We Mexi-CAN! Surprise visit :)

Our sailing trip from Belize to Mexico was the fastest, roughest sail we have experienced yet. Wind against current don't go hand and hand but we were having fun cruising at 10 knots like it was nothing! We arrived to Cozmeul, Mexico to check in. Worst check in experience we have had throughout all our journey's. We got hussled out of $ and they searched the entire inside of the boat. Was it really necessary to have 7 officials on our boat?! Craziness. We gave them $ and told them it was time for them to go. They sent the check in paperwork via text and we were on our way to Adventuras Marina where we docked the boat for the week.

This was the big week! We left our little hurricane hole in Guatemala early to make here to celebrate Jes' 30th Birthday! At this point in our trip we haven't seen family in over 6 months so we were so excited to make this trip happen. We would catch up with Jes & Mike over the phone every other week or so. We made her believe we were still in southern Belize waiting it out until the end of Hurricane season. So did she know ;) We rented a little yellow bug like stick shift car from the marina to take us over to Tulum where we would surprise her. Mike arranged to us meet them at a resort where they planned to have happy hour and watch sunset. We arrived a little beforehand and waited until we got the text that they were there. We hid behind some bushes while they went up to the bar to grab drinks. We snuck up behind them and acted like a server asking if they would like to order some drinks. The look on Jes' face when she turned around and saw us there was worth a million dollars. An unforgettable moment and fortunately Rob caught it all in pictures. Somehow someway we pulled off the best surprise ever! Our few days with them in Tulum were amazing. We ate amazing food, took the crew out on the boat sailing and snorkeling and made memories worth a lifetime!

After Tulum, we sailed South to Isla Mujeres where we staged for about a moth before we made our big crossing back to Naples. Huge sailing community here but also a HUGE tourist location too. We didn't seem to mind the business that the tourism brought after being cooped up in Ro Dulce for 5 months. There was great restaurants and happy hours everyday. Some of the most amazing margaritas for el cheapo too! The diving was the most beautiful we have seen yet. There was a super neat underwater art museum that we dove with sculptures of people playing music, kids playing, pregnant women, animals, etc. It was so neat to see the reef structures growing on the sculptures. We did try to spearfish one day but there was absolutely no fish to shoot! That was kind of bummer. The anchorage we were in was known as the bowling alley. We soon found out what that really meant on a stormy windy evening. There were boats dragging all over the place. 1 that was heading straight for us. Sailors were out there on their dinghy's trying to hold dragging boats off their boats. We were prepared to drop ours in the water if need be but fortunately the one boat that was coming for us was able to move his boat and get it anchored in front of us (still not very reassuring having him in front of us though). It was quite the experience!

Our final week here was Thanksgiving week. We offered to host a group of 15 people. Some people we knew from Rio Dulce and some that we had met in the anchorage during our time there. Everyone including us were feeling a bit homesick not being with family for the holiday but when everyone came together it almost felt like we were all family! We did a pot luck style. We took on making the turkey, stuffing and gravy in our little easy bake oven. Our first time ever making a turkey and it turned out amazing! Thanks to my Mom for picking up our dozen phone calls with questions on how to make everything. Our guest were raving about how good it was and i must say it was one of the best we have had too. The coolest thing about this day was seeing our sailing community come together to make a beautiful Thanksgiving happen. Everyone went out of their way to bring something to the table. Even Sailor Bob brought over a rusty salt corded can of cranberry. Everyone was so appreciative for putting on the dinner. Sailors are the most thankful and caring I have ever met. I feel so fortunate to be meeting people like this all over the world!Read more