Dundee” description of the “death roll”. No thankyou.
You might think that after having been actors in that National Geographic show about the girl who got eaten by a salt water crocodile, that I might be a little more cautious. You might think that.
Before I started reading your blog about two weeks ago, I had a rather negative view of Mexico generally. I would have never dreamed of traveling this way with children given the violence that pervades news reports on Mexico as a whole. Looks like I need to reevaluate those assumptions because I’m missing out on a beautiful country and culture that’s a stone throws away from the US.
Thanks for the window into your world.
You’re welcome. This comment makes me very happy. Mexico is a wonderful place!
Hey Pat, what’s with the white paint on all the palm trees?
It’s to keep the bugs off.
As soon as you described the RV park owner in Punta Perula, I knew exactly where you stayed. We also stayed at Boca and it was almost as empty back then (December) except that the row right along the beach was completely filled up. Mostly Canadians.
They wanted an extra 200 pesos for those spaces!
Whoops, just went back and read your response to my question on the last blog. So, apparently I didn’t know exactly where you stayed. Maybe all the RV park owners are gringos.
Pat you’re crazy!! I would have crapped my pants once I saw that thing and I would have split! You seem to amaze me everyday… I could just imagine Ali’s expression when the kids told her what had happened. haha priceless. 🙂
Lea, you should come hang out with us a bit. I might just get your leg torn off by a wild animal. Or at least get you up on a surfboard. When you get a car just hightail it south for the border. 🙂
I would LOVE to learn how to surf!! I was talking to my mom about it. If Ouest can do it, so can I. 😉 I’ll make sure to take a road trip down to see you guys! I Prom Prom. (that means promise) lol
That sign was there 20 years ago!! But I sure never saw any gator! Tenacatia just happens to be my “One Particular Harbor”. So glad you are there enjoying it. We have some great memories of taking the mangrove river from Inner Anchorage to Outer Anchorage….but it has all changed now. Lots of good times at the palapas before asphalt brought so many people. Ah, thanks for the memories – again!
Ahhhh… you got a honorable mention in the latest post on!
http://logofdelviento.blogspot.com/2015/04/day-8-southern-cross.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LogOfS%2FvDelViento+%28Log+of+s%2Fv+Del+Viento%29
I just remembered a reason your MPG could have dropped from 8 to 5. You remove the distributor cap, pull off the rotor (might want to have an extra in case it breaks coming off), and put a drop or two of oil into the top of the distributor shaft. Its inner shaft needs to rotate on the outer shaft for the centrifugal spark advance. If it gets stuck – lousy MPG. I would oil it and not start the engine till the next morning, so it can soak down. Should be done each 10,000 miles.
Crocodiles, Alligators, and large constrictors give me the creeps. I got the wits scared out of me by one on a residential street in Gainesville FL. years ago.
Pat, Did you end up buying a strobe? If so, you can verify that the advance changes when you blip the throttle without touching the distributor. If there is no change, you owe Dane a beer (or two) 🙂
Salt water crocs are notoriously bad news. They can come up out of the water and chase down a running man. I have seen an alligator in Fl chase down a full grown Irish setter and drag it into the water. They can rise up off their belly on their feet and move. Children would not stand a chance. Stay away please.
Yes, that picture is too close for comfort. They are very very fast and crocs are the badasses of the modern dinosaur world. Don’t surf there in the early morning and evening. That is when they will come out of the rivers to the ocean. They are notorious for this in Costa and have been known to grab surfers. I am totally serious. You know how I am with animals, and these are some seriously aggressive creatures. That is a crocodile reserve…you can take eco tours into the mangroves there. Manzanilla is known as the Village of the crocodiles. LOLOL! Apparently they frequently “escape” (not that anything is keeping them in) from the reserve and you got to see a jailbreak.
Never mind the dangerous crocs!
The old gringo’s comment about ‘Mexicans & sewers don’t mix’ is just like here in Panama, where we live! The toilets flush raw sewage directly into the ocean in front of our condo-please be careful swimming there! We get a lot of sickness here because of that. More of a danger to your health than any croc! I got a kick out of you camping in the same bay where you cruised, thinking of hurricane season. We bought our live aboard Catamaran after reading your book, inspired by your adventures. Now happy to travel as landlubbers too!
Have fun! You’re a fine example of living the good life!
Where are you guys? When your last post is about crocodiles and then we don’t hear from you for 10 days, a girl starts to worry!
Sorry, sometimes we just go on internet hiatus. Haven’t had internet in the parks the past week, and haven’t bothered to put any money on our wifi stick either. Read some good books, though. Kids are safe. 🙂
I was thinking the same..;-)