The afternoon before departure:
Puerto Penasco is an amazing little town. The gringos call it Rocky Point, and there is basaltic rock everywhere. The gang decided to rent two four wheelers and to head out to look for a massage parlor for one of the ladies. Lunch was at a small cafe called Anita y Jesus. I had the Coktel de Camerones (Shrimp Cocktail), and it was nothing like the ones you get in Las Vegas. This was huge and had about twenty plump shrimp in a tomato sauce without a trace of horseradish. We then crossed the street to the Pharmacia to try and get some muscle relaxants for the back that needed the massage. SCORE! After a few moments of quiet haggling, she cam away with what she needed. I was impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit in the town. Whenever we passed any of the small stores, we were aggressively asked to come buy! These Puerto Penascoans were pushy and I liked their brand of pushy! By the way, don't worry if you can't speak any Spanish. If they can't understand you, they will point you to someone who can. For me, the adventure was as much linguistic as it was cultural. I took the opportunity at most every turn to add to my scant Spanish. Be cautious: if they think you understand Spanish, it's hard to get them to stop!
After this we headed downtown to the Point, where we ran into a Mexican traffic jam. Men were approaching us from all angles with live shrimp in their hands, trying to get us to buy. I would imagine that six of them would weigh a pound: they were simply huge. The Mercado at the point was b-u-s-y! We found a parking spot and pulled in one behind the other. The vendors were trying to entice everyone to buy something: if only for a dollar. Some of the art was quite good, but I didn't come here to buy so I stepped outside just to look around. There is a remarkable looking bar out on stilts in the water at the Point. We didn't stop, but I was getting thirsty. A bit away from the point there is a public park, with a huge statue of an hombre comaronores (shrimper) riding a shrimp. On our drive here, Mike had told us that shrimping was very important to Puerto Penasco,:but not this important! The docks just below the point were stacked with shrimp boats like sardines in a can. There is no way one of the boats on the inside could get out until everyone else left. The pics do justice to the chaos, but they don't relay the smell very well!
As a last hurrah, we took the four wheelers up to the lighthouse. The views were magnificent and we could see the Rocio del Mar from our vantage point. We quaffed some brews at the Lighthouse Restaurant, I snapped some pictures and then we went back down to the boat. The town is amazingly diverse. You can see the old and the new, the well kept and the decrepit, both in the water and on the land. It's a wild and untamed ride on it's own, add the spirited driving of Scott Bear Fritz, and you have the Mexican version of Mr Toad's Wild Ride.
I have yet to be on a liveaboard that was not helpful, but no one comes close to the captain and crew the Rocio del Mar! The bags were brought up from our hotel and the entire crew joined with us in getting them down the dock and onto the boat. A few minutes later, the other four passengers arrived, were loaded and we had to wait. Puerto Penasco has an 18 foot tide, and we were at the ebb. The Rocio del Mar is a very large ship. She will accommodate up to twenty passengers and eight crew. She is 110 ft long, with a 25 ft beam and weighs in at 280 tons! That's a lot of boat per passenger and there are only nine of us. This should be fun!
The sun had started to set before we set sail. The lights in the town were on and made the voyage out of the harbor magical. We could see the Point bar, the Lighthouse Restaurant and the Playa Bonita passing by us as a reminder of the fun we have already had. Once out of the harbor, Captain Lolo turned our bow south and the adventure had begun. Our host, Dora introduced us to the crew and talked a bit about what to expect.
Living on the water is always wonderful, even if it's only for a week. The constant motion of the boat, the drone of the twin Caterpillar engines, the birds flying in to check us out are welcome to most every traveler. Of particular interest for me were the stars. The further south we moved the further we were away from city lights. Of course that meant we could see more stars. The wind was whipping around us this night, and as much as I enjoyed the stars, I decided to head to bed. I was just about to crawl in, when I saw most of the outside lights click off. On went the clothes and out I went to see even more stars. Wow. The milky way actually looked milky. Casseopiea, the shepard and Orion were all there saying hello. No moon meant even better viewing. A couple of shooting stars streaked through the sky and I looked into the wake of the boat. It was then I saw the phosphor trail. It took me only a moment to realize that a dolphin was playing in the bow wake of the boat. I looked a bit more forward and underneath the hull and was gratified to see about 15 of these wondrous creatures playing in the bow wake. They had no problem keeping up with the boat!
