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Bahia de Chamela
Jalisco, Mexico
Bahia de Chalema, Jalisco, Mexico is about 52 miles from Punta Ipala and is a
very good anchorage. We stayed two days and had a great time! We met some
friends, Doug and Joan from an Ericsson 36 who are trying this event for about 3
months. We had spaghetti and shared a wonderful bottle of wine. They have a
daughter still in college back in the states and they are from Idaho! Whoa, it's
cold there! Kelvin and Meagan caught many many fish here. This is where
the infamous Puffer was caught.
We did not know that the Puffer was dangerous, however the amazing bulls-eye on
its body should have told us. We looked in the books that we have for Pacific
Fishes and it was very specific that you should neither touch, nor eat this
fish! Kelvin, thank goodness, had thick, rubbery gloves on when he picked it up
to unhook it and send it over. It is fatal! Who knew! It did not have the
characteristic spines of the dry ones you see bloated on shore or as lighting
shades in marine restaurants! The saying "live and learn" never meant less here!
It should say "learn and live" quite frankly. We felt a bit stupid and very
lucky!
The beach was a job to get into because when the surf came up, we had the
same problem we had at La Cruz, it swamped the dinghy trying to head back out to
the boat. However, we met many people here and have seen them again and again in
other anchorages on varying days. Apparently, the "southbounders" tend to meet
again and again, which makes sense. However, it isn't too much fun if you
neither you nor your spouse remember names well. We have now started to write
them down when we remember!
This is Mark's 22-lb Crevalle Jack caught on the way to Bahia Chalema, I
believe. It is also called a "common jack", a "jurel" or a "jack crevalle". The
distinguishing marks that told us its name was the black spot at the rear edge
of the gill cover. The Sport Fish of the Gulf of Mexico said "it is very common
from 1 to about 6 lbs. Plentiful to 12 pounds in most areas. Frequently tops 20
lbs. World record 57 lbs, 14 ounces." Well, one pound more and we all would have
been willing to cut the line and let it go right then and there. And to top it
off, we caught another one of equal size, and girth not an hour later! It said
its food value was "poor" because much of the meat is dark red and of strong
flavor. We did not venture to find out if that was true and we tossed it back
into the food chain!
This is Meagan and Mommy kayaking around Bahia Chamela before the afternoon
winds come up!
This is Kelvin blowing up the second kayak so all can kayak together.
This is Bahia Chamela and the small town that we surfed our dinghy to. There
really wasn't any restaurant we would be willing to eat at as they are palapas,
dingy, dirty and without reputation. We did not venture to eat at any of them,
though we found sodas at some of them during the day and played on the beach.
This is Kelvin's infamous puffer fish. The Fishes of the Pacific Coast
says that this is a Bullseye Puffer (botete diana) Sphoeroides
annulatus. It grows to 15 inches and it says "a diver viewing this abundant
puffer from above sees a "bullseye" pattern ..." which we clearly did!. It also
said "it grows quite large and can puff itself up to near basketball size when
threatened." It never did that for us for some reason. "The body is smooth, with
tiny buried spines on the throat and belly". This is perhaps why we did not see
the usual spines that are on other dried and dead puffer fish! It clearly states
"Not edible: the flesh and viscera are toxic and can be fatal to humans". It
apparently contains the poison tetrodotoxin! Hmmm, who knew! Glad we got that
book from the folks the week before via DHL!
Home Page of the Green Family Voyage
This is Mark's 22-lb Crevalle Jack caught on the way to Bahia Chalema, I
believe. It is also called a "common jack", a "jurel" or a "jack crevalle". The
distinguishing marks that told us its name was the black spot at the rear edge
of the gill cover. The Sport Fish of the Gulf of Mexico said "it is very common
from 1 to about 6 lbs. Plentiful to 12 pounds in most areas. Frequently tops 20
lbs. World record 57 lbs, 14 ounces." Well, one pound more and we all would have
been willing to cut the line and let it go right then and there. And to top it
off, we caught another one of equal size, and girth not an hour later! It said
its food value was "poor" because much of the meat is dark red and of strong
flavor. We did not venture to find out if that was true and we tossed it back
into the food chain!
