It's Party Time on Boca Chita

Day 18:  April 12, 2014

We started our day with pancakes and a sausage patty that didn’t make it into the gravy.  The first thing we do is light a fire under the coffee that we set up the night before.  Shortly after we finished breakfast, Bill, from the boat next door, came over and invited us to coffee and Biscotti.  The served their delicious really strong coffee in little in little white cups. 

After breakfast, we walked about the island looking for items for the scavenger hunt that the club had supplied.  It was fun wandering around looking for specific items that the group organizer had selected.

We also spent time visiting other sailors and talking sailor talk and examining their beautiful boats.  We are definitely the smallest boat in the harbor so far.  As the day progress, several smaller boats arrived but by far the majority of the boats were the big fellows.

Also in the harbor were several groups of Latinos who came on various types of power boats from cigarette boats, fishing boats (fancy ones), cruisers and runabouts.  One thing that they all seemed to have was a really loud stereo system  These folks were camping on the shore and brought with them a number of generators, microwaves, and air conditioners.  They also had an assortment of lights.  Their camp looked like a city block.  We talked to some of them and they were friendly folks having a good time.  However, a number of the members of the sailing community were not happy with them and their celebration. 

As the day progressed, more and more boats, both sailing and motor types, continued to arrive.  We moved boats around to make room for all that we could and then they began rafting boats together.  Some of the power boaters rafted 3 and 4 boats  wide but when the park ranger came around, he/she made them break down the rafts to a maximum of two boats. 

The club set up a Tiki Bar and served different types of drinks including margaritas. The theme for the gathering was Mexican.  Most all of the folks had some sort of Mexican garb including fake mustaches, sombreros’, and Spanish clothing.  It was a fun time.  They grilled burgers and huge hot dogs for lunch and made fish and pork tacos for supper.  In all, they anticipated about 80 people to be in attendance. 

There were so many boats that more than half of the sailors moored on their anchors in a bay on the next cove down and road over to Boca Chita in a club launch.  It was well organized and a lot of fun.

At one point, we took a walk around the island with our new friends, Bill, Maria, Alex, and Sandra.  They are interesting folks interested in the vegetation and fauna of the island so, of course, it was right up my alley.

We finally ended day at around 9:00.  Janine commented as we went to bed that this was surely a different several days from what we are used to in our cruising.  We met and talked with a lot of interesting folks.